Tag Archives: Google Calendar

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – August 20, 2021

New updates 

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time (if not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.


Block shares option added to Google Drive sharing emails
Last month, we announced that you could now block shares from another user in Google Drive. es from another user in Google Drive. Now, we're also adding the option to block a user from the sharing notification emails sent from Google Drive. With this addition, you'll be able to start the workflow directly from the email. | Learn more. 


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.

View more insights and take quick action on the Users, Domain, and Billing home cards in the Admin console
You’ll notice important notifications and improved guidance within the cards to help you easily take action on user, billing, and domain management activities on the Admin console homepage. | Learn more. 


Upload customized audio prompts and greetings to Google Voice automated attendant
You can now upload your own pre-recorded prompts and greetings when setting up an automated attendant at Google Voice, in addition to the standard text-to-speech voice ability you currently have. | Available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers with Google Voice standard and premier licenses. | Learn more.


Easily customize theme colors in Sheets and Slides
Now it’s easier to find and select theme colors in Sheets and Slides. | Learn more.


Share where you’re working from in Google Calendar
Starting August 30, 2021, you’ll be able to indicate where you’re working from directly on your calendar. You can add a weekly working location routine and update your location as plans change. Starting August 18, admins will be able to control how the feature is used in their organization. | Learn more.


Limit external messaging to trusted domains in Google Chat
Now, you may choose to limit external chat to people in trusted domains for your entire organization, or set different policies for different OUs. | Learn more.


Dark mode for Google Chat on web
You can now enable dark mode for Google Chat on the web (chat.google.com) and the Google Chat Progressive Web App (PWA). | Learn more.


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

Share where you’re working from in Google Calendar

What’s changing

Starting August 30, 2021, you’ll be able to indicate where you’re working from directly on your calendar. You can add a weekly working location routine and update your location as plans change.
Settings in Calendar to select Working Locations based on days and times
Set where you're working in your Calendar settings


Calendar displaying a week with different working locations listed on the top of each day
Show your working location on your calendar


Starting August 18, admins will be able to control how the feature is used in their organization. Read more below.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

By showing others which days of the week you plan to be in the office, working from home, or working from another location, it’s easier to plan in-person collaboration or set expectations in a hybrid workplace.

Additional details

Anyone with free/busy access to your calendar can view your working locations. This can be turned off at any time in your calendar settings.

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled at the domain or OU level. If you’d like to disable this feature setting and prevent the onboarding promo from being shown automatically for your users, be sure to disable the setting in the Admin console before August 30, 2021. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning working location off for your organization.
  • End users: Unless disabled by your admin, this feature will be OFF by default. You’ll be shown an onboarding dialog with the option to enable the feature starting on August 30, 2021. The feature can be enabled with the initial onboarding dialog or in your Calendar settings.
An onboarding dialog popup to help walk you through setting up your working location
Onboarding dialog to set up your working location

Rollout pace

Admin setting
End user feature

Availability

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

Resources

 

Use Google Assistant on more devices

Quick launch summary 

You can now use Google Assistant with smart displays and speakers, such as the Nest Hub Max. We previously announced that access to Google Workspace services from Google Assistant is generally available on users’ personal devices. 

You can access Google Workspace services, such as Google Meet or Calendar, using the Google Assistant on more devices, such as the Nest Hub Max.



Admins will need to enable Search and Assistant for these devices in order to ensure users can access Google Workspace data through Assistant. If Admins allow for the home devices, they can also specify if the device will require Voice Match or Face Match to authenticate. 

Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Resources 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – July 9, 2021

New updates 

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time (if not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.

Add a background image to Google Keep notes on mobile
You can now customize your Google Keep notes on Android and iOS by choosing a background from a set of designer-created images — simply open a note, select the palette icon, and select a background. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Learn more.

Allow Users to receive shared calendars on mobile
Users can now share their calendar with another user on their mobile device without fear of spam attacks. Once a user shares a calendar with a recipient, the recipient receives an email notification with a link “Add this calendar.” The recipient must explicitly click on the link to add the calendar to their account. 


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.

Indicate whether you’ll join a meeting virtually or in person on Google Calendar
To make Google Calendar more flexible in the hybrid workplace, we're introducing new RSVP options for Calendar invitations. With this update, you can indicate how you plan to join a meeting - in the meeting room, or virtually. | Learn more.


Scheduled refresh improvements for Connected Sheets now generally available
Today, several improvements for scheduled refresh are now available: hourly refreshes, specific start dates, and frequency options such as every five days, every two months, etc. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers. | Learn more.


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


Indicate whether you’ll join a meeting virtually or in person on Google Calendar

Quick launch summary 

To make Google Calendar more flexible in the hybrid workplace, we're introducing new RSVP options for Calendar invitations. With this update, you can indicate how you plan to join a meeting - in the meeting room, or virtually. 


Then, both the organizer and guests will be able to see how attendees are planning to attend the meeting in the event detail. This will help meeting attendees know what to expect when joining a meeting, and prepare accordingly. 


Note that if you select the new RSVP options, the join method details (e.g. “joining virtually”) are not shared with contacts on other platforms, such as Microsoft Outlook. The new RSVP options will initially be available on Google Calendar, and will be coming to calendar invitations in Gmail soon. We’ll announce on the Workspace Updates blog when it’s available. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Important changes to how the Google Calendar API manages and limits queries

What’s changing 

There has been a change to how the Google Calendar API manages usage. Previously, Calendar API queries were monitored and limited daily. These queries are now monitored and limited on a per-minute basis. 

See below for more information. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins and developers 



Why it’s important 

This change introduces better behavior when a quota is exceeded, as requests will be rate-limited until the quota is available rather than falling all requests for the rest of the day. Additionally, this will help developers identify issues around quota enforcements faster. 

More information regarding your usage and quota limits can be found in the Google API console. 



Additional details 

To ensure you’re working efficiently with your quota, we recommend: 
  • Using push notifications instead of polling. 
  • Randomized timing to ensure user requests are spread out evenly, rather than bursts of requests. 
  • Using incremental synchronization with sync tokens for all collections instead of repeatedly retrieving all the entries. 
  • Increasing page size to retrieve more data at once by using the max results parameter. 
  • Updating events when they change to avoid recreating all the events on every sync. 
  • Using exponential backoff for error retries to make rate-limiting work properly. 



Getting started 

  • Admins and Developers: Use this guide to learn more about how to view your API usage and limits.
  • End users: There is no end user impact for this feature. 

Availability 

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

Resources 

More options to control which holidays show on your Calendar

Quick launch summary 

To provide more control over your calendar, we’re adding a new option to choose which holidays to display. Previously, we showed all holidays for regions you select, including official public holidays (such as thanksgiving in the US, or the summer bank holiday in the UK), as well as unofficial other holidays (such as Valentine's Day and Mother’s Day). Now, you can choose if you want to see: 
  • Public holidays and other holidays: Will continue to display all holidays, as it does today. 
  • Public holidays only: Will only show official public holidays for your region. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: This new option will be available to users by default. The default will remain to show all holidays, so there will be no change unless a user specifically changes it. 
  • End users: To manage holidays on your calendar, go to Google Calendar on the web and go to Settings > Add Calendar > Browse Calendars of Interest > Regional calendars, or on Mobile go to Settings > Holidays > Regional holidays. Use our Help Center to learn more about managing holidays in Google Calendar. 

Rollout pace 

Google Calendar on the web and Android 

Google Calendar in iOS 

Availability 

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

Resources 

More options to control which holidays show on your Calendar

Quick launch summary 

To provide more control over your calendar, we’re adding a new option to choose which holidays to display. Previously, we showed all holidays for regions you select, including official public holidays (such as thanksgiving in the US, or the summer bank holiday in the UK), as well as unofficial other holidays (such as Valentine's Day and Mother’s Day). Now, you can choose if you want to see: 
  • Public holidays and other holidays: Will continue to display all holidays, as it does today. 
  • Public holidays only: Will only show official public holidays for your region. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: This new option will be available to users by default. The default will remain to show all holidays, so there will be no change unless a user specifically changes it. 
  • End users: To manage holidays on your calendar, go to Google Calendar on the web and go to Settings > Add Calendar > Browse Calendars of Interest > Regional calendars, or on Mobile go to Settings > Holidays > Regional holidays. Use our Help Center to learn more about managing holidays in Google Calendar. 

Rollout pace 

Google Calendar on the web and Android 

Google Calendar in iOS 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Edit details in line with Google Tasks on the web

Quick launch summary 

You can now add additional information to your personal tasks without opening the “Details” dialog box. We hope this change makes it faster and easier for you to add descriptions, assign dates and times, and organize your tasks. 


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 editing tasks on the web. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Resources 

Use Google Maps in the quick access side panel

Quick launch summary 

You can now use Google Maps in the quick access side panel. This means you can use Google Maps to see and research place information on the same screen, which can make it easier to: 
  • See place details such as location, opening hours, and user reviews. 
  • Make sure you’re adding the correct location to a Calendar event. 
  • Get travel times and directions to plan ahead your trip to an upcoming event location. You can add trips to your Calendar to help arrive on time by knowing when to leave. Predicted traffic and transit at the future time of the event is used for a better estimate of travel time. 
The quick access side panel can already help you view your Calendar while in other Google Workspace apps, take notes, manage your tasks, and more. With Maps in the side panel, you’ll be able to see more information without switching contexts or using multiple tabs. This will make it easier to plan and participate in timely events. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: This feature will be on by default for all users with Calendar and Maps enabled. If Maps is disabled for a user, there will be no change to their experience and they will not see Maps in the side panel. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning services on or off for your users. 
  • End users: If your admin has enabled Maps for your domain, click on the location of any Calendar event to start using this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using the side panel. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources