Tag Archives: Google Calendar

Create meeting notes in Google Calendar

What’s changing

You can now quickly start and share a meeting notes document for your Calendar events.

GIF of adding Meeting notes in the Calendar details view
Meeting notes in the Calendar details view



Creating a notes document from Calendar will automatically populate the document with the event information and attach the document to the event.

You can also add this same meeting notes template into any doc by typing “@” in the doc and using the drop-down menu.

Add a meeting notes into a Doc using the @ menu
Add a meeting notes template into a Doc




These features are currently only available in Calendar and Docs on the web.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

Meeting notes are one of the most common use cases in Docs, and an effective way to make meetings a good use of time. However, creating, sharing and finding them later involves several basic repetitive steps, and involves switching between Docs and Calendar. The meeting notes feature is a shortcut to create such documents with some quick clicks.

This feature streamlines the creation, sharing and attachment of meeting notes into Calendar events.

Additional details

In Calendar, this feature is only available to meeting organizers or guests with permissions to modify the event.

You can use this feature several ways:
  • While creating or editing an event, you’ll see a “Create meeting notes” button next to the attachment section. You can click this button to create a new document, which attaches it to the event upon saving the changes.
  • Clicking the “Take meeting notes” button in a scheduled event will create this document, and immediately open it in a new tab so users can get started capturing notes right away. In the background, this document will also be attached to the calendar event for future reference.

Once you make these meeting notes, we’ll automatically link back to the Calendar event from the doc, making it easy to navigate between places.

You’ll still be able to attach additional documents to the Calendar event.

Sharing the meeting notes 
  • If you click to “Create meeting notes” when creating a new event or editing an existing event, the notes doc will be shared with the attendees, including those outside your organization, once you hit “Save.”
  • If you click “Take meeting notes” on a scheduled Calendar event, attendees will not automatically have access and we’ll show you a prompt to share in Docs.
  • When capturing meeting notes for scheduled events from Google Docs:
    • If you’re the meeting organizer: A pop-up prompts you to share and attach the document to your event. To give access, click Share & attach.
    • If you’re not the meeting organizer: A pop-up prompts you to share the document. To give access, click Share. The document doesn't attach to the event.

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about meeting notes in Calendar.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

View richer information about your coworkers directly in the sidebar for Google Chat, Calendar, Docs, and more.

Quick launch summary 

You can now find and view additional information about people within your organization, your Contacts, and more across additional Google Workspace products. This information includes: 

  • Contact information, such as phone number and email address,  
  • Team and manager, 
  • Office and desk location, 
  • Whether you’ve received email from them before, and more. 

This feature is already available for Gmail, and will now be available from the following products: Google Chat, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Getting started 

  • Admins: To maximize this feature, it’s helpful to have user data fully populated across Google Workspace apps. Workspace admins can populate this data in a few locations: 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Click “Open Detailed View” while hovering over a user’s information card, or select the Contacts icon in the side panel. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google products side by side. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

View richer information about your coworkers directly in the sidebar for Google Chat, Calendar, Docs, and more.

Quick launch summary 

You can now find and view additional information about people within your organization, your Contacts, and more across additional Google Workspace products. This information includes: 

  • Contact information, such as phone number and email address,  
  • Team and manager, 
  • Office and desk location, 
  • Whether you’ve received email from them before, and more. 

This feature is already available for Gmail, and will now be available from the following products: Google Chat, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Getting started 

  • Admins: To maximize this feature, it’s helpful to have user data fully populated across Google Workspace apps. Workspace admins can populate this data in a few locations: 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Click “Open Detailed View” while hovering over a user’s information card, or select the Contacts icon in the side panel. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google products side by side. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

View richer information about your coworkers directly in the sidebar for Google Chat, Calendar, Docs, and more.

Quick launch summary 

You can now find and view additional information about people within your organization, your Contacts, and more across additional Google Workspace products. This information includes: 

  • Contact information, such as phone number and email address,  
  • Team and manager, 
  • Office and desk location, 
  • Whether you’ve received email from them before, and more. 

This feature is already available for Gmail, and will now be available from the following products: Google Chat, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Getting started 

  • Admins: To maximize this feature, it’s helpful to have user data fully populated across Google Workspace apps. Workspace admins can populate this data in a few locations: 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Click “Open Detailed View” while hovering over a user’s information card, or select the Contacts icon in the side panel. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google products side by side. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

View richer information about your coworkers directly in the sidebar for Google Chat, Calendar, Docs, and more.

Quick launch summary 

You can now find and view additional information about people within your organization, your Contacts, and more across additional Google Workspace products. This information includes: 

  • Contact information, such as phone number and email address,  
  • Team and manager, 
  • Office and desk location, 
  • Whether you’ve received email from them before, and more. 

This feature is already available for Gmail, and will now be available from the following products: Google Chat, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Getting started 

  • Admins: To maximize this feature, it’s helpful to have user data fully populated across Google Workspace apps. Workspace admins can populate this data in a few locations: 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Click “Open Detailed View” while hovering over a user’s information card, or select the Contacts icon in the side panel. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google products side by side. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

View richer information about your coworkers directly in the sidebar for Google Chat, Calendar, Docs, and more.

Quick launch summary 

You can now find and view additional information about people within your organization, your Contacts, and more across additional Google Workspace products. This information includes: 

  • Contact information, such as phone number and email address,  
  • Team and manager, 
  • Office and desk location, 
  • Whether you’ve received email from them before, and more. 

This feature is already available for Gmail, and will now be available from the following products: Google Chat, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Getting started 

  • Admins: To maximize this feature, it’s helpful to have user data fully populated across Google Workspace apps. Workspace admins can populate this data in a few locations: 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Click “Open Detailed View” while hovering over a user’s information card, or select the Contacts icon in the side panel. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google products side by side. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – September 21, 2021

New updates 


New look and feel for Workspace Updates email subscriptions 
Starting September 29, we're going to be improving the look and feel of the emails you receive when you subscribe to Workspace Updates. 
  • The emails themselves will be sent from [email protected], so be sure to update any inbox filters or labels you may have and check your spam folders if you don't immediately see them. 
  • Emails for the Workspace Updates Blog in non-English markets will update to this new format in the coming weeks. 
  • If you have any feedback about these emails after September 29th, please feel back to let us know in the linked form
Full rollout (1-3 days for availability). | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Workspace Updates Blog Email Subscription Feedback



Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.

Upgrade to the newest version of the Google Chat app
We’ve recently released a new version of this app. Users who are still on the older Chat PWA version and will see an in-app banner nudging them to upgrade by visiting chat.google.com. | Learn more.



Improved visibility in Google Meet on web
Google Meet on the web now automatically detects when a user appears underexposed and enhances the brightness to improve their visibility. | Learn more.



Control the ability to present to Google Meet from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides with a new Admin setting
Admins can turn the ability to present from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly to Google Meet on or off for their organization with a new setting. | Learn more.



One-click recommended actions in the Alert Center
In the Alert Center, Admins will see new one-click recommended actions for various alerts, which they can implement without leaving the Alert Center. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers. | Learn more.



Improved Search In Gmail on Android
You can now quickly and easily filter email and search results on Android mobile devices to find the one specific email or information you’re looking for with new search filters. | Learn more.



New graphs for metrics over time in Meet Quality Tool
We’ve added detailed metrics over time for endpoints in Meet Quality Tool, which will help admins perform more advanced troubleshooting. | Learn more.



Perform refined email searches with new rich filters in Gmail on web
When searching in Gmail on web, enhanced search chips will provide richer drop-down lists with more options that help you apply additional filters. | Learn more.



Easily chat with meeting participants from a Google Calendar event
Within the Calendar event on web or mobile, you’ll see a Chat icon next to the guest list — simply select this icon to create a group chat containing all event participants. | Learn more.



Ability to mute all Google Meet participants at once rolling out to mobile platforms
Earlier this year, we announced the ability for meeting hosts to mute everyone all at once in Google Meet on desktops/laptop devices. This feature has begun rolling out to iOS devices, with Android availability coming later this year. | Learn more.



For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Easily chat with meeting participants from a Google Calendar event

What’s changing 

We’re adding an option that makes it easy to chat with meeting attendees directly from Google Calendar. Within the Calendar event on web or mobile, you’ll see a Chat icon next to the guest list — simply select this icon to create a group chat containing all event participants. Please note: this only applies to participants within your organization, external attendees are not included in the chat group.This makes it simple to chat with guests before, during, or after any meeting. 

Chat with event attendees directly from the Calendar event on mobile devices

Chat with event attendees directly from the Calendar event on mobile devices


Chat with event attendees directly from the Calendar event on web

Chat with event attendees directly from the Calendar event on web


Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why you’d use it 

Previously, the main way to communicate with Calendar event attendees was via email. However, there are times when Chat may be preferred to email for communication. For example, sending a message that you’re running late, or sharing resources with attendees not long before the meeting starts. Now, the email and chat options are side by side on the calendar event. This can help you quickly choose whichever form of communication you prefer, and start conversations with just a few taps. When combined with Chat suggestions, it’s always easy to communicate with event participants via chat. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

On the web: 

On mobile: 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources

Material You, a new look and feel for Google Workspace apps, is rolling out now for Android

What’s changing

Beginning today, we’re rolling out Material You: a new design system for Google Workspace apps on Android devices. Material You features an updated, fresh look and feel for your apps, along with additional options for personalization. 

Some changes you’ll notice are:

  • updated navigation bars,
  • improved floating action buttons, and
  • use of Google Sans text for better readability in smaller font sizes



Who’s impacted

End users



Additional details

On Pixel devices with Android 12 or newer, you’ll have the option to match the colors of your apps to your device wallpaper for a more dynamic, personalized look.


To expand upon our existing accessibility support, Material You will automatically adjust contrast, size, and line width based on user preferences and app context. Pre-existing  color schemes, for example color-coded file types, folder colors, or for in-app warnings, will remain unchanged.



Availability across Google Workspace apps:

Gmail
These changes are available on Gmail version 2021.08.24 and newer.





Google Meet
These changes will be available on Meet version 2021.09.19 and newer starting September 19.




Google Drive
These changes are available on Drive version 2.21.330 and newer starting September 9.






Google Docs, Sheets, Slides
These changes are available on Docs, Sheets and Slides version 1.21.342 and newer starting September 1.




Google Calendar
These changes are available on Google Calendar version 2021.37 and newer starting September 20.



Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: On Android 12 and Pixel devices, you can view and select themes based on wallpaper colors applied by going to Settings > Wallpaper & style.

Rollout pace

  • Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility). 


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
  • Available to users with personal Google accounts


Better understand how you’re spending your time in Google Calendar

What’s changing

You can now use Time Insights in Calendar, a personalized, analytical experience on the web, to see how your time is spent across meetings and collaborators.
Time Insights in Google Calendar appearing on the right side of a week view
Time Insights experience for an example calendar week view




Please note, you can only view Time Insights on a computer.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

With the changes to our working environments in the past year, some people have more meetings and may feel less control over how their work time is spent. Time Insights can show you this data, and help you plan your time better.

Additional details

With Time Insights, you’ll see information such as:
  • Time breakdown: Based on your working hours and the types of meetings you have
  • Time in meetings: Highlighting meeting-heavy days and time frames, as well as meeting frequencies
  • People you meet with: Showing who you spend the most time meeting with. You can also pin key stakeholders to make sure you’re keeping in touch with them. Hovering over an individual will also highlight the meetings on your calendar that include that person
This information is visible to you, not your manager—so you can assess how you’re spending your time against your own priorities.

If you manage other people’s calendars and have “manage sharing access” permission to those calendars, you can view their Time Insights.

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled at the domain/OU level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Time Insights on or off for your organization. Please note, there is no admin control for Google Workspace Business Standard domains.
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature but users can close the right hand bar out of view at any time. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Time Insights in Calendar.

Rollout pace

Admin setting
End user feature

Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Nonprofits customers
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, and Frontline, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources