To create a more consistent, streamlined Google Contacts experience, we’re removing the embedded contacts feature in Gmail, which gives users access to their contacts from the top left corner of the UI. This feature doesn’t appear in the new version of Gmail that recently launched, and it will soon be removed from the old UI as well.

Going forward, G Suite users can access Contacts via their web browser at contacts.google.com or the app launcher. This will direct them to the new Contacts (a.k.a. Contacts preview) or the classic Contacts Manager, depending on which is enabled for their domain.

Unfortunately, many customers are unaware that they previously disabled access to the classic Contacts Manager, because their users can still access the contacts feature embedded in the old Gmail UI (as it isn’t controlled by the Contacts on / off switch). In response to feedback from these customers, and so that their users can continue to access their contacts, we’ve now enabled access to the classic Contacts Manager for all G Suite domains.

Note that this change doesn’t impact domains with Contacts preview enabled; users in such domains will continue to see the Contacts preview UI when they navigate to contacts.google.com or select Contacts from the app launcher.

Since launching Contacts preview in 2016, we’ve made steady improvements to the product. We’re continuing to work toward feature parity with the classic Contacts Manager, with delegation functionality planned for later this year. We highly recommend that all G Suite customers migrate their users to the Contacts preview, provided it meets their needs.

If Contacts preview doesn’t yet meet your needs and you’re required to disable access to the classic Contacts Manager, please fill out this form and we’ll do our best to accommodate this need. Please note that this means your users will lose access to Contacts via their browser.


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Whether your users are scheduling a meeting or catching up on Google+ posts, it’s important that they can easily see who they’re interacting with. That’s why we’ve added new person information cards that appear inside your G Suite apps on the web, like Google+ and Calendar, when relevant.

These cards surface profile information when a user hovers over another user’s name or profile picture with their cursor. The information can include data points such as:

• Job title
• Desk location
• Department
• Contact information (email, phone number, etc.)
• Call-to-action links to internal directories, social media profiles, and more

To get the full value of these cards, you, as a G Suite admin, can populate this data for users in your organization in a few locations:

• “Users” section of the Admin console
• Google Cloud Directory Sync, or
• Admin SDK

You can also delegate editing rights for some profile fields to end users in the Admin console at Apps > G Suite > Directory. Users can then edit their profile at aboutme.google.com. Additionally, in the future we’ll be providing support for you to delegate editing of other fields, such as Manager and Job Title.

Other Benefits to Populating Profile Data

We recommend populating user profiles to unlock additional benefits for your users. For example, in the near future, Calendar will start using work location to intelligently suggest meeting rooms for guests.


You can see these cards now in Google Calendar and Google+ on the web. They’ll start to appear in other G Suite products over the course of the coming months.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launched in Google Calendar and Google+ to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Update a user profile
Help Center: Set up your sync with Configuration Manager
G Suite Admin SDK: Directory API


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The G Suite Directory surfaces profile information to users in your organization, allowing them to easily find and learn about one another while they work in G Suite apps. For instance, autocomplete in Gmail makes it easy for users to find their coworkers’ email addresses and quickly send them a message.

Previously, we allowed one directory per domain, which meant G Suite admins could only enable or disable contact visibility for their entire domain and couldn’t specify who saw what information. We’re now making it possible for G Suite admins to cluster users in separate directories with custom visibility rules for each organizational unit (OU). For example, a company might give full-time employees access to a global directory, because they want them to be able to find other full-time employees and temps. At the same time, they might not want temps to be able to find full-time employees, so they’ll limit them to a custom directory with restrictions applied.



Admins can configure these visibility rules in the Admin console under Apps > G Suite > Settings for Directory.



For more information on configuring Directory settings, check out this Help Center article.

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Create custom directories

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Today we’re releasing version 2.2 of the Google Contacts app on Android. This release contains several changes to the look and management of your contacts. Read on for more information. 

Changes to the Contact view

• Large photos are back: A popular request from G Suite users, we’ll now display a larger, more vibrant contact photo.
• Action buttons under the photo make it easier to connect: Under the contact’s name, you’ll now see new buttons to call, text, video chat or email that contact. Additionally, if there’s at least one street address in the contact’s info, a Directions button will appear.
• Directory card shows directory profile information: In this card, you’ll see things like the contact’s job title, work phone number, manager name, and office location.

Changes to Suggestions

• Suggested contacts to add: New in this release, you’ll see suggestions to add contacts you frequently communicate with across Google’s products. These appear under the “Add people you contact often” summary card.

• Merge all duplicates: The duplicates suggestion view now has a “MERGE ALL” button which allows you to accept all duplicates suggestions at once.

Customized “Contacts” view

Google’s Contacts app is now available for any device running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher, including Samsung, LG, Motorola, and others.

Android users in your organization can now download version 2.1 of the Contacts app from the Play Store. This version features:

• A simple way to move contacts from a device’s storage into a Google Account, so the contacts are safely backed up and available on all devices.
• Clear separation between work and personal contacts.
• Suggestions for adding new contacts, cleaning up duplicates, and more.

For more information on using the Contacts app on Android devices, check out this Help Center article.

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Sync all contact data to your mobile device


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When collaborating with your team in apps like Gmail and Calendar, you’re able to quickly look up their information by tapping on their profile photo. Today, we’re rolling out an improvement to this integration on Android devices by surfacing new information from the domain directory, including job title, manager, department, and location.

Now when you tap on somebody's profile photo, the information that’s available in the domain directory will be shown in the new “Directory” card, making it easier to understand that person’s job function.




This feature is enabled for any G Suite domains which have the domain directory enabled from the Admin console.


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

Earlier this year, we launched contact importing from a wide variety of supported mail and contact sources in the new Google Contacts preview. A popular request from Google Apps users has been the ability to import mail in addition to contacts from additional sources. Today, we’re happy to announce that we’re adding two more: Gmail and Rediffmail.

These secure user-initiated migrations can now be enabled from the Admin console and are powered by ShuttleCloud.  If you have already enabled User email uploads from the Admin console, then this feature is already available for your end-users.

Once enabled, the user will see a new section in their Gmail settings to Import mail and contacts. Users will then follow the prompts to migrate their email and contacts.

Companies are getting more connected every day, and if you’re like us, you might store business phone numbers in your Google Contacts to keep in touch with company headquarters, partners you work with, or even your favorite restaurant for delivery.

This launch adds Google Maps as a new source of information to enrich your existing contact data. Now when you store a phone number that matches an official business number in Google Maps, we’ll list the information you’ve saved, supplemented with business information directly from the listing. This can include business name, address, phone number, website, and photo. These fields will never override information you’ve added manually.

This new Google Maps integration is only available in the Google Contacts preview.


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

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI


Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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We recently announced that the new Google Contacts is available for preview from the Admin console. By enabling the preview, administrators can allow their users access to the new Google Contacts, along with the many benefits that come with it, like a new fresh look and improved contact merge features.

One popular request from Google Apps users was the ability to easily import their contacts into Google Contacts. We’re happy to announce that starting today, the ability to import contacts, powered by ShuttleCloud, is now available for Google Apps users.

Getting started for administrators

• Administrators must first enable the "Contacts Preview" for their users via Apps > Google Apps > Settings for Contacts > Advanced Settings
  
  

Last year, we launched the new Google Contacts preview to consumer users with several time-saving improvements, such as a rebuilt “Find duplicates” feature, automatic updating of contacts with shared Google profile information, as well as a fresh look and feel. Now, we’re pleased to announce that several new improvements have been added at the request of Google Apps users and we’re making it possible for Apps admins to enable the Google Contacts preview for their users from the Admin console.

Getting started with the new Google Contacts preview

This new Admin console setting is off by default, giving admins full flexibility to enable the new Contacts preview on their own schedule. To enable this feature in the Admin console, click on Apps > Google Apps > Contacts> Advanced settings. Once enabled, all users will see the new Google Contacts by default and will have the ability to switch back to the old Google Contacts by using the “Leave the Contacts preview” link from the More section of the left-hand navigation menu.

After enabling this feature, when users next visit Google Contacts they will see the new UI and a “warm welcome” splash page will guide them through the new features.

Key improvements

Easily get rid of duplicates: No one likes having duplicate contacts, but they inevitably crop up. So we’ve rebuilt our “Find duplicates” feature from the ground up to provide a quick and painless way to clean up your duplicates.

Improved Domain Directory: The directory is easier to navigate through a more intuitive and faster “infinite” scroll.

Automatically Updated Contacts: Users can keep their contacts up to date automatically with shared information from the domain directory, Google+ (if enabled), and more. In addition, Google Contacts also now supports high resolution photographs.

Limitations and switching back to the old Contacts

The following features are not yet available in the new Google Contacts:

• User Custom Fields
• Contact delegation
• Editing group email preferences
• Print

When people try to use these features, they will be prompted with a message that these features are not supported as of yet and presented with a link to go back to the old Google Contacts.
To opt-out and switch back to the old Google Contacts, users can click More > Leave the Contacts preview from the left-hand navigation of the Google Contacts preview.


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

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

Impact: All end users

Action: Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
FAQ: Contacts preview


Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Update: This feature is now live on a gradual rollout. Please allow 3 or more days for feature visibility.

Today, Google Apps administrators use custom fields in the domain directory to store information like Projects, Teams, Languages, and whatever else their organization needs. Showing these fields to users within the Google Contacts user interface has been a popular feature request for many domain administrators, because having this information accessible helps users connect more easily.

In the coming weeks, the Contact Manager at contacts.google.com will now show user custom fields from the domain directory. User custom fields will respect the permissions that the domain administrator has set.

Example:

• If you have user custom fields which you’ve set as only visible to administrators and users, this field will only be visible in the Contact Manager to the specified users.
•  If you have fields which are visible to anyone at the domain, then these fields will now be shown in the Contact Manager to users within the domain.

In the profile above, Profession, Active Projects, and Languages were stored in the "TeamInfo" schema.

If you’d like to start using user custom fields, the Directory API is already available in Python, Go, Java, Apps Script, PHP, and more, giving administrators flexibility over what fields to add for users. To control whether fields are shown to all domain users or just specified users, use the readAccessType property.

If you’ve already added user custom fields, in the coming weeks, any user-visible custom fields that Google Apps administrators have added through APIs will now be visible to users as custom fields in the Contact Manager at contacts.google.com. To update the schema, use the Directory API.

Limitations

• Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook users will not see custom fields in the Global Address List.
• Custom fields are not yet supported in the new Google Contacts preview.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release on March 31, 2016.

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility).

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center


Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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The following features are now available to domains following the Scheduled Release track:

-Docs: Research pane which allows you to look up information and search from inside your document.
-Gmail: Quick access to contact details: When searching for an email address, the results will now show you contact details in addition to that person's profile photo and the emails sent from and to them. From here, you can start a chat, call their phone and more. Plus, if your contacts have a Google+ profile, this information will stay up to date automatically.
-Gmail: More circle integration and circle search: Users on Google Plus will also now see profile photos of people in their selected circle and circles are now supported in search and filters.
-Contacts: Contacts delegation allows users to delegate full access to the contacts in their “My Contacts” group without granting access to their mail or anything else in their accounts.

The following features are intended for release to these domains on June 5th:
-Gmail: Graduation of the "Nav bar drag and drop" lab, which allows the user to reorder gadgets inside the gadget pane.

Release track:
Scheduled*

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

*Scheduled Release track: Domains with ‘Scheduled Release’ option enabled in the administrator control panel. Learn more.

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