Tag Archives: Google Apps

A leaner and faster Google Drive API

Posted by Dan McGrath, Product Manager, Google Drive

Today, version 3 (v3) of the Google Drive API is available, providing developers with a leaner, faster by default, and more consistent interface to Google Drive. This latest update is designed to be easier for developers who are integrating with Drive for the first time.

In the time since we launched the original version of the Drive SDK, we’ve learned a lot about how developers are using our API and the pitfalls they’ve encountered. This version simplifies the API in several ways, including:

  • Reducing the number of collections developers need to understand
  • Removing some duplication
  • Cleaning up method and property names to be more consistent
  • Setting defaults that are faster and more efficient

For example, our files.list call now only includes the most commonly used fields that we serve efficiently by default, with additional fields able to be added via the fields parameter. This makes the default call nearly 6X faster in v3 than in v2:

While future versions of the API will be more feature-focused, this release provides improved performance and ease of use over the previous version of the API (v2). We will continue to support both versions so that existing apps using v2 can run without changes (developers don’t have to upgrade). For developers with a v2 app who want to take advantage of the new improvements, we’ve got a handy cheat sheet to help with migration.

To get started using the new version of the API, check out the developer docs; and for any questions, find us with the google-drive-sdk tag on StackOverflow. We look forward to seeing what you’ll build with the new API!

Google for Work security: Announcing Data Loss Prevention to wrap up 2015

Posted by Suzanne Frey, Director, Security, Trust, and Privacy, Google Apps

Every company has data that it must keep secure — whether that data is about confidential innovations, strategic plans or sensitive HR issues — keeping all of your data safe from inadvertent or purposeful leaks needs to be simple, quick and reliable. Google for Work already helps admins manage information security with tools such as encryption, sharing controls, mobile device management and two-factor authentication. However, sometimes user actions compromise the best of all of these controls; for example, a user might hit “Reply all” when meaning to send a private message with sensitive content.

Starting today, if you’re a Google Apps Unlimited customer, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Gmail will add another layer of protection to prevent sensitive information from being revealed to those who shouldn’t have it.

How Gmail DLP works

Organizations may have a policy that the Sales department shouldn’t share customer credit card information with vendors. And to keep information safe, admins can easily set up a DLP policy by selecting “Credit Card Numbers” from a library of predefined content detectors. Gmail DLP will automatically check all outgoing emails from the Sales department and take action based on what the admin has specified: either quarantine the email for review, tell users to modify the information or block the email from being sent and notify the sender. These checks don’t just apply to email text, but also to content inside common attachment types ― such as documents, presentations and spreadsheets. And admins can also create custom rules with keywords and regular expressions.


Check out the DLP whitepaper for more information including the full list of predefined content creators, and learn how to get started. Gmail DLP is the first step in a long-term investment to bring rule-based security across Google Apps. We’re working on bringing DLP to Google Drive early next year, along with other rule based security systems.

As we round out the year, let’s take a look at some of the other work we brought to our services in 2015 to enhance the security, privacy and the control you have on your information.

  • To verify the good work we do on privacy, we were one of the first cloud providers to invite an independent auditor to show that our privacy practices for Google Apps for Work and Google Apps for Education comply with the latest ISO/IEC 27018:2014 privacy standards. These confirm for example, that we don’t use customer data for advertising.
  • To make security easier for all, we've expanded our security toolset:
    • We introduced Security Keys to make two-step verification more convenient and provide better protection against phishing. For admins, we released Google Apps identity services, which allows secure single sign on access with SAML and OIDC support and we delivered device (MDM) and app (MAM) Mobile Management across Google Apps.
    • We launched Postmaster tools to help Gmail users better handle large volumes of mail and report spam.
    • For Google Cloud developers, the Cloud Security Scanner allows you to easily scan your application for common vulnerabilities (such as cross-site scripting (XSS) and mixed content).
    • For those who want the power and flexibility of public cloud computing and want to bring their own encryption keys, we announced Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys for Google Cloud Platform.
    • To give more transparency on how email security, even beyond Gmail, is changing over the years we published the Safer Email report.
  • We introduced new sharing features, alerts and audit events to Google Drive for Google Apps Unlimited customers. For example, administrators can now create custom alerts and disable the downloading, printing or copying of files with Information Rights Management (IRM). New sharing settings give employees better control within their organization unit and now admins can let them reset their own passwords.
  • Google Groups audit settings allow better tracking of Groups memberships. For all, the launch of google.com/privacy gives better control over personal data and Android for Work makes it easier to keep personal and work data separate on employee devices.

Companies are moving to the Cloud for all kinds of reasons, but Security and Trust remain critical and predominant differentiators between providers. That’s why millions of businesses trust Google to do the daily heavy lifting in security ─ preventing, testing, monitoring, upgrading and patching, while working towards the future. Because Google was born in the cloud, we’ve built security from the ground up across our entire technology stack, from the data centers to the servers to the services and features we provide across all of your devices. No other Cloud provider can claim this degree of security investment at every single layer.

While 2015 was a great year, there’s a lot more in store for 2016. To learn more about how our technology is evolving, please join us at the Enigma conference in San Francisco on January 25th to discuss electronic crime, security and privacy ideas that matter.

Add to-dos to your Google Calendar using Reminders

Posted by Vijay Umapathy, Product Manager

(Cross-posted on the Official Gmail Blog.)

Our calendars should help us make the most of our time — scheduling meetings at work, remembering brunch with friends, and keeping track of all our other commitments. But often our to-do list is elsewhere, separate from the Calendar that organizes our day, and we end up overcommitted or miss something important because we forgot to check our list.

Now there's a single way to manage your day: starting this week, you can create Reminders in Google Calendar to keep track of your to-dos alongside your scheduled events.

Reminders stick around
You might already create calendar entries to remind you to call the doctor or pick up groceries on the way home. But while those entries come and go, Reminders stick with you over time so you can track them until they are actually done. If a Reminder isn't completed, it will appear at the top of your Calendar the next day. And the next. When you do finally call the doctor or pick up those necessities, just swipe the Reminder away ... and you're onto the next to-do.
Reminders help with the details
Another way Reminders are more useful than events is that Calendar adds things like phone numbers and addresses automatically. So if you add a Reminder to make call or run an errand, the number or address will be right there when you need it. Just like Inbox by Gmail, Calendar uses information from your contacts, as well as Google's knowledge graph to provide this extra bit of help.
Reminders work across Google
You can also create Reminders from Inbox, Keep, and Google Now. This means you can create a Reminder when you're checking your email and it will show up on your calendar right away. Plans change? Just move the Reminder to a better time. Or if your hands are full, you can record your Reminders in Google Now 一 like, "Ok Google, remind me to buy birthday candles" 一 then mark it as done later in Calendar.
Reminders will be rolling out this week with the latest versions of Calendar on Google Play and the App Store. And don't worry, we're working on bringing Reminders to the web as well.

charity: water unifies a global team with Chromebox for Meetings

Posted by Ian Cook, head of IT, charity: water

Editor's note: Today’s post comes from Ian Cook, head of IT at charity: water, a non-profit organization that provides clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Learn about how the organization is using Chromebox for meetings to keep the team connected, from its New York City HQ to onsite in Cambodia. 

At charity: water, our mission is to bring clean and safe drinking water to every person on the planet. We have a “100 percent model,” which means every dollar donated goes directly to the field to fund clean water projects. This is made possible by a small group of passionate and dedicated supporters who cover all of our operating costs: everything from staff salaries, to flights to the field, to the ink in our printer.

At charity: water transparency is one of our core values, and with the help of Google we maintain transparency in two major ways. We use the Google Maps APIs to show every supporter exactly what we've done with their donation by giving them the GPS coordinates, photos and community information of the exact projects they made possible. We also rely heavily on tools like Chromebox for Meetings to communicate with our global team; our headquarters is in New York, but we have staff that work remotely in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

We switched to Chromebox for Meetings after testing different products, and gathering feedback from our employees. They found Chromebox for Meetings to be the best solution: powerful, easy to use and seamlessly integrated with Google Apps. When we moved into a new, custom office space, we opted to include screens connected to Chromebox for Meetings in all nine of our conference rooms.

We like when technology enables, rather than interrupts, our natural flow of working. At any time, more than half our conference rooms are booked for virtual meetings, allowing us to connect instantly with colleagues around the world. We even have a 48-inch TV mounted at standing height on a media cart, which we move into the common area for company wide meetings. Remote employees can join via Hangouts and participate as if they were standing beside their colleagues. In fact, our first UK-based employee is connected with our New York City headquarters on Google Hangouts almost every day.

With simpler video conferencing, we’ve improved work-life balance by giving everyone, from interns to executive staff, more flexibility to work from anywhere at any time. Chromebox for Meetings is easy to scale and mobile-friendly, which is important since travel is core to what we do. Using Hangouts in conjunction with Chrome device management also allows us to help out employees with IT issues in real time, which is essential for a global team that often works remotely. I can share screens and fix problems whether at the office, at home or on the road.

Our team’s made up of excited, passionate people, running a non-profit much like a fast-paced technology startup. We need tools that help us work more collaboratively, even when a number of our team members are dispersed across the globe. We’ve even started an initiative to hire the best talent for the job, regardless of physical location. We wouldn’t be able to do this without powerful video conferencing technology and work tools that enable mobility. With Chromebox for Meetings and Google Apps, we can work better at achieving our mission while maintaining the transparency that’s at the core of our values.

For Star Wars fans, old and new

Editor's note: Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog.
The first memory I have of watching a movie is with my dad. I was around four years old, and one afternoon he fired up our bulky, '80s-style front-projection TV and the Betamax, and popped in Star Wars. Of course, it was *amazing*, and I've watched the original trilogy a dozen times since.

It probably isn't a surprise that there are tons of Star Wars fans like me here at Google. You can regularly spot Darth Vaders, dogs dressed like Yoda, and even the occasionalstormtrooper, roaming the halls of our data centers (probably still looking for those droids). So when we first heard about Episode VII, we started thinking about what a Google tribute to these epic stories might look like: “Wouldn't it be cool if there was some sort of Star Wars thingy in Search? The Millennium Falcon in Cardboard would be sweet! What if Google Translate could decipher galactic languages?"... and on, and on, and on. As this list of ideas grew, so too did the band of passionate engineers and product folks who wanted to build them.

We reached out to our friends at Lucasfilm and Disney, and since then we’ve been working together on building google.com/starwars. It's a place for fans, by fans, and starting today you can choose the light or the dark side, and then watch your favorite Google apps like Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, Chrome and many more transform to reflect your path. And that's just the beginning. We've got more coming between now and opening night—the Millennium Falcon in all its (virtual reality) glory included, so stay tuned. And we've hidden a few easter eggs, too. So awaken the Force within, and be on the lookout for things from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

See you in line at the theater in December. I'll be there with my dad.

Posted by Clay Bavor, VP of Product Management

Computer, respond to this email: Introducing Smart Reply in Inbox by Gmail

Posted by Bálint Miklós, Software Engineer

(Cross-posted on the Gmail Blog.)

With the holidays approaching and emails coming in at a furious pace, we can all use a little help. Inbox is already on hand assisting you with the next step, organizing your trips, and even suggesting reminders.

But when you're checking email on the go, it can be cumbersome and time-consuming to reply to all or even some of them. What if there was a way for your inbox to guess which emails can be answered with a short reply, prepare a few responses on your behalf and present them to you, one tap away?

Well, starting later this week, Inbox will do just that with Smart Reply.
Smart Reply suggests up to three responses based on the emails you get. For those emails that only need a quick response, it can take care of the thinking and save precious time spent typing. And for those emails that require a bit more thought, it gives you a jump start so you can respond right away.
There's actually a lot going on behind the scenes to make Smart Reply work. Inbox uses machine learning to recognize emails that need responses and to generate the natural language responses on the fly. If you're interested in how Smart Reply works, including how researchers got machine learning to work on a data set that they never saw, you can read more about it on the Google Research Blog.

And much like how Inbox gets better when you report spam, the responses you choose (or don't choose!) help improve future suggestions. For example, when Smart Reply was tested at Google, a common suggestion in the workplace was "I love you." Thanks to Googler feedback, Smart Reply is now SFW :)

Smart Reply will be rolling out later this week on both Google Play and the App Store in English. If you've got a lot of emails on your plate, now's a great time to try Inbox and get through them faster than ever.



Google Apps Admin SDK: Introducing the Roles API

Posted by Rishi Dhand, Product Manager, Google Apps Admin SDK and Wesley Chun, Developer Advocate, Google Apps

In a Google Apps domain, Admin role management (i.e. create, assign, and update admin roles) is a critical function for super admins that helps them distribute admin responsibilities in a more secure manner. Until now, this functionality was only available via the Admin console UI.


This is what Role management looks like in the Admin console, but now you can also do this programmatically with the Roles API.


Today’s launch of the Roles API (one of the Admin SDK Directory APIs) enables developers to build admin tools that can perform role management programmatically.

This new API will be useful to admins who have either built internal admin tools using the Admin SDK, or developers of third-party admin tools. Both can now use the Roles API to provide selective access to Delegated Admins (DAs) to specific admin capabilities within third-party applications.

Here are some examples of use cases where the Roles API can be leveraged:

  • A third-party user management app that relies on the Admin SDK to perform various user related operations can now use the Roles API to selectively show the capabilities of User management DAs, such as creating/deleting users or resetting passwords.
  • A mobile device management (MDM) app developer looking to build a tool for access by Mobile Management DAs can use the Roles API to determine the privileges of the logged-in DA and selectively display MDM related admin functionality.
  • Admins (or admin tools) can now programmatically create reports on admin role assignments which can help super admins better manage access to DAs.

For more information and to get started, please check out the Roles API documentation. We look forward to helping more admins manage their domains in a more programmatic way so they can focus on more critical aspects of managing their corporate IT infrastructure.

Google Apps Script: An update to HtmlService

Posted by Saurabh Gupta, Product Manager, Google Apps Script

Back in December 2014, we announced the IFRAME sandbox mode for HtmlService which has helped improve the speed of an application’s user interface (UI). It also gives users a choice of using a variety of JS libraries on the client. We have been working hard to improve IFRAME sandbox mode and have added many features since then, including: Firefox support, file uploads, top navigation support, and improved Google Picker API support. Since IFRAME sandbox provides faster UIs and has more capabilities than NATIVE and EMULATED modes, developers should only be using IFRAME sandbox mode moving forward.

As of today, both EMULATED and NATIVE modes in HtmlService are deprecated. Over the next few months, we plan on sunsetting both EMULATED and NATIVE modes in stages to give you enough time to migrate your scripts.

We have created a migration guide to help you with this transition. For many scripts, no changes will be needed, unless they use a small set of features described in the migration guide. The guide also describes a few potential breaking changes. It is important that you review all your scripts that use HtmlService to ensure that the switch to IFRAME sandbox mode does not cause them to fail.

Here’s the timeline:

In November 2015, all new scripts will default to IFRAME sandbox mode unless NATIVE mode is explicitly specified. For example, if you make a copy of an existing script, the new script will use IFRAME sandbox mode unless you have explicitly set the sandbox mode to NATIVE.

In December 2015 (see sunset schedule for exact dates), EMULATED mode will be shutdown. Any scripts explicitly using EMULATED mode will default to IFRAME sandbox mode.

On April 28th, 2016, all scripts will default to IFRAME sandbox unless you have explicitly specified NATIVE mode in your script. For example, if your script has not specified any mode, then it will change from using NATIVE mode to IFRAME sandbox mode. Please make sure that your UI works well in IFRAME sandbox mode.

On June 30th 2016, NATIVE mode will be shutdown. All scripts explicitly using NATIVE mode will default to IFRAME sandbox mode.

While deprecations may at times seem inconvenient, this staged deprecation should ease in the migration process. Our goal is to provide a modern and secure environment enabling developers to create great apps for their users with Google Apps Script.

(A day at the office) Automating YouTube stats with Google Apps Script

Originally posted on the Google Developer blog

Posted by Wesley Chun, Developer Advocate, Google Apps

Happy Monday! Have you ever been asked by your boss to do something simple (good) but long and tedious (bad)? Take for example, the simple task of counting up all of the YouTube views for your corporate videos and your competitors’. It doesn’t even have to be your boss. What if you and your gamer friends are competing to see whose gameplay clips are garnering the most attention? It’s easy to manually track ten videos, but how about 100 or even 1,000? While simple -- you can visit the YouTube to grab the view count for each video -- you know the real problem with a task like this is that you don’t scale with the amount of content, so it’s better to automate with a simple app instead. This is the exact scenario that my colleagues and I set out to address in the latest episode of the Launchpad Online, introducing users to a pair of Google developer tools that can help solve this particular problem:



The first developer tool covered is the YouTube Data API. You can access it like most modern Google APIs from your preferred programming environment using one of the Google APIs Client Libraries. However, this type of data generally lives in a spreadsheet, and if you’re using Google Sheets, you can instead write the app with Google Apps Script, a JavaScript environment running in Google’s cloud that, if authorized, can write that video information to the cells in your Sheet. YouTube is just one of the many supported services available to Apps Script developers.

As with all my Launchpad Online episodes, I walk you through a short code snippet (only eight lines this time) that will get you started building your own custom solution. If you’re new to the developer series, we share technical content aimed at novice Google developers… current tools with a little bit of code to help you launch your next app. Please give us your feedback below and tell us what topics you would like to see in future episodes!

Custom email, apps and more for Google Domains

Last year we introduced Google Domains in the U.S. to make it easy for your business to get online with a domain name and website. We wanted to make finding, buying and managing domains for your business simple, and we partnered with best-in-class website builders like Blogger, Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly and Wix to help you create your site — no technical experience required.

Since then, we have helped people register hundreds of thousands of domain names and create tens of thousands of websites, many of whom are businesses like yours looking to build and expand their online presence. Through your continued feedback, today we’re introducing upgrades to improve the Google Domains experience by adding:

  • Custom email addresses - create an email address like, you@yourdomain or sales@yourdomain via Google Apps for Work.
  • Over 90 new domain name endings - purchase domains with new endings like, .life, .world, .business, .cool, .pizza, .gifts, and .football (here’s the new full list).
  • Domain ownership transfer - allows you to always make sure the right person is managing the right domains (learn more here).

Custom email addresses are a key part of building your online identity. Email addresses such as you@yourdomain help you establish credibility when you communicate with customers. Setting up a custom email address with Google Domains is an optional service for $5/month/user, and with that you’ll also get the full Google Apps for Work productivity suite. Google Apps for Work includes helpful business tools like video meetings, shared calendars, online document editing and 30 GB of file storage.
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New domain name endings offer more choice and flexibility as you pick a memorable address for your business website.  New endings are continuously opening up to the web, like .legal, .accountant and .services, and can help you create a name that matches who you are and what you do. Check out some of the people on Google Domains already using these new domain name endings: sublimation.kitchen, smilesnap.social, thecooler.ninja, and marcblair.photography.
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It’s our mission to help your business easily get online and succeed with a domain name, and we want to make sure we continue to offer you the best tools and experience possible in our beta.  So, if you have any input, questions or feedback, please don’t be shy!

See you online at www.google.com/domains.

Posted by Ben Fried, VP and CIO