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Update
[March 30, 2022]: You must turn on Chat in Gmail and set Chat to the left hand panel to use the new view. We have updated the "Getting started" section appropriately. We apologize for any confusion caused!


[February 11, 2022]: Rollout to Rapid Release domains and users with personal Google Accounts has begun. Rollout to Scheduled Release domains is scheduled to begin on February 28, 2022. Additionally, you can now visit the Help Center to learn more about the integrated Gmail layout.


What’s changing 
We’re introducing a new, integrated view for Gmail, making it easy to move between critical applications like Gmail, Chat, and Meet in one unified location.





We’ll introduce this new experience according to this timeline:



Beginning February 11, 2022: 
  • Users can opt-in to test the new experience, allowing them to try it out and become more accustomed to it. Users can revert to classic Gmail via settings. 
  • We will share an update on the Google Workspace Updates Blog, along with Help Center content, once rollout begins.

By April 2022: 
  • Users who have not opted-in will begin seeing the new experience by default, but can revert to classic Gmail via settings.

By the end of Q2 2022: 
  • This will become the standard experience for Gmail, with no option to revert back.
  • Around the same time, users will also begin seeing the new streamlined navigation experience on Chat web (mail.google.com/chat). 
  • Important Note: This also means users will not have the option to configure Chat to display on the right side of Gmail.




We will share more information on the exact timing of these phases on the Workspace Updates blog. See below for more information.



Who’s impacted
End users



Why you’d use it 
When enabled, the new navigation menu allows you to easily switch between your inbox, important conversations, and join meetings without having to switch between tabs or open a new window. 


Notification bubbles make it easy to stay on top of what immediately needs your attention. When working in Chat and Spaces, you can view a full list of conversations and Spaces within a single screen, making it easier to navigate to and engage. 


When working in your inbox, you’ll be able to view the full array of Mail and Label options currently available in Gmail today. 


In the coming months, you will also see email and chat results when using the search bar, making it easier to find what you need by eliminating the need to search within a specific product.



We hope this new experience makes it easier for you to stay on top of what’s important and get work done faster in a single, focused location. Further, this will help reduce the need to switch between various applications, windows, or tabs.


Getting started
Rollout pace
  • Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 11, 2022
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility starting on February 28, 2022

Google Workspace Individual users and those with personal Google accounts
  • Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) beginning on February 11, 2022

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

Update

[February 4, 2022]: We previously stated there would be a full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) for these features. This was incorrect — please see below for updated rollout information:

  • Rollout for the admin configured default labels feature is expected to be complete on February 8, 2022.

  • Rollout for the automated classification feature is expected to be complete on February 17, 2022.


We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

What’s changing 

Automated classification with Google Workspace DLP and labels-driven sharing restrictions are now generally available. These features were part of a beta we announced last year for enhanced content classification, governance, and data loss prevention (DLP) with Google Drive labels. 

A new Admin console setting can now automatically apply up to 5 labels to all new files your users create, or to all newly created files owned by specific parts of your organization. 



Configuring automatically applied blank labels by OU in Admin console

A message will prompt end users to fill out required fields in label manager, until the field is completed.



Requiring users to select a label field option in Label Manager


End user experience for an automatically applied label combined with a required field


Automated classification can help organizations automatically add Drive labels to content based on administrator-defined DLP rules and predefined content detectors. DLP administrators can also configure rules that show users a warning any time they attempt to share a file labeled as “Internal,” as well as rules that block external sharing or prevent downloads and printing for all “confidential” files. 

Additionally, Admins have the ability to allow end users to change labels applied by DLP, to provide additional flexibility for their organization. 

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why you’d use it 

You can automatically apply labels to new files. When used in conjunction with required fields in label manager, you can require users to classify their newly created Drive files, leading to strengthened data classification and protection. 

Labels in Drive can also be automatically added to files with automated classification based on admin-defined DLP rules and predefined content detectors. This automated classification can help scale data classification and protection efforts by reducing the administrative burden and potential errors associated with manual labels. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Default labels 

Automated classification


Availability 

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

Resources 

What’s changing 
We’re launching a beta for a new Directory Sync solution which can make it quicker and easier to synchronize your Active Directory user and group data with your Google Cloud directory. 


Directory Sync is an alternative to Google Cloud Directory Sync (GCDS). You might want to consider it if you want to sync Microsoft Active Directory LDAP data with your Google cloud directory using a completely cloud-based solution, without the need to manage on-prem hardware and deployments. Please read more about its features and network requirements to learn whether it's right for you. 

Who’s impacted 
Admins 

Why you’d use it 
The new Directory Sync solution is: 
  • Cloud based: The cloud-based sync process is auto-scheduled to run on a continuous basis in a loop, so there’s no need to install a sync client or on-premises software. 
  • Easy to use: A simple and modern UI integrated with the Admin console makes it easy to use for those with no LDAP knowledge. Plus, there’s no need for Google exclusion rules if you would like to sync from multiple Active Directory sources or manage a subset of users or groups within Google without synching from Active Directory. 
  • Integrated reporting: It offers centralized reporting in the Admin console. You can filter, search, and set custom alerts. 
  • Native multi-directory support: You can sync users and groups from more than one Active Directory source. 

The initial scope for the Directory Sync beta supports user and group sync with Active Directory only, and covers a limited range of attributes. In the future, we’ll add other features, including support for additional attributes, OU mapping to automatically place new user accounts in OUs, and more types of data. 


Additional details 
If your Active Directory server is located on-premises or hosted outside a Google Cloud environment, you’ll require a connection between Google Cloud and the LDAP server using Cloud VPN or Cloud Interconnect. Learn more about system requirements for using Directory Sync and supported network connections for Directory Sync


Getting started 
  • Admins: To use the Directory Sync beta, go to Admin console > Home > Directory > Directory Sync. No beta sign up or registration is required. You can delegate the ability to manage Active Directory with the new Directory Sync admin user role. Use our Help Center to learn more about using the new Directory Sync, and see FAQs about Directory Sync. 
  • End users: No end user impact 

Rollout pace 

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

Resources 

Quick Summary 

From the URL bar in Google Drive, you can now quickly access key pages and functions When navigating into the Google Drive web application from the URL bar by hitting the "Tab" key, you can access buttons like "Skip to main content", "Keyboard shortcuts", and "Accessibility feedback"from the bar at the top of the page. 

Access from the navigation bar

Access from the navigation barGetting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 


Update

[February 10, 2022]: We previously mentioned that when a message is deleted, both the content and the replies are deleted. This was incorrect — this functionality will be introduced at a later date.


The post has been updated to reflect actual feature behavior. We apologize for any confusion caused.


What’s changing 

Now when a user deletes a message in an unthreaded Google Chat Space, a message and timestamp will be added to the conversation indicating the deletion. 


When a message has been deleted, both the content will be replaced with a placeholder 


Notification when a message is deleted

Notification when a message is deleted

Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

This update makes it easier to keep track of who deleted a message and when, helping improve the readability and flow of a conversation, and provide additional context for users. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Quick launch summary 
We’re expanding Google Voice support for several cloud-connected deskphone, pro-grade performance solutions from Poly: 
  • Poly Edge B-Series IP desk phones 
  • Obi 300/302 Analog Adapters for older, analog equipment such as analogue phones and fax machines 
  • Poly Trio 8300 conference phones 

This expanded support allows Admins to integrate Google Voice with a wider variety of Poly equipment in their fleet. For more detailed information about Poly devices that support Google Voice, see this announcement.

Getting started

Rollout pace
Support for Edge-B Desk Phones and Obi 300/302 Devices

Note: Support for Trio 8300 devices will be available in the coming weeks. We will share more information on the Workspace Updates Blog at that time.

Availability

Resources

Quick summary 
Google Cloud Search customers can now use the Cloud Search Stats APIs to surface and track billable usage, such as: 
  • Billable indexed documents 
  • Billable queries 
  • Billable search applications 

We hope that by making this information easily accessible to Admins, customers can keep track of their Cloud Search usage for more informed budget planning, cost management and forecasting. Visit the Help Center for more details on how overages are calculated. 


Usage data is updated daily and is accrued for a given month. Additionally, you can specify a date range and view usage from previous months or within a specific time frame.


Getting started
  • Admins and developers: This feature is ON by default and can be configured at the domain-level. For more information, refer to the stats resource documentation
  • End users: No end user impact.

Rollout pace
  • This feature is available now for all users.

Availability
  • Available to Google Cloud Search customers

Resources

Quick summary

You can now add a text watermark to your documents in Google Docs. Additionally, when working with Microsoft Word documents, text watermarks will be preserved when importing or exporting your files.



Text watermarks will repeat on every page on your document, making it useful for indicating file status, such as “Confidential” or “Draft” before sharing more broadly, no matter the application you use. In addition to text watermarks, you can insert an image watermark or images above or behind text.

Getting started
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: To get started, go to Insert > Watermark > Text. Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding watermarks in Docs.


Rollout pace

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

Resources

What’s changing

You can now use originality reports on Google Slides files, which were previously only available for Google Docs.

Originality reports allow students and teachers to compare work against billions of web pages and books on the internet, making it easier to ensure academic integrity of the work. It can be used when submitting or receiving files within Google Classroom and Assignments.

Who’s impacted
End users



Why it matters
Students widely use slides to showcase academic work. By expanding the originality reports feature to run in Slides, students can ensure they’ve properly integrated external ideas into more of their work, while instructors can check for potential plagiarism in more assignments.


Additional details
Originality reports are available for all Google Workspace for Education users, but teachers will still need to turn on originality reports for individual assignments in Classroom.
 
If you have a Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals account, you can turn on originality reports for 5 assignments per class. Unlimited originality reports are available for the Teaching and Learning upgrade or upgrade to Google Workspace for Education Plus
 
Additionally, students can check their Slides file for originality before submitting it in Classroom. When the student file is ready and submitted, their teacher will receive an originality report for the student’s work.



Getting started




Rollout pace
  • This feature is now available for all Google Workspace for Education users

Availability
  • Available for Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, 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

Quick Summary

At Google Cloud Next 2021, we announced additional protections to safeguard against abusive content. If a user opens a potentially suspicious or dangerous file in Google Drive, we will display a warning banner to help protect them and their organization from malware, phishing and ransomware. These warnings are already available when opening Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings. 

warning-banners-in-google-drive
Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 

What’s changing 

You now can add rich formatting to Chat messages, such as bold, italics, or underlines. Rich text can also be accessed using standard keyboard shortcuts. 

Simply press the "A" icon in the chat compose bar to expand the formatting toolbar. 


Activating rich text editing from the compose bar

Activating rich text editing from the compose bar


Rich text editing is open and applied


Rich text editing is open and applied


Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why you’d use it 

Previously, Chat supported plain text or markdown characters only. With this update, users can easily format their text as needed directly in the compose bar. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Quick launch summary 

Last year, we announced the ability to add page breaks before paragraphs on web. Now, this function is available on mobile. 

You can mark a paragraph to always begin on a new page with the new “Add page break before” option in Google Docs. This is particularly useful if you want certain paragraph styles to always create a new page such as titles, subtitles, or headings. 



Page break before paragraph on mobile

Page break before paragraph on mobile


This also means that you can import and export Microsoft Word and other third-party documents that have “Page break before” applied to paragraphs and Docs will retain that formatting. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature is available by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about paragraph styles in Docs. 

Rollout pace 

Android 

iOS 

Availability 

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

Resources 

What’s changing

In 2021, we pre-announced Companion mode in Google Meet, which is designed to seamlessly connect those in meeting rooms with their remote teammates, giving everyone access to interactive features and controls, while leveraging the best of in-room audio and video conferencing capabilities.

Beginning today, you can use Companion mode on the web when joining a meeting using Google Meet hardware or the Nest Hub Max. Companion mode allows you to access interactive features and controls such as chat, screen sharing, hand raising, polls, host controls and more.

Companion mode is designed to be similar to a full video call on web, so that you can navigate the interface faster while avoiding audio feedback.


You can join a meeting using Companion mode from the green room before your meeting or by using g.co/companion. If you intend to immediately share content, you can simultaneously join the meeting and present with Companion mode by using g.co/present.



Join Companion Mode by selecting “Use Companion mode” under Other joining options



Use g.co/companion to join meetings on your calendar or by entering your meeting code. 



Who’s impacted
End users


Why it’s important
Hybrid meetings and classes are growing as some begin to return to office or school, while others remain remote. Companion mode fosters collaboration equity for all attendees regardless of where they’re joining a meeting from. Companion mode complements functionality on Google Meet hardware and Nest Hub Max by enabling attendees to:
  • See a presentation up close, 
  • Participate in chat,
  • Initiate polls or vote, 
  • Raise hands with their names associated, 
  • Use host controls,
  • Enable captions and translations in their preferred languages. 

All Google Meet users can connect to meetings using Companion mode on the web. The availability of features, such as hand raising, depends on your Google Workspace edition. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Meet feature availability across Google Workspace editions.


Additional details
You’ll notice prompts on Meet hardware and Nest Hub Max devices for Companion mode when chat messages are sent or other interactive activities are initiated in a meeting.  



The tiles of participants using Companion mode will be hidden from the video grid to maximize screen space for video feeds unless they raise their digital hand. Additionally, in the meeting roster, those using Companion mode will be identified as such. 




Using Companion mode will count as an additional meeting participant and the overall meeting participant count. For example, if you join using a Meet hardware device and use Companion mode on your laptop, it is treated as two meeting participants.



Companion mode users in the call are indicated in the participant roster.




External meeting guests and meeting participants without Google accounts can use Companion mode and g.co/companion, but they’ll need to ask to join the meeting.


Getting started
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: 
    • This feature will be available by default. You can join a meeting on the web using Companion mode from the green room before your meeting.
    • Alternatively, use g.co/present to present directly from the web using Companion mode.
    • Note: Your audio and mic will automatically be muted—we recommend using meeting room hardware for audio and video to avoid feedback. Additionally, the chat panel will be open by default.
    • Use this Help Center article and video guide to learn more about using Companion mode in Google Meet.
Rollout pace
Companion Mode on web and g.co/companion

Note: For Google Workspace Individual customers and users with personal Google accounts, there will be a gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 13, 2022.


Activity notifications on Google Meet hardware and Nest Hub Max 

Use this post in our community forum for more information on rollout progression and additional FAQs.

Availability
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
  • Also available to Google Workspace Individual customers, as well as users with personal Google accounts

Resources

September 7, 2023: Translated captions in Google Meet will be available exclusively to Duet AI for Google Workspace Enterprise add-on users at a future date. We will provide a minimum of 6 months notice to existing Google Workspace customers before this change takes place.


What’s changing 
In 2021, we announced a beta for live translated captions in Google Meet. We’re now making live translated captions generally available for select Google Workspace editions. 

Meeting participants can translate English meetings to: 
  • French 
  • German 
  • Portuguese 
  • Spanish 

Translated captions are available on Google Meet on web and mobile devices. 


Who’s impacted 
End users 



Why it’s important 
Translated captions help make Google Meet video calls more inclusive and collaborative by removing language proficiency barriers. When meeting participants consume content in their preferred language, this helps equalize information sharing, learning, and collaboration and ensures your meetings are as effective as possible for everyone.

This feature can be particularly helpful for all-hands meetings or training meetings with globally distributed teams. Additionally, translated captions can be impactful in education settings, allowing educators to connect and interact with students, parents, and community stakeholders with diverse backgrounds.


Additional details 

Beta availability 
The live translated captions beta will remain open for the next several months. Therefore, if you are participating in the beta with a Google Workspace edition not listed as “Available to” above, your experience will remain the same. 



Availability for meeting participants 
Meeting participants will be able to use live translated captions if the meeting is organized by a user in beta or an eligible Google Workspace edition. 



Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature will be available by default and can be enabled in Google Meet on the web by going to Settings > Captions > Translated captions or on mobile by going to Settings > Captions > Live Captions > Translation Language. Visit the Help Center to learn more about translated captions in Google Meet

Rollout pace 

Availability 
  • Available for meetings organized by Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade
  • Not available to meetings organized by Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Google Workspace for Education Standard, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Individual customers or users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

What’s changing 

We’ve made several improvements to the issue detection engine which notifies admins about peripheral and connectivity issues in their Google Meet hardware fleet. These improvements will make alerts more reliable and cut down on noise and false signals.

Furthermore, we’ve made a number of significant visual changes to the Google Meet hardware section of the Admin console in order to display more detailed information regarding device issues.  We expect these new features will allow admins to better troubleshoot issues in their fleets.  They include:

  • Issue history page
  • Device list quick-filters
  • Issue detail sidebar
  • New aggregated issue count columns

See below for more information.


Who’s impacted
Admins



Why it’s important
We hope that by improving the accuracy and information associated with alerts and providing additional troubleshooting tools, Admins can resolve Google Meet hardware issues faster across their fleet.



Additional details

New issue history page
To provide admins with more information and context about a device’s health over time, we’ve added a new Issue History page in the Admin console. Here, admins can see a visual timeline and table of issues for specific devices, which can be filtered further by a specific date or issue type.




Improvements to the Google Meet hardware Devices section of the Admin console
We’ve added new quick-filters at the top of the Device list page to help quickly filter your devices down to the most common views, such as offline devices, those approaching end-of-life, and more.



You can also surface richer information about device issues in the sidebar by clicking an issue from the Device list or Device detail page. This information includes:

  • Description
  • Type
  • Detection time
  • Closed time
  • Duration
  • Related events
  • Troubleshooting recommendations


Additionally, we’ve added two new columns to the Device list page: Device issues in last 28 days and Peripheral issues in last 28 days, which can help you isolate persistently problematic devices in your fleet. To add these columns to your current view, you can select the appropriate quick-filter or manually use the column management widget.


Getting started
  • Admins: These updates will be automatically available. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning on connectivity and peripherals alerts.
    • Note: As these updates roll out, there may be instances in which future resolution alerts for issues open longer than 30 days contain a different Alert ID than the ID originally included in the initial alert. We anticipate these occurrences to be rare, but Admins who have built custom task-tracking integrations based on these alerts should be aware of this in case they contain logic that relies upon the Alert ID. Newly created alerts going forward will not be affected.
  • End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

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

Resources

What’s changing

Google Classroom teachers can now export their grades to Follett Aspen, a third-party Student Information System (SIS). Grade export is a one-way information push that allows:

  • Admins to establish a connection between their district SIS and Google Classroom, and configure export settings that apply to Google Classroom teachers.
  • Teachers to manually link new or existing Google Classroom classes to their SIS, and push returned assignments and grades from Google Classroom.

This is only available to users in the United States and Canada. Additionally, there is no additional cost associated with this functionality.


Who’s impacted

Admins and teacher end users


Why it matters

This feature expands the interoperability between Google Classroom and Follett Aspen SIS in the United States and Canada. Grade export saves teachers time and duplicative work by keeping their SIS in sync with fewer manual steps.


Getting started


Rollout pace

Availability
  • Available as a core service to Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus. 
  • 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

Roadmap

New updates 
Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), 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), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers. 



Update 
[February 2, 2022]: We have temporarily paused the rollout for this feature. We apologize for the delay and we will share an update once rollout resumes.

PPTX file limit increase in Google Slides 
You can now import PPTX files up to 300MB into Google Slides using Office Editing mode — previously, 100MB was the maximum. Once imported, you can save back your edits to the underlying PPTX file. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more.



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. 



Use a new enterprise certificate condition to set context-aware access rules for company-managed devices 
When configuring context-aware access rules, you can now use a new signal to determine whether a device is company-owned. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more. 



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

Quick launch summary 
When configuring context-aware access rules, you can now use a new signal to determine whether a device is company-owned. By using new enterprise certificates as an alternative context-aware signal to determine if a device is a company-managed asset, you can set more specific context-aware policies that are appropriate based on the trustworthiness of the device. 
admin console screen to configure context-aware access rules
The Admin console screen to configure context-aware access rules using enterprise certificate condition


Getting started 
Rollout pace 
  • This feature is now available for all eligible users. 
Availability 
  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business, and Cloud Identity Free customers 
Resources