Tag Archives: Rapid Release

Data classification labels in Gmail are now available on all Android and iOS devices

What’s changing 

In November 2024, we launched an open beta for data classification labels in Gmail. Beginning today, data classification labels will be available when using the Gmail app on mobile Android and iOS devices. Expanding data classification labels to mobile enables organizations to protect their data whether their users are sharing and accessing information from desktop devices or from mobile devices in the field or on-the-go.

Classification labels on mobile when composing a message, reading a message, and a message thread.



Additionally, these protections provide an automated way to enhance data security. For more information on data classification labels in Gmail, please refer to our original announcement.

Getting started

  • Admins: 
  • End users: If configured by your admin, you’ll see the “Classification” option when composing a new messaging or replying to or forwarding an existing message on mobile. When you open the menu, you can select labels relevant to your message. Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding classification labels in Gmail.

Rollout pace



Availability

The Label Manager and manual classification is available to Google Workspace:
  • Frontline Starter and Standard
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Education Standard and Education Plus
  • Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus

Data loss prevention rules with labels as a condition or labels as an action are available to:
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade
  • Frontline Standard
  • Cloud Identity Premium (in combination with a Workspace Edition eligible for Gmail)

Resources


Improving the cover images experience in Google Docs

What’s changing

Last year, we made it easier for you to personalize and differentiate documents with full-bleed cover images that extend from one edge of your document to the other. Since then, many users have added cover images to help set the tone for a document, and today we’re announcing the following updates: 
  • In addition to the “Choose from stock photos” and “Upload from computer”, insertion options, users can now add images via: 
    • Searching the web 
    • Uploading from Drive 
    • Importing from Google Photos 
    • Pasting a URL 
new insertion options for cover images
  • The addition of 100+ new stock images to provide users with more options. The stock image gallery will also include filtering options for categories like art, food, and abstract 
100+ new stock images

  • When clicking the “Cover image” chip at the top of your Doc, a placeholder image will appear, followed by the menu with options to create with Gemini or insert a different image via the options outlined in #1.

When clicking the “Cover image” chip at the top of your Doc, a placeholder image will appear
Additional details 



Cover images can only be added to documents set to pageless mode, allowing the image to span the entire width of the document. To set up the more immersive experience of pageless mode, go to File > Page setup > Pageless or Format > Switch to Pageless format. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • A stock cover image is not AI-generated and automatically uploads to your document. You can update or change the image. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding a cover image to your document.

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources

Create and vote on polls directly in Google Chat

What’s changing

In order to provide users with an easy way to gather feedback directly in their Google Chat conversations, we’re introducing a new Poll app. 

Through a simple creation process, teams and groups can share questions for feedback. This feature can be useful in scenarios in which you need to poll colleagues about an upcoming event, meeting time or team outing. The Poll app provides the ability to see results instantly, along with options to make polls multi-choice or anonymous. Using the Poll app, teams can arrive at faster, more inclusive decisions while keeping the conversation flowing. 

creating a poll
Creating a poll

seeing the results of a poll
Seeing the results of a poll


Additional details 

Some poll questions that ask where to eat, grab coffee, meet may have special icons. 
Some poll questions that ask where to eat, grab coffee, meet may have special icons.


Getting started 


Rollout pace

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers that have enabled Chat apps in their domain, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 

Resources 

Google Meet Learning Tools Interoperability™ update: control when meeting recordings are shared with a new toggle

What’s changing 

Instructors using Meet LTI™ to create and host meetings can control how meeting recordings are shared. Previously, everyone in the meeting could access the recording after the meeting. Now, instructors can control when recordings are shared with students.

From Meet LTI, select the “Meet artifacts” tab to toggle the “Share recordings with students” settings




We plan to introduce similar controls for other meeting artifacts, like Meeting transcripts, in the future. We’ll share more here on the Workspace Updates blog when more controls become available. 


Getting started


Rollout pace



Availability

  • Available for Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning add-on

Resources


Google Vault now supports the Gemini app

What’s changing 

Google Vault now supports the Gemini app (on web and mobile). Going forward, admins can use Vault for eDiscovery tasks to search Gemini app conversations and create an export of your search results. Specifically, the following actions can be taken around Gemini app data: 

  • Search prompts and responses with a number of filters, such as user and date to quickly refine your search. These searches can be across groups of users or by Organizational Units (OUs) up to 5000 in size. 
  • Export conversations in an XML format for the above searches via the UI or API.


Who’s impacted

Admins

Why it’s important

Vault is an eDiscovery and information governance tool for Google Workspace, which enables customers to retain, hold, search, and export users’ Google Workspace data. With this update, customers can now expand their regulatory and legal eDiscovery needs to include the Gemini app. This integration makes it easier for customers to comply with their eDiscovery obligations surrounding Gemini collaborative data, all from a central tool. 

Additionally, Vault’s integration with Gemini rounds out support for critical Workspace apps such as Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat, Calendar and Meet, providing customers with a consistent experience across all products that are managed within Vault for eDiscovery. Additional information governance and hold features, such as preview, retention, and litigation holds will follow in future releases. We’ll share more information on the Workspace updates blog when it’s available.

Additional details

This update is not applicable for Gemini for Google Workspace, as no prompts or responses are retained for those interactions. Visit our Privacy Hub for more information on how we’re protecting your Google Workspace data in the era of generative AI.

Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

Available to Google Workspace
  • Business Plus
  • Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus
  • Education Standard and Education Plus customers
  • Also available to customers with the Vault add-on license

Resources

Easily convert data to people chips and update chip format in Google Sheets

What’s changing

Similar to the functionality in Google Sheets that helps you easily convert data to dropdown chips, you can now use bulk chip conversion for people chips. If you have a column of data that includes a variety of emails, Sheets will show a “Convert to people chips” suggestion when you click into your data range. By hovering over that indicator, you can preview the suggestion and then convert your data to people chips in one click. 

Convert to people chips” suggestion


In addition to the default format of display name, within the Format menu, you will now be able to update the format of your people chips to one of the following: 
  • Last name, First name 
  • Email address 
update the format of your people chips


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • To insert people chips on your own, type “@” followed by a name or email address. To change the format of the people chips, select a cell or cells with people chips, go to Format > Smart chips > select the desired format. 
    • To turn off this feature, go to Tools > Suggestion controls > (deselect) Enable dropdown chip suggestions. 
    •  Visit the Help Center to learn more about inserting smart chips in your Google Sheets. 

Rollout pace 

People Chip Formats: 

People Chip Suggestions: 

Availability 

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

Resources 

NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus now available as a Google Workspace core service with enterprise-grade data protection

What’s changing

NotebookLM is a powerful AI-powered research assistant that helps users accelerate learning and knowledge sharing. Grounded in data that users in your organization provide, NotebookLM becomes an instant expert in those sources so users can get insights, share knowledge and learn on-to-go with Audio Overviews. 


NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus, previously introduced as additional services, are now included as core services for Workspace Business and Enterprise customers. Covered under your Google Workspace terms of service, these apps offer the same enterprise-grade data protections and level of technical support as other Workspace core services. 


NotebookLM helps users: 
  • Understand a complex topic faster and more in depth. After uploading files, recordings or even research papers, users can ask NotebookLM to explain multifaceted concepts in simple terms, provide real-world examples, and reinforce their understanding. 
  • Create a polished presentation outline, complete with key talking points and supporting evidence. 
  • Identify trends, generate new product ideas, and uncover hidden opportunities. 
  • Get insights and answers from a shared, centralized knowledge hub to maintain consistency and keep teams aligned and informed. 
NotebookLM Plus includes the components mentioned above in addition to enhanced capabilities that enable users to: 
  • Get 5x more Audio Overviews, queries, notebooks, and sources per notebook. 
  • Customize the style and length of their notebooks’s responses.
  • Create shared notebooks for their team and get usage analytics. 
In summary, users have access to a personalized AI research assistant that they can use with confidence knowing their sources, queries and responses stay within their organization. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users (18+) 


Why you’d use it 

Today, businesses of all sizes use it to supercharge their productivity and collaboration. For example, sales teams can add their product roadmap and feature specs, competitor benchmarking analysis, customer audio interviews, and market research to NotebookLM. As a result, NotebookLM can help you prepare for customer meetings by creating an account plan to help your team find information faster and better engage with customers. Marketers can use NotebookLM to help summarize customer trends and purchase behaviors, draft communications, create campaign briefs, and more–all based on market research, customer segmentation analysis, and marketing roadmaps. 


Additional details 

NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus are available in 180+ regions where Gemini API is available and currently supports 35+ languages. For Audio Overviews, while you can upload sources from all supported languages, the spoken audio is currently only available in English. 


Your uploads, queries and the model's responses are not used to train models and are not reviewed by human reviewers or otherwise used for product improvement without permission. Your data remains your data and any files uploaded, queries and responses are not shared outside your organization’s trust boundary. 


Users can only upload sources from Workspace that they have permission to access. Furthermore, they can control who has access to their notebooks and set more granular permissions within each. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace


Availability 

NotebookLM is available as a core service for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Starter 
  • Frontline Starter and Standard 
  • Essentials Starter, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus
  • Nonprofits 
NotebookLM Plus is available as a core service for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus 
Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive NotebookLM Plus as a core service: 
  • 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 

Now generally available: Easily migrate files from Microsoft OneDrive to Google Drive

What’s changing

In October 2024, we expanded our data migration services to include the ability for Admins to transfer OneDrive data to Google Drive. This functionality is now generally available. You can migrate the files of up to 100 users at a time, including the files corresponding access permissions with shared members. 

With the general availability release, we’ve also added additional settings which admins can use to: 
  • Specify files to migrate within a certain date range.
  • Exclude specific file formats and large files. 
  • Skip uploading an identity map and allow Google to automatically map source and target users instead. 

Now that the tool is generally available, with more customization settings, you can quickly and easily migrate your data to Workspace at scale while minimizing disruption for end users. For more information, please refer to our original beta announcement.

Example of a completed migration.


Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

Available to Google Workspace 
  • Business Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching and Learning add-on
  • Essentials Starter and Essentials
  • Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus
  • Nonprofits

Resources


Know who an event is shared with when using shared Google Calendars

What’s changing 

Users can have one of the following access permissions for shared Google Calendars: 
  • “See only free/busy (hide details)” 
  • “See all event details” 
  • “Make changes to events” 
  • “Make changes and manage sharing” 
The “Make changes to events” permission enables users to create events on shared calendars, but when those events are created, the user does not know which other users the event is shared with. 

To improve upon experience and ensure users are aware of who they are sharing content with, users with the ability to “Make changes to events” can now see the members of the shared calendar, i.e. who their events are shared with. 

users with the ability to “Make changes to events” can now see the members of the shared calendar, i.e. who their events are shared with.

Getting started 

  • Admins: As an admin, you can control how much calendar information people in your organization can share with users external to your organization. You can also set the default level of sharing for users within your organization. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting Calendar sharing options. 
  • End users: On Calendars with “make changes to events” access permission, you will now see the members of calendars. You can control the access permission of other users for your Calendars only on Calendars with “make changes and manage sharing” access permissions. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sharing your calendar with someone. 
  • Developers: For Calendars where a user has “make changes to events” (aka “writer”) permissions, the Acl.list and Acl.get method will newly return the members of the shared calendar and Acl.watch will notify about changes to members. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Resources 

Know who an event is shared with when using shared Google Calendars

What’s changing 

Users can have one of the following access permissions for shared Google Calendars: 
  • “See only free/busy (hide details)” 
  • “See all event details” 
  • “Make changes to events” 
  • “Make changes and manage sharing” 
The “Make changes to events” permission enables users to create events on shared calendars, but when those events are created, the user does not know which other users the event is shared with. 

To improve upon experience and ensure users are aware of who they are sharing content with, users with the ability to “Make changes to events” can now see the members of the shared calendar, i.e. who their events are shared with. 

users with the ability to “Make changes to events” can now see the members of the shared calendar, i.e. who their events are shared with.

Getting started 

  • Admins: As an admin, you can control how much calendar information people in your organization can share with users external to your organization. You can also set the default level of sharing for users within your organization. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting Calendar sharing options. 
  • End users: On Calendars with “make changes to events” access permission, you will now see the members of calendars. You can control the access permission of other users for your Calendars only on Calendars with “make changes and manage sharing” access permissions. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sharing your calendar with someone. 
  • Developers: For Calendars where a user has “make changes to events” (aka “writer”) permissions, the Acl.list and Acl.get method will newly return the members of the shared calendar and Acl.watch will notify about changes to members. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Resources