Tag Archives: Google Calendar

Set client-side encryption as the default mode for new emails, events, and files on mobile

What’s changing 

Admins can now set client-side encryption (CSE) to be on by default on Android and iOS for: 
  • Newly drafted Gmail messages and replies 
  • Newly created Google Calendar events 
  • Newly uploaded Google Drive files

Client-side encryption in Gmail


Admins can now set client-side encryption as the default mode for users on both web and mobile that regularly handle sensitive data. This allows organizations the flexibility to meet their compliance and regulatory requirements and reduce the burden on change management programs. Each new email, event and uploaded file on mobile is automatically client-side encrypted with customer managed keys meaning the user is compliant with their org’s policy from the outset. For organizations with strict regulatory or sovereignty requirements, this can help them close compliance gaps by defaulting users to the preferred mode for handling sensitive data while on the go. 

For more information, check out our original announcement.

Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Google Workspace Assured Controls is available as an add-on to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. For more information, contact your Google account representative.

Resources


Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – February 2, 2024

3 New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if 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.


New ways to work with filters in Connected Sheets for Looker and Connected Sheets for BigQuery 
  • With Looker: Connected Sheets for Looker users will now be able to see whether Looker-defined filters, always_filters and conditionally_filters, are applied in their Google Sheets. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains now. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about always_filter and conditionally_filter in Looker. 
  • With BigQuery: Connected Sheets for BigQuery users can now right-click any value in the Connected Sheets preview and filter rows in the preview on that specific value. As a result, a new query will be sent to BigQuery to re-fetch the preview. This new option provides an additional way to easily explore data in the Connected Sheets preview for BigQuery. | This is now available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about sorting & filtering BigQuery data in Google Sheets.

Latest improvement for page setup in Google Docs 
We’re introducing a new menu item within the Format option that enables you to easily switch between pageless and pages mode in Google Docs. | Rollout to Rapid Release domains is complete; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for February 5, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about changing a document’s page setup. 
Latest improvement for page setup in Google Docs


Developers can now choose which calendar events to be notified about 
Developers using the Calendar API can now subscribe to specific changes in users’ calendars — this includes event types such as working location, out-of-office, or focus time. This update reduces the amount of notifications down to those that are most relevant to the developer. | Use our Developer Documentation for more information about subscribing to alerts for specific calendar event changes. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains. | The Calendar API is available to all Google Workspace customers, however Calendar features may vary across Google Workspace editions.



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.


For Google Meet Hardware, ‘Auto-Update Expiration (AUE)’ will now be referred to as 'end of Meet support' 
We’re making changes to the terminology that refers to when a Meet hardware device is no longer supported. | This update impacts all Google Workspace customers with Meet hardware devices. | Learn more about 'end of Meet support'.

Local data storage exports your organization's Workspace data into the geographic location of your choice, launching in beta 
We’re introducing Google Workspace’s new feature, local data storage. This feature allows admins to export their organization’s Workspace data into the geographic location or locations of their choice. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers with Assured Controls add-on only. | Learn more about the local data storage exports beta.

Improving the Google Calendar appointment scheduling experience with new features 
We’re improving upon the current appointment scheduling experience with four new features. | Co-hosts, secondary calendars and delegate access features are available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits only. Check Calendars for availability feature is available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts only. | Learn more about the appointment scheduling features. 

Shareable class templates and classwork in Google Classroom are now generally available 
Last year, we announced a Google Classroom beta that simplifies lesson planning with shareable class templates and classwork. We’re excited to announce that this is now globally available for Google Workspace for Education Plus customers in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese. | Available to Education Plus only. | Learn more about shareable class materials. 

Pin chat messages in Google Meet 
You can now pin messages to the top of the meeting chat. Pinned messages will appear for all users, even if they join the meeting after the message was initially sent. | Learn more about messaging pinning.


Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog posts for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains: 

Scheduled Release Domains: 
Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 

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

Improving the Google Calendar appointment scheduling experience with new features

What’s changing

Last year, we introduced new appointment scheduling features to help you set more relevant meeting durations and tailor your calendar view to match your preferences. In our effort to further improve upon the current appointment scheduling experience, we’re adding the options to: 
  • Add up to 20 co-hosts to your appointment schedule during the setup process so you can host appointments with others. 
Add up to 20 co-hosts to your appointment schedule
  • Create appointment schedules on secondary calendars. Prior to this update, you could only create appointment schedules on your own primary calendar. Now, you can create the schedule and receive booked events on secondary calendars as well. This can be particularly useful when multiple users, such as a team, need access to the same set of office hours. Everyone with permission to use the secondary calendar can make changes to the schedule and view incoming bookings. The appointment schedule can check the secondary calendar for availability, but cannot check the availability of all users with access to the secondary calendar. 
Create appointment schedules on secondary calendars

  • Expand the delegate access functionality to appointment scheduling. Currently, delegate access enables you to let someone else, such as an administrative assistant, access your Google Workspace account to send mail or manage calendar invitations and events on your behalf. Now, the person with delegate access can edit or delete your appointment schedules on your primary calendar. 
  • Select “Check calendars for availability”, which enables you to decide whether or not you want to check the availability of calendars added to the appointment schedule. Unchecking this setting means even if there is a conflict on one of the calendars, users will still be able to book that time. This may be useful if you want to prioritize incoming bookings over existing meetings. 

Select “Check calendars for availability”, which enables you to decide whether or not you want to check the availability of calendars added to the appointment schedule.
Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • You cannot add groups or users outside of your domain as a co-host.
    • Co-hosts are not able to see appointment schedule details or make changes. However, if the schedule was created on a shared calendar, the co-host will have access to see details or make changes.
    • Bookings will be visible on the host and any additional co-hosts’ primary calendars.
    • The “Check calendars for availability” feature will be ON by default and can be disabled by unselecting the “Check calendars for availability” box in the appointment schedule editor. 
      • Co-hosts calendars are not automatically checked for availability. You can select your co-host's calendar in the "Check calendars for availability" section to have their availability considered (as long as you are subscribed to that calendar).
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating an appointment schedule and customizing your appointment availability.

Rollout pace 

Availability

Co-hosts, secondary calendars and delegate access: 
  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits 
Check Calendars for availability: 
  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 

Resources 


Set client-side encryption as the default mode for new emails, events, and files

What’s changing

Admins can now set client-side encryption (CSE) to be on by default for:

  • Newly created Gmail messages, Google Calendar events. 
  • Newly created Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files.
  • Newly uploaded Google Drive files.

Admins can set client-side encryption as default on for users in Organizational Units (OUs) that regularly handle sensitive data requiring additional encryption. This allows organizations the flexibility to meet their compliance and regulatory requirements and reduce the burden on change management programs. Users are prompted to create a CSE object natively in each app meaning their emails, events and files are encrypted by default with customer-managed keys and are private from Google. For organizations with strict regulatory or sovereignty needs, this can help them close compliance gaps by defaulting users to the preferred mode for handling sensitive data.  

Drive:


Gmail:

This is available on the web initially, with support coming for mobile apps in the future. 

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users


Why it matters

This feature is important for Google Workspace admins as it improves users compliance behavior without sacrificing productivity and increases control for admins implementing data control policies. It also includes improved audit logs, providing more detail for admins compiling regulatory compliance reports.

Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt data by default, at rest and in transit between our facilities. Client-side encryption goes beyond this, giving organizations authoritative control and privacy as the sole owner of private encryption keys and the identity provider of the encryption keys. It gives organizations higher confidence that any third party, including Google and foreign governments, cannot access their confidential data. Users can continue to collaborate across their preferred apps in Workspace while IT and compliance teams can ensure that sensitive data stays compliant with regulations. 


Getting started

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Google Workspace Assured Controls is available as an add-on to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. For more information, contact your Google account representative.

Resources


Google Vault now supports Google Calendar

What’s changing 

Google Vault now supports Calendar, which means customers can take the following actions around Calendar data: 
  • Manage retention with default and custom rules. 
  • Search and preview events with a number of filters, such as keyword search across description, title, guests, locations and invite response status which can be used to quickly refine your search. 
  • Search for historical versions of events, which allows Vault Admins to search and export events as they appeared on a specific date. 
  • Export data in multiple formats, including ICS, PST (MSFT format) and CSE-decryptable formats. 
  • Apply holds to prevent purging of data which must be retained for legal purposes.


Selecting Calendar as a service from the Vault user interface

Who’s impacted

Admins


Why it matters

Vault is an information governance and eDiscovery tool for Google Workspace. Now customers’ Calendar events can be retained, held, searched, and exported. This integration makes it easier for customers to comply with regional and legal mandates surrounding Calendar data, all from a central tool. 


Vault’s integration with Calendar rounds out support for critical Workspace apps such as Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat and Meet, providing customers with a consistent experience across all products that are managed within Vault.


Getting started


Rollout pace


  • Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 29, 2023.
  • Updates for the API rollout will immediately follow the Vault user interface updates.

Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers or customers with the Vault add-on license.

Resources


Read and write out of office and focus time events using the Calendar API

What’s changing 

In addition to reading and writing working location data, we’re expanding the Calendar API functionality to encompass out of office and focus time data. Developers can use the API to read and write this information and synchronize users’ availability with external systems. For example, you can use the API in conjunction with HR systems to automatically add OOO entries to a user’s calendar when they submit vacation time. Or the API can be used to automatically block focus time on a user’s calendar to complete training courses. 

  • Reading and writing out of office and focus time is helpful in a variety of situations such as: 
  • Creating and updating OOO and Focus Time events (Events.Insert, Events.Update, Events.Patch). 
  • Specifying OOO and Focus Time specific features, such as auto-declining meetings, and setting do-not-disturb statuses. 
  • Selecting any combination of event types to read from a calendar (Events.List). 

Further, reading and writing this information eliminates the need for users to enter the same information into multiple systems, helping to cut down on manual churn.


Who’s impacted

Developers


Why you’d use it

Out of office and focus time event support joins support for working location, which was announced earlier this year, to round out API functionality for calendar events. Each specific event type can be synced throughout your organization's IT ecosystem, creating seamless user journeys and helping to connect users with resources and each other. This includes things such as:


  • Mapping working location data to better adapt on-site resources and update other third-party surfaces, such as hot desk booking tools. 
  • Automatically blocking OOO based on vacation or PTO requests.
  • Blocking off focus time events to give users time to go through onboarding or other company training programs.


Additional details

Prior to this update, if you requested to read a user’s calendar via API v3, out of office and focus time events were returned with [email protected] in the organizer field, and without their specific features. With this update, these events will return with all their properties and the specific user as organizer. Please check your code to ensure it does not make implicit assumptions about the previous API return values, and use the eventType parameter to perform different operations with regular, OOO, Focus Time, or Working Location events 


Getting started


Rollout pace

Availability

  • The Calendar API is available to all. 

  • Out of Office events are available to Google Workspace Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Frontline, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Nonprofits, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers.

  • Focus Time events are available to Google Workspace Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Nonprofits, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers.

Resources


View full screen tasks lists on Google Calendar

What’s changing 

We recently completed the migration of Reminders from Google Calendar and Google Assistant to Google Tasks in order to provide an easy way to view and manage all your to-dos in one place. To build upon this, we’re providing you with a full screen desktop experience to view all tasks together. Starting today, you will be able to see all your tasks and task lists in a single full screen view on Calendar web.
View full screen tasks lists on Google Calendar


Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it matters 

In addition to an optimized desktop layout, this update makes it easier for you to stay on top of and organize your tasks. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: To view full screen tasks on Calendar web, go to Calendar.google.com > click on the task icon in the top bar. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Tasks. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Improvements for scheduling large scale meetings on the web

What’s changing 

We’re making several changes which will make scheduling large scale meetings (up to 100k guests per event) easier and guide schedulers through the process with more context. Once you’ve created and saved a Calendar event which contains a large group of attendees, you can open the event to check on the invitation progress. As groups are successfully added, they will appear in the guest list and you will see an “invitation in progress” message as invitations are being sent.

Note the “invitation in progress” message as invitations are being sent.

As groups are successfully added, they will appear in the guest list



You’ll see these updates when using Calendar on the web and as such we recommend using Calendar on the web to schedule larger events.




Who’s impacted

End users



Why it’s important

Coordinating events with a large number of attendees can be complex — including ensuring that all attendees have been successfully invited. We've introduced these updates to help you more confidently schedule large group events. Specifically, you will now have clarity whether the event was successfully saved and invitations sent to all participants, or still in progress. If the scheduling fails, you’ll be informed of the exact status including who has been invited and who has not, to make it easy for you to fix the issue. We hope this improved experience helps you confidently schedule larger meetings, like all-hands meetings or town halls. 



Additional details

If there’s a problem inviting guests, you’ll see an error message when you open the Calendar event, as well as a notification via email. In both cases, we’ll share more context regarding the error and how to fix it. For example, we’ll let you know if you’ve exceeded the Calendar event limit of 100k guests and recommend that you add smaller groups or duplicate the event to accommodate more attendees.



Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin impact or action required for this update.
  • End users: You’ll notice these improvements automatically. Visit the Help Center to learn more about inviting groups to calendar events.

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 10, 2023
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 20, 2023


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers

Resources



A more consistent experience for the guest list in Google Calendar

What’s changing 

We’re updating the way meeting attendees names are displayed in Calendar invites and invite updates sent via email. Currently, you may notice only email addresses or in some cases, a mix of email addresses and names within a calendar invite. Going forward, you’ll see more names included in the calendar invite, including the names of those in your organization, and those guests whom you have interacted with previously.

Before

After




Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources





New Google Calendar appointment scheduling features

What’s changing

Appointment scheduling allows you to manage your availability and let customers and partners book time with you directly within Google Calendar via a personal booking page. To improve upon the current experience, we’re adding: 

  • Five to fourteen minute appointment slots that are customizable. Previously, the minimum duration was fifteen minutes. 
    Five to fourteen minute appointment slots that are customizable.

  • The option to hide or show Appointment schedules within the Calendar view on web. 
The option to hide or show Appointment schedules within the Calendar view on web.


We hope these highly requested features help you to set more relevant meeting durations and tailor your Calendar view to match your preferences. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • To set up your appointment schedule, open Calendar > at the top left, click Create > select Appointment schedule > Set up the schedule. 
    • To customize appointment slot durations, create or edit an Appointment Schedule. Under Appointment duration, select the dropdown > click Custom > Enter a duration. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting your appointment duration. 
    • Appointment schedules will show by default. To hide Appointment schedules, go to the View Switcher and deselect Show appointment schedules. Visit the Help center to learn more about creating an appointment schedule. 
      • Note: if Appointment schedules are hidden and you create a schedule or add time to an existing schedule, appointment schedules will reappear in your Calendar view.

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, Workspace individual subscribers, and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources