Tag Archives: Rapid Release

Curate and customize the Chrome Web Store for your organization

What’s changing

Admins can now customize the Chrome Web Store experience for their users with several new options, including:

  • Branding and custom messaging: Add company logos, custom welcome banners and announcement banners.
  • Curated collections: Organize specific extensions for your users, including recommended and private extensions. We have also introduced a new collection of extensions that displays all items that are allowlisted by IT administrators.
  • Category controls: Hide specific extension categories to help streamline the browsing experience for users.

Additionally, we've enhanced the Chrome Web Store search experience. In the search results. end-users can quickly notice blocked item tags, and they can benefit from more advanced filtering such as a “Private items” filter.  

Example of a customized Chrome Web Store


Who’s impacted

Admins and end users


Why it matters 

Every Google Workspace customer has unique users with unique needs – Chrome extensions can help improve their workflows and increase productivity. However, navigating the numerous available extensions can present challenges for both admins and end users. For admins, it is often a manual and time consuming process to vet which Chrome extensions they want to allow for their users. For end users, it can be frustrating to sift through a vast catalog of extensions to find relevant and admin-approved extensions.

This update significantly improves the Chrome Web Store experience for enterprises. Admins can customize, organize, and control the Chrome Web Store experience for their users. For end users, finding work-relevant and admin approved extensions becomes significantly easier cutting down on guesswork or wasted time searching for extensions that might be blocked.


Getting started

  • Admins: Four new Apps & Extensions settings have been added to the Chrome section of the Admin console. To find the new settings, go to Menu > Chrome Browser > Apps and extensions > Navigate to the “Settings” tab > Chrome Web Store settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about customizing the Chrome Web Store for your users.



Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available for all Google Workspace customers with access to the Admin console

Resources


Layout selection now available between Google Meet hardware and Zoom Rooms calls

What’s changing

We’re expanding interoperability support between Google Meet devices and Zoom Rooms to include support for changing the meeting layout. This gives you the flexibility to choose a layout that is best suited to improve focus and engagement during your meetings.

If you’re joining a Google Meet call from Zoom Rooms, you can change your layout by selecting the “View” option. You can select between the tiled view, speaker spotlight view, or sidebar view.

Selecting your meeting layout on a Google Meet call using Zoom Rooms hardware





If you’re joining Zoom Meetings from a Google Meet hardware device, you can change your layout from the device settings by navigating to the “Change layout” option. You can choose between the gallery or speaker view.

Selecting your meeting layout on a Zoom call using a Meet hardware device



Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Zoom interop on Google Meet hardware is available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices that have not yet reached their auto-update expiration date.

  • Meet interop on Zoom Rooms is available to all Zoom Rooms customers on a supported Zoom Rooms device or appliance. Note that your device may not fully support the feature until its manufacturer has pushed the latest Zoom Rooms software update to its devices.

  • Please refer to the Zoom Support page to see the most up-to-date list on supported devices and platforms.

Resources


Generate charts and valuable insights using Gemini in Google Sheets

What’s changing 

Building data visualizations and identifying trends in data is a critical business function, however it can be time consuming and oftentimes overwhelming. To improve upon this experience, we’re making it easier for Sheets users, ranging from small business owners to marketing analysts, to visualize and analyze data using Gemini in Sheets. 

Starting today, Gemini in Sheets can perform actions or answer questions to address a wide variety of scenarios. Specifically, you can ask Gemini questions about your data and Gemini can provide valuable insights, such as contextual trends, patterns, and correlations between different variables in your data. Gemini will also generate charts based on your data that you can insert as static images over cells in your spreadsheet. For example: 
  • A marketing manager analyzing campaign performance can ask "Provide some insights on my top 3 performing channels by conversion rate" and can receive a detailed breakdown with supporting visualizations. 
  • A small business owner managing cash flow can ask "Predict my net income for the next quarter based on historical data" to proactively identify potential shortfalls. 
  • A financial analyst investigating inventory trends can ask "Identify any anomalies in inventory levels for Product X" to uncover potential supply chain issues or unusual demand patterns. 
Ask Gemini in Sheets to share insights and trends from the data.
Ask Gemini in Sheets to share insights and trends from the data.

Ask Gemini in Sheets to visualize data with a chart or bar graph.
Ask Gemini in Sheets to visualize data with a chart or bar graph.



Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

This update reflects Gemini in Sheets’ enhanced intelligence as it now yields valuable outputs by transforming your requests into Python code, executing on them and then analyzing the results to perform multi-layered analysis. As a result, you’re able to do things like identify top-performing products and then instantly dive into their sales trends — all without writing a single line of code. 


Additional details 

  • For the most accurate results, ensure your data is in a consistent format, with clear headers and no missing values. 
  • When asking Gemini in Sheets to analyze your data, be as specific as possible in your prompts to ensure Gemini understands your request. 
  • For complex analysis, Gemini in Sheet's performance is most consistent in files below 1 million cells. 
  • For some simpler questions about your data, Gemini in Sheets may still provide answers using formulas instead of Python code. 
  • Charts are generated as static images and can be easily inserted into your sheet. 
  • Charts are not linked to your sheet data, so they won't update automatically if your data changes. 
  • Once inserted, charts cannot be modified. If you need to make changes, you'll need to generate a new chart. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus 
  • Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on 
  • Google One AI Premium 
Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive this feature: 
  • Gemini Business* 
  • Gemini Enterprise* 
*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details. 

Resources 

Use tokens as placeholders for user specific information when configuring managed iOS applications

What’s changing

In May 2024, we launched the ability for admins to remotely configure managed iOS apps on end-user devices via Google Mobile Device Management. 

Beginning today, admins can use tokens in the app configurations for managed iOS apps. Tokens act as placeholders for information specific to a user or device that uses the app, such as a user's email address or their device serial number. Previously, configuration data was static, but this update gives admins the flexibility to configure devices dynamically according to various users and devices.

Creating the app configuration using XML information using a token placeholder


Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

Available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Essentials and Essentials Plus
  • Education Standard and Plus
  • Nonprofits
  • Frontline Starter and Standard
  • Cloud Identity Premium 

Resources


See phonics-based performance insights for decodable books in Google Classroom

What’s changing

Last year, we introduced Read Along in Google Classroom, a new feature that helps students build their independent reading skills by enabling teachers to assign differentiated reading content, based on Lexile® measure, grade level, or phonics skills. 


Read Along in Classroom includes access to a growing library of decodable books from Heggerty that educators can assign to practice specific decoding skills. To improve upon the current analytics dashboard experience and provide teachers with phonics-based performance insights for decodable books, we’re adding a new analysis section. 


With this update, teachers will see details about how a student or class is performing on the individual phonics skills listed in a decodable book and words that need practice. 

phonics analysis in Classroom


Getting started

  • Admins: 
  • End users: The phonics analysis dashboard will only appear for newly created decodable book assignments. This can be accessed by clicking on the assignment name in the “Grades” section of Google Classroom. Existing assignments will keep on showing the data as earlier. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Read Along in Google Classroom. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning add-on 

Resources

Configure Google Meet hardware devices to trust private certificates

What’s changing

Google Meet hardware devices can now trust HTTPS certificates signed by a private certificate authority (CA). This simplifies the process of setting up and managing third-party user control interfaces (UCIs), especially in high impact meeting spaces with systems like Q-SYS.

Previously, you had to get certificates signed by a public CA to enable Google Meet hardware touch controllers to load third-party UCIs. This process was often time-consuming and expensive, and required frequent renewals.

Now, you can use private CAs to securely connect your Google Meet hardware with a third-party room control system's UCI. This gives you more control over your network security and eliminates the costs and complexities associated with public certificates.

Getting started

Admin console >Menu > Devices > Networks > Certificates


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

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices
  • Please note that Android devices aren’t supported yet.

Resources

Configure Google Meet hardware devices to trust private certificate authorities

What’s changing

Google Meet hardware devices can now trust HTTPS certificates signed by a private certificate authority (CA). This simplifies the process of setting up and managing third-party user control interfaces (UCIs), especially in high impact meeting spaces with systems like Q-SYS.

Previously, you had to get certificates signed by a public CA to enable Google Meet hardware touch controllers to load third-party UCIs. This process was often time-consuming and expensive, and required frequent renewals.

Now, Google Meet hardware devices can trust certificates signed by a private certificate authority, enabling them to securely load a third-party room control system's UCI. This gives you more control over your network security and eliminates the costs and complexities associated with public certificate signing.


Getting started

Admin console >Menu > Devices > Networks > Certificates


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

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices
  • Please note that Android devices aren’t supported yet.

Resources

New Chrome Browser Profile Reporting for Workspace users available in the Admin console

What’s changing

For Google Workspace customers with Chrome Enterprise Core, we’re pleased to introduce a new Chrome browser profile list and reporting features for signed-in Google Workspace users. These new capabilities give IT administrators more insight into Chrome user profiles in their organization . The report includes a new managed profiles list and detail pages where IT administrators can find information such as profile details, browser versions, policies applied, extensions installed and more. The list of extensions installed allows you to identify versions of extensions that can potentially be a risk factor for your users.

Overall, this update significantly improves how admins analyze how their users are interacting with Chrome and allows them to take action to keep their users and data secure in Chrome.

Once enabled, you can view reports by going to Admin console > Chrome browser > Managed profiles



Getting started

  • Admins: Admins can simply log in to the Google Admin console and enable the Managed profile reporting policy. Visit the Help Center to learn more about viewing Chrome browser profile details.

To enable reporting, go to Menu > Devices > Chrome > Settings > User & browser settings > Chrome Browser > Browser Reporting > Managed Browser Reporting

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

Introducing the ability to ‘grade all’ in Google Classroom

What’s changing 

In 2023, we expanded grading systems in Google Classroom and in 2024 we added a 'missing' grade state to Gradebook. To further improve upon grading options for teachers and give them the ability to perform bulk grading, we’re introducing ‘grade all’. 

With this new feature, teachers can quickly and efficiently grade all students' work on the Gradebook page by selecting ‘grade all’. They can also choose to override existing grades and automatically return them to students after grading. 

Not only does this update save time by eliminating the need to enter each student’s grade one-by-one, but it also provides a solution to grading assignments based on completion rather than accuracy (such as exit tickets, due nows, classwork, etc.) where the grade is binary (‘0’ or ‘100’). 

bulk grading in Classroom



Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it matters

‘Grade all’ enables teachers to score faster and save time, ultimately making grading more efficient. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • Once a teacher has set up grading, they can follow these steps to grade all: 
      • Go to Google Classroom > Gradebook > In the 3 dot menu for an assignment click “Grade all” > In the dialog that opens, input the bulk grade 
        • [Optional] Select “Override existing grades” to override existing grades with the new bulk grade 
        • [Optional] Select “Automatically return after grading” to return all grades after submitting the new bulk grade. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about grading & returning an assignment. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 

Resources 

Generate vocabulary lists using Gemini in Google Classroom

What’s changing 

Since May of last year, education institutions have been leveraging new and powerful ways of working, teaching and learning with Gemini for Google Workspace. This includes products and features such as the Gemini app, Gemini Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI™), Gemini in Google Vids and Gemini in Classroom.

In continuing our efforts to ensure AI helps educators save time, create captivating learning experiences, and inspire creativity, we’re introducing a new way to generate vocabulary lists with the help of Gemini. 

Starting today, educators can generate custom word lists that are tailored to specific grade levels and topics identified by the educator. Specifically, the list will provide the word’s grammatical category, a clear definition, and a relevant example sentence to help students understand and use the vocabulary effectively. This functionality is accessible via the “Gemini Education” tab in Google Classroom. 

creating a vocab list using gemini in classroom


Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 


Why it’s important 

This update helps educators create vocabulary lists tailored to specific grade levels and topics while simultaneously empowering students to master vocabulary and deepen their understanding of language – all right within Google Classroom. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

Available for Google Workspace customers with these add-ons: 
  • Gemini Education and Education Premium 

Resources