Tag Archives: Google Chat

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – July 23, 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.

Gmail now displays the latest emojis
Now you can see all the latest emojis in Gmail, with emojis now rendered in the latest Unicode standard 13.1.

Improved Tabular Data Handling for Gmail DLP
We are improving the way we handle Tabular data files like .csv or .xlsx to best account for the structure of these files. This will result in more accurate content scans. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise, Education Fundamentals, Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Plus customers. | 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.

Updates to Google Workspace Public Status Dashboard and service status alerts
We're introducing a new Public Status Dashboard experience for Google Workspace. As part of this update, we’re enhancing the functionality of the existing Apps outage alert system-defined rule, which provides email notifications regarding service disruptions or outages via the Public Status Dashboard. | Learn more.


Hangouts to Google Chat upgrade beginning August 16th, with option to opt-out
Beginning August 16, 2021, we will start upgrading users who have the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting selected to “Chat preferred,” unless you explicitly opt out. Additionally, the “Chat and classic Hangouts'' setting will also be removed for all users in your domain unless you opt out of the upgrade. | Learn more.


Fundamental data regions now available to more Google Workspace customers
Data regions give you the ability to choose where covered data for select Google Workspace apps is stored at rest. We’re introducing a more limited version of data regions, known as Fundamental data regions, which will be available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Business Plus, Business Standard and Frontline customers. | Learn more.


Bulk convert Classic Sites to new Sites using the Classic Sites Manager
Beginning today, you can now bulk convert Classic Sites to new Sites using the Classic Sites Manager. | Learn more.


Block shares from another user in Google Drive
We’re adding the ability to block another user in Google Drive. If blocked, the user will not be able to share any Drive items with you, and items owned by the user will not be able to be shared with you or be shown when you’re browsing Google Drive. In addition, your files will not be available to the user you’ve blocked, even if you’ve previously shared items with them.  | Learn more.



Select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection
Now you can select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection (such as moving the tabs together, deleting, duplicating, copying, coloring, or hiding). | Learn more.



Image placeholders make it easy to work as a team with images in Slides themes and layouts
Now when you create a theme in Slides, you can add image placeholders to your layouts. | Learn more. 



Easily collaborate and share Slide presentations with side-by-side viewing in Google Chat
In Google Chat, you can now open and edit a Slide presentation in a side-by-side view. | Learn more. 



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

Easily collaborate and share Slide presentations with side-by-side viewing in Google Chat

Quick launch summary

In Google Chat, you can now open and edit a Slide presentation in a side-by-side view. By enabling you and your collaborators to directly edit presentations without leaving Chat, we hope to make it easier to transform your ideas into impact.


Image of how Chat users can open a Slide presentation by clicking on the preview thumbnail image in the chat stream.

Chat users can open a Slide presentation by clicking on the preview thumbnail image in the chat stream.

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: Use this feature by clicking on the document preview thumbnail image in the chat stream. To open the presentation directly in Google Slides, click on the blue link in the chat conversation. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to Manage your files in Gmail rooms.

Rollout pace


Availability


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

Resources

Hangouts to Google Chat upgrade beginning August 16th, with option to opt-out

What’s changing 

Beginning August 16, 2021, we will start upgrading users who have the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting selected to “Chat preferred,” unless you explicitly opt out. Users who already have “Chat only”, “Chat preferred”, or “Classic Only” selected, or users with both services turned off will not be affected. 


Additionally, the “Chat and classic Hangouts'' setting will also be removed for all users in your domain unless you opt out of the upgrade. 


If there are affected users in your domain, you will receive an email notification that contains more information and any necessary action that needs to be taken.


Who’s impacted

Admins and end users


Why it’s important

Unless you opt-out, Google Chat will replace classic Hangouts as the default chat application for your affected users. 


Beginning late 2021, classic Hangouts will no longer be supported and all remaining users will be migrated to Google Chat. Learn more about the Google Chat upgrade timeline.



Getting started


If you don’t take any action, all users in your organization who have the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting selected will be automatically upgraded to “Chat preferred” and the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting will no longer be accessible. We anticipate this migration to take around  two weeks.


No action is required if there are no users in your domain with the “Chat and classic Hangouts” service setting selected.


Additional details

The “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting will be removed from the Admin Console regardless of your selected setting, unless you opt out.  


Conversation History: With the exception of a few special cases, messages sent in classic Hangouts 1:1 and group conversations will be available in Chat. Learn more about Chat and classic Hangouts interoperability.


Direct calling: Chat doesn’t yet support direct calling in the same way as classic Hangouts. We anticipate direct calling to become available for Google Chat later this year — we will provide an update here when that feature becomes available. 


Slash commands and dialogs now available for Google Chat bots

Quick launch summary

Google Chat bots can be a great way to help users streamline workflows, accomplish tasks, and get information and notifications in real time, without switching contexts away from Chat. We’re adding two new Chat bot features that make it easier to find and use Chat bots:
  • Slash Commands for Google Chat bots: Slash commands enable users to simply type “/” in the message line to reveal a list of functions offered by available bots. This makes it much easier to discover and use Chat bot functions that are available to you.
  • Dialogs for Google Chat bots: Dialogs allow developers to build user interfaces to create visual interfaces to gather inputs from users in a structured format. By guiding users to enter information in the right format, developers can be more confident of getting the specific data in the right formats to make their bots as useful as possible.




Slash commands make it easier to discover Chat bot functions



Dialogs help users input structured information to make Chat bots more useful




Getting started


Rollout pace

  • Available now for all users.

Availability


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

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – July 2, 2021

New updates 

Spelling autocorrect is now available when you write comments in Sheets, Slides, and Drawings 
Autocorrect helps you compose documents quickly and with confidence. Misspelled words will automatically be corrected while typing and denoted with a grey dashed underline. This feature is already available in Docs.


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. 


Google Chat will automatically suggest group chats based on your Google Calendar 
We previously announced that Google Chat will automatically suggest 1:1 chats based on your meetings in Google Calendar. Now, you’ll also get suggestions for group chats when you’re meeting with multiple people. | Learn more. 



Expanding Google Meet visual refresh to Meet hardware portfolio 
We’re expanding the rollout of the refreshed Google Meet web experience to Meet hardware devices. Users joining Meet calls with a Chromebase for meetings all-in-one touchscreen device will notice improvements for video feeds, the viewing and presenting experience, and the bottom bar. | Learn more. 



Admins can view more information about apps in the Google Workspace Marketplace before deploying to their users 
In the Google Workspace Marketplace, you’ll now see more information about apps available in the Marketplace. Specifically, you’ll see the following information regarding the app developer, their privacy policy, terms of service, app permissions, and more. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers only. | Learn more. 



Enhancing live streams in Google Meet with captions and cross-domain live streams 
We’re improving live streams for Google Meet with two new features: cross-domain livestreams and captions in live streams.| Available to Google Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more.



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

Google Chat will automatically suggest group chats based on your Google Calendar

Quick launch summary

We previously announced that Google Chat will automatically suggest 1:1 chats based on your meetings in Google Calendar. Now, you’ll also get suggestions for group chats when you’re meeting with multiple people. We hope that expanding this feature will further enable you to share information and files, and facilitate communication across Calendar meetings and in Chat.

As with the 1:1 chat suggestions, you’ll see the suggested conversation shortcut at the top of the “Chat” section in Google Chat and ‘Chat in Gmail’ on both mobile and web. The chat will be visible ten minutes prior to the 1:1 meeting and ten minutes after the meeting ends.




Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be ON by default, 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 sending a chat message to a person or group.

Rollout pace


Availability

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

Resources

New and improved Google Chat user interface, now for everyone

Quick launch summary 

In March 2021, we announced several enhancements to Google Chat on the web (i.e. chat.google.com) and the Chat Progressive Web Application (PWA). At that time, these changes were only launched for domains with the Gmail service turned on. 


Beginning June 30, 2021, these changes will roll out to domains with the Gmail service turned off as well. The new interface gives users a consistent and predictable Chat experience across Chat in Gmail and Chat standalone surfaces. It also includes new integrations to help productivity — see the original announcement for more information. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: These changes will take place automatically at chat.google.com and in the Chat progressive web app. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

Improved search in Google Chat

Quick Summary 

You can now search Google Chat content faster by quickly editing down your search results using interactive filters on mobile. These filters help you find artifacts like files and links more easily. 

You can try searching for a keyword that you remember from a message or use a filter to look at all the files within a specific chat. Additionally, we have also refreshed our visual interface to provide a more balanced view of search results and results will now also include the content of the messages, making it even easier to find the exact content you’re looking for. 

Filter using different search chips in Chat

Filters will be visible below chat search bar

 Use the ‘Said in’ filter to narrow down to the conversations that matter






These features are available now on Android. They will be available on iOS and Web by the end of July 2021. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. When searching in Google Chat on mobile, you can further refine your search results using the search filter chips below the search box. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Evolving Rooms in Google Chat to Spaces to create a richer, more collaborative experience

What’s changing

In 2020, we launched Google Workspace as an integrated solution that provides everything you need to get anything done, all in one place. Earlier this year, we introduced a series of innovations, including smart canvas, all aimed to help you better manage your time and build deeper connections with each other as the future of work continues to evolve. 

Today, we’re announcing new forthcoming innovations in Google Chat to help teams do their best work in the hybrid work world, as many of us begin a return to office. In addition, we will also introduce a more streamlined and flexible user interface that helps people and groups more easily stay organized and balance focus and multitasking. 

Later this year, we’ll evolve the Rooms experience in Google Chat to Spaces, a dedicated place to organize people, topics, and projects in Google Workspace. In Spaces, you’ll notice new features like: 
  • In-line topic threading 
  • Presence indicators 
  • Assigned tasks 
  • Expressive reactions, custom statuses using emojis, and GIFs 
  • Content search across Spaces 
  • Message pinning 
  • User roles and moderation tools 
  • Discoverable spaces 

Spaces will also seamlessly integrate with Calendar, Drive, Tasks and across Workspace becoming a new home for getting more done, together. In Spaces, you’ll be able to: 
  • Create and share docs 
  • Side-by-side discuss and edit 
  • See status from calendar 
  • Run interactive polls 
  • Integrate workflows directly with Bots 

For moments when you need to collaborate further, you can easily convert your group conversations into Spaces. 



The new experience will begin rolling out to all users of Chat in Gmail over the next several months for all organizations that have Chat enabled, with new features being delivered on a rolling basis. We will continue to provide updates on the Workspace Updates Blog as these features become available. 

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why it matters 

Google Chat has been an essential part of work during the last year, serving as a bridge for separated colleagues to collaborate in real time. We hope these innovations will give distributed teams more shared spaces, making collaboration easier. 

Additional details 

In the coming months, we will introduce a new streamlined and flexible user interface that helps people and groups more easily stay organized and balance focus and multitasking. The new experience will feature a new left-hand navigation which surfaces critical applications like Gmail, Chat and Meet in one location. 

This will make staying on-top of and navigating to important conversations and critical notifications easier, eliminating the need to switch between various applications. 


Google Workspace customers who are interested in early access to these features, please express interest here. If accepted into the program, we will contact you in the coming weeks to confirm and share next steps.

Getting started 


Rollout pace 

Custom statuses and group chat to Spaces conversion 

We’ll provide an update on the Workspace Updates Blog as the additional features become available. 

Availability 

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

Resources 

New options to control chat history in unthreaded Google Chat rooms

What’s changing

We’re introducing a new admin control for Google Chat history in unthreaded rooms. With this new control, admins have the option to:
  • Set unthreaded room history behavior separately from 1:1 and group conversations: Admins can set the default history state to be either on or off. They can also prevent users from changing the default history setting for unthreaded rooms. Note: this setting does not impact threaded rooms. Threaded room history is always on.

Note that this will only affect organizations that use Chat; it will not impact organizations that still use classic Hangouts. Use our Help Center to learn more about these changes and how they might impact your organization.


Who’s impacted

Admins

Why you’d use it

These new options give you as an Admin more control and flexibility in setting Chat history options for unthreaded rooms.


Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout starting on May 10, 2021. You can set the new Admin console controls when you see them, but it may take a few days before they take effect. This is a one-time delay during the rollout. The settings should work by late May.


Availability

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

Resources