Tag Archives: Other

Use People Search in Cloud Search and Cloud Search APIs

What’s changing 

You can now use People Search in Google Cloud Search to find people within your organization with a simple search query. 

You can search for a person based on any profile attribute such as name, email, location or roles. You can also search for a person based on custom fields or a combination of attributes (for example, “John Product Manager”). 

People profiles that match the user's query are displayed at the top of cloudsearch.google.com search results. Clicking on a user’s profile opens their contact card where you can see more profile details including recent interactions. 

 


See people results in Cloud Search


See people results in Cloud Search


See more people results in People Tab

See more people results in People Tab



Detailed profile view




This functionally is also available using the Cloud Search Query API. 

Who’s impacted 

Admins, end users, and developers 

Why you’d use it 

People Search makes it easier to collaborate with teams across the organization by reducing the effort required in finding the right person. With this feature, members of your organization can quickly find out information about other employees, such as corporate contacts, role, team, department, desk location, reporting structure, cost center, past interactions and more. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

This feature is currently available 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Roadmap 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – February 25, 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 Google Workspace and G Suite customers.


AppSheet Support is now available through the Workspace Admin console
Available to all  AppSheet customers who have admin user access through Workspace Support. AppSheet Core is available as an add-on paid subscription to all Google Workspace editions. | Available to all  AppSheet customers who have admin user access through Workspace Support. AppSheet Core is available as an add-on paid subscription to all Google Workspace editions. | Learn more here. 



Updated emoji experience in Google Chat on web
Last year we updated the emoji experience on mobile.Now we have brought the ability to express yourself more authentically in Chat on Web. We’re making the following updates to the emoji experience: 
  • The Emoji set is updated to the latest version (Emoji 13.1), reflecting the latest emoji set and diversity and inclusion options.
  • Gender-neutral options for gender-modifiable emojis have been added.
  • Emoji skin tone and gender preferences are saved per individual emoji. 

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.


Classic Hangouts will be upgraded to Google Chat beginning March 22, 2022
Beginning March 22, 2022, we’ll turn on the “Chat preferred” setting for any customers who haven’t already done so, making Google Chat the default chat application. This means that when users visit classic Hangouts in Gmail on the web or the classic Hangouts mobile apps, they’ll be directed to Chat. Hangouts.google.com will continue to work. It is not possible to opt out of this change. | Learn more. 



Google Workspace Migrate is now generally available
Google Workspace Migrate, previously announced in beta in 2019, is now generally available for select Google Workspace Editions. This first-party, on-premise product helps admins assess and plan migration projects, and confidently migrate their users and large amounts of critical content directly into Google Workspace. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and legacy G Suite Business 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 Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – February 22, 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 Google Workspace and legacy G Suite customers. 



Japanese grammar suggestions for Google Docs 
You'll now see grammar suggestions as you type in Japanese in Docs. Grammar suggestions can help you write faster and more accurately. | 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. 



Manage overdue tasks in Google Calendar You can now easily see and manage your overdue tasks in Google Calendar. 
If you have uncompleted tasks that were due in the past 30 days, you will have an all day entry that will tell you how many tasks are pending from that timeframe. | Learn more. 



Participate in Google Meet polls and Q&As on Chromebase for meetings 
You can now participate in Google Meet polls and Q&As when joining from a Chromebase for meetings all-in-one touchscreen device. | Learn more.



The future of Currents and the next generation of collaboration in Spaces 
With Spaces now available, starting in 2023 we are planning to wind down Google Currents and bring remaining content and communities over to the new Spaces experience. | Learn more here and here. 



Google Voice calls between many European numbers are now included in Google Voice licenses
Beginning February 8, 2022, calls from European Google Voice numbers to mobile and landline numbers in many European countries will be included with the cost of the Google Voice license. | Learn more. 



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

The future of Currents and the next generation of collaboration in Spaces

What’s happening 

Last year, we introduced Spaces, a dedicated place for organizing people, topics, and projects in Google Workspace. Since launching Spaces, many customers have told us that they appreciate the tight integration with Google Workspace products, including Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and Meet, and the seamless collaboration experience. 


With Spaces now available, starting in 2023 we are planning to wind down Google Currents and bring remaining content and communities over to the new Spaces experience. Before we do this, we’ll deliver new capabilities in Spaces to help you communicate and collaborate more effectively. These include support for larger communities and leadership communication, investments in advanced search, tools for content moderation, and more. We’re also investing in search and discoverability, platform capabilities for app development, and enterprise-grade security and compliance, including data protection, data loss prevention (DLP) and Vault support. 


If your organization is using Currents, we’ll share a timeline for opting in to data migration and other milestones in the coming months, as well as guidance to assist with the transition. Spaces are available to all Google Workspace customers today.


Who’s impacted

Admins and end users


Why it matters

The accelerating transition to hybrid work has significantly changed the way people collaborate, and Google Workspace customers are using Chat and Spaces to communicate about projects, share organizational updates, and build community. 


Upgrading Google Currents to Spaces removes a separate, siloed destination for users, and provides organizations with a modern, enterprise-grade experience that reflects how the world is working today. Spaces provide a central place for teams to engage in topic-based discussions, share knowledge and ideas, move projects forward, and build communities and team culture. 


Additional details

In preparation for the migration from Currents to Spaces, we’ll start turning down features with very little usage. Please see the Help Center for more details.


Getting started

  • Admins: If your organization is using Currents, we’ll share more details, including a migration guide, in an email to the primary admin at your domain in the coming months. Please stay tuned. 
  • End users: Read more on how to get started with Spaces.

Availability

  • Spaces are available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts.

Resources


New integrated view for Gmail features email, Google Meet, Google Chat and Spaces in one place

What’s changing 

We’re introducing a new, integrated view for Gmail, making it easy to move between critical applications like Gmail, Chat and Meet in one unified location.





We’ll introduce this new experience according to this timeline:



Beginning February 8, 2022: 
  • Users can opt-in to test the new experience, allowing them to try it out and become more accustomed to it. Users can revert to classic Gmail via settings. 
  • We will share an update on the Workspace Updates Blog, along with Help Center content, once rollout begins.

By April 2022: 
  • Users who have not opted-in will begin seeing the new experience by default, but can revert to classic Gmail via settings.

By the end of Q2 2022: 
  • This will become the standard experience for Gmail, with no option to revert back.
  • Around the same time, users will also begin seeing the new streamlined navigation experience on Chat web (mail.google.com/chat). 
  • Important Note: This also means users will not have the option to configure Chat to display on the right side of Gmail.




We will share more information on the exact timing of these phases on the Workspace Updates blog. See below for more information.



Who’s impacted

End users



Why you’d use it 

When enabled, the new navigation menu allows you to easily switch between your inbox, important conversations, and join meetings without having to switch between tabs or open a new window. 


Notification bubbles make it easy to stay on top of what immediately needs your attention. When working in Chat and Spaces, you can view a full list of conversations and Spaces within a single screen, making it easier to navigate to and engage. 


When working in your inbox, you’ll be able to view the full array of Mail and Label options currently available in Gmail today. 


In the coming months, you will also see email and chat results when using the search bar, making it easier to find what you need by eliminating the need to search within a specific product.



We hope this new experience makes it easier for you to stay on top of what’s important and get work done faster in a single, focused location. Further, this will help reduce the need to switch between various applications, windows, or tabs.


Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled by the user from their Gmail settings. 

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 8, 2022
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility starting on February 22, 2022

Note: We will share an update on the Workspace Updates Blog, along with Help Center content, once rollout begins.


Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace 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
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials customers

Google Classroom now supports grade exporting to Follett Aspen, a third-party Student Information System

What’s changing

Google Classroom teachers can now export their grades to Follett Aspen, a third-party Student Information System (SIS). Grade export is a one-way information push that allows:

  • Admins to establish a connection between their district SIS and Google Classroom, and configure export settings that apply to Google Classroom teachers.
  • Teachers to manually link new or existing Google Classroom classes to their SIS, and push returned assignments and grades from Google Classroom.

This is only available to users in the United States and Canada. Additionally, there is no additional cost associated with this functionality.


Who’s impacted

Admins and teacher end users


Why it matters

This feature expands the interoperability between Google Classroom and Follett Aspen SIS in the United States and Canada. Grade export saves teachers time and duplicative work by keeping their SIS in sync with fewer manual steps.


Getting started



Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available as a core service to Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus. 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers


Resources


Roadmap


Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – January 7, 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 Google Workspace and G Suite customers. 



PPTX file limit increase in Google Slides 
You can now import PPTX files up to 300MB into Google Slides using Office Editing mode — previously, 100MB was the maximum. Once imported, you can save back your edits to the underlying PPTX file. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts. | 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. 



Use a new enterprise certificate condition to set context-aware access rules for company-managed devices 
When configuring context-aware access rules, you can now use a new signal to determine whether a device is company-owned. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more. 



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

Quick access to restore recently deleted users from Admin console homepage

Quick summary

For customers with less than 100 active users, you’ll now be able to see when you have recently deleted users in your organization on the “Users” card in the Admin console. If you click on the number shown, you can view a list of the recently deleted users and how many days are left until their data is permanently deleted. 

Previously, Admins would have to filter for recently deleted users on the User List page to review any users available for being restored — this update makes this important information more readily available for customers that primarily use the Admin console for user management. 





Additionally, for all customers, admins can now select “Recently deleted users” from the “More” menu on the User List page to quickly check whether there are any recently deleted users.




We hope these updates make it easier for Admins to stay informed about their recently deleted users and take action if needed such as restoring users to retain their accounts or transfer data to another account.


Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

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

Resources


Set custom rules for incoming Google Voice calls

Quick Summary 

Within the Google Voice settings, you can easily create rules for how incoming calls should be handled. These options allow you to route incoming calls in ways that are most efficient to your workflows and productivity, including granular settings for specific contacts. 


Specifically, you can now: 
  • Forward calls from specific contacts to your linked phone numbers or directly to voicemail, 
  • Opt to screen calls from specific contacts, 
  • Set custom voicemail greetings for specific contacts, 
  • Apply rules for all your contacts or specific groups within your contacts 



Getting started 


Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Voice users.

Resources 

More details on migration of existing multiple-location Drive files to shortcuts and other improvements for shortcuts

What’s changing

Last year, we announced improvements for shortcuts in Google Drive. Shortcuts simplify file and folder structures in Drive by creating pointers to items, rather than having items which existed in multiple locations. 

At that time, we also mentioned that we would be migrating existing files in multiple locations to shortcuts in 2021. This migration will now happen in 2022—see below for more information on the updated timeline:

  • Beginning early 2022, admins will be notified via email several weeks prior to the migration beginning in their domain.
    • Important note: Before the migration begins, admins will be able to control when to create shortcuts in shared folders with a new admin setting. See below for more information.
    • Google Workspace end users will not receive this notification.


  • Google Drive end users will begin seeing a banner in Google Drive on web and mobile notifying them of the migration. No additional action is required, the migration will take place automatically.
    • This applies to all Google Workspace users and users with personal Google accounts.


See below for more information on the migration, as well as additional improvements we’ve implemented for shortcuts in Drive.



Who’s impacted


Admins and end users



Why it’s important

New shortcut behavior for items stored in multiple locations
We’re replacing files and folders that are stored in multiple folders in Google Drive with shortcuts. This change simplifies your folder and file structures and helps reduce confusion around files with multiple parent folder locations. 

When a file is replaced with a shortcut:
  • One location is preserved for files or folders currently contained in multiple locations. All other instances of the item will be replaced with a shortcut.
  • Ownership and sharing permissions for files and folders are preserved. 
  • Admins can view a record of these events and changes in the Admin audit log.

Google Workspace admins will be notified via email several weeks before the process begins for their organization. Visit the Help Center to learn more about shortcuts replacing items stored in multiple locations. 


Prior to this process beginning, admins will be able to control when shortcuts should be created in shared folders. This feature will be available in the upcoming weeks. In the Admin console, go to Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Upcoming changes to My Drive and under “Manage shortcut creation”, you’ll be able to select:

  • Always create shortcuts: Everyone with access to a shared folder gets shortcuts in that folder
  • Create shortcuts only for content shared within your domain and trusted domains: Only users from your organization and trusted domains get shortcuts in a shared folder
  • Create shortcuts only for content shared within your domain: Only users in your organization get shortcuts in a shared folder.
  • Don’t create shortcuts: Shortcuts will not be created for items in shared folders where access permissions vary. 

Please note, in all situations, users that did not previously have access to an item will not be able to access it despite being able to see the shortcut in Google Drive.


Several weeks before the migration in your organization, end users will see banners in Google Drive notifying them of the change. This process is automatic and requires no action from your end users. After the replacement, users can move their file or folder to another location or add a shortcut in another location.


Additional details


Shortcut creations using Drive for Desktop
Previously, when using Backup and Sync to connect with a computer, it was possible to add a folder to an additional location using the “Shift+Z” function. Going forward, once all users have fully migrated to Drive for Desktop, the Shift+Z behavior will create shortcuts instead of a folder living in multiple locations.



Recent improvements to shortcuts in Google Drive
As we continue to improve Google Drive, we’ve given our users more options to store and organize their files.


To provide our users with more information about the file a shortcut points to, we’ve added more information in the details window. Depending on sharing permissions, you’ll see information such as:
  • Who has access to the file and whether the file can be downloaded,
  • The size of the file and storage used,
  • The location of the original file,
  • Who created the file and the last modification, and more.

These updates are fully available on Google Drive for web — we will provide an update on the Workspace Updates Blog when they become available for Google Drive on mobile devices.


Additionally, because the original file’s permissions don’t automatically update when you create a shortcut, we will be adding prompts for users in the next few weeks to ensure your permissions are set how you want to. Previously, when you added a shortcut to a folder, users with access to the folder weren’t automatically granted access to the file at the other end of the shortcut. Now, when you create a shortcut, you’ll be prompted to give impacted users access.  




Getting started

Rollout pace

Access Checker Improvements

Availability


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


Resources