Tag Archives: Google Sheets

More control over accessibility preferences in Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

Quick summary

Over the years, we’ve launched features to support our ongoing accessibility efforts to ensure our products work well for everyone. For users of screen readers, braille devices, screen magnifiers, and more, we're improving the ability to adjust your accessibility preferences for Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings separately. 

Rather than having the same accessibility settings apply across these products, you’re now able to set preferences for each product individually. We expect this change to make it easier to ensure accessibility settings are personalized to best meet each user’s needs. 

Accessibility settings can now be personalized for Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: In your document, spreadsheet, slide deck, or drawing, navigate to Tools > Accessibility > select your preferred settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Accessibility. 

Rollout pace 

 Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 

 Resources 

Roadmap 

Improved notifications when editing Microsoft Office files in Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Quick summary

Many of our customers utilize Office editing mode to collaborate on Microsoft Office files in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. 

Today, we’re announcing improvements to the notifications you see when editing a Microsoft Office-formatted file. 

Specific updates include: 

  • An Office-formatted warning symbol for compatibility details that will appear throughout your entire time within a document, spreadsheet, or slide deck. This indicates potential compatibility issues or if any Office features are unavailable.

Example of a document with compatibility issues


Example of a document without known compatibility issues 



  • An option to easily view and restore earlier versions of the document, spreadsheet, or slide deck. New options to view version history and restore a document 
New options to view version history and restore a document







Getting started 

  • Admins: Office editing notifications are ON by default and will always be present when a user opens a Microsoft Office-formatted document. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Office editing. 
  • End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about working with Office files using Office editing. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 


Roadmap 

Improving the Google Workspace experience on large screen Android devices

Quick summary

As part of our mission to provide a top-class user experience on large screen devices, we’re adding several new features and functionality to products like Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Keep on Android devices. 

We hope these updates enhance flexibility by giving you more ways to work with, display and organize your content across Google Workspace. Specifically, the new abilities include:
  • Drag & Drop in Docs, Sheets & Drive: Easily drag text or images from other apps, such as Chrome, and drop content into an existing document or spreadsheet cell. For Drive, quickly upload files by dragging and dropping them into the app. You can also add links to Drive files by dragging the file into an open app like Keep. 
Dragging & Dropping from Sheets
Dragging & Dropping from Sheets into Docs and vice versa

Dragging & Dropping from Keep
Dragging & Dropping from Keep into Drive

Dragging & Dropping from Drive
Dragging & Dropping from Drive into Keep

  • Keyboard support for Drive, Docs & Slides: When using an attached keyboard, use simple and familiar shortcuts to quickly navigate around Drive, Docs, and Slides, without needing to slow down and take your hands off of your keyboard. 
  • Multi-instance support on Drive: Get better insight into your Drive files by having two Drive windows open side-by-side. 

Multi-instance support on Drive:

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for these features. 
  • End users: 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about Dragging & Dropping in Drive and Keyboard shortcuts. 
    • To access Multi-instance support on Drive, select the 3-dot menu on any Drive file > choose the "Open in new window" option > navigate through each Drive window independently. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google Drive. 

Rollout pace 

Keyboard support for Drive, Drag & Drop in Drive, and Multi-instance support on Drive: 
  • These features are available now
Keyboard support for Docs & Slides and Drag & Drop in Docs & Sheets: 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Improving the Google Workspace experience on large screen Android devices

Quick summary

As part of our mission to provide a top-class user experience on large screen devices, we’re adding several new features and functionality to products like Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Keep on Android devices. 

We hope these updates enhance flexibility by giving you more ways to work with, display and organize your content across Google Workspace. Specifically, the new abilities include:
  • Drag & Drop in Docs, Sheets & Drive: Easily drag text or images from other apps, such as Chrome, and drop content into an existing document or spreadsheet cell. For Drive, quickly upload files by dragging and dropping them into the app. You can also add links to Drive files by dragging the file into an open app like Keep. 
Dragging & Dropping from Sheets
Dragging & Dropping from Sheets into Docs and vice versa

Dragging & Dropping from Keep
Dragging & Dropping from Keep into Drive

Dragging & Dropping from Drive
Dragging & Dropping from Drive into Keep

  • Keyboard support for Drive, Docs & Slides: When using an attached keyboard, use simple and familiar shortcuts to quickly navigate around Drive, Docs, and Slides, without needing to slow down and take your hands off of your keyboard. 
  • Multi-instance support on Drive: Get better insight into your Drive files by having two Drive windows open side-by-side. 

Multi-instance support on Drive:

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for these features. 
  • End users: 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about Dragging & Dropping in Drive and Keyboard shortcuts. 
    • To access Multi-instance support on Drive, select the 3-dot menu on any Drive file > choose the "Open in new window" option > navigate through each Drive window independently. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google Drive. 

Rollout pace 

Keyboard support for Drive, Drag & Drop in Drive, and Multi-instance support on Drive: 
  • These features are available now
Keyboard support for Docs & Slides and Drag & Drop in Docs & Sheets: 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – July 15, 2022

New updates 


There are no new updates to share this week. Please see below for a recap of published announcements. 

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.


Allow collaborators to analyze data in Connected Sheets with delegated access 
Admins can now allow their users to delegate access to BigQuery when using Connected Sheets. This enables end users with access to BigQuery data to delegate their credentials to collaborators to allow them to refresh or edit analysis as needed. | Available to Google Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers only. | Learn more. 

Sync Apple DEP and Google Mobile Device Management servers on demand 
Admins can now trigger an on demand sync between Apple DEP and Google Mobile Device Management (MDM) servers for company owned devices. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers only. | Learn more.

Add data loss prevention to Google Chat, now available as an open beta 
Admins can now establish data loss prevention (DLP) rules for Google Chat that can help protect sensitive data from getting to unauthorized users. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching & Learning upgrade customers only and Cloud Identity Premium users who are licensed for Workspace editions with Drive audit log. | Learn more. 

Better sharing options for appointment schedules 
We’ve made it easier to share appointment schedules on web through a new Share button. This update allows appointment hosts to copy a short link to all appointment schedules or a specific booking page, and add HTML to embed a booking page on their website. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more. 

Use Miro within Google Meet for an immersive and collaborative whiteboard experience 
You can now leverage Miro, a third party online whiteboarding app, for ideating and problem solving as a group in Google Meet. | Learn more. 

Trust rules for Google Drive are now available in open beta 
The closed beta we announced in 2021 for trust rules in Google Drive that gives admins more control over how files can be shared, both within and outside of their organization, is now available as an open beta. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers only. | Learn more. 


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

Allow collaborators to analyze data in Connected Sheets with delegated access

What’s changing

Admins for select Google Workspace editions can now allow their users to delegate access to BigQuery when using Connected Sheets. If the setting is enabled by the admin, end users with access to BigQuery data can delegate their credentials to collaborators to allow them to refresh or edit analysis as needed.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

Connected Sheets links Google Sheets to BigQuery, so you can analyze large BigQuery datasets using familiar spreadsheet tools and operations. This means users don’t need to know SQL and can generate insights with basic spreadsheet operations like formulas, charts, and pivot tables.

We hope this update makes it easier for your stakeholders and other collaborators to refresh or edit an analysis as needed, helping derive insights faster.

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be OFF by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Connected Sheets in your organization.
  • End users: If enabled by your admin, you can allow collaborators to refresh and analyze BigQuery data using your credentials. You can also indicate whether you’d like to “sticky” this setting for all future connections. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to analyze BigQuery data using delegated access in Connected Sheets.
For all new connections, users will see this dialog which asks users to explicitly choose ON or OFF before they can proceed

Rollout pace



Availability

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

Resources



Offline syncing available for opened Microsoft Office documents

What’s changing

In 2019, we announced Office editing to make it easier to work with Microsoft Office files in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides and launched better features allowing you to work anywhere with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in offline mode. Starting today, you can work offline with Microsoft Office files on your desktop. 


Who’s impacted 

End users 



Why you’d use it 

This feature brings the collaboration benefits of Google Workspace to Microsoft Office files. At times when your device is offline, you’re now able to edit, comment, and collaborate on Office files using Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Any changes made to files while offline will then sync to Drive once you are connected again. 


Additional details

This change only applies to files that have already been opened in Office editing mode. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Roadmap 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – June 24, 2022

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 legacy Google Workspace and G Suite customers. 


Frictionless sharing across Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides 
In the effort to make collaboration simpler for users, we've introduced a new sharing experience in Workspace. Now, when you click the "Share" button in the top-right corner of your file, you'll see a streamlined design that makes it easier to share files with others and/or specific groups of people in your organizations, control whether your file is searchable to groups with access, and to copy the file link. | Learn more. 

new-sharing-experience

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. 



Data Loss Prevention for Drive helps protect sensitive data when users upload files to external Google Forms, now generally available 
Users can now respond to external forms that contain file upload questions, while also helping to prevent the leak of sensitive and confidential information. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers. | Learn more. 


New options for styling fonts in Google Forms 
We’ve added additional font style and sizing options, and the ability to customize header, subheader, and body text separately in Google Forms. | Learn more. 


Adjust spacing between content in Sites using new density theme setting 
Site editors can now adjust the spacing between the content on their site with a custom theme setting that offers Compact, Cozy, or Comfortable spacing options. | Learn more. 


Easily print your Tasks List 
You can now print personal and Chat spaces Task lists on web, making it easier for you to track assigned items offline or plan with pen and paper if that’s your preference. | Learn more. 


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 – May 27, 2022

New updates 

There are no new updates to share this week. Please see below for a recap of published announcements. 


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.


Send group membership information in outbound SAML responses 
Admins can now configure and send group membership information as part of SAML responses. | Learn more. 


Add personal tasks from Google Chat 
In Google Chat, you can now create personal tasks from individual or group messages. | Learn more. 


Take action on multiple text selections in Google Docs 
Using Google Docs, you can now make multiple text selections at once, and apply actions such as delete, copy, paste, or format to all selections. | Learn more. 


Add shared drives to specific organizational units 
Admins can now place shared drives into sub organizational units (OUs), enabling them to configure sharing policies, data regions, access management, and more at a granular level. | Learn more.

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers. 


Embed content as a full page in new Google
Sites Site editors using new Google Sites can now add content as a full page from the following sources: custom code, other websites, and Google apps, such as Maps and Docs. | Learn more. 


Copy your client-side encrypted Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files 
If you have client-side encryption enabled for Docs, Sheets and Slides, you can now make a copy of an existing encrypted document, spreadsheet or presentation. | Learn more. 

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers. 


Cut, copy and paste files using keyboard shortcuts in Google Drive Web 
You can now use familiar keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + C (or ⌘ + C on Mac), Ctrl + X and Ctrl + V to copy, cut and paste Google Drive files in your Chrome browser. | Learn more. 


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

Copy your client-side encrypted Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files

Quick summary 

If you have client-side encryption enabled for Docs, Sheets and Slides, you can now make a copy of an existing encrypted document, spreadsheet or presentation. Encryption will be preserved when copies of the file are made. This feature makes it easier to leverage existing content as a baseline for new encrypted Docs, Sheets, or Slides. 



Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Resources