Tag Archives: Rapid Release

Improving Google Calendar’s interoperability with Microsoft Outlook

What’s changing

We recently announced an improved syncing experience from Google Calendar to third-party calendars, like Microsoft Outlook, that allows event guests to enjoy a more reliable syncing experience with less calendar emails in their inbox. 


Building upon this, we’re excited to announce that Calendar now reliably processes calendaring emails sent using the Microsoft-specific format for rich text emails called Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format (TNEF). As a result, Calendar users and organizations that routinely collaborate with internal and external Outlook users will now benefit from a more reliable experience when receiving invitations and RSVPs from Outlook users. 


Getting started 

  • Admins and end users: There is no admin controls or end user setting for this feature. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Resources 

Google Vids is expanding its AI voiceovers with new options

What’s changing

Since bringing Google Vids—our AI-powered video creation app for work—to general availability last year, users have engaged with Gemini features in Vids like AI voiceovers. Today, we’re excited to announce that users can now choose from a wider range of AI voices for their videos with the introduction of new options: 
  • Narrator (Default) - Smooth, medium pitch 
  • Educator - Friendly, higher pitch 
  • Teacher - Clear, low pitch 
  • Persuader - Engaging, low pitch 
  • Explainer - Lively, low pitch 
  • Coach - Lively, higher pitch 
  • Motivator - Energetic, medium pitch
These high-quality voices offer more natural and expressive voiceovers that dynamically adjust pitch and tone to match your script, whether you wrote it yourself or used the Gemini-powered 'Help me create' to generate your script. 


new ai voiceover options in vids


Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

Using AI voiceovers makes it easier to get started creating or updating video content in just a few clicks. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Vids in your organization.
  • End users: 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating scripts & voiceovers in Google Vids. 
    • You can use Vids on your computer with the two most recent versions of these browsers: 
    • You can access our always-on resources in the Google Workspace Learning Center to learn what you can do with Google Vids. 
    • Vids is available in the user's local language, but some AI features (including AI voiceovers) are currently only available in English. 
    • Note: View and collaborate access is available to anyone with a Google Workspace account, while create and copy access is available for select editions of Google Workspace customers. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus 
  • Essentials, Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus 
  • Education Plus* 
  • Customers with the Gemini Education* or Gemini Education Premium* add-on 
  • Customers with the Gemini Business* or Gemini Enterprise* add-on 
 *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. 

*Please refer to the following Workspace Updates Blog to learn more about Vids availability for Google Workspace for Education customers. 

Resources 



Expanding SIP Link for Google Voice to new countries

What’s changing 

In October 2022, we announced the ability for Google Voice Standard and Premier customers to connect a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunk with Voice. SIP Link allows phone numbers (PSTN services) from local carriers to be used for Google Voice through a secure set of certified Session Border Controllers (SBCs), such as Audiocodes, Cisco, Oracle, and Ribbon. For more information, check out our original launch announcement.

Beginning today, we’re launching Voice to the following countries by expanding SIP Link availability: 


APAC
  • Australia
  • Hong Kong
  • Indonesia
  • Israel
  • Malaysia
  • New Zealand
  • Philippines
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • Vietnam
EMEA
  • Finland
  • Norway
  • Romania
  • South Africa
LATAM
  • Peru
Customers in these countries will need to purchase the new SIP Link Standard or SIP Link Premier licenses to set up SIP Link, which they can do via their Google Workspace sales representative or through the Google Workspace Partner network. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace

Availability 

  • Available to Google SIP Link Standard and Premier customers
    • Note: Customers in countries above will need to purchase SIP Link Standard or SIP Link Premier licenses to set up SIP Link. 

Resources 

Transferring your personal Google Voice number to a Google Workspace business account just got easier

What’s changing 

We know it’s important for our users to continue maintaining an established phone number and ensure that this number stays associated with them as they move to a Google Workspace business account. For example, a solopreneur with a Voice number might need to carry their number with them to a Workspace domain as their business grows. 

To solve for this, we’re pleased to introduce a significantly improved experience for transferring a personal Google Voice number to a Google Workspace account. When using Google Voice on the web, you can go directly to “Account Settings” and then to the "Transfer your number to another Voice account" section. Here, you can enter the Voice number you’d like to transfer and the Google Workspace email address it should now be associated with. Once submitted, your admin can accept the transfer. 

Transferring your personal Google Voice number to a Google Workspace



Getting started 


Rollout pace


Availability 

  • Available for Google Workspace customers using Google Voice Starter, Standard or Premier 

Resources 

Google Voice now supports call delegation

What’s changing

Beginning today, admins can assign delegates to handle other users' calls. When assigned, delegates can: 
  • Answer calls on the delegator’s behalf 
  • Place calls on the delegator’s behalf, including transferring the call to the delegator once connected 
  • Transfer calls selectively to the delegator 
  • Listen to voicemail messages and view voicemail transcripts 
 This can be helpful for executives who delegate some of these tasks to colleagues. 

Google Voice now supports call delegation

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users


Why it matters

Call delegation is a top feature request from our customers and is critical for busy professionals and their support staff to effectively manage communications. Allowing designated individuals to handle calls on behalf of executives frees up executives' time while ensuring important communications are addressed promptly, ultimately boosting productivity for both executives and their support staff. In the future, we plan to expand this feature to include the ability for delegates to access call history, voicemail history, and inbox management. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up call delegation for your organization. 
  • End users: If configured by your admin, you'll be notified via email if you have been assigned a delegate and what actions they can take on your behalf. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available for Google Workspace customers with a Google Voice Standard and Premier subscription 

Resources

Enhancing video navigation and accessibility with Google Drive video transcripts

What’s changing 

Last year, we announced that users can automatically generate captions for any video uploaded to Google Drive, improving the accessibility of videos and saving users the effort of manually creating captions. To build upon this feature and make information discovery, referencing, and productivity with video content much more efficient, we’re excited to introduce video transcripts. 


Starting today, Drive users can now view and search transcripts for their videos. The transcript appears in a sidebar next to the video player and highlights the currently spoken text. This update makes it easy to find specific moments, follow along with the content, or jump directly to the part of the video you need.

video transcripts in drive

Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it matters 

Video transcripts can improve the accessibility of media stored in Drive and enables you to easily search and navigate to key moments within your video. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • Your video must have captions to access this feature. A video with captions will have the CC button in the bottom right corner of the video player set to active (not grayed out). 
      • You can add captions to a video by right-clicking the video in Drive > selecting Manage caption tracks > generate automatic captions. You can also generate captions when the video is playing by going to the three dot menu on top right > manage captions tracks > generate automatic captions. 
    • To access video transcripts, open a video with captions in Google Drive > click the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the video to open the video settings > select “Transcript” 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning on video transcripts.

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 24, 2025 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 26, 2025, with expected completion by March 26, 2025

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 
    • Note: Users with personal Google accounts can upload or request automatic captions after uploading a video to Drive. 

Resources 

New Chat Usage Analytics Updates for Admins and Developers

What’s changing 

In December 2024, we introduced new, detailed usage reports for Google Chat. These reports help admins better understand how their teams are using Chat, allowing them to analyze engagement, drive adoption, configure safety features, and more. These reports aggregate data at the group and organization level, to provide relevant insights for Workspace admins while protecting individual privacy. 

Starting today, customerUsageReports.get and userUsageReports.get for Google Chat are available via the Admin SDK Reports API for customers to use in their own customized dashboards and reporting tools. This gives admins more ways to analyze Chat usage data.


Please refer to the table below to learn about the metrics available to you:

Category

Variations

# of messages sent by users of the organization

Total number of messages

Messages sent by conversation type (direct message, group chat, space)

Messages sent by type (regular, voice, video, huddle)

Messages sent with or without attachment

Messages sent to conversations that contain or do not contain external users.

# of spaces owned by organization

Number of active spaces

Number of spaces created

# of active users in your organization by level of activity

Number of engaged users (read at least one conversation or sent messages or reactions)


Number of communicator users (sent at least one message or reaction)

# of actions by specific users*

Number of messages and reactions sent


Number of attachments uploaded


Number of spaces created


Number of conversations read

Most metrics are available for periods of 1, 7, and 28 days.
*Available for 28 days only

Additional details

We’ve also added four new fields and one additional event available in Chat Audit Logs and surfaced in the Security Investigation Tool. In addition to providing even more context on Chat usage, admins can leverage these additional data points in their own custom reporting.


The fields are:
Conversation ownership indicates whether the conversation, where a specific Chat event occurs, is owned by the organization or by an external entity. These possible values include:
  • Internally owned: conversation is owned by the admin’s organization
  • Externally owned: conversation is owned by an external entity

Conversation type indicates the type of conversation where the event occurs:
  • User-to-user direct message
  • User-to-app direct message
  • Group chat
  • Space

Message type indicates type of the message in Message sent and Message edited events:
  • Regular message
  • Voice message
  • Video message
  • Huddle

Attachment status indicates whether the message was sent with an attachment (image or file):
  • Has attachment
  • No attachment

Additionally, we’ve added a new event, “Conversation Read”. Every time a user opens a conversation and reads one or more unread messages, an event will be logged.

Getting started



Rollout pace


Availability

  • New Chat usage metrics in Report API  are available for all Google Workspace customers.
  • The security investigation tool is available for Google Workspace
    • Enterprise Standard and Plus
    • Education Standard and Plus
    • Enterprise Essentials Plus
    • Frontline Standard
    • And Cloud Identity Premium customers

“Take notes for me” in Google Meet now captures citations to transcripts

What’s changing

Recently, we announced that next steps will automatically be captured when using “take notes for me” in Google Meet. Building upon that momentum, your meeting notes document will now include citations, or timestamps, which correlate to the exact point in the meeting transcript that references the summarized notes. 

For example, you’ll see something like: “Sophie discussed the updated marketing plan (00:08:32)”. When you click on the timestamp, the meeting transcription tab in the document will open and take you to  the moment that the discussion occurred. From here, you can drill into the details of the discussion for even more context.

When you click on a timestamp, the transcription tab will open automatically to the specific point in the conversation


Getting started

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 20, 2025

This feature will be rolling out at a much slower pace than usual as we carefully monitor performance and quality. We will update this post when rollout for Rapid Release domains is complete and Scheduled Rollout is expected to begin.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace
  • Business Standard, and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard, and Plus
  • Also available with the Gemini Education Premium add-on

Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive this feature:
  • Gemini Enterprise*
  • AI Meetings & Messaging*

*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

Migrate data from Microsoft Teams channels to Google Chat spaces using CloudM

What’s changing

Building on last year’s announcement of the general availability for Chat APIs to import data from messaging platforms to Google Chat, we’re excited to introduce a new migration solution from a Workspace partner, CloudM. 


Working with CloudM, you can move your Microsoft Teams channels into Chat spaces. This includes public and private channel messages, public channel attachments, reactions, and channel members mapped to the corresponding space. CloudM also migrates the data while maintaining historical timestamps to ensure users can continue conversations right where they left off.

Migrate data from Microsoft Teams channels to Google Chat spaces using CloudM

Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why you’d use it 

This CloudM solution imports your team collaboration data and knowledge repository from Microsoft Teams channels into Google Chat spaces. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers. Note that a separate CloudM license is required to enable data migrations. 

Resources 

Updated design for Google Meet meeting controls on Android and iOS

What’s changing

We are updating the location of some Google Meet meeting controls on Android and iOS devices, which are intended to organize features in a more intuitive way. This will help you to navigate the Meet layout faster and more intuitively. These are strictly design updates with no changes in functionality. 

1. Emoji reactions are moving from the triple-dot overflow menu to the bottom bar. Simply tap the Emoji toggle to access or hide the reaction picker.

Before

After





2. The hand raise feature is moving from the bottom bar to the triple-dot overflow menu. This change applies to mobile devices only - if you’re using a larger screen device, such as a tablet, you’ll continue to see the Hand Raise icon in the main call controls menu.

Before

After



3. Host management controls will move from the overflow menu to the settings menu, under the “General” section.

Before

After



4. The option to report a problem is now in one location, in the Settings menu.

Before

After




Finally, there is an additional change for iOS only: The end call button is moving from the left side to the right side of the primary controls, bringing the experience inline with Android.

Before

After



Additional details

The minimum build required for these updates are:
Android:
  • Meet: 291.0.722438190.duo.android_20250202.14
  • Gmail: 2025.02.02.722438226
iOS:
  • Meet: 294.0
  • Gmail: 6.0.250209

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin impact or action required.
  • End users: You’ll notice these improvements automatically. 

Rollout pace

These updates will rollout to Android devices first, followed by iOS. We will update this post as the respective rollouts complete.

Android:

iOS:

Availability

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

Resources