Tag Archives: Google Drive

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – January 26, 2024

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.


Updated List / Grid toggle now available in Google Drive 
To make the List / Grid toggle more visible in Google Drive, we’ve introduced a new split-button toggle with the updated Google Material Design 3. This toggle is now available across all Drive web pages, making it easier for you to switch between viewing modes based on your preference. | The List / Grid toggle is now available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about viewing and reordering your files and folders.
new grid view in drive

Jump to where your collaborator is while editing in Google Sites
When working on content in Google Docs or Slides, you can go to wherever your collaborator is working within the document or presentation by clicking their avatar in the top right corner. This week, we’re excited to announce a similar feature in Google Sites. Now, when a Site editor clicks on a collaborator’s avatar, they will jump to the selected tile of the clicked collaborator. If the collaborator is on a different page, the site editor will be taken to that page. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for February 12, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about following a collaborator on Google Sites.



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.


Manage reported Google Chat content from the new moderation tool in the Admin console 
We’re introducing a centralized location for reviewing and taking action on reported Google Chat content in the Admin console under Apps > Google Workspace > Moderation, alongside the email quarantine tool for Gmail. | Google Chat content reporting and moderation is available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more about reported Google Chat content. 

Closed caption support in Google Meet expands to an additional thirty-one languages 
We’ve expanded support for closed captioning to include additional languages. | Learn more about captions & translated captions in Google Meet. 

Improving space creation in Google Chat 
We are making two improvements to the space creation flow in Google Chat: preventing duplicate space names and providing a method to configure spaces for specific use cases. | Learn more about space creation in Google Chat.

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).  

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – January 12, 2024

4 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.


Version history limits for Apps Script projects 
For all new scripts, you’ll be able to create and save up to 200 versions of your script. If needed, you can permanently delete a script version from the project history page. | This is available now to all Google Workspace customers. | Learn more using our developer documentation on working with Apps Script versions. 


Share a link to a specific time in a Google Drive video 
We’re adding new functionality to the Drive sharing button that lets you share timestamped links to specific parts of a video. On web, simply navigate to drive.google.com > find and open a video file > play the video (you can pause the playback before performing the following steps) > select the dropdown on the “Share” button in the top-right corner > select “Copy link to this time” > send the link. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Learn more about copying a specific time in the video. 
Share a link to a specific time in a Google Drive video

Introducing dropdown options on the sharing button in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings We’re adding a new feature that ensures a seamless sharing experience across Workspace. In Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings, you will now see a dropdown on the Share button that surfaces quick actions, such as pending access requests and the “Copy link” option. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. 
dropdown options on the sharing button

Using functions in Connected Sheets for BigQuery 
Today, Connected Sheets for BigQuery supports 23 Sheets functions, such as AVERAGE and XLOOKUP. However, all of these functions behave somewhat differently than their native counterparts. Thus, to help Connected Sheets users write better functions, we now display context-aware Help Center content in Sheets. The ‘formula help’ shows descriptions for Connected Sheets functions when writing a formula that would query BigQuery, and otherwise shows descriptions of native Sheets functions. | This is available now to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Learn more about the XLOOKUP function.
Using functions in Connected Sheets for BigQuery


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 metrics in Google Drive Apps Reports and Reports API 
We’re making some updates to the Google Drive metrics in the Admin Console Apps reports and the Reports API. As a result of these improvements, admins who analyze metrics will have more reporting clarity and can better understand activity trends within their domain. | Learn more about metrics in Drive Apps Reports and Reports API. 

Easily share Google Drive files to Google Calendar meeting attendees 
We’re introducing the option to share any file with all meeting participants on a Google Calendar invite via the sharing dialog within a file. | Learn more about sharing Drive files to Calendar. 

Google Meet is now available on Logitech Android appliances 
Google Meet is now supported on Logitech’s Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini Android-based appliances for collaboration rooms and spaces of just about any size. After initial setup, admins can easily enroll, manage, and monitor these devices using the Google admin console. Google Meet on Logitech Android-based devices is supported on CollabOS v1.11 as a video conferencing provider | Learn more about Meet on Logitech Android appliances. 

Google Meet hardware devices from Poly now support interoperability with Cisco Webex and Zoom 
We’re expanding the existing interoperability between Google Meet, Cisco Webex, and Zoom to include Android-based Meet hardware devices from Poly. Specifically, these devices include: Poly Studio X30, X50, X52, and X70. | Learn more about support interoperability with Cisco Webex and Zoom.

Extending Trusted Types to Gmail
We’re excited to announce the expansion of Trusted Types to Gmail. This will provide a defense against DOM XSS and further enhances our advanced data protection controls to keep users and data safe across more of the apps they use everyday. | Learn more about Trusted Types.


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). 

Easily share Google Drive files to Google Calendar meeting attendees

What’s changing

Since introducing the new sharing dialog for Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms in 2020, we’ve made several enhancements to make sharing effortless across Workspace. Today, we’re excited to announce the option to share any file with all meeting participants on a Google Calendar invite via the sharing dialog within a file. 


As a file owner or editor, go to the Share button in a file > type in the title of a calendar event > select the event > confirm the correct list of meeting attendees are added > select the users’ access level > click Share. 
Sharing “Weekly notes” to a meeting using the sharing dialog

If you’d like to link the file to the calendar invite, you can select “Attach to calendar event” before clicking Share. 
Attaching a file to a calendar event


Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

We know sharing files is critical to building a collaborative environment. With this new feature, users can easily share files with meeting attendees before a meeting, ensuring everyone is prepared and able to collaborate on the same file. 


Additional details 

If you attach a file directly to a Calendar invite, you will see a pop-up asking if you'd like to share the file with the meeting attendees. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: To share a file to a calendar event, you must be the file owner or editor and be a participant on the meeting that you’re sharing to on your calendar. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sharing files from Google Drive. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Resources 

Updates to metrics in Google Drive Apps Reports and Reports API

What’s changing

We’re making some updates to the Google Drive metrics in the Admin Console Apps reports and the Reports API. As a result of these improvements, admins who analyze metrics will have more reporting clarity and can better understand activity trends within their domain. Specific changes include: 
  • Metric dates will shift from Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) to Pacific Standard Time (PST).
  • Moving files between team drives and directly sharing items inside shared drives will now be included in the sharing metrics.
  • Sharing items with embedded content will now be counted as a single action in the sharing metrics, versus being counted twice. 
  • Metrics that calculate the number of owned items added or removed will no longer include activity for changing permissions that do not impact a user’s ability to access a file.

Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Getting started 

  • Admins: Admins with Drive Audit-enabled SKUs can access the metrics in the Admin Console > Reporting > Apps Reports or through the Reports API. 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Metrics are available to customers on Drive Audit-enabled SKUs with access to the Admin Console and Reports API. This includes: Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, Cloud Identity and Cloud Identity Premium customers

Resources 

eSignature is now generally available for Google Workspace Individual subscribers

What’s changing 

Earlier this year, we introduced eSignature for Docs and Drive in beta. Today, eSignature for Docs and Drive is rolling out in general availability for all Workspace Individual customers. 


Built directly into Google Docs, eSignature makes it easier for solopreneurs and small businesses to request signatures, keep track of and manage contracts like customer agreements, vendor contracts, stakeholder sign-offs and more. eSignature can be used to: 
  • Request signatures, see the status of pending signatures, and find completed contracts. 
  • Sign official contracts directly within Google Drive, eliminating the need to switch apps or tabs. 
  • Create a copy of any given contract so it can be used as a template to initiate multiple eSignatures requests.



Since the last announcement, we’ve expanded functionality to include the following features:
  • Audit trail: all completed contracts will automatically contain an audit trail report.
  • Multi-signer: the ability to request a signature from more than one user.
  • Non-Gmail users: the ability to request an eSignature from non-Gmail users.
  • Initiating eSignature on PDF (beta): the ability to initiate an eSignature on PDF files stored in Drive.

We’ll also be introducing more features for eSignature in the next few months, including:
  • PDF templates: the ability to easily reuse a PDF file as contract templates.
  • Custom text fields: the ability to ask signers to add relevant information (e.g. job titles, email address) to the contract. 


Additional details

Select Google Workspace editions (see the “Availability” section below) can apply to beta test eSignature using this form. We will be accepting beta applications until December 18, 2023.


This feature will be available as part of a larger beta, which includes access to new custom email layouts in Gmail. These new email layouts allow users to customize existing templates, reuse a custom layout in multiple email campaigns, or create a brand new layout from scratch. Once you sign up for the beta you will see the eSignature and new Gmail features in the coming weeks.

Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Individual Subscribers 

  • Eligible for beta: Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Education Plus, and Nonprofits customers

Resources


Turn on snippets for additional context surrounding data loss prevention rule violations

What’s changing 

Admins can now view “Sensitive Content Snippets” for data loss prevention (DLP) rules. This applies to DLP events for Drive, Chat, and Chrome. When turned on, snippets will log the matched content that triggered a DLP violation in the security investigation tool. Admins can use the information captured in the snippet to better identify actual security risks, determine whether a false positive was returned, and decide on an appropriate course of action.

Getting started

  • Admins: 
    • Make sure any admins who need to review the snippets have the "view sensitive content" privilege. Only super admins have the ability to hide or unhide sensitive data.

    • This feature will be OFF by default and can be turned on in the Admin console by going to Security > Data Protection > Data Protection Settings > Sensitive Content Storage.
      • To view snippets in the security investigation tool, select any row from the “Description column” and scroll down to “Sensitive Content Snippets”. Here you’ll see the matched detector ID, the matched content starting character, and the matched content length.

    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about viewing content snippets that trigger DLP rules, using Workspace DLP to prevent data loss, and the security investigation tool.

  • End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Frontline Standard, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus, and Enterprise Essentials Plus customers
  • Also available to Cloud Identity Premium and BeyondCorp Enterprise customers

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


Admins in Google Vault can now export hyperlinked Google Drive content from Gmail messages

What’s changing 

Starting December 8, 2023, admins can export Drive files hyperlinked in Gmail messages directly in Google Vault. When admins select “export linked Drive files”, Vault will look for Drive hyperlinks in the body of the emails being exported from Gmail. If Drive hyperlinks are found, a separate export of Drive files will also be created.


Toggle “Export linked Drive files” on or off



In the “Exports” tab, Drive exports will be grouped with their corresponding Gmail export — you can select the arrow icon to open the collapsible menu.






Admins will be able to find their exported hyperlinked Drive content nested under the corresponding Gmail export in the “Export” tab. Vault admins can find the association between the Gmail export and Drive link export in the export file names and metadata. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it matters 

Vault is critical for retaining, holding, searching, and exporting users’ Google Workspace data. This update reduces the need for admins to manually find and extract Drive files hyperlinked in Gmail messages. 

Getting started 


Rollout pace 

Vault user interface updates 
API 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 

Introducing a new homepage view in Google Drive

What’s changing

Over the years, we’ve added features to Google Drive that help you more efficiently find files and folders. In October, we launched a new view in Google Drive that shows all pending access requests, recent comments, and approvals for files to help you quickly see recent activity and take action, all in one place. 

Today, we’re excited to introduce the latest series of changes that accelerate user productivity across new views in Drive. A new streamlined homepage for Drive called Home makes it easier and faster for you to find files that matter most. Specifically, you’ll notice: 

  • Personalized file and folder suggestions with machine learning algorithms that can help you get started quickly. These suggestions utilize a variety of signals, such as what files or folders you’ve recently opened, shared or edited, or what documents are attached to upcoming Calendar events. 
  • Filter chips to narrow down your search and find relevant files faster across Drive, making it easy to find suggested files by type, people, modified date or the location. 
  • A more modern design inline with Google Material Design 3 guidelines that helps you navigate across Drive much more efficiently.

Google Drive Home

Who’s impacted

End users 


Why you’d use it 

The new Google Drive Home page will make it easier and faster for you to find the files you need and collaborate with others. 


Additional details 

When you go to drive.google.com, instead of landing in ‘My Drive’ you will now be directed to ‘Home.’ If you would like to set your default to ‘My Drive,’ click on the “Change to My Drive” option in the banner on Home: 
“Change to My Drive”


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default and can be opted-out by the user. If a user chooses to opt-out, their default page will be My Drive. To opt-out, go to My Drive and click on the “Change to My Drive” option in the banner. 

Rollout pace 

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 28, 2023 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 11, 2024 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts 
    • Note: The Drive Activity view is available to Google Workspace customers only

Updates to the Google Drive scanner on Android & iOS devices

What’s changing

For years, users have had the ability to scan physical documents, such as a receipt or passport, using the Google Drive app on Android devices. And earlier this year, we added additional functionality to recommend relevant title suggestions for scanned documents by leveraging machine learning. 

Today, we’re introducing additional enhancements to the Drive scanner on Android devices, which now powers the Google Pixel camera and includes improvements to the scanner experience when capturing content. Specifically, you’ll notice: 
  • Automatic capture to help you get the best scan quickly 
  • Camera viewfinder that helps you position your document for the highest quality scan 
  • The option to import from your camera roll 
  • A faster way to initialize a scan with a new scanner button 
Android Scanner

We’re also expanding the Google Drive scanner and title suggestion feature to iOS devices. Now, when using your iOS phone or tablet, you can easily scan and digitally organize physical documents, crop them if needed, and receive relevant title suggestions based on machine learning. 
iOS Scanner


Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • Open the Drive app on your Android device > scan a document via the camera icon or scan a document via the Scan button under the “+” icon > assess/adjust the automatic cropping > scan multiple pages in a session (if needed) > apply filters > save to Drive. 
    • Open the Drive app on your iOS device > scan a document via the camera icon or scan a document via the Scan button under the “+” icon > > scan multiple pages in a session (if needed) > click on scan to apply filters or crop as needed > save to Drive. 
    • Note: Title suggestions are only available in the US. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about scanning documents with Google Drive. 

Rollout pace

iOS: 
Android: 
  •  This feature is now available 

Availability 

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

Resources