Google Workspace Updates

Rollout Update: setting the default camera framing option for Google Meet hardware devices

2024-07-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

We recently announced several updates related to framing options on Google Hardware devices. This included the ability for admins to configure the default camera framing option for their hardware devices. After pausing rollout to optimize performance, we are pleased to announce that this feature is now fully available.

Getting started

Admins: You can configure default camera framing options for individual Google Meet hardware devices by going to Devices > Google Meet hardware > [Device Name] > Device Settings > Default camera framing. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting default camera framing for meeting rooms. You can also set the default camera framing option for multiple devices at once.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using device-based framing and using the Meet the touchscreen to control audio and video.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices

Resources

Google Meet and Zoom interoperability now includes presented content via a wired HDMI connection

2024-07-09T12:16:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

We’re expanding the interoperability between Google Meet and Zoom to include the ability to present content via a wired HDMI connection. This functionality will allow you:

Present HDMI content into your Zoom Meetings from Google Meet hardware devices
Present HDMI content into Google Meet meetings from supported Zoom Rooms

This is designed to make it even easier for our customers and their users to connect and collaborate with people outside of the Meet ecosystem. To learn more about interoperability between Google Meet and Zoom, check out these previous announcements:

Getting started

Admins: Zoom interop on Google Meet hardware will be available on devices by default and can be disabled in the Workspace Admin console at the OU level at Devices > Google Meet hardware > Settings > Device Settings > Built-in interoperability.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Meet interoperability and how to present using an HDMI cable.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 9, 2024

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware Chrome-based devices

Resources

Use the Apple Volume Purchasing Program (VPP) to distribute apps for device enrollment and company owned devices

2024-07-09T10:55:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

In November 2023, we announced the ability to purchase and distribute iOS apps to user-enrolled devices through Apple’s Volume Purchase Program. Beginning today, we’re expanding this functionality to include device enrollment and company-owned iOS devices.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

Admins can use the Volume Purchasing Program to efficiently curate a suite of work-related apps—both free and paid—for their team. This streamlined process not only simplifies the deployment of essential business apps but also ensures that employees have access to the right apps they need to be productive and efficient, all within the secure perimeter of our MDM platform. To further streamline the enrollment and app distribution process, we’re automatically installing mandatory apps during enrollment for company-owned devices. This latest update makes it easier for admins to deploy apps across various device types in their organization.

Additional details

Please note that Apple ID sign-in won't be needed in the company-owned iOS devices flow after configuring apps with VPP.

The automatic installation of mandatory apps during onboarding applies to all enrollment types and devices that violate mandatory apps compliance will be immediately blocked until the required app(s) are installed.

Getting started

Admins: This feature can be configured at the domain, OU, or group level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up company-owned iOS devices and distributing iOS apps with the Apple VPP.
End users: Visit our Help Center for more information about how your iOS device is managed and getting approved work apps on your iOS device.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 9, 2024

Availability

Available to Google Workspace

Business Plus
Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus
Enterprise Standard and Plus
Education Standard and Plus, and the Endpoint Education Upgrade add-on
Frontline Starter and Standard
Cloud Identity Premium

Resources

Pre-configure meeting notes, recordings, and transcripts from the Calendar invite

2024-07-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

Meeting hosts can now pre-configure meeting notes, meeting recordings, and meeting transcripts from the Calendar invite. This helps ensure that these specific artifacts are automatically captured, reducing the need for the meeting host to turn them on during the meeting, removing awkward pauses or the risk of forgetting to turn them on all together.

You can configure these artifacts from the Calendar invite by going to Settings > Meeting records and selecting which artifacts you want automatically applied

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning meeting recordings on or off for your organization and turning Meet Transcriptions on or off. When turned on, meeting hosts will be able to pre-configure these artifacts for their meetings.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about enabling meeting records to start automatically.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on July 9, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace*:

Business Standard and Plus
Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus
Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade
Essentials and Enterprise Essentials,
Workspace Individual Subscribers
Google One subscribers with 2 TB or more storage space

*Note that your Google Workspace edition will determine which meeting features are available to you.

Resources

Enhancing the Google Calendar appointment scheduling experience with additional features

2024-07-09T07:14:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

Following our recent announcement of the appointment slots feature in Google Calendar being replaced by appointment schedules in July 2024, we’re updating appointment schedules by adding new features to enhance the overall experience.

First, we’re adding the option to designate a custom weekly recurrence when creating an appointment schedule in Calendar. This will allow users to make the schedule repeat on more flexible recurrences, such as bi-weekly.

Second, bookers (and co-hosts) can now add other guests or rooms to booked events. This feature is only available if the user creating the appointment schedule selects the “Guests can invite others” option during setup or edit of the schedule.

Lastly, the appointment schedule creator can now add Google Groups as co-hosts during the setup process so users can more easily host appointments with others.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for these features.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating an appointment schedule and customizing your appointment availability.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 9, 2024
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 23, 2024

Availability

The custom recurrence option & allowing guests to invite others on Appointment Schedules are available for Google Workspace:

Business Starter, Standard, Plus
Enterprise Standard, Plus
Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade
Nonprofits
Workspace Individual Subscribers
Google One Premium users
Users with personal Google accounts

Adding groups as co-hosts on Appointment Schedules is available for Google Workspace:

Business Standard, Plus
Enterprise Standard, Plus
Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade
Nonprofits

Resources

Manage your compliance and data controls from a single source in the Admin console

2024-07-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

We know that compliance and data controls are paramount for our customers, both in understanding Google Workspace’s policies and configuring compliance-relevant features according to the needs of their business sector and geographical region. To help our customers navigate these complexities, we’ve centralized some of these relevant features and information into a single location in the admin console: Data.

Within this section, admins can:

Find a centralized hub containing all data and compliance-related features such as data regions, access transparency, and more.

Access Approvals, Access Management, Access Transparency, Client Side Encryption, Data Regions can now be found under Data > Compliance. Please note that Access Transparency can still be found under Menu > Reporting.

Data Export, Data migration, and Google Takeout can now be found under Data > Data import & export.
Find a dedicated compliance node containing guides and resources to help them configure their settings within various regulations and standards such as IL4, CJIS, and FedRAMP High.

Data > Overview

Data > Compliance > Guides and Resources

Getting started

Admins: You can access the new Data node compliance center in the Admin console by navigating to Menu > Data. From here, you will find the Overview page, as well as the Compliance and Data Import & Export categories.
End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 8, 2024

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Access Management is now generally available in the European Union

2024-07-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

Access Management is now also generally available in the European Union — these controls allow customers to select the physical location from which Google support teams can access organizational data during support activities. Customers can now restrict support personnel to EU Google staff in EU locations. If necessary, non-EU Google staff may access data through virtual desktops that are located in EU locations.

Who’s impacted

Admins

Why it’s important

Google Workspace Assured Controls enables customers to meet strict regulatory information governance requirements. With Access Management, customers can limit the Google staff who can take support actions related to their data. Additionally, since Assured Controls is available on Google Workspace’s native platform, you don’t need to move to a separate GovCloud environment for access to these capabilities. This update gives our customers another way to configure how and where their data is accessed by Google staff.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Assured Controls and Access Management.
End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 8, 2024

Availability

Assured controls are available as a paid-add on for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus. For more information, contact your Google account representative.

Resources

Introducing a new experience for data regions reporting

2024-07-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

We’re pleased to announce several new enhancements to Google Workspace data regions:

For the first time, admins will be able to specify not only the region (EU or US) where their data is stored, but also the region in which it is processed, with granular controls to allow administrators to easily refine the region and level of compliance needed as appropriate for their organizational groups. Workspace customers have the flexibility to select multiple geographies to suit their needs, versus being restricted to one region mandated by billing address.

Also, based on customer feedback, we have re-architected our reporting dashboard to both deliver new functionality and simplify the experience for administrators. These include:

A simplified experience that focuses on the status of your data region's posture.
Streamlined reporting for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers.
Advanced reporting for Assured Controls customers.

Who’s impacted

Admins

Why it’s important

Assign data processing to the United States or Europe

Although customers are not required to use the sovereignty offerings within Workspace in order to comply with the GDPR, we make advanced data residency controls available so that customers can proactively leverage digital sovereignty best practices and keep pace with regulatory legislation.

Putting the emphasis on status

We’ve heard from our customers that it’s critical to quickly determine whether their data is being stored in the proper location. Based on this feedback, we’ve simplified the dashboard to consolidate parameters like “application” and “data type”, which were not useful to customers into a single status indicator.

Also, admins can now access two new reporting cards: Versions and Policies. The Versions card will tell admins how many users have each edition of data regions, while the Policies card will tell you how many users have their storage and processing settings assigned to the US or Europe.

It’s important to note that if you’re subject to partial domain licensing, you may see a mix of users spread across different editions. A user’s feature set may vary based on their assigned Workspace editions — we recommend using our Help Center to learn more about the difference between editions.

Advanced reporting for Assured Controls customers

For those Google Workspace customers using Assured Controls, you can leverage more advanced reporting which will help you determine that data is being both stored and processed properly. You can also drill down into this information on an app-by-app basis.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Data Regions, choosing a geographic location for your data, setting up advanced settings for Data Regions, what data is covered by the Data Regions and viewing Data Regions status.
End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 8, 2024 with anticipated completion by the end of August 5, 2024.

Availability

Enterprise Data Regions are included with Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Enterprise Essentials Plus.
Fundamental Data Regions are included with Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Essentials. Reporting is not included with fundamental data regions — you can purchase Enterprise data regions as a paid add-on with any of these editions.
Assured Controls are available as a paid-add on for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus.

Resources

Important policy updates for Early Access apps starting July 30, 2024

2024-07-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

To ensure organizations’ continued access to services, we're changing the way Early Access apps transition to Additional Google Services:

Currently, when an Early Access app becomes an Additional Google Service, it is turned on or off by default based on your new services preference in the Admin console. This occurs even if the Early Access apps service status is set to On for everyone.

Starting July 30, 2024, if you have an Early Access app service set to On, you won’t lose access to the app when it transitions to an additional service, regardless of your new service preferences. These apps will only be turned off if both settings are set to Off.

Additional details

Google AI Studio will transition from an Early Access app to an Additional Google Service on July 30, 2024. Access to AI Studio will be based on the information outlined above. We recommend that you double-check your settings ahead of time to ensure access to AI Studio is configured as you see fit.

Getting started

Admins: Access to Early Access apps can be turned on or off at the OU or group level. New Products release preferences can be configured in your account settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Early Access apps on or off for your users, as well as turning new services on or off by default.
End users: There is no action required.

Rollout pace

The updated policy will take effect for all Google Workspace customers on July 30, 2024.

Availability

This update impacts all Google Workspace customers.

Resources

Adding a 'missing' grade state to Gradebook in Google Classroom

2024-07-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

In the last year, we’ve added new features, such as disabling submissions after a due date in Google Classroom and excusing assignments in Google Classroom, in order to give teachers even more flexibility when it comes to grading for assignments and classwork.

Today, we're improving support for missing assignments in gradebook by giving teachers the ability to manually mark an assignment as ‘missing’ or ‘complete’ and automatically add a default draft score.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users:

By default, all missing assignments will automatically receive a draft score of ‘0’. However, teachers can adjust the default draft score or turn OFF the automated scoring feature.
Assignments that displayed the ‘missing’ labels prior to this update will be automatically updated and receive the draft score.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about grading & returning an assignment.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 2, 2024

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Grade & return an assignment

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - June 28, 2024

2024-06-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

3 New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if 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.

Your users can now express interest in Gemini for Google Workspace

We’re introducing a simple way for Workspace end users to request a Gemini license from their admins on the Gemini for Google Workspace homepage. To send this request, Workspace end users simply select ‘Get Started’ from the Gemini for Google Workspace marketing page, then click on ‘Ask my admin’ and complete the request form. Super admins will receive this request by email, and from there they can choose to purchase a Gemini license in the Admin console.

Admins will have the option to disable these requests prior to this update. Admins can do so in the Admin console by going to Account > Account Settings > Gemini for Google Workspace, and deselecting the ‘User-requested upgrades’ setting— use this article in our Help Center for more information. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains. | Learn more about Gemini for Workspace, including our recent Gemini for Workspace announcements.

Multi-account support now available for Google Keep on large screen Android devices

Last year, we introduced multi-instance support for Google Keep on large screen Android devices. To take this a step further, we’re now allowing multiple accounts to be used at the same time on the same device in Keep. Having two windows open side-by-side enables better insight into your notes and gives you more ways to work with, display, and organize your content across multiple accounts. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts.

Updates for Gemini for Workspace usage reports in the Admin console

Recently, we introduced Gemini for Workspace usage reports in the Admin console. Beginning today, we’re introducing additional updates for these reports:

Usage reports are now available for Gemini Education and Gemini Education Premium customers.
Admins can filter usage reports by OU and Groups.

Admins can access these reports via Admin console under Menu > Generative AI > Gemini reports. | Also available to Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Enterprise and Gemini Business add-ons. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains. | Learn more about reviewing Gemini usage in your organization.

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.

Google Classroom add-ons now generally available to Google Workspace developers

Classroom add-ons generally available to all developers. These complement other Classroom API features and let educators and students experience content without having to leave Google Classroom. | Learn more about Classroom add-ons.

Manage access to eSignature in Google Workspace

The admin control for Google Workspace’s eSignature feature is live for select Google Workspace editions. Admins can control users’ ability to request signatures before eSignature rolls out to end users in the coming weeks. | Learn more about eSignature in Google Workspace.

Gemini in the side panel of Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Google Drive is rolling out now

We’re pleased to announce the general availability of Gemini in the side panel of Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive. Learn more about the side panel in Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive and Gmail.

Bringing our Learning Interoperability Tools under one umbrella: Google Workspace LTI™

Going forward, all Learning Interoperability Tools, including Assignments LTI™, and Google Drive LTI™, will be consolidated into a single category: Google Workspace LTI™. | Learn more about Google Workspace LTI™.

Introducing Colab Pro and Colab Pro+ for Google Workspace

Currently, Google Workspace admins can turn Colab on for their users, allowing them to access the free version of Colab. This week, we announced the Colab Pro and Colab Pro+ standalone subscriptions for Google Workspace customers. | Learn more about Colab for Google Workspace.

Grading periods API for Google Classroom is now available in Developer Preview

Grading period endpoints and capabilities in the Classroom API are now available through the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program. | Learn more about the Grading periods API.

Additional admin space management capabilities in Google Chat API are now available in Developer Preview Program

We’re pleased to announce more space management capabilities, such as the ability to look up details about specific space, update space details, and more. | Learn more about admin space management capabilities in Google Chat API.

Improving calculation speed in Google Sheets

We recently announced the latest advancements in Sheets, including that we’ve doubled the speed of calculation in Google Sheets on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers. This update can improve the speed of actions like formulas, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and more, regardless of your file size. | Learn more about Sheets calculations.

Add up to 500,000 members to spaces in Google Chat

To provide greater flexibility and inclusiveness for larger organizations, we’re excited to announce that starting today, spaces can now have up to 500,000 members. | Learn more about large spaces in Chat.

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog posts for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains:

Comments and action items in client-side encrypted Google Docs is now generally available

Scheduled Release Domains:

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

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

Add up to 500,000 members to spaces in Google Chat

2024-06-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

Shortly after introducing announcements in Google Chat last year, we increased the number of users you can add to a space from 8,000 to 50,000. To provide greater flexibility and inclusiveness for larger organizations, we’re excited to announce that starting today, spaces can now have up to 500,000 members.

If you are adding a Google Group as a member to set up large spaces, the table below shows how long it will typically take to populate this space.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why it’s important

Companies can now create org-wide spaces to announce news and updates to their employees, helping ensure broader reachability and measurability of their communications.

Additional details

We’ve introduced features to enhance membership management, which is particularly important now with larger spaces in Google Chat. Some examples include:

The ability to manage reported Google Chat content from the new moderation tool in the Admin console
Several updates for the Space Management Tool in the Admin console, including an improved user interface and additional management capabilities
The option to add Google Groups to spaces in Google Chat
Data loss prevention for Google Chat

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Chat participant limits and optimizing Chat spaces for your organization.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about spaces and group conversations and managing your space settings.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 26, 2024

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Improving calculation speed in Google Sheets

2024-06-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

Who’s impacted

End users

Why it matter

Whether you’re a small business owner analyzing revenue, a finance leader managing millions of values, or a brand manager reviewing the latest orders of a product line, seeing changes in your data reflected quickly is important. This update helps to make that possible by improving calculation speed in Sheets on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

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

Resources

Additional admin space management capabilities in Google Chat API are now available in Developer Preview Program

2024-06-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

We recently announced several new features for the Google Chat API that enable admins to manage spaces at scale. These features include the ability to audit spaces, delete inactive spaces in bulk, and more.

Today, we’re pleased to announce more space management capabilities, which include the ability to:

Look up details about specific space.
Update space details, including the name of a space, space description, and space guidelines.
Verify user’s membership status in a specific space.
Upgrade a role from space member to space manager.

These features are available now through our Developer Preview Program — see here for more information on how to enroll in the Developer Preview program.

Getting started

Admins and developers:

If you are part of the Google Workspace Developer Preview, you will get these features by default. Otherwise, you must apply for access using this form.
Use our Developer Documentation to learn how to authenticate and authorize using administrator privilege.

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

Rollout pace

This feature is available now through the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program

Availability

New features for the Google Chat API scoped to admin users are available to participants of Google Workspace Developer Preview Program.

Resources

Grading periods API for Google Classroom is now available in Developer Preview

2024-06-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

Last year, we introduced grading periods, an option that allows administrators and teachers to define and apply grading periods segmented from the entire school year to their Google Classroom assignments.

Today, we’re excited to announce grading period endpoints and capabilities in the Classroom API, available through the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program. Specifically, developers can now:

Create, modify, and delete grading periods on courses
Read grading periods on courses
Reference and set/read grading periods on CourseWork resources
Apply grading period settings to existing coursework items

Who’s impacted

Developers

Why you’d use it

The new grading periods endpoints allows developers to create, modify, and read grading periods in Classroom on behalf of administrators and teachers.

Getting started

Admins: The Classroom API provides a RESTful interface for you to manage courses and rosters in Google Classroom. Learn more about the Classroom API overview.
Developers:

To use the grading periods API, developers can apply for access through our Google Workspace Developer Preview Program.
Application developers can use the Classroom API to integrate their apps with Classroom. These apps need to use OAuth 2.0 to request permission to view classes and rosters from teachers. Admins can restrict whether teachers and students in their domain can authorize apps to access their Google Classroom data.
All API and Classroom share button integrations should follow the Classroom brand guidelines.

Rollout pace

This is available now through the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Education Plus

Resources

Introducing Colab Pro and Colab Pro+ for Google Workspace

2024-06-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

Currently, Google Workspace admins can turn Colab on for their users, allowing them to access the free version of Colab. Beginning today, we’re pleased to announce the Colab Pro and Colab Pro+ standalone subscriptions for Google Workspace customers:

Colab Pro offers 100 compute units that grant access to additional powerful GPUs, memory, features, and productivity enhancements enabled with AI assistance.
Colab Pro+ gives you all the benefits of Colab Pro like productivity enhancements enabled with AI assistance, plus an additional 400 compute units for a total of 500 per month that grant access to additional powerful GPUs, along with background execution for our longest-running sessions.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s important

Colab provides access to Google's powerful computational resources, which can be used to train machine learning models and perform other data-intensive tasks — all from your web browser. It can be used for a variety of data science and machine learning tasks, including:

Exploratory data analysis
Developing with the Gemini API
Machine learning model development
Natural language processing such as text classification and sentiment analysis
Image processing such as object detection and image classification.

We know that many Colab users are also Google Workspace users, especially those within educational institutions. Colab Pro and Colab Pro+ can help enhance their work and research with more compute units, faster GPUs, more memory and more.

Further, these offerings can help admins efficiently subscribe an entire team or organization to Colab, thereby minimizing the friction associated with setting up individual accounts for each user. By managing subscriptions at the group level, organizations can more effectively support collaborative workflows and ensure that all team members have access to the resources they need.

Getting started

Admins:

Access to the Admin console is required to initiate purchase. To purchase Workspace Colab Pro or Colab Pro+, go to Billing > Get more services > More products. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to assign licenses to users after purchase, as well as available Google Workspace subscriptions.
For Google Workspace for Education K-12 customers: The access control for Colab is OFF by default and requires Admins to enable this control if they want users in their domain to access Google Colab. Before turning access to Colab ON, Admins are required to obtain parental consent for <18 users because Colab is included as an Additional Service. Consent can be requested with this notice template.

End users:

Colab is OFF by default and can be enabled by your Admin.
Note that if you have purchased Colab's “Pay As You Go” offering for yourself, you can continue using it in addition with Colab Pro and Pro+.

Rollout pace

Gradually rolling out over the coming months to all customers

Availability

Colab Pro and Colab Pro+ are standalone subscriptions available to all Google Workspace customers with a verified domain.

Resources

Bringing our Learning Interoperability Tools under one umbrella: Google Workspace LTI™

2024-06-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

Going forward, all Learning Interoperability Tools, including Assignments LTI™, and Google Drive LTI™, will be consolidated into a single category: Google Workspace LTI™. There are no functionality changes with this update, but you will notice the following:

Assignments will be renamed to Google Workspace LTI™ in the Admin console and Google Workspace LTI™ in the Google Cloud console
All LTI tools managed in the Admin console with the Google Workspace LTI™ service
The Google Assignments Help Center will be rebranded to Google Workspace LTI™. The community forum will remain the same.

Getting started

Admins: You’ll notice these updates automatically. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Workspace LTI™.
End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

This is now available.

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Google Workspace Help: Google Workspace LTI™ overview

Gemini in the side panel of Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Google Drive is rolling out now

2024-06-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

We’re pleased to announce the general availability of Gemini in the side panel of Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive. Through the side panel, Gemini can assist you with summarizing, analyzing, and generating content by utilizing insights gathered from your emails, documents, and more—all without switching applications or tabs. The updated interface automatically summarizes the content you're working on and provides contextually relevant prompts to help you get started.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

The side panel will use Google’s most capable models including the Gemini 1.5 Pro model with a longer context window and more advanced reasoning, allowing you to harness the power of Gemini directly from your most used Google Workspace apps. Here are a few examples of when you’d use it:

Docs: Gemini in Docs side panel can help you write and refine your content, summarize information, help you brainstorm, create content based off of other files, and more.

Gemini in Docs side panel

Slides: Gemini in Slides side panel can help you generate new slides, generate custom images, summarize presentations and more.

Using Gemini in Slides side panel

Sheets: Gemini in Sheets side panel can help you track and organize data. In the side panel, you can quickly create tables, generate formulas and ask how to accomplish certain tasks in Sheets.

Using Gemini in Sheets side panel

Drive: Gemini in Drive side panel can summarize one or multiple documents, get quick facts about a project, or deep dive on a topic without needing to find and click through numerous documents.

Using Gemini in Drive side panel

Additional details

We’re also introducing Gemini in the Gmail side panel, which you can leverage to summarize email threads, draft an email, suggest responses to an email thread, and more. For more information, see our announcement on the Workspace Updates blog.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: You can access the Gemini in the side panel by clicking on “Ask Gemini” (spark button) in the top right corner of Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive on the web. Visit the Help Center to learn more about collaborating with Gemini in Google Drive, as well as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on June 24, 2024
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 8, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace customers with:

Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on
Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on
Google One AI Premium

Resources

Gemini in the side panel of Gmail is rolling out now

2024-06-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

In addition to the recent announcement of Gemini in the side panel of Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Drive, we’re excited to introduce the general availability of Gemini in the Gmail side panel. Built to leverage Google’s most capable models, including the Gemini 1.5 Pro model with a longer context window and more advanced reasoning, you can now use Gemini in Gmail on web to:

Summarize an email thread
Suggest responses to an email thread
Get help drafting an email
Ask questions and find specific information from emails within your inbox or from your Google Drive files

While Gemini in Gmail will provide proactive prompts to help you get started, you can also ask freeform questions. For example, you can ask Gemini to search your inbox for things like "What was the PO number for my agency?", "How much did the company spend on the last marketing event?", or "When is the next team meeting?". And just like that, you’ll have the information you need to quickly reply without having to ever leave Gmail.

Starting today, you can also use Gemini in the Gmail mobile app on Android and iOS to analyze email threads and see a summarized view with the key highlights, just as you can with the side panel on the web. This is useful when you’re on the go, especially because reading through long email threads can be time consuming and even a bit of a challenge on a smaller screen. Additional mobile features like Contextual Smart Reply and Gmail Q&A are coming soon.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

While Gemini in Gmail helps you view, understand and respond to email content, it also connects to other Workspace apps like Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive. For example, let’s say you’re planning a company offsite and get an email from a team member asking for the hotel information so they can book a room. Now you can ask Gemini to look it up from a Google Doc that contains all the offsite details, using a simple “what is the hotel name and sales manager email listed in @Company Offsite 2024.” Then you can easily insert this into your reply to get your team member the help they need.

Getting started

Admins: To access Gemini in the side panel of Workspace apps, users need to have smart features and personalization turned on. Admins can turn on default personalization setting for their users in the Admin console.
End users:

On web, you can access Gemini in the Gmail side panel by clicking on “Ask Gemini” (star button) in the top right corner of Gmail. Visit the Help Center to learn more about collaborating with Gemini in Gmail.
On mobile, you can access Gemini by tapping on the “summarize this email” chip in an email thread.

Rollout pace

Web:

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on June 24, 2024
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 8, 2024

Mobile:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 24, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace customers with:

Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on
Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on
Google One AI Premium

Resources

Manage access to eSignature in Google Workspace

2024-06-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

Starting today, the admin control for Google Workspace’s eSignature feature is live for select Google Workspace editions. Admins can control users’ ability to request signatures before eSignature rolls out to end users in the coming weeks.

To configure this setting, go to Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > eSignature in the Admin console. Admins can manage eSignature access at the Organizational Unit (OU) level or the Group level, as shown below:

The eSignature control in the Admin console

Why you’d use it

Admins can manage access to eSignature in advance of the feature rollout to end users so only the appropriate groups will have the ability to request eSignatures. Note: the admin control does not restrict users from providing eSignatures via the feature.

Additional details

eSignature for Google Docs is rolling out to end users soon

In the coming weeks, we will roll out eSignature for Google Docs to end users on select Google Workspace editions. eSignature offers a variety of features to help you streamline requesting and capturing signatures, helping you stay organized and keep your work moving along. Specifically, you can:

Request eSignatures, including signatures from more than one user and from non-Gmail users.
View the status of pending signatures and find completed contracts.
Keep contract templates to initiate multiple eSignature requests.
View an audit trail of completed contracts,
Use custom text fields to request additional information from signers, such as job titles, email addresses and more.
Sign contracts from both mobile devices and PCs.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be ON by default and can be configured at the OU and Group level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning eSignature on or off for your users.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending signature requests & sign documents with eSignature.

Rollout pace

Admin setting

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) June 24, 2024

End user availability

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 15, 2024

Availability

Available to Google Workspace

Business Standard and Plus
Enterprise Starter, Standard and Plus
Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus
Education Plus customers

eSignature is already available for Google Workspace individual subscribers.

Resources

Google Classroom add-ons now generally available to Google Workspace developers

2024-06-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

In 2022, we made it easy to seamlessly access popular Education Technology tools directly in Google Classroom. We partnered with 20+ EdTech companies, including Kahoot!, Pear Deck, IXL, ReadWorks, and Nearpod, to build Google Classroom add-ons. These new integrations let educators and students easily find, use, and grade great content in their favorite EdTech tools without having to navigate to external websites and apps.

Today, we’re excited to make Classroom add-ons generally available to all developers. Now, developers can build an add-on to allow teachers to do the following within Classroom:

Discover and attach content to coursework
Preview content from student perspective
Review student responses to activities
Save time with automatic grading of student responses

Who’s impacted

Admins, end users, and developers

Why it’s important

Add-ons complement other Classroom API features and let educators and students experience content without having to leave Google Classroom. In addition, Classroom add-ons show up directly in Google Classroom as well on the Google Workspace Marketplace, which is the hub for administrators to manage tools across all of their Google products.

Getting started

Admins:

District admins must enable access to add-ons in order for educators to use these features. Visit the Help Center to learn more about installation instructions for setting up the add-ons feature and individual add-ons for a domain, OU, or group.
Once you’ve set up add-ons, your district can use this professional development kit, which includes a presentation and lesson plan, to train educators on how to get started with add-ons.

Developers: All developers can now build a Classroom add-on. Learn how to get started using the Developer Documentation here.
Educators:

Browse the Google Workspace Marketplace or Google for Education App Hub to find and install add-ons that you can install for yourself.
Once you or an administrator has installed an add-on, you will see an “add-ons” module when creating Announcements, Assignments, or Materials. Select one of the listed providers to launch their add-on. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using add-ons in Classroom.

Rollout pace

This feature is now available

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - June 21, 2024

2024-06-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

3 New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if 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.

Now generally available: Build AppSheet automations using Google Forms

AppSheet helps users automate manual workflows by integrating with data sources like Google Drive, Chat and Sheets, and earlier this year we announced its integration with Google Forms in beta. This week, we’re excited to announce this is now generally available. | Roll out to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Available to Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade, Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard, AppSheet Starter, AppSheet Core, AppSheet Enterprise Standard, and AppSheet Enterprise Plus customers only. | Learn more about AppSheet's integration with Google Forms and building your first app and automation using Google Forms.

The ability to add and remove Google Groups as space members using the Google Chat API is now generally available

Last year, we announced the ability to create spaces, memberships, group chats, and more using the Google Chat API. This week, we’re excited to introduce the option for developers to add and remove Google Groups as space members using the Google Chat API. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to all Google Workspace customers. | Learn more about accessing Chat APIs through the Google Chat API.

Comments and action items in client-side encrypted Google Docs is now generally available

You can now collaborate with others on client-side encrypted Google Docs to add, edit, reply, filter, or delete comments. You can also assign action items to yourself or others. This functionality was previously available in open beta — see our original announcement for complete details. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for July 2, 2024. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more about working with encrypted files in Drive, Docs, Sheets & Slides.

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.

Insert images into practice sets in Google Classroom

Teachers can now import images, like graphs, charts or photos, into practice sets using files from Google Drive or directly from their computer. | Learn more about inserting images into practice sets.

Help your students learn to read with Read Along in Classroom

We’re introducing Read Along in Google Classroom, a new feature that helps students build their independent reading skills by enabling teachers to assign differentiated reading activities, based on Lexile® measure, grade level, or phonics skills. | Learn more about Read Along in Google Classroom.

External users can now securely collaborate on client-side encrypted files

We’re expanding visitor sharing, a feature that provides secure, pincode-based collaboration over sensitive data with people, to include client-side encrypted files. This allows users to securely collaborate with external partners on sensitive Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides files, while maintaining the confidentiality of the information with the granular control of encryption keys, identity verification and user permissions. | Learn more about visitor sharing.

Create interactive YouTube assignments in Google Classroom more quickly and efficiently, with the help of AI

We’re introducing AI-suggested questions that educators can easily attach to a video based on its content when creating interactive YouTube assignments in Google Classroom. | Learn more about YouTube assignments in Classroom.

Google Meet adds 52 new languages to translated captions and 11 more languages for closed captions

For all Google Workspace customers and users with personal accounts, we’ve expanded support for closed captioning. In addition, for Gemini for Google Workspace customers, we are adding 52 languages to translated captions with full language support. | Learn more about translated captions and closed captions.

Improved syncing experience between Google Calendar and third-party calendars

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog posts for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains:

Scheduled Release Domains:

Expanding voice typing and automatic captions to additional browsers

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

Updates regarding the transition from spaces organized by topic to in-line threading in Google Chat (The upgrade from conversation topics to in-line threading in spaces is complete.)
Set the default camera framing option for Google Meet hardware devices, and other framing updates (This includes framing support on whiteboards (Series One Desk 27 and Board 65) and remote controlled only Google Meet hardware devices and small adjustments to how camera framing settings appear on hardware devices only)
Request to join spaces in Google Chat (mobile only)
Google Classroom now supports grade category and co-teacher imports from SIS partners
Help your students learn to read with Read Along in Classroom
Create interactive YouTube assignments in Google Classroom more quickly and efficiently, with the help of AI
Google Meet adds 52 new languages to translated captions and 11 more languages for closed captions (Live captions language expansion only)

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

Improved syncing experience between Google Calendar and third-party calendars

2024-06-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

We’re pleased to introduce an improved email notification experience for those who are using third-party calendar services—like Outlook—to collaborate with Google Calendar users. Specifically, this update improves the accuracy of Google Calendar event syncing across calendar services, while helping cut down on the amount of email noise caused by calendar sync notifications.

Email notifications that are purely intended to sync information will now be marked as such in the body of the email and sent from a distinct, identifiable email address. The body of the email includes instructions for end users on how to implement inbox filters to avoid this type of email cluttering their inbox.
At scale, Outlook system administrators can use Microsoft’s Powershell to implement an email filter rule for these messages for all users.

Google Workspace customers can use this form to sign-up for the beta.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it matters

We’ve heard from our customers that the syncing experience from Google Calendar to third-party calendars was not consistently reliable. Additionally, users lacked an effective way to filter out Calendar emails which cluttered their inbox. This update will help improve the overall experience for users collaborating with Google Calendar users.

Getting started

Admins: Use this form to sign-up for the beta and visit the Help Center to learn more about how to filter Google Calendar email notifications.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Google Calendar invites in other calendar services.

Rollout pace

Beta sign-ups are available now using this form until July 10, 2024. We will be accepting beta applications and allowlisting customers over the next several weeks.

Availability

Sign-up for this beta is available for all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Google Meet adds 52 new languages to translated captions and 11 more languages for closed captions

2024-06-20T16:58:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

For all Google Workspace customers and users with personal accounts, we’ve expanded support for closed captioning to include the following languages in beta*, bringing the total language count to 87:

Azerbaijani
Czech
Greek
Icelandic
Kazakh
Lao
Lithuanian
Malay
Serbian
Swahili
Ukrainian

*Newly supported languages are denoted with a “beta” tag as we continue to optimize performance.

For Gemini for Google Workspace customers, we are adding 52 languages to translated captions with full language support, which means these languages can be translated to and from any other fully supported language. We are also launching full language support to 6 previously launched languages. Translated captions now fully support 69 languages which allows for over 4,600 language pairs:

-Afrikaans

-Albanian

-Amharic

-Arabic

-Armenian

-Azerbaijani

-Basque

-Bengali

-Bulgarian

-Burmese

-Catalan

-Chinese (Simplified)*

-Chinese (Mandarin)*

-Czech

-Dutch**

-English*

-Estonian

-Filipino

-Finnish

-French*

-Galician

-Georgian

-German*

-Greek

-Gujarati

-Hebrew

-Hindi*

-Hungarian

-Icelandic

-Indonesian**

-Italian*

-Japanese**

-Javanese

-Kannada

-Kazakh

-Khmer

-Korean

-Lao

-Latvian

-Lithuanian

-Macedonian

-Malay

-Malayalam

-Marathi

-Mongolian

-Nepali

-Norwegian

-Persian (Farsi)

-Polish

-Portuguese*

-Romanian

-Russian*

-Serbian

-Sinhala

-Slovak

-Slovenian

-Spanish*

-Sundanese

-Swahili

-Swedish**

-Tamil

-Telugu

-Thai*

-Turkish**

-Ukrainian

-Urdu

-Uzbek

-Vietnamese**

- Zulu

* Full language support previously launched
** Previously only English into these languages was supported. For more information, see our previous announcement on the Workspace Updates blog.

Additional details

Update on the availability of translated captions for some Google Workspace customers

As we previously announced, translated captions in Google Meet will be exclusively available to Gemini for Google Workspace customers. This will go into effect starting January 22, 2025, when existing and new customers will no longer have access to translated captions through their Google Workspace subscription. At this time, translated captions will only be available in the following Gemini add-ons: Gemini Enterprise, AI Meetings and Messaging, and Gemini Education premium.

We will continue to invest in and improve translated captions with the additional languages and automatic language detection. In addition to translated captions, the Gemini for Workspace add-ons offer other generative AI features such as enhanced audio and image quality on meetings, take notes for me (in alpha), and more — use this link to learn more.

Getting started

End users: These features are available by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about captions and translated captions in Google Meet.
Meeting participants: You can use live translated captions if the meeting is organized by a user with an eligible Google Workspace edition. Closed captions are available for all users.

Rollout pace

Live captions language expansion:

This feature is available now.

Translated captions expansion:

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on June 21, 2024

Availability

Captions: Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts
Translated Captions: Available for Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Enterprise, Gemini Education Premium, and AI Meetings & Messaging add-ons

Resources

Google Help: Use captions & translated captions in Google Meet

Create interactive YouTube assignments in Google Classroom more quickly and efficiently, with the help of AI

2024-06-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

What’s changing

Last year, we introduced interactive questions for YouTube videos in Google Classroom. Since then, educators have been able to turn a passive watching experience into an engaging one, while improving students’ understanding of a subject.

The current process to create interactive questions requires an educator to manually choose a timestamp, come up with questions, and insert correct answers and distractors. To improve upon this experience and save educators time, we’re introducing AI-suggested questions that educators can easily attach to the video based on its content.

Before assigning the interactive video activity, Educators will be able to edit the suggested questions ahead of attaching the YouTube video to the assignment.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

This update helps educators add interactive questions to YouTube videos more quickly and efficiently.

Additional details

Even when using the suggestions feature, educators can still edit, remove or create their own interactive questions. Note that suggested questions are only available for certain videos in English.

Getting started

Admins: In order to enable the interactive questions feature, YouTube must be turned ON by administrators as an additional service for educators. This setting can be managed in the Admin console. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning YouTube on or off for users.
End users:

Educators:

If enabled by your admin, you can create or delete interactive questions for YouTube videos and grade & track interactive questions for YouTube videos.
Suggested questions are available when you find a spark icon below the video title in the video search results.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about interactive questions for YouTube videos in Google Classroom.

Students: Students can complete a video activity regardless of whether YouTube is turned ON or OFF as an additional service. Please note that the video activity must have been created by an educator with YouTube turned ON.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now.

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade