(Cross-posted from The Keyword, with some additional details)

Getting people on the same page for a project can be tough. It requires managing a ton of opinions and suggestions. The last thing you should have to worry about is making sure your team is literally working on the same document. That’s why we built our powerful real-time editing tools to help with this—Google Docs, Sheets and Slides—so that teams can work together at the same time, using the most up-to-date version.

Today, we're introducing new updates to better help with "version control," to customize tools for your workflows, and to help teams locate information when they need it.

Track changes, make progress

It can take dozens of edits to make a document just right—especially a legal agreement, project proposal or research paper. These new updates in Docs let you more easily track your team’s changes. Now, your team can:

1. Name versions of a Doc, Sheet or Slide on the web.
Being able to assign custom names to versions of your document is a great way to keep a historical record of your team's progress. It's also helpful for communicating when a document is actually final. You can organize and track your team’s changes in one place under “Version history” (formerly known as “Revision history”) on the web. Select File > Version history > Name current version. For even quicker recall, there’s an option to select “Only show named versions” in Docs, Sheets or Slides.

2. Preview “clean versions” of Docs on the web to see what your Doc looks like without comments or suggested edits.
Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Preview accept all OR Preview reject all.

3. Accept or reject all edit suggestions at once in your Doc so your team doesn’t have to review every single punctuation mark or formatting update.
Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Accept all OR Reject all.

4. Suggest changes in a Doc from an Android, iPhone or iPad device.
Click the three dots menu in the top right of your Doc screen to suggest edits on the go. Turn on the “Suggest changes” toggle and start typing in “suggestion mode.”

5. Compare documents and review redlines instantly with Litera Change-Pro or Workshare Add-ons in Docs. 



Use new templates, add-on time-saving functionality

Teams use templates in Docs and Sheets to save time on formatting. At the same time, developers are building add-ons to customize functionality. We thought, why not bring these two together? That’s why today, we’re introducing new templates with built-in add-ons and the ability to create your own, so your templates not only look good—but they make sure the work gets done.

These templates allow you to customize and deploy tools specific to your organization’s workflows. We’ve launched five examples of this in the general template gallery, like the new Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) template from LegalZoom and DocuSign. With this template, businesses can quickly create an NDA and collect signatures using the DocuSign Add-on for Docs. Bonus: it also automatically detects the required signature fields on the template, which saves even more time when you request signatures. This is just one of a few new templates—we’ve also worked with Lucidchart to create a business process manual, PandaDoc for a consulting agreement, Supermetrics for a website paid traffic report, and EasyBib for an MLA report. Each should help you save time and maximize efficiency throughout your team’s workflows.

In addition, you can create your very own template with built-in add-on customized to your company’s workflows. For example, create a Sheets template paired with an add-on to gather internal approvals or an invoice template in Docs (paired with an add-on) that pulls information from your CRM system.

Admins, if you don’t currently allow your users to install add-ons, you can still use these new templates by deploying specific add-ons only. Or, if you’d prefer to allow your users to install only certain add-ons, you can block specific third-party OAuth scopes and whitelist only those add-ons you trust.

Note that templates paired with add-ons abide by the same Admin console settings as all other templates and are available in English only.


Find the information you need, when you need it

Sometimes the hardest part of creating a proposal or client presentation is tracking down the information you need to include in it. Starting today for G Suite Business and Enterprise customers, Google Cloud Search will integrate with Docs and Slides via the Explore feature. Using Machine Intelligence, Cloud Search surfaces relevant information to help you work more efficiently throughout your day.

To get started, open the Explore tab in Docs or Slides and type what you’re looking for. Cloud Search will show you important details from your information across your G Suite apps including Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Sites and more, to help you create top-notch Docs and presentations.


Teams are using Docs to collaborate in creative ways. Check out this post for inspiration, or visit the Docs site to get started.

Launch Details
Release track:

• Versions and Cloud Search in Explore
• Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks
• Suggestions
• Mobile features launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release
• Web features launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks
• Templates
• Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks*

*Templates created by our partners will appear immediately in all template galleries, but the add-on functionality associated with them will launch only to domains on the Rapid Release track. Domains on the Scheduled Release track will see add-on functionality in two weeks.

Editions:

• Versions, Suggestions, and Templates
• Available to all G Suite editions
• Cloud Search in Explore
• Available to G Suite Business and Enterprise editions with Cloud Search enabled only

Rollout pace:

• Versions, Suggestions, and Templates
• Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)
• Cloud Search in Explore
• Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:

• Versions and Suggestions
• All end users
• Templates and Cloud Search in Explore
• Admins and end users

Action:

• Versions and Suggestions
• Change management suggested/FYI
• Templates and Cloud Search in Explore
• Admin action suggested/FYI

• Versions
• Help Center: See what’s changed in a file
• Suggestions
• Help Center: Suggest edits in Google Docs
• Templates
• Help Center: Create a file from a template
• Help Center: Enable add-ons in Google Docs editors
• Help Center: Whitelisting connected apps
• Help Center: Manage templates for Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms
• Cloud Search in Explore
• Help Center: See and use suggested content in a document
• Help Center: See and use suggested layouts in a presentation
• Help Center: Turn Cloud Search on or off for users

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This past February, we introduced Google Cloud Search, a new product that uses machine intelligence to provide a unified search experience across G Suite. Already available on the web and via the Android app, Cloud Search is now accessible on your iOS device as well. Starting today, you can download the Cloud Search iOS app from the App Store and search across your G Suite applications right from your iPhone or iPad. For more details, check out the Help Center articles below.


Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Editions:
Available to G Suite Business and Enterprise editions only

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Cloud Search Admin Help Center 
Cloud Search User Help Center


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(Cross-posted from The Keyword)

Posted by: Brent VerWeyst, Product Manager, Google Cloud

Every day, people around the globe rely on the power of Google Search to access the world’s information. In fact, we see more than one trillion searches each year. As we continue to invest in new cloud-based technologies like machine learning to power our web search engine, we want to help businesses harness the same technology to search for internal information. Today, we’re announcing Google Cloud Search (formerly known as Springboard), a new product that uses machine intelligence to provide a unified search experience across G Suite.

Sorting through internal information has become increasingly complex as more and more companies move their data and workloads to the cloud. As a result, teams are working on hybrid environments and storing immense amounts of data all over and in various formats. From emails and docs to spreadsheets, slides, forms, internal sites, and many more. In fact, according to McKinsey, the average knowledge worker spends 20% of the workweek searching for and consolidating information. Simply put, employees are wasting a lot of time in the process of finding information they need to do their job.

A smarter search experience, tailored for you

Cloud Search brings the best of Google Search and machine intelligence to G Suite. It provides both comprehensive search and proactive recommendations to help you throughout your day.

For example, when you open the Cloud Search app on your phone or laptop, you’ll see relevant information organized into simple cards (assist cards) that help you stay on top of your work. Assist cards are a new way to help you find the right information at the right time. Using Google’s machine intelligence technology, these cards can help you prepare for an upcoming meeting or even suggest files that need your attention. Assist cards are designed to be timely and relevant so that you can navigate your workday more efficiently. As we continue to learn how information is most useful to you, we’ll be adding more assist cards to Cloud Search over time.


In addition to searching for information, you can also search for people listed in your company’s directory. You’ll see colleagues’ contact details, plus events and files you have in common. You can even choose to send an email, make a call, or start a Hangout with just a tap.


For businesses, privacy is a top priority. Cloud Search respects G Suite’s file sharing permissions, so people can only search for and find files that they have access to. This means that company resources like vacation policies can be found by everyone in your organization, but your team projects will only surface to people on your team, and your to-do lists will only be available to you.

Breaking down information silos at work

Since launching in the Early Adopter Program last summer, companies have been using Cloud Search to break down internal silos and access information more quickly. QAD, an ERP solutions provider for global manufacturing companies, helps businesses manage their finances, supply chain, business intelligence and more. Very little time can be spared sifting through documents to find what’s needed to make strategic business decisions, so QAD uses Cloud Search to help.

“At QAD, we operate at a high-level of speed and require technology that provides us agility, flexibility and seamless access to information. Cloud Search provides that. It’s given us the ability to break down silos that exist across different content systems and unlock information with very little effort from IT, “ says Scott Lawrence Lawson, Director of IT Architecture.

Coming to G Suite

Cloud Search will begin rolling out globally for customers using the G Suite Business and Enterprise editions. And this is just the beginning. In the future, we’ll be adding more capabilities to Cloud Search including integration with third-party applications. That way, you and your team can find, access and make the most of your information in G Suite and beyond.

Once turned on for your organization, Cloud Search will be accessible at cloudsearch.google.com.


Launch Details
Release track:

• For customers on both the Rapid release and Scheduled release tracks who have opted into automatically receiving new services, Cloud Search will launch on Tuesday, February 14, 2017.
• Customers who have chosen to manually enable new services will need to turn on Cloud Search if they want their organizations to have access to the service. They can do so in the Admin console (Apps > G Suite > Cloud Search) starting on Tuesday, February 14, 2017.*

Editions:
Available to G Suite Business and G Suite Enterprise editions only

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI


More Information
Cloud Search Admin Help Center
Cloud Search User Help Center
Cloud Search Learning Center
Cloud Search Product Page


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Launch detail categories
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