Tag Archives: Google Chat

Updates regarding the transition from spaces organized by topic to in-line threading in Google Chat

What’s changing 

In 2022, we introduced in-line threading for Google Chat and since March 2023, all newly created spaces in Google Chat are in-line threaded by default. 


On September 30, 2023, we will begin taking the next step toward a single, streamlined flow of conversation in Google Chat: all existing spaces organized by conversation topic will be upgraded to the in-line threaded experience. We’d like to share more information regarding the migration, what to expect, as well as what’s next for Google Chat. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users


Why it’s important

Whether it’s a 1:1 conversation  or a space, Google Chat plays a critical role in collaborating and communicating. Our goal is to continue evolving Chat to best serve our users and keep teams productive and connected. 


As such, we’ve heard from our customers that the way conversations were structured in spaces could be improved. Specifically, users found topic-based conversations to be restrictive and tricky to navigate. With topic-based conversations users would struggle to keep track of individual topics as new replies were added, and often find themselves scrolling back through threads to locate relevant topics.. Over time, topic threads have become noisier and more complex for many users.


What became clear was the need for a continuous conversation flow. In-line threading allows users to reply to any message and create a discussion separate from the main conversation and users have reported a much higher satisfaction rate as compared to topic-based spaces. Users can also follow specific threads, whereby they’ll receive notifications for replies and @ mentions in that thread, helping to cut through clutter and stay on top of what matters most.


What to expect during the upgrade period

Beginning September 30, 2023 we will begin upgrading conversations grouped by topic to in-line threading. We anticipate this change to be completed by March 2024. 


In order to minimize disruptions on day-to-day work, we will do our best to initiate upgrades during off-peak times on weekends. Should you be using Chat during these upgrades, spaces that are being upgraded will be inaccessible for a few minutes. Admins can use this form to specify a specific month and whether they prefer the upgrade to take place on weekdays or weekends. Please note this will be on a best effort basis and this form must be submitted by October 15, 2023. Based on the preference selected by a customer, we’ll choose one of the upgrade windows on a weekday or a weekend in the selected month and upgrade all the eligible spaces during off-peak hours. 

Prior to the upgrade

A minimum of two weeks prior to the upgrade taking place, a banner will be displayed in impacted spaces notifying users about the impending change. Users will be able to click through to the Help Center for more information.


During the upgrade

As mentioned above, we plan to execute these changes during off-peak times to help minimize disruption. If you’re using an impacted space when the upgrade commences, most functions such as sending and receiving messages will be inaccessible. Typically, this will only last for a few minutes, after which users simply need to refresh the browser tab to access and use the newly upgraded space. Other direct messages, group conversations and in-line threaded spaces will not be impacted and will remain accessible during the upgrade



After the upgrade 

Once the upgrade is complete, the space will use the in-line threaded model. Messages sent before the upgrade will be retained, and will be arranged chronologically, instead of by topic. There will also be a separator titled “Begin New Topic” to indicate every time a new topic was started. 

In some cases, when people have responded on older topics, the new chronological order takes precedence. This means that messages may not appear next to the original topic, but rather according to their timestamp. When this occurs, the new response will quote the last corresponding message that it is replying to, as seen in the image below. 

You’ll also see a separator between the last message sent before the migration, and a message indicating that the space has been upgraded to a space with in-line replies. Going forward, all new messages will feature in-line threaded functionality. 


More new ways to work with threads

To further elevate the in-line threading experience, we’ll be introducing several new features during the remainder of the year and into 2024. Here’s a preview of some of those features — be sure to subscribe to the Workspace Updates blog for the latest updates on availability. Meanwhile, please refer to this post for even more features coming to Google Chat. 


Resizable threads panel

You’ll be able to easily resize the threads sidebar to best suit your screen size or increase the focus on threads most important to you.


Home shortcut 
“Home” is the place to manage and catch up on your Chat messages. Messages from your followed threads will be shown in Home. You can also filter to only see your followed threads and unread conversations. You’ll be able to open a conversation or reply from the Home view.

Select "Home" from the sidebar. 






You can choose to get notified for all messages, and automatically follow all threads within a space ensuring you don’t miss any updates.


Thread participants 
You will be able to see avatars of users that have replied to a thread to get better context and decide whether the thread is relevant to you.


Getting started


Availability

  • This update impacts all Google Workspace customers 

Resources




Easily add or remove groups of members to a space in Google Chat

What’s changing 

We’re introducing a new app for Google Chat called Bulk Member Manager that enables space managers and space members, who have permission to manage members, to easily add or remove members to or from a space in bulk. 

In addition to the new membership search feature and the ability to add up to 50,000 members to spaces in Google Chat, this update will help you better organize people, topics, and projects to help ensure effective conversations take place in spaces.
Easily add or remove groups of members to a space in Google Chat

Getting started 

  • Admins: Admins can enable or disable users from adding Chat apps to their spaces by going to the Admin console > Apps > Google Chat > Chat apps access settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about optimizing Chat spaces for your organization. 
  • End users: 
    • All space managers can add members using the Bulk Member Manager app. A space manager can grant permission for a space member to add other members by going to the space menu > Space settings > Access > selecting the All members option under Who can manage members and groups. If this is granted, a space member can use the Bulk Member Manager app to add members. 
    • To use Bulk Member Manager, open the space that you want to add or remove members to/from > add the app to the space > type one of the following slash commands: 
      • “/addDialog” to add members by copy/pasting email addresses. The app will guide you through the process of adding members. 
      • “/removeDialog” to remove members by copy/pasting email addresses. The app will guide you through the process of removing members. 
      • “/addCsv” (with a .csv attachment) to add members. 
      • “/removeCsv” (with a .csv attachment) to remove members 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about using the Bulk Member Manager app.

Rollout pace 

  • This feature is available now for all Google Workspace customers 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers 

Resources 

Easily link to a specific message in Google Chat

This announcement is part of Google Cloud Next ‘23. Visit the Workspace Blog to learn more about the new Google Chat. 

What’s changing

Building upon the recent updates in Google Chat, such as message views, in-line replies and larger spaces, we’re introducing message linking, an additional feature that helps teams collaborate more effectively. 


To generate links to messages easier so that others can reference a particular topic or announcement, we’ve added a “Copy link” option for all messages posted in spaces, group messages and direct messages. Once the link is sent and clicked by a colleague, they will be taken to the original message within Chat as long as they have access to the conversation or space.

Easily link to a specific message in Google Chat

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • To generate a link to a message, hover over the message and click the three-dot menu > select ‘Copy link” > paste the link within the conversation or space of your choice.
      • Users who don’t have access to a specific space will receive an error message upon clicking the link to a message in a space they do not belong to 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about linking to a specific message. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Additional space manager capabilities in Google Chat

What’s changing 

We’re adding two new controls to the list of space manager capabilities in Google Chat that were introduced earlier this year to ensure effective conversations take place in spaces. The new “Manage apps” and “Manage webhooks” options will allow space managers to control the ability of space members to add and remove apps and webhooks to a space. 
The new “Manage apps” and “Manage webhooks” options


We’re also making the following improvements to enhance the overall experience of spaces in Chat: 
  • An updated “@” mentions dialog notification that explains why a specific user or an app cannot be added to a space. 
An updated “@” mentions dialog notification

  • A new full screen view on web that shows space managers all installed apps and webhooks within a space. 
A new full screen view on web

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers 

Resources 

Differentiate messages better with additional modernizations in Google Chat

This announcement is part of Google Cloud Next ‘23. Visit the Workspace Blog to learn more about the new Google Chat. 

What’s changing

Earlier this year, we announced a modernized Google Chat based on Google’s Material Design 3 that included updates to the font, colors, layouts, panel sizing and more. Building upon this, we’re introducing message bubbles to enable users to more easily differentiate incoming versus outgoing messages in the Chat message stream. 

Currently, all messages in Chat are aligned the same regardless of the sender and displayed without any visual containers that separate messages into clear groups. With today’s update: 
  • Each incoming message will have an independent message bubble aligned to one side with a solid color background 
  • Each outgoing message will have an independent message bubble aligned to the other side with a different color background 
Differentiate messages better with additional modernizations in Google Chat

Getting started 

  • Admins and end users: No action required. You’ll automatically see these updates in your web and mobile experience over the next several weeks. 

Mobile - Each incoming message will have an independent message bubble aligned to one side with a solid color background Each outgoing message will have an independent message bubble aligned to the other side with a different color background

Rollout pace 

Web: 
Android: 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Add Google Groups to spaces in Google Chat

What’s changing

In continuing our efforts to improve spaces in Google Chat, we’re introducing the ability for space managers and users with the permission to manage members to add Google Groups to a space. With this update, the group members are automatically added to a space and any changes to the group's membership, such as adding and removing members, are also automatically reflected in the space. 
Add Google Groups to spaces in Google Chat

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why you’d use it 

This feature adds a Google Group to a space and continuously syncs membership from Groups to Chat, making membership management, especially adding or removing a large number of members, much easier. 

Additional details 

  • Memberships are updated from Groups to Chat, which means changes to the space membership will not be reflected in the group members list. 
  • Some groups and their members may not be visible to all members in the space as group member visibility in spaces will respect the group’s member visibility settings set in Google Groups. 
  • Group members can be promoted to space managers. Visit the Help Center to learn more about making someone a space manager. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: 
    • By default, any space manager or user with permission to manage members can add groups to space. 
    • To limit this feature so that only Google Group owners and managers can add groups to spaces, sign into the Admin console > go to Menu > Apps > Google Workspace > Google Chat > select “Groups in Chat” > Choose who can add groups to spaces > click Save. Visit the Help Center to learn more about restricting who can add Google Groups to spaces. 
  • End users: 
    • If you are a space manager or have permission to manage members, you can add the Google Group as a member by selecting the space > going to space settings > click Manage members > select the “+ Add” button > enter the name of the group you want to add > click Add. 
    • If you are unable to add a group to a space, it is likely that your admin has restricted the ability to add a group to the Group owners and managers. Reach out to the Google Group owners and managers to add the group. 
    • Google Groups can also be added when creating a new space. Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating spaces. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding a group to a space, removing a group from a space, viewing groups in a space and more. 
  • Developers: For developers who are registered in the Workspace Developer Preview program, you will be able to modify your Chat App to also list Google Groups added to spaces using the Chat API. 

Rollout pace 

Admin controls: 
Add Groups to spaces: 

Availability 

Resources 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – September 8, 2023

5 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.


Expanding autocorrect to Google Chat on web 
Google Chat on web will now automatically correct misspelled words, making it easier to send messages without typos. Similar to functionality in Gmail and Google Docs, the corrected words are shown with a gray underline so you know when the auto-correction has occurred. | This feature is rolling out now to all English users.
Expanding autocorrect to Google Chat on web

Expanding streamlined file organization across Google Workspace 
Earlier this year, we introduced streamlined file organization with the new Google Drive location picker. As a follow up, we're expanding this updated visual experience to Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Sites and Gmail. Users will now have access to helpful suggestions when moving files, adding shortcuts to files, or creating copies of files. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains at an extended pace (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility). | Learn more about how to use Google Drive. 

Updated zoom in/out capabilities across Google Docs, Slides and Drawings
We’re introducing new zoom keyboard shortcuts in Google Docs and Slides on web to help you zoom in, zoom out, or scale to 100%. Additionally, you can now smoothly zoom in or out in Slides using the trackpad or mouse wheel with a modifier key (cmd/ctrl), making it easier to control your view of Slides. | Learn more about keyboard shortcuts for Docs and Slides. 

Expanded language support for captions in Google Meet 
Captions in Google Meet allow you to view captions as everyone speaks during a meeting. Over the course of the next several weeks, you’ll be able to use captions in more languages: 

Arabic (Arab Emirates) (Beta)

Arabic (Egypt) (Beta)

Arabic (Levant) (Beta)

Arabic (Maghrebi) (Beta)

Bengali (Bangladesh) (Beta)

Bulgarian (Bulgaria) (Beta)

Chinese (Simplified) (Beta)

Chinese, Mandarin (Traditional) (Beta)

English (UK) (Beta)

Gujarati (India) (Beta)

Hindi (Beta)

isiXhosa (South Africa) (Beta)

Kannada (India) (Beta)

Khmer (Cambodia) (Beta)

Kinyarwanda (Rwanda) (Beta)

Malayalam (India) (Beta)

Marathi (India) (Beta)

Northern Sotho (South Africa) (Beta)

Sesotho (South Africa) (Beta)

Swati (South Africa) (Beta)

Swedish (Sweden) (Beta)

Tshivenda (South Africa) (Beta)

Tswana (South Africa) (Beta)

Xitsonga (South Africa) (Beta)

Available now to all Google Workspace customers. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using captions in Google Meet.

Dynamic groups now supports negation queries 
You can now create or edit dynamic groups to use negation in membership queries. For example, you can opt to create a dynamic group that excludes all users from a particular sub organization or specific job title. There are a few limitations, however — any query using the “exists” macro and using the AND (&) operator or queries where the NOT operator is used inside of the “exists” macro will not be supported. | Rolling out to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains at gradual pace (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting September 11, 2023. | Available to Google Workspace Frontline Standard, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus and Cloud Identity Premium customers only. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating membership queries for dynamic groups and our Developer documentation for more information about formulating and testing a membership query. 
Dynamic groups now supports negation queries

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.


Expanding branding and customization capabilities to Google Sites 
You can now easily and quickly create with high-quality, pre-designed themes for Google Sites. | Available to Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus only. | Learn more about changing how your Google Site looks. 

Introducing a new ultra-low latency viewer experience for in-domain live streaming in Google Meet 
We are introducing a new ultra-low latency viewing experience for video meetings that are streamed within an organization. The new experience will be available to the first ten thousand viewers — all additional viewers will have the existing experience. | Learn more about in-domain live streaming in Google Meet. 

More Google Meet features for Google Workspace Individual users 
If you’re a Google Workspace Individual user, you can now take advantage of several new Meet features and enhancements. We hope these updates make it easier for you to connect and collaborate with your customers and stakeholders, continuing to drive your business forward. | Learn more about features for Google Workspace Individual users. 

Lock files more easily in Google Drive 
We’re adding the option to lock Drive files by right-clicking the file, selecting “File information”, and clicking “Lock”. Locking a file makes sure reviewers can’t change a file. Edits, comments and suggestions can't be added to locked documents. | Learn more about locking files in Drive.

Increased row limits in Connected Sheets for BigQuery 
We’re increasing the maximum number of rows of results returned from BigQuery for pivot tables and for data extracts. Pivot tables have been expanded to 50,000 rows (previously 30,000) and data extracts have been expanded to 50,000 rows (previously 25,000). | Learn more about Connected Sheets for BigQuery.


Evolving collaboration in Google Chat with smart chips

This announcement is part of Google Cloud Next ‘23. Visit the Workspace Blog to learn more about the new Google Chat. 

What’s changing

In 2021, we launched smart canvas to drive the next era of collaboration in Google Workspace. Since then, we’ve added numerous smart chips to Google Docs and Sheets that enable you to preview and access rich, context-setting information and files within your documents and spreadsheets. Today, we’re excited to announce smart chips in Google Chat on web. 


When composing a message in Chat, typing “@” will now display a list of suggestions for files to include as smart chips. You can search files by typing the name of the file, and the results will be based on files you’ve used most recently. Once a file is selected, you can insert it directly into your message. 
Evolving collaboration in Google Chat with smart chips

Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

Many people take a number of collaborative actions in Chat so they can get work done faster. For example, you may share project files in a direct message or space to gather quick feedback from stakeholders. 


This feature reduces friction for senders by eliminating the need to separately find files within Drive and then copy/paste them into a Chat message. Now, users can send files as smart chips so they are compact and readable in a message, without leaving Chat. 


Additional details 

An in-line preview of the file chip will be shown while composing the message, similar to when pasting the URL of the file into Chat. This can be removed by clicking on the dismiss button before sending the message or at any point when editing the message. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: In Google Chat on web, type “@” followed by a file name to search for a file and insert it directly into a message. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending & sharing files in Google Chat. 
    • Note: Mobile users can receive and click on smart chips, but cannot insert them on the Chat mobile app at this time. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Resources 

Interoperability between Google Chat and other messaging platforms — powered by Mio

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘23. Visit the Workspace Blog to learn more about the next wave of AI innovation in Workspace. 

What’s changing 

If your organization uses a mixture of messaging tools, you can now use Mio to enable messaging interoperability between Google Chat and other platforms such as Slack and Teams. This is available now in beta, with general availability expected in early 2024. 




Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it matters 

We know that communication and collaboration happens over multiple channels and tools. This can cause missed messages, silos of communication, and a frustrating experience monitoring multiple chat tools. 


That’s why we’re partnering with Mio, a leading provider of collaborative interoperability solutions helping customers enhance their productivity by streamlining communication across multiple channels. You can leverage Mio to create a seamless experience between Chat and the various tools you need to get your work done. 


Getting started 



Availability 

Note: In order to leverage Mio’s interoperability capabilities, Mio licenses are required. 
  • Beta Availability: To request beta access, reach out to your account rep or submit this form to contact Mio. 
  • General Availability: Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – August 25, 2023

2 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.


Copy space member email address in Google Chat 
Space managers and members can now copy the email addresses of members in a space on Google Chat. This option is ON by default for spaces with 100 members or less. The option to copy space member email addresses will be disabled in spaces with 100+ members. 
Copy space member email address in Google Chat

Filter by expression for Connected Sheets for Looker 
You can now use common filter expressions from Looker such as “last 30 days”, “last quarter”, or “NOT 50” to filter on pivot tables in Connected Sheets for Looker. | Learn more about Connected Sheets. 


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 speaker notes while co-presenting Google Slides in Google Meet
Co-presenters are now also able to view speaker notes. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade, and Workspace Individual customers only. | Learn more about viewing speaker notes while co-presenting Google Slides in Google Meet. 

Stronger protection for additional sensitive actions taken in Gmail 
Last year, we introduced stronger safeguards around sensitive actions taken in your Google Workspace accounts. We’re extending these protections to sensitive actions taken in Gmail. | Learn more about stronger protection in Gmail. 

See message view counts in Google Chat spaces 
Space members can now see view counts for messages in all spaces. | Learn more about view counts in Google Chat spaces. 

View & compare script versions with Apps Script project history 
We're announcing project history, a new interface for developers to view previously deployed script versions and compare versions to the current script version. | Learn more about Apps Script project history. 

Displaying Microsoft Outlook users as organizers in Google Calendar 
Microsoft Outlook user who organize meetings are now listed amongst the other meeting attendees in Calendar as the meeting organizer. | Learn more Microsoft Outlook organizers in Google Calendar. 

Introducing Workday app for Google Chat 
We’re adding a new Workday app for Google Chat that allows you to perform quick actions in Workday, such as requesting time off, filing expense reports and looking up colleague's information, all without leaving Google Chat. | Learn more about the Workday app for Google Chat.

Join client-side encrypted meetings from your mobile device 
You can join a client-side encrypted meeting directly from the Google Meet and Calendar apps. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers hosting client-side encrypted calls only. | Learn more about client-side encrypted meetings from your mobile device. 

Third-party app access enhancements for Google Workspace for Education 
All Google Workspace for Education Admins must review and confirm access settings for third-party configured apps that are currently accessible to your users by Oct 23, 2023 in order for users designated as under 18 to maintain access to those third-party apps. | Available to Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade only. | Learn more about third-party app access. 

Enhance your Google Keep notes on Android with rich text formatting 
We’re adding rich text formatting options to new notes on Keep. This highly requested feature enables you to customize and add emphasis to your text through bolding, underlining, italicizing, and heading styles. | Learn more about rich text formatting on the Keep app.


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:

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