Tag Archives: Google Drive

Preventing users from blocking users in trusted domains

Quick launch summary 

We recently launched the ability to block another user in Google Drive. Based on your feedback, we’re updating how the feature can be applied to users in trusted domains. 


Previously, user blocks could be applied to any user outside of your domain. With this update, user blocks will no longer work with users in trusted domains. Any previous blocks established for users in trusted domains will no longer be enforced in Google Drive, but will continue to be enforced in other apps and services. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

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


New beta makes it easier for admins to move folders to shared drives

What’s changing 

We’re launching a new beta that makes it easier for admins and delegated admins to move folders from My Drive to shared drives. This beta will add several usability enhancements including: 
  • Retaining folder IDs (“copyless moves”) to reduce disruption due to the move 
  • Preventing moves that would exceed any shared drive limits 
  • Reparenting any unmovable items under the item owner's My Drive root, and creating shortcuts in the existing hierarchy as a reference 


See below for more information and availability. Eligible customers can use this form to express interest in the beta. 



Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why you’d use it 

Shared drives are a powerful way to empower teams and organizations to store, access, and collaborate on files. With this beta, admins and delegated admins will notice significant improvements when moving folders from My Drive to shared drives. 



Currently, when admins move folders, the existing folder IDs change, existing links to these folders can break, and impacts on shared drive limits are unclear. With this beta, folder IDs will not change and moves that can potentially exceed any shared drive limits will be rejected. 



We hope this streamlined process will allow admins to confidently migrate folders from My Drive to shared drives by providing them with more context on the changes they’re making. 




Additional details 

In the coming months, we will introduce end user support for moving My Drive folders to shared drives. We will provide an update on the Workspace Updates Blog when the end user portion of this feature becomes available. 

Dragging and dropping a folder from My Drive into a shared drive



Getting started 


Availability 

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

Resources 

New beta makes it easier for admins to move folders to shared drives

What’s changing 

We’re launching a new beta that makes it easier for admins and delegated admins to move folders from My Drive to shared drives. This beta will add several usability enhancements including: 
  • Retaining folder IDs (“copyless moves”) to reduce disruption due to the move 
  • Preventing moves that would exceed any shared drive limits 
  • Reparenting any unmovable items under the item owner's My Drive root, and creating shortcuts in the existing hierarchy as a reference 


See below for more information and availability. Eligible customers can use this form to express interest in the beta. 



Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why you’d use it 

Shared drives are a powerful way to empower teams and organizations to store, access, and collaborate on files. With this beta, admins and delegated admins will notice significant improvements when moving folders from My Drive to shared drives. 



Currently, when admins move folders, the existing folder IDs change, existing links to these folders can break, and impacts on shared drive limits are unclear. With this beta, folder IDs will not change and moves that can potentially exceed any shared drive limits will be rejected. 



We hope this streamlined process will allow admins to confidently migrate folders from My Drive to shared drives by providing them with more context on the changes they’re making. 




Additional details 

In the coming months, we will introduce end user support for moving My Drive folders to shared drives. We will provide an update on the Workspace Updates Blog when the end user portion of this feature becomes available. 

Dragging and dropping a folder from My Drive into a shared drive



Getting started 


Availability 

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

Resources 

Easily make all files types available offline in Google Drive

What’s changing 
Google Drive stores your most important files, whether they are Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, PDFs, images or the hundreds of other file types we support today. Today, we are announcing more ways to make sure you can make them all accessible to you even when your internet connection is unavailable. 

In 2019, we launched a beta which enabled you to mark non-Google file types, like PDFs, images and Microsoft Office files, available offline when using Google Drive on the web. Now, we’re making this functionality generally available. When you mark these files available offline, you can easily open these files from your browser even when you aren’t connected to the internet.

Easily find files offline


 

ChromeOS users can now also use the easily accessible Files app on their Chromebook to select Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files to be available when offline. This streamlined access eliminates the need to open Google Drive or Google Docs to select files to make them available offline. 

Find files offline
 

Who’s impacted 
Admins and end users 
 
Why you’d use it 
Users can access all of their important Drive files while offline such as when they’re traveling or when there’s poor internet connectivity. 

Additional details 
Non-Google files such as PDFs, images and Microsoft Office files will need to be opened using apps installed on your computer through Google Drive Web when offline. This feature is already available for Google Drive for desktop users. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as Cloud Identity Free, Cloud Identity Premium, G Suite Basic and Business customers. Available on personal accounts as well. 

Resources 

Roadmap 

Easily make all files types available offline in Google Drive

What’s changing 
Google Drive stores your most important files, whether they are Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, PDFs, images or the hundreds of other file types we support today. Today, we are announcing more ways to make sure you can make them all accessible to you even when your internet connection is unavailable. 

In 2019, we launched a beta which enabled you to mark non-Google file types, like PDFs, images and Microsoft Office files, available offline when using Google Drive on the web. Now, we’re making this functionality generally available. When you mark these files available offline, you can easily open these files from your browser even when you aren’t connected to the internet.

Easily find files offline


 

ChromeOS users can now also use the easily accessible Files app on their Chromebook to select Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files to be available when offline. This streamlined access eliminates the need to open Google Drive or Google Docs to select files to make them available offline. 

Find files offline
 

Who’s impacted 
Admins and end users 
 
Why you’d use it 
Users can access all of their important Drive files while offline such as when they’re traveling or when there’s poor internet connectivity. 

Additional details 
Non-Google files such as PDFs, images and Microsoft Office files will need to be opened using apps installed on your computer through Google Drive Web when offline. This feature is already available for Google Drive for desktop users. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as Cloud Identity Free, Cloud Identity Premium, G Suite Basic and Business customers. Available on personal accounts as well. 

Resources 

Roadmap 

View embedded Office files in your documents

What’s changing 

You can now view embedded Microsoft Office files in your documents when you’re working with Office files in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.. This feature allows you to:  
  • View the files in preview mode, Copy an embedded file directly to Drive, or download it. 
  • View your embedded files from Office in your documents 

View your embedded files from Office in your documents
 View your embedded files from Office in your documents
Who’s impacted 
Admins and end users 

Why it matters 
We’ve heard your feedback that it’s important to be able to access embedded files within your Microsoft Office files. This feature enables you to access embedded Office files within your existing Office files from Docs, Sheets, and Slides for a seamless work experience. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 
Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers. Also available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources

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).

Directly open Office editing from shared links

 

Quick launch summary 

Now, when you create links to shared Microsoft Office files stored in Drive, they will open directly in Google Docs, Sheets or Slides. Previously, Office files would open in a preview mode first — this streamlined experience allows you to begin editing and collaborating on these files faster. 

This change also updates the alternateLink and webViewLink fields for shared links in the Google Drive API. 


               Office files opening without preview                                                 
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 30, 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.


Delegate Information is now available in Gmail Log Search
Email log search now indicates when an email was sent on behalf of the user by a delegate. In cases where a delegate sent the email, the delegate will be listed, along with the sender, in message details in email log search. Delegate information will only be available on emails sent after this change rolls out. | Available to all Google Workspace with Gmail enabled. | Learn more.


New font in Workspace improves accessibility for vision impaired
Now there's a new font in Workspace optimized for vision impaired users.  When you create or want to read a document, set the font to Atkinson Hyperlegible for improved legibility.


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.


Improvements for braille mode in Google Docs provide a richer, more interactive experience
We've improved how suggestions are announced in braille mode in Google Docs. You’ll now hear detailed suggestion information inline with the rest of the text — this includes whether the suggestion is an insertion or deletion, and the author of the suggestion. | Learn more.



Disabling File Transfer in Google Chat
Admins can now disable or limit file sharing for their users in Chat. Specifically, admins
will be able to specify controls within and outside their organization, and will be able to choose between restricting all files, allowing images only, or allowing all files. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Enterprise Essentials | Learn more.



Alert Center enrichment with VirusTotal threat context now generally available
Earlier this year, we pre-announced an integration between the Alert Center and VirusTotal. Currently, the Google Workspace Alert Center provides admins with actionable, real-time alerts and insights regarding security-related activity in their domain. With the VirusTotal (now part of Google Cloud) integration, admins have the ability to dig into their alerts at a deeper level. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals and Education Plus customers. | Learn More.



Use dynamic security groups for group based policies
Google Workspace admins can now use dynamic groups to manage policies for their users in the Admin console. Previously, it was only possible to apply these policies to static groups and OUs. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more.



Workspace for Education Plus now syncs Google Classroom courses and rosters with Student Information Systems
U.S. school districts with Google Workspace for Education Plus will be able to automatically set up Google Classroom courses and keep rosters in sync with their Student Information System (SIS). IT admins will do the setup via Clever, meaning teachers will no longer need to manually create classes and invite students to join them. | Learn More.



Enhancements to Google Voice
We’ve made several enhancements to Google Voice, including information and troubleshooting tips for missed calls, the ability to easily redial dropped calls, the ability to delete SMS messages in bulk, and an option to show your Google Voice number as the caller ID when forwarding calls. | Learn more.



Search within a folder in Google Drive on iOS
You can now search for content inside a specific folder in Google Drive on iOS. Simply navigate to the folder you want to search within and select the search bar — you’ll see a list of suggested folders, documents, and users to refine your search results. Select the folder chip before typing your search query. | Learn more.



Assign SSO profile to organizational units or groups with the new SAML Partial SSO beta
Currently, you can configure to authenticate your users using a third-party identity provider — this configuration applies to all users within your domain. Now, you have the option to specify groups or organizational units (OUs) to authenticate a subset of your users using Google. This feature is available as an open beta. | Learn more.



New enrollment privilege and naming updates for Google Meet hardware in the Admin console
We are making two improvements to the admin controls for Google Meet hardware: a new enrollment privilege admins and updates for hardware management in the Admin console. | Learn more.



Use the new Google Meet web app for better meetings on desktop devices
We’ve launched a new Google Meet standalone web app. This Progressive Web Application (PWA) has all the same features as Google Meet on the web, but as a standalone app it’s easier to find and use, and it streamlines your workflow by eliminating the need to switch between tabs. | Learn more.


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