Google Workspace Updates: March 2022

More assistive writing suggestions in Google Docs

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Update[April 1, 2022]: We have updated this post with additional information about these features, including admin controls and feature availability.
What’s changing We’ve added several new assistive writing features in Google Docs, which will provide a variety of tone and style suggestions to help you create impactful documents faster. Specifically, you’ll see suggestions for:

Word choice: More dynamic or contextually relevant wording

Active voice: Active rather than passive voice

Conciseness: More concise phrases

Inclusive language: More inclusive words or phrases

Word warnings: Reconsidering potentially inappropriate words

Who’s impacted End users Why you’d use it These new features offer a variety of stylistic and writing suggestions as you compose documents. Suggestions will appear as you type and help guide you when there are opportunities to avoid repeated or unnecessary words, helping diversify your writing and ensuring you’re using the most effective word for the situation. You’ll see suggestions when there are opportunities to structure a sentence with an active voice or when a sentence can be more concise, helping to make your writing more impactful. Potentially discriminatory or inappropriate language will be flagged, along with suggestions on how to make your writing more inclusive and appropriate for your audience. We hope this will help elevate your writing style and make more dynamic, clear, inclusive, and concise documents. Getting started

Admins:

These features will be ON by default and can be turned off in the admin console for eligible select Google Workspace education editions — see Availability details below.
In the coming weeks, we will introduce these admin controls for the remaining eligible Google Workspace editions —see Availability details below. For those editions, these features will be ON by default and can be turned off at the domain, OU, and group level.

End users:

This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled by the user. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing writing suggestions in Google Docs.
When typing in Docs, tone and style suggestions are indicated with a purple underline. Selecting the underline will show a brief description for the suggestion — you can accept or reject the suggestion from here.

Rollout paceUpdate: [May 20, 2022]: We have paused rollout for these features while we evaluate and optimize performance. For users enrolled in the alpha for these features, your experience will not change.Availability

Word choice, Active voice, Conciseness, Inclusive language:

Available to Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Standard, Frontline, Nonprofits, G Suite Basic and Business customers

Word Warnings:

Available to Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, Teaching and Learning Upgrade
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Frontline, Nonprofits, G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Check your spelling & grammar in Google Docs

Google Workspace Admin Help: Manage writing suggestions in Google Docs

Stronger data security and privacy with Google Workspace Client-side encryption, GA support for Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Thursday, March 31, 2022

What’s changing Last year we announced the beta for Google Workspace Client-side encryption. Now, this feature is generally available for Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides, with support for multiple file types including Office files, PDFs, and more. This is a step in our commitment to enable Client-side encryption across Google Workspace, including Gmail, Meet, and Calendar. Follow the Google Workspace Updates blog to be informed on our next milestones on Client-side encryption. Who’s impacted Admins Why it’s important
Google Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt all data by default, at rest and in transit between our facilities. Client-side encryption goes beyond this, giving you authoritative control and privacy as the sole owner of private encryption keys and the identity provider used to access those keys. This can help you strengthen the confidentiality of your sensitive or regulated data while addressing a broad range of data sovereignty and compliance needs. When using Client-side encryption, your data is indecipherable to Google. You can create a fundamentally stronger privacy posture, whether that’s to help your organization comply with regulations like ITAR and CJIS or simply to better protect the privacy of your confidential data. Read our announcement blog post to learn our plans for Client-side encryption across Google Workspace.
Additional details To enable Client-side encryption, you’ll choose a key access service partner: Flowcrypt, Fortanix, Futurex, Stormshield, Thales, or Virtru. Each of these partners have built tools in accordance with Google’s specifications and provide both key management and access control capabilities. Your partner of choice either holds the key to decode encrypted Google Workspace files or simply provides you with software that allows you to hold the keys on-premise. Either way, Google cannot decipher these files without this key, which Google never has access to. You can also decide to build your own key service implementation using our API specifications.

Client side encryption

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmgoO8Um5v8 Getting started

Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the domain, OU, and Group levels (Admin console > Security > Access and data control > Client-side encryption). Visit our Help Center to learn more about client side encryption.
End users: Get started with encrypted files in Drive, Docs, Sheets & Slides

Rollout pace

Rapid and Schedule Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 31, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: About client-side encryption
Google Docs Users Help: Get started with encrypted files in Drive, Docs, Sheets & Slides
Google Cloud Security Blog: Google Workspace delivers new levels of trusted collaboration for a hybrid work world

Compose with Markdown in Google Docs on web

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

What’s changing In Google Docs, you can now select “Automatically detect Markdown” from Tools > Preferences to enable auto correcting for Markdown syntax, a lightweight markup language for applying formatting using plain text. Currently, Google Docs supports some Markdown syntax, such as:

* or - followed by a space autocorrects to bullet points

Various ways to start a numbered list similar to Markdown

[] followed by a space autocorrects to checkboxes

The expanded support will now support autocorrection for:

Headings

Italic and bold

Bold + italic

Strikethrough

Links

Who’s impacted End users Why you’d use it With this added support, you can create rich text documents faster without having to learn keyboard shortcuts. Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature

End users: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled by the user in Docs under Tools > Preferences. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Markdown autocorrection on or off for your account.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 29, 2022

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customer Available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: Use Markdown in Google Docs, Slides, & Drawings

Improved announcements for braille comments and highlights available in Google Docs on Web

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Quick summary We've improved how comments and highlighted text are announced with braille support enabled in Google Docs. This change makes it easier for users of assistive technology, including screen readers and refreshable braille displays, to interact with comments in documents and identify text with background colors. When reading the document, you’ll now hear start and end indications for comments and highlights alongside the rest of the text. These announcements will respect the comment and marked text settings that screen readers provide. We hope this additional information serves as useful context and makes it easier to collaborate when working in Google Docs. Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.

End users: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled by the user going to Tools > Accessibility settings > Turn on braille support. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to Use a braille display with Docs editors.

Additional details Users should update to the latest versions of their assistive technologies and browsers to fully benefit from these improvements. Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: [Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) March 29, 2022

Scheduled Release domains: [Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 11, 2022

Availability Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customersResources

Google Help: Google Workspace user guide to accessibility

Google Help: Use a braille display with Docs editors

Google Workspace Updates Blog: Improvements for braille mode in Google Docs provide a richer, more interactive experience

New Google Meet management settings for admins

Friday, March 25, 2022

What’s changingThrough new settings in the Admin console, admins can now control access to the following Google Meet features:

Chat

Present

Q&A

Polls

These new settings are available for Google Workspace editions that include admin capabilities. See below for more information.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s important

Previously, only the meeting hosts and co-hosts could control access to these features on a per meeting basis. Now admins will be able to specify which interactive Meet features users in their domain can access.

These features give administrators more control over how Google Meet is used in their organization. For example, in a school, these settings allow you to control whether or not students can present or send chat messages during video meetings. In business settings, specifically at large company meetings, giving the event host control over whether or not to conduct polls or Q&As during video meetings is a useful feature.

Additional details

Once an admin turns access to a particular feature off, the setting will be applied to all new and existing meetings for users in the selected organizational unit.

Features that are turned off won’t be accessible to end users — see the Help Center for more information.

Getting started

Admins: These features are enabled by default. Access to these features can be controlled at the OU level in the Admin console under Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Meet safety settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Meet admin settings.

End users: Your admin will determine access to present, chat, Q&A, and polling features in Google Meet.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 25, 2022

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace editions with Admin console access.
You’ll see admin toggles for the Google Meet features available to your specific Google Workspace edition.

Resources

Create externally friendly booking pages with appointment scheduling in Google Calendar

Friday, March 25, 2022

What’s changing In addition to appointment slots in Google Calendar, we’re introducing appointment scheduling for selected Google Workspace editions. Introduced first for Google Workspace Individual users in June 2021, the appointment scheduling feature allows users to share their availability via a booking page, which can be used by external stakeholders, clients, and partners to schedule time.

See below for more information and availability.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it The existing appointment slot feature in Google Calendar is helpful for internal use cases, specifically if you don't know who needs to meet with you, but you want to make yourself available. For example, professors can invite their students to office hours each week or HR professionals can share availability for benefits Q&A sessions.

The new appointment scheduling feature is suited for external use cases, allowing external users, including those without a Google account, to schedule meetings. Additionally, with automatic conflict detection with existing Calendar events, this feature helps reduce time spent finding and rescheduling appointments.

We hope these scheduling options give users the flexibility to share their availability the way that works best for their particular needs.

Getting started

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

If you have used appointment slots before, you can enable appointment scheduling in your Calendar settings.
For all other users, appointment scheduling will be ON by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using appointment slots and appointment scheduling.

Setting up appointment scheduling in Google Calendar.

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Learn about appointment schedules on Google Calendar
Google Help: Use Google Calendar appointment slots

Expanded access for noise cancellation in Google Meet

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Quick summary All meeting attendees can now use noise cancellation capabilities in Google Meet if:

Noise cancellation is available for the meeting organizer’s Google Workspace edition.
If the user joins a meeting using any Google Meet hardware devices.

Additionally, if a user has noise cancellation, it will function in all meetings regardless of whether the meeting organizer has noise cancellation or not.

We hope that by making noise cancellation available to all meeting attendees will help improve the quality of meetings by limiting background noise distractions.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin action required.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about filtering out noise from your video call on Google Meet.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Noise cancellation is on by default for: Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Frontline, Enterprise Plus, and Workspace Individual Subscriber accounts.
Noise cancellation is off by default for: Education Plus, and Teaching and Learning Upgrade accounts.
For all Google Workspace accounts: If the settings is on by default for your organization in a meeting with other people outside of your organization, they can also use this feature during that meeting.

Resources

Google Help: Filter out noise from your video calls on Google Meet

Develop Google Workspace add-ons to attach files to Calendar events from third-party services

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Quick summary Google Workspace developers can now create Google Workspace add-ons that attach files to a Google Calendar event from any third-party service. This feature enables developers to create add-ons that support attachments from a wide range of sources beyond Google Drive, such as digital whiteboard, content creation, or file management tools.

Users who have the relevant add-ons installed will be able to attach files from these sources to a Calendar event, and attendees can view the event with the attachment on the web or on mobile.

Attach files from a third-party service to a Calendar event

After attaching files in Calendar on the web, users can view the event with the attachment on the web or on mobile.

Getting started

Developers: You can now develop add-ons that support attaching files from sources other than Google Drive. To get started, learn more about extending Calendar with Google Workspace add-ons and adding attachments with a callback function.
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Google Workspace Marketplace apps.
End users: If allowed by your admin, you’ll be able to install a Calendar add-on using the “+” button in the quick access side panel or via the Google Workspace Marketplace. End users need to install a compatible add-on to enable this feature.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all developers and users.

Availability

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

Resources

Create more interactive assignments with practice sets for Google Classroom, launching in beta soon

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

What’s changingWe’re announcing a new tool for Google Classroom called practice sets, which enables educators to transform new and existing content into engaging and interactive assignments. With autograding built in, teachers can receive performance insights and snapshots into student progress and use those insights to help inform future lesson plans. If they get stuck and need support, students will see automated hints and video suggestions, along with real time feedback on their answers. Assignments can be completed with a variety of tools for annotation, such as a mouse, stylus, touchpad, or math keyboard depending on how students work best.When available, the beta will be globally available (note: in English only) for Google Workspace for Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade. Education leaders can use this form to express interest in the beta.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

Every student learns in their own way, though practice and specific feedback helps us all learn more effectively. In large classes, it can be challenging for teachers to support their students' individual journeys. Based on feedback we heard from our users, we’re introducing practice sets for Google Classroom.

Educators can easily transform their own teaching content into interactive assignments. Students get real-time feedback as they complete practice sets, so they know whether they’re on the right track. When they’re struggling to solve a problem, they can get hints through visual explainers and videos.

With practice sets, educators can more easily get insight into which concepts need more instruction time and who could use extra support, giving them quick performance insights to shape future lesson plans. Visit the Keyword Blog to learn more about practice sets.

Availability

When available, practice sets will be available to Google Workspace Education Plus (formerly G Suite Enterprise for Education) and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Enable discovery and sharing of Spaces in Google Chat

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

What’s changing You can now create spaces in Google Chat that you can share with others in your organization to join via link.

Update a space's access to everyone in an organization when creating a new space

Quickly copy a link to share with others

Easily join a new space with a shared linkWho’s impacted End users

Why it’s important With this launch, Spaces are no longer restricted to only people added to the conversation. This update allows for the creation of topic-based conversations that can be shared more broadly within an organization. This can be particularly useful for spaces that are oriented around:

Sharing knowledge widely with others, including team discussions, how-to guides and mentoring opportunities.
Organizational and policy updates.
Situations where you need to quickly gather interested folks or those with relevant expertise, for example to investigate an outage.
Cultural and social topics of interest, like reading, sports, or cooking.

We hope this feature makes it easier to more broadly share information, build communities and foster discussion across your organization.

Additional details Configuring a space to be shareable Users can only enable a space to be shareable within an organization at creation. At this time, users cannot enable discovery for existing spaces and share them via link.

Access to a shareable space Note that users outside of your organization will not be able to join such a space, even with the shared link.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 22, 2022.

Availability

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

Resources

Updated and improved audit logs experience in the Admin console

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

What’s changing We’re updating the user interface for audit logs in the Admin console to allow for richer insights and query based reporting capabilities. This will bring the experience inline with the security investigation tool and create a more unified reporting experience across the Admin console.

Some improvements you’ll notice are:

Enhanced search attribute options: We’ve introduced a new search field that will help admins quickly find and apply search attributes. For larger lists (more than 15 items), admins will be able to pin commonly used attributes.
The ability to perform searches in “filter” or “condition builder” mode:

In filter mode, admins can add simple parameter and value pairs, such as viewing externally shared files with sensitive data or external emails with attachments, to filter for search results.
In condition builder mode, admins can view previously applied filters as conditions with AND/OR operators to further refine search results.

New data sources for the investigation tool: We’re expanding our list of data sources to 31 sources — see here for a complete list of data sources.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s important We hope this updated and streamlined experience makes it easier for admins to identify, triage, and act on security issues within their organization without having to switch between multiple tools. Additionally, by providing admins with new ways to set and filter for specific search attributes and establish reporting and activity rules, this will make it easier to stay apprised of what’s happening in their organization.

Additional details Admins will no longer be able to export audit log data to CSV files, they can only be exported to Google Sheets going forward. Additionally, you may notice the renaming and merging of previously existing data sources and other minor UI changes. For a complete list of what’s changing, see this article in our Help Center.
Getting started

Rollout Pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 22, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Google Meet attendance reports available now for education meetings with two or more participants

Monday, March 21, 2022

Quick summaryGoogle Workspace Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade users will now automatically receive an attendance report anytime a meeting has two or more participants. Previously, attendance tracking was limited to meetings with five or more participants. Attendance reports include the following information:

Participant’s name

Participant’s email

Overall length of time a participant was on the call, including when they joined and exited

Getting started

Admins: This feature is ON by default and can switched off in the Admin console. Visit the Help Center to learn more about allowing organizers to get reports on meeting attendance.
End users: This feature will be available by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about tracking meeting attendance in Google Meet.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 21, 2022

Resources

Google Help: Track attendance in Google Meet

View more information on email delegate activity in the Security Investigation Tool

Friday, March 18, 2022

What’s changing Admins can now surface post-delivery actions taken by delegated users in the Security Investigation Tool. Specifically, you can now see if a delegate:

Opened, replied, or marked a message as unread.
Moved a message to the trash or back to their inbox.
Clicked links or attachments.
Downloaded attachments.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s important It’s important to understand the exact user performing actions related to an investigation or audit — this change will give admins greater insight into actions taken by delegated users versus the account owner.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on March 18, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Built-in Webex interoperability on Google Meet hardware expanded to devices with remote control

Thursday, March 17, 2022

What’s changing In December 2022, we began supporting built-in Webex interoperability on Google Meet hardware devices. When it originally launched, this feature required a Meet hardware device with either a connected touch controller or built-in touchscreen. With this latest update, we've added Webex interoperability support for Google Meet hardware devices that use only a remote control.
Built-in Webex interoperability will now be available across all supported Google Meet hardware devices that have not yet reached their auto-update expiration date.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important We hope this update makes it even easier for Google Workspace customers and their users to connect and collaborate with people outside the Google Meet ecosystem.

Additional details There is no additional cost associated with this new built-in Webex interoperability feature on supported devices.
Please note that core video conferencing features are supported. Some advanced features, such as polls, breakout rooms, and dual-screen support, may not be available when using Meet hardware to join Webex calls.
For interoperability needs beyond Cisco Webex, we recommend Pexip. Pexip enables users to join Meet calls from a range of third-party video conferencing hardware, including older devices that may not support built-in interoperability. Use this Help Center article to learn more about Pexip.

Getting started

Admins: Webex interop on Google Meet hardware will be available on devices by default and can be disabled at the OU level at Devices > Google Meet hardware > Settings > Device Settings.
End users: When enabled by your admin, you can join a Webex meeting from a Google Meet hardware device by:

Joining an ad-hoc call by selecting Join a meeting using your remote control and then selecting Webex from the dropdown options
Joining a scheduled call by adding a room to an event with Webex meeting details.

Note: Calendar events that originate outside of Google Calendar must be duplicated and populated with room details manually.

Visit the Help Center to learn more about Meet interoperability.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: This feature is available now.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available for all supported Google Meet hardware devices that have not yet reached their auto-update expiration date.

Resources:

Schedule posts for multiple classes in Google Classroom

Thursday, March 17, 2022

What’s changing Teachers can now schedule posts across multiple classes in Google Classroom on the web. Teachers can use the assignment-scheduling flow to configure the:

Due date
Post date
Topic

Note: The rest of the assignment will remain the same.

Once set, they can select which classes should receive the post and when it should be published:

Published immediately
Published at a certain time
Save as draft

Who’s impacted End users

Why it matters This update to the scheduling function will make it quicker and easier for teachers to assign classwork across numerous classes, saving them valuable time and simplifying class planning and management.

Additional details

There is no additional cost associated with this new functionality.
Once an assignment has been scheduled, teachers can change the assignment within each individual class.
Note that selecting “Copy settings to all” will delete any previously entered settings for the assignment.
If a co-teacher schedules a post to one or multiple classes, they will be the owner of the associated Google Drive assets along with the course owner.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) started on March 17, 2022.

Availability

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

Resources

Expanded Access Management Controls help support your information governance goals

Thursday, March 17, 2022

What’s changing 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. Customers can now use Access Management to set policies that support compliance to the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) standard and the IRS' Publication 1075 (IRS 1075) by restricting access to CJIS-authorized and IRS-1075-authorized personnel within Google. Visit the Help Center to learn more. We’ve also extended existing coverage so customers can now apply Access Management Controls to the following applications:

Google Chat

Google Meet

Google Forms

Google Sites

Visit the Help Center to learn more. Finally, we’re adding new information to Access Transparency logs to help you better understand support actions relating to your data. Customers with Access Management policies will see a new field “Access Management Policy” that denotes the validated policy at the time of access. All Access Transparency customers will now see a new “On Behalf Of” field that describes the target user of an access. Visit the Help Center to learn more. For more information on this and other Google Workspace Security launches, see our Cloud Blog post.Who’s impacted Admins Why you’d use it Some customers in regulated industries, particularly the public sector, have compliance requirements related to cloud service provider access to data. 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 can help reduce costs and complexity, while allowing your organization to benefit from the full set of advanced features that Google Workspace offers. Additional Details Note that we do not access customer data for any reason other than those necessary to provide support services and fulfill our contractual and legal obligations. Getting started

Admins:

End users: There is no end user impact

Rollout pace These changes will be rolling out by the end of March

Existing Assured Controls customers will automatically have controls applied to the newly available products on any active Access Management policies

New customers should contact your Google account representative to learn more about availability and timing

Availability

Google Workspace Assured Controls is available as an add-on to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers

Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as legacy G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Cloud Blog post: Announcing Assured Controls and expanded Data Regions coverage for Google Workspace

Cloud Blog post:Google Cloud achieves new public sector authorizations: Google Workspace earns FedRAMP High, key Google Cloud Platform services receive DoD IL4

Google Cloud Security Talks: The future of work and expanding data governance for Google Workspace

Create surveys, quizzes, and more using the Google Forms API, now generally available

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

What’s changingThe Google Forms API provides programmatic access for managing Google Forms and acting on responses— empowering developers to build powerful integrations on top of Forms.Who’s impacted Admins and developersWhy you’d use it The Google Forms API provides programmatic access to manage Forms and receive responses, supporting the development of a variety of powerful integrations. For example, you can use the API to develop real-time dashboards or data visualizations; trigger business workflows incorporating project management, CRM, or LMS tools; or auto-generate forms from question banks or other data sets. The API is useful for a variety of tasks such as:

Creating and modifying forms or quizzes

Retrieving form responses or quiz grades

Reading form content and metadata

Receiving push notifications for form or quiz responses or form structure updates

Getting started

Admins: Admins can use the Admin console to manage which integrations are authorized to access Google Workspace data. Visit the Help Center to learn more about controlling which third-party & internal apps access Google Workspace data. Use this developer guide to learn more about the Forms API.

NOTE: Restricting access to Google's Drive service will restrict access to the Google Forms API.

Developers: Review tutorials, sample code, and a comprehensive API reference guide in the Forms API developer documentation.
End users: No action required.

Rollout pace

Integration availability for end users

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

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

Resources

New email draft template in Google Docs

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Quick summary We’re making it easy to collaborate on an email draft in Docs with the new email draft template. You can mention people in the recipient fields using the @ menu without having to remember their email addresses, and collaborate on the message body using comments and suggestions. When ready to send, simply click the button that is shown alongside an email draft. A Gmail compose window will pop up, with email fields (subject, to, cc, bcc, and body) automatically populated based on the email draft in the document.
Creating an email draft template

Creating an email draft templateGetting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.

End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. To insert an email template, go to Insert > Building Blocks > Email draft

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains:Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 15, 2022

Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 22, 2022

Availability

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

Background noise reduction now available for Google Meet Hardware devices

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

What’s changing We’re bringing our software-based noise cancellation capability to the following Google Meet hardware devices:

Use this YouTube video to learn more about noise cancellation in Google Meet.

Additionally, we’ve added a new admin control which allows you to specify whether noise cancellation is on or off at the beginning of each call. See below for more information and availability.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important To help limit distractions in your video call, Google Meet devices can remove background noises such as typing, closing a door, or the sounds of a nearby construction site. Noise cancellation helps make calls more productive by reducing distractions that can divert attention away from the content of the meeting.

Additional details

Getting started

Admins: A new device-level setting for controlling noise cancellation for each call will be available, and set to ON by default. Visit the Help center to learn more about managing noise cancellation for all your devices.

Admin console per-device setting for controlling noise cancellation for each call

End users: This feature will be available and ON by default for each meeting. It can be disabled/enabled by the user in device settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about out filtering noise from your video calls on Meet Hardware.

On-device setting for controlling noise cancellation while on a call

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 15, 2022.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Teaching & Learning, Education Standard and Education Plus customers, as well as legacy G Suite Business and Basic customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials and Nonprofits customers

Resources

View additional Calendar statuses in Google Chat

Monday, March 14, 2022

Update[April 29, 2022]:

Rollout for Rapid release domains will be complete on Wednesday, May 5, 2022.
Rollout for Scheduled release domains will begin on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 and is expected to be complete by Tuesday, May 24, 2022.

What’s changingIn addition to seeing when someone is out of office, you can now see additional Google Calendar statuses like “In a meeting” or “In focus time” in Google Chat.

Additional Calendar statuses on web

Additional Calendar statuses on mobile
Who’s impactedAdmins and end users
Why you’d use itWe hope by surfacing these additional statuses, this will make it easier for your colleagues to identify appropriate times to message you.
Additional detailsAdditionally, the Admin control for Calendar availability will be updated to include configuration options for displaying “In a meeting” or “In focus time” blocks.

See below for more information on availability.

Getting started

Rollout pace

End user availability

Android & iOS:

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 14, 2022

Web:

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 14, 2022
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 25, 2022

Admin setting

This feature is available now.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to Google Workspace Individual users or users with personal Google accounts

Resources

Google Sheets doubles cell limit

Monday, March 14, 2022

Quick Summary We’ve increased the cell limit in Google Sheets from up to five million cells to up to ten million cells. This limit applies to new, existing, and imported files.

Over the course of the last four years, we’ve been steadily increasing the cell limit in Google Sheets: from 2 million to 5 million in 2019 and now to 10 million. We hope this and future increases give users the ability to work with their data on a much greater scale in Google Sheets.

Getting started

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

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Files you can store in Google Drive

Configure Chromebase for Meetings display to automatically turn off when not in use

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Quick summary Admins can now configure Chromebase for Meetings in their fleet to automatically turn off the display when not in use. We’ve heard from our customers that reducing power consumption is increasingly important — we hope this helps customers achieve their sustainability goals or comply with local energy efficiency requirements.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will respect the current power saving setting for Chromebase for Meetings devices, and can be changed at the organizational unit level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing power-saving settings.
End users: No action required — to wake a device, simply tap on the screen.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 8, 2022

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers with Google Meet hardware devices

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Manage power-saving settings

Use People Search in Cloud Search and Cloud Search APIs

Friday, March 4, 2022

What’s changing You can now use People Search in Google Cloud Search to find people within your organization with a simple search query. You can search for a person based on any profile attribute such as name, email, location or roles. You can also search for a person based on custom fields or a combination of attributes (for example, “John Product Manager”). People profiles that match the user's query are displayed at the top of cloudsearch.google.com search results. Clicking on a user’s profile opens their contact card where you can see more profile details including recent interactions.
See people results in Cloud Search

See people results in Cloud Search
See more people results in People Tab

See more people results in People Tab

Detailed profile view

This functionally is also available using the Cloud Search Query API. Who’s impacted Admins, end users, and developers Why you’d use it People Search makes it easier to collaborate with teams across the organization by reducing the effort required in finding the right person. With this feature, members of your organization can quickly find out information about other employees, such as corporate contacts, role, team, department, desk location, reporting structure, cost center, past interactions and more. Getting started

Admins: This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled at the domain level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about customizing the search experience in Cloud Search.

End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. You’ll see it by default at cloudsearch.google.com.

Developers: Visit our Developer guide for more information on expanding Cloud Search to third-party repositories.

Rollout pace This feature is currently available Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers

Available to all Google Cloud Search customers

Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Customize the search experience in Cloud Search

Google Help: Search for people

Cloud Search API: Expand Cloud Search to third-party repositories

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Updates

More assistive writing suggestions in Google Docs

Stronger data security and privacy with Google Workspace Client-side encryption, GA support for Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Compose with Markdown in Google Docs on web

Improved announcements for braille comments and highlights available in Google Docs on Web

New Google Meet management settings for admins

Create externally friendly booking pages with appointment scheduling in Google Calendar

Expanded access for noise cancellation in Google Meet

Develop Google Workspace add-ons to attach files to Calendar events from third-party services

Create more interactive assignments with practice sets for Google Classroom, launching in beta soon

Enable discovery and sharing of Spaces in Google Chat

Updated and improved audit logs experience in the Admin console

Google Meet attendance reports available now for education meetings with two or more participants

View more information on email delegate activity in the Security Investigation Tool

Built-in Webex interoperability on Google Meet hardware expanded to devices with remote control

Schedule posts for multiple classes in Google Classroom

Expanded Access Management Controls help support your information governance goals

Create surveys, quizzes, and more using the Google Forms API, now generally available

New email draft template in Google Docs

Background noise reduction now available for Google Meet Hardware devices

View additional Calendar statuses in Google Chat

Google Sheets doubles cell limit

Configure Chromebase for Meetings display to automatically turn off when not in use

Use People Search in Cloud Search and Cloud Search APIs

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