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3 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 customers.


Revamping the "First Open Experience" in Sheets and Slides on Android foldable and tablet devices
In addition to the recent announcement that documents on tablet and foldables will now be in paginated mode upon first open, there will now be a more creation-focused experience when first opening the Sheets and Slides apps on Android devices. For example:

In the Sheets app, there will be larger tap targets and tapping once exposes the formula bar, tab bar, and a contextual formatting toolbar. 
Revamping the "First Open Experience" in Sheets
In the Slides app, you will now see the filmstrip on the left-hand side and selecting an object exposes the contextual toolbar and an on-screen keyboard. 
Revamping the "First Open Experience" in Slides on Android devices

Paste HTML into document on Android 
In continuing our mission to provide a top-class user experience on large screen devices, we’re introducing the ability for users to paste copied HTML elements into a document on Android. You can now copy HTML elements to clipboard and paste the elements into a Doc, all while maintaining the formatting elements. 


Easily duplicate groups and objects in Google Sites 
Currently, Google Site editors can duplicate a section of their Site, and the duplicated section appears directly below the section it was duplicated from. Starting this week, we’re extending the duplicate feature by enabling you to easily duplicate objects (images, buttons, text boxes) and groups when editing a Site. | Learn more about adding or editing text & images in Google Sites. 
Easily duplicate groups and objects in Google Sites


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.


Quickly access more features during meetings, available for Google Meet on the web 
We’ve introduced a new quick action to access popular features in Google Meet. By hovering the mouse on top of your own video feed, you can access video effects such as immersive backgrounds or fun filters to bring more fun to your meetings and a reframing option to improve your visibility. | Learn more about features in Google Meet. 

Apply background blur when joining a call using a virtual desktop 
If you’re using a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to join a Google Meet meeting, you can now use background blur and light adjustment. Background blur will intelligently separate you from the background, blurring your surroundings while keeping you clear and in focus. | Available to Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Individual customers only. | Learn more about background blur in Google Meet. 

Google Sheets now integrated with mail merge in Gmail 
Mail merge will support Google Sheets in the web version of Gmail. This integration will allow you to link a Sheet with up to 1,500 recipients and use any data column from your Sheet as a mail merge tag. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers and Nonprofits only. | Learn more about mail merge with Sheets in Gmail. 

Simplified access controls coming to Google Meet beginning July 17, 2023 
We’re introducing simplified controls for meeting access in Google Meet. These will replace the existing Quick access meeting settings and the admin setting to turn Quick access on or off by default will be removed. This update will begin rolling out on July 17, 2023. | Learn more about access controls coming to Google Meet. 

Use polls or Q&As during Google Meet live streams 
If you’re live streaming a video meeting, meeting hosts can now enable the Q&A and poll features, which previously were only offered in traditional Meet meetings. Expanding these features to live streamed meetings will help take your meetings to the next level with a more feature-rich, collaborative experience. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning upgrade customers. | Learn more about polls and Q&As during Google Meet live streams. 

Making focus time more productive with new Google Calendar setting 
To increase concentration and bridge the gap between do not disturb and focus time, you can now mute notifications for the duration of your focus time directly in Calendar. | Available to Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Nonprofits only. | Learn more about the new Google Calendar setting. 

See read receipts for messages in Google Chat group direct messages 
We’re introducing read receipts in group direct messages. With this feature, you can now quickly identify if other members of a group have read your latest message within a Chat stream. | Learn more about read receipts in Google Chat.

Improvements for client-side encryption in Gmail 
We’ve introduced two new features for client-side encryption in Gmail which will help you quickly identify ineligible recipients and any attachments that may be blocked. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers. | Learn more about client-side encryption in Gmail.


Completed rollouts

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


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What’s changing 
We’re introducing two new features for client-side encryption in Gmail which will help you quickly identify ineligible recipients and any attachments that may be blocked: 


When you’re composing a Gmail message using client-side encryption, any recipient who is not able to receive encrypted messages will be denoted with a red chip. The email will not be able to be sent until those recipients are removed. 


Email recipients who cannot receive encrypted messages will be highlighted in red.







Gmail blocks attachments that may spread viruses, like messages that include executable files or scripts. If you receive a client-side encrypted message in Gmail, we’ll automatically check if any attachments are blocked file types. If there are blocked file types, you’ll see a warning banner and you won’t be able to download the file. 

You'll see a warning banner if you receive an email with a blocked attachment type





For more information on client-side encryption in Gmail, check out the Workspace blog and our original announcement. 

Getting started 
  • Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up client-side encryption for your organization. 
  • End users: 
    • If enabled by your Workspace admin, to add client-side encryption to any message, click the lock icon and select additional encryption, and compose your message and add attachments as normal. 
    • If you include a recipient in the “To” or “CC” fields who cannot receive an encrypted message, their email address will appear as a red chip. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gmail Client-side encryption and blocked file types in Gmail. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 
  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers 

Resources 
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What’s changing
Following the recent updates in Google Chat that add context without breaking the flow of conversations and enable you to declutter your chat conversations, we’re introducing read receipts in group direct messages. 

With this feature, you can now quickly identify if other members of a group have read your latest message within a Chat stream. 
Read receipts on web in Google Chat

Who’s impacted 
End users 


Why it’s important 
Many users rely on Chat for immediate communication with their colleagues, and it’s sometimes difficult to keep up with the number of messages sent and received throughout the day. Knowing which of your colleagues have read your message can help set expectations for a response. 

Whether you’re waiting for a colleague to read your message or you want to ensure high visibility of a topic in a group direct message, we hope this highly requested feature helps you communicate more effectively in Chat. 
Read receipts on mobile in Google Chat


Additional details 
Read receipts will only be shown in Chats of 20 people or less, and will not be shown in spaces. 


Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature and it cannot be toggled ON or OFF. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending a message in Google Chat.
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts 
Resources 
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What’s changing
In 2021, we introduced the option to reflect time set aside for focus in Google Calendar with the focus time entry type. When coupled with the do not disturb setting in Google Chat, users are able to protect their time for heads-down individual work without distractions. 

To increase concentration and bridge the gap between do not disturb and focus time, you can now mute notifications for the duration of your focus time directly in Calendar. 
Calendar Focus time integration with Chat DnD
Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: To mute Chat notifications when adding a Focus time Calendar entry, check the "Do not disturb" box. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using focus time in Google Calendar. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 
  • Available to Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Nonprofits 

Resources 
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What’s changing 
If you’re live streaming a video meeting, meeting hosts can now enable the Q&A and poll features, which previously were only offered in traditional Meet meetings. Expanding these features to live streamed meetings will help take your meetings to the next level with a more feature-rich, collaborative experience. 


Q&A in Meet offers an easy way to better engage audiences and help them get their questions answered, both at work and in school. Educators can use Q&A as a structured way for students to ask questions on class content and get answers from teachers. Businesses can use Q&A to help make meetings more inclusive, giving everyone the opportunity to ask questions. Participants can submit and upvote their favorite questions without disrupting the flow of the call. 

Using Q&A's during a live stream




Polls are a great way to quickly gauge the pulse of your audience. You can use polls to identify topics that need more discussion or test understanding of the meeting content. This means business users can easily get real-time feedback from their colleagues, teachers can quiz remote students to ensure they’re absorbing the material, and sales teams can make their sales presentations to prospective customers more engaging and interactive.

Using polls during a live stream



Getting started
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using polls and Q&As in Google Meet.

Rollout pace


Availability
  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning upgrade customers

Resources
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What’s changing 
We’re introducing simplified controls for meeting access in Google Meet. These will replace the existing Quick access meeting settings and the admin setting to turn Quick access on or off by default will be removed. This update will begin rolling out on July 17, 2023. 

From a Google Calendar invite or Google Meet itself, meeting organizers will now be able to pick from the following three levels of access: 

  • Open: 
    • Anyone with a meeting link will be able to join your meetings. 
    • No one will have to ask to join. 
    • Anyone can dial in. 
  • Trusted: 
    • Anyone within the meeting hosts’ organization will be able to join without having to ask to join (AKA knocking). 
    • Anyone outside the organization but invited via a Google Calendar event, or anyone invited from within the meeting, will also be able to join without having to ask to join. 
    • Anyone can dial in. 
    • Everybody else will have to ask to join. 
  • Restricted:
    • Only someone who is invited via a Google Calendar event or someone invited from within the meeting by a host will be able to join. 
    • Everyone else will have to ask to join, including participants inside a host’s organization who aren’t included on the invite, and those dialing in.

Additionally, meeting hosts can configure whether guests can join the meeting before hosts.




See below for more information regarding how the new behavior will be applied to new and existing meetings:

Workspace Edition

New Meetings

Existing Meetings with Quick Access “OFF”

Existing Meetings with Quick Access “ON”

Business users

If you use Meet with a paid work account then by default all your new meetings will be set to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.

Meetings will default to RESTRICTED and your guests won’t be able to join your meetings until you join 

Meetings will default to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you. 


Education users

If you use Meet with a paid school account then by default all your new meetings will be set to TRUSTED  and your guests will be able to join before you. 



Any meetings created via Google Classroom will be set to RESTRICTED and your guests won’t be able to join before you.

Meetings will default to RESTRICTED and your guests won’t be able to join before you.

Meetings will default to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.



Workspace Individual, Google One Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

New Meetings

Existing Meetings

By default all your new meetings will be set to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.

 

Anyone who is invited to a meeting via a Google Calendar invite will be considered as “trusted”. 

For any meetings previously created by you, those will also default to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you. 


You won’t see an option to create Restricted meetings. 


Who's impacted
Admins and end users


Why it matters 
To help ensure your meetings run as smoothly as possible, we made the decision to replace the Quick access settings with a more intuitive and explicit set of controls for meeting organizers and hosts. 


Getting started
  • Admins: 
  • End users: 
    • You can follow this post in our community forum to stay on top of the latest news regarding this update.
    • We recommend familiarizing yourself with the chart above, which explains more about the new default access settings, so you can adjust your settings as needed. 


Rollout pace

Availability
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts
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What’s changing
Last year, we made it easier to send individual emails to many recipients with the launch of multi-send in Gmail, and introduced the ability to personalize multi-send emails with mail merge tags like @firstname and @lastname. 

Today, we’re excited to announce that mail merge will support Google Sheets in the web version of Gmail. This integration will allow you to link a Sheet with up to 1,500 recipients and use any data column from your Sheet as a mail merge tag. 
Google Sheets now integrated with mail merge in Gmail
Who’s impacted 
End users 

Why it’s important 
With mail merge you can send more personalized and engaging emails to large audiences from web Gmail. 

Additional details 
With this update, mail merge will fully replace multi-send. We’re also moving the icon for mail merge from the main compose toolbar at the bottom of your email draft to the top-right corner of your compose window. You can still use mail merge without linking a Sheet, using the built-in merge tags: @firstname, @lastname, @fullname, and @email. 

Like multi-send, mail merge emails contain a unique unsubscribe link for each recipient by default. Recipients who unsubscribe from your emails are automatically excluded from future mail merge emails you send. 

Learn more about mail merge in Gmail.

Getting started 
  • Admins: 
    • For Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers, mail merge is restricted to internal recipients by default. 
    • For Google Workspace Business Standard and Business Plus customers, mail merge is available for external recipients by default. 
    • For all Google Workspace editions, you can turn mail merge ON for external recipients at the OU or Group level. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Gmail settings for your users, and customizing access policies for different organizational units or groups. 
  • End users: 
    • To link your Sheet to a draft in Gmail: 
      • Turn on mail merge using the icon in the top-right corner of a new compose tab. 
      • Click Add from a spreadsheet and select which Sheet you want to use for recipient data.
        • The Sheet must contain at least one column of email addresses and one column with recipient names. 
          Mail Merge + Add from a spreadsheet
        • Note: Your recipient data must be in the first tab of the Sheet. 
        • Note: Users are limited to 1,500 mail merge recipients or messages per day, and you can't use Cc or Bcc when recipients are added from a Sheet. 
      • Next, you will see a Finish linking spreadsheet dialog:
        • Choose the columns that contain recipients’ email addresses and names. 
      • To insert merge tags to your draft: 
        • Type “@” in your draft to show a list of available merge tags. 
        • Every valid column in the first tab of your Sheet should be available as a merge tag. 
        • Insert the desired merge tag by pressing Enter or by clicking on the tag. 
        • Note: Merge tags can’t be used in the subject line or in links. 
      • Visit the Help Center to learn more about mail merge in Gmail. 

Rollout pace 
  • Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 27, 2023 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 19, 2023 
Availability 
  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers and Nonprofits 
Resources 

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What’s changing 
If you’re using a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to join a Google Meet meeting, you can now use background blur and light adjustment. Background blur will intelligently separate you from the background, blurring your surroundings while keeping you clear and in focus. Light adjustment automatically detects when you appear underexposed and enhances the brightness to improve your visibility. Note that these effects will only be applied once you join a call, they cannot be previewed in the greenroom. 




For admins, this optimization will help cut down on the demand put on your VDIs, such as CPU, GPU, and memory usage while helping to improve meeting quality and performance. For this reason, you may consider removing GPU resources from your VDIs for cost savings. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 
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Quick summary 
We are introducing a new quick action to access popular features in Google Meet. By hovering the mouse on top of your own video feed, you can access video effects such as immersive backgrounds or fun filters to bring more fun to your meetings and a reframing option to improve your visibility. 

Quick action from your own video feed




You can also turn off the video feed from other participants using the quick action on their video. This can be helpful in situations where you want to focus your meeting view to just the presenter or hide participants with distracting video feeds. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 
  • The new quick action menu is available to all Google Workspace customers 
  • Note: The reframing feature is only available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning upgrade, and Workspace Individual customers. Also available to Google One Subscribers with 2TB or more storage space 

Resources 
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2 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 customers.



Adding flexibility to email collection in Google Forms 
Previously, when creating or modifying a Google Form and editing the “Responses” section, form creators only had the option to toggle the "Collect email addresses" option on or off. If enabled, this meant when users filled out the form, their email was automatically collected with their form submission. To add flexibility, we’ve introduced the ability to choose between the following email collection options:
  • Verified email collection (previously known as automatic email collection)
  • Responder input (previously known as manual email collection)
  • Do not collect
The verified collection option will now require a user to click a checkbox to confirm which email address is being collected upon submission. | Learn more about viewing & managing form responses. 

Adding flexibility to email collection in Google Forms
Gain consensus from collaborators quickly with voting chips in Google Docs 
You can now add smart chips that contain emojis to use as voting indicators in Google Docs. This feature helps teams express themselves while they’re collaborating in Docs by allowing you to rank or compare ideas. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus customers and Nonprofits only. | Learn more about inserting smart chips & building blocks in your Google Doc. 
Voting chips in Google Docs


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.


Launching in beta: programmatically write working locations with the Calendar API 
Available now in beta through our Developer Preview Program, you can write a user’s working location using the Calendar API. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more about writing working locations with the Calendar API. 

Enhancing Google Vault file retention capabilities using Google Drive Labels 
Google Vault now supports custom retention rules based on Drive labels. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more about Vault file retention using Google Drive Labels. 

Respond to access requests for Google Workspace files more efficiently 
Users can now review and respond to requests from within the file. Approvers will see a notification dot on the “Share” button if they have a pending access request and a new banner at the top of the sharing dialog. | Learn more about responding to access requests. 

Monitor additional Google Meet hardware issues in the Admin console 
You can now use the Admin console to detect and monitor additional Meet hardware issues, such as: missing display, missing controller, missing default camera, missing default microphone, missing default speaker, and missing default whiteboard camera. | Learn more about monitoring Google Meet hardware issues. 

Use companion mode to check-in to a Google Meet conference room, so everyone can know you by name
If you’re joining a meeting from a conference room, you can use companion mode on your personal device to check in to that specific room. Room check-in allows everyone on the call to easily identify who is in the conference room, rather than simply seeing the conference room name. | Learn more about companion mode check-in with Google Meet.


Completed rollouts

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

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).
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    What’s changing 
    One of the challenges of joining a virtual meeting from a conference room, is that the people in the room are identified by the name of the conference room rather than as individuals. But that’s changing today with the new companion mode check-in feature in Google Meet. If you’re joining a meeting from a conference room, you can use companion mode on your personal device to check in to that specific room. Room check-in allows everyone on the call to easily identify who is in the conference room, rather than simply seeing the conference room name.

    You’ll be prompted to check into a room after joining companion mode on your personal device.

    Checked-in participants will appear under the conference room 


    Checked-in participants will be grouped under the conference room in the people panel







    Room check-in will be available by default, but admins can turn this feature off for specific Meet hardware devices or specific users. For more information, see the “Additional details” section.


    Who’s impacted 
    Admins and end users 



    Why you’d use it 
    Rather than being represented in a meeting just by the conference room you’re in, room check-in helps ensure everyone in the meeting can see your name and be aware of your presence. 

    If you turn on your personal video tile in companion mode, it along with the conference room name, will be shown while you’re presenting. 

    You’ll notice the same experience when using hand raise as well.


    If your personal video tile is turned off, we’ll display the hand raise icon next to your name in the conference room view.

    The conference room name is visible when using your personal tile & the hand raise feature.







    Combined, this helps boost individual representation, making meetings more equitable, inclusive, and collaborative. 


    Additional details 
    Admin controls for room check-in 
    Admins can turn off room check-in for specific Meet hardware devices within an organizational unit in the Admin console under Admin Console > Devices > Google Meet hardware > [Organizational Unit] > Device Settings > Room Check-In > Uncheck “Users can check in to this device’s meeting room.” This can be particularly useful in instances where the check-in feature should not be used on dedicated executive devices or in large meeting rooms. 


    Admins can also turn this feature off for specific users within an organizational unit. Admins can use this option to slowly rollout room check-in department by department, for example. To turn room check-in off for specific users, navigate to Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > [Organizational Unit] > Meet Video Settings > Room Check-In > Uncheck “All users can check in to eligible rooms” in the admin console. 


    Device Support 
    This feature is only available for Google Meet hardware devices; interop devices are not supported at this time. 


    Getting Started 
    • Admins: 
      • This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled at organizational unit level for specific hardware devices or users. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Meet settings. 

    • End users: 
    Rollout pace 

    Availability 
    • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Meet Hardware devices 

    Resources 
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