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What’s changing 
We’re excited to announce that G Suite for Education is now Google Workspace for Education. We hope that this change will provide you greater choice and flexibility in selecting the best tools to empower your institution. As part of this change, Google Workspace for Education will now be available in four distinct editions instead of just two: 
  • Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals is the new name for G Suite for Education. It will continue to be free to qualifying schools and universities. If you’re currently using this edition, you won't see any changes besides a new name and new features. Learn more
  • Google Workspace for Education Standard is a new option that builds on Education Fundamentals to provide institutions with enhanced security. Learn more
  • Teaching and Learning Upgrade is a new option that builds on Education Fundamentals or Education Standard to offer advanced video communication capabilities, enriched class experiences in Classroom, and tools that guide critical thinking and academic integrity. Learn more
  • Google Workspace for Education Plus is the new name for G Suite Enterprise for Education. This includes all features from Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning upgrade, and more. Learn more

In addition to these changes, we’re updating our storage policies. See more details below. 



Who’s impacted 
Admins 


Why it’s important 
More than 170 million students and educators worldwide rely on our suite of tools. With the launch of Google Workspace for Education, everything you need to teach, learn, connect, and share will remain all in one place, accessible from anywhere on any device. It will also include all the products you already use, like Google Classroom, Meet, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and many more. 

We hope the new offerings help us meet the diverse needs of institutions around the globe, from Pre-K to PhD. 


Additional details 
Introducing a new storage policy 
Google has traditionally offered unlimited storage to qualifying schools and universities for free. In July 2022, we'll implement a new pooled storage model for all Google Workspace for Education editions. 

We remain committed to providing all institutions around the world with a best-in-class experience, including ample free storage to support quality educational experiences. The new storage model will provide schools and universities with a baseline of 100TB of pooled cloud storage shared across all of their users—more than enough storage for over 100 million docs, 8 million presentations or 400,000 hours of video. To empower admins to adapt to this model and optimize their storage, we will provide tools to identify and manage how storage is used and allocated far in advance of the policy going into effect. 

You don't need to do anything today, and this updated storage model will impact less than 1% of institutions. We will contact impacted institutions by email in the coming weeks to discuss a range of options for getting the storage they need. For details on how to prepare for this upcoming change or to learn more about how you’ll be able to increase the storage pool for your institution, please visit our Help Center


Getting started 
  • Admins: 
  • End users: Users will automatically get the features in their new edition. 
Rollout pace 
  • Google Workspace Education Fundamentals and Education Plus are available today. Institutions will be able to purchase Education Standard and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade starting April 14, 2021. 
  • The new storage policy will go into effect for existing customers on all Google Workspace for Education editions in July 2022. 
Availability 
  • Applicable to Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals (formerly known as G Suite for Education) and Google Workspace for Education Plus (formerly known as G Suite Enterprise for Education) customers 
  • Not applicable to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofits customers 
Resources 

Update
This post has been updated to reflect a change in rollout pace. It is now an extended rollout (longer than 15 days for feature visibility), which we expect to complete in January 2021. We previously stated it would be a full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on December 15, 2020.  

Quick launch summary 
Meeting organizers in G Suite for Education and Enterprise for Education domains can now turn Quick access on or off for a meeting from the event in Google Calendar. The Quick access setting helps organizers control if participants must ask to join the video meeting. By adding controls to calendar events, organizers can configure the setting appropriately in advance of the meeting. Previously, the setting could only be controlled via the Host controls menu during the meeting. 

As announced last week, the Quick access setting is now “sticky” for recurring meetings. That means that if you change the setting—either before the meeting via Google Calendar or during the meeting via in-call settings—it will be saved for any future meetings that use the same meeting code. 
Control Quick access from the event in Google Calendar 


Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: Quick access is turned ON by default for all meetings. It can be turned off or on for each meeting, and any changes will be saved for future meetings that use the same meeting code. Visit our Help Center to learn more about Quick access
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to G Suite for Education and Enterprise for Education customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofits customers 
Resources 

What’s changing We’re making it easier to view, edit, and collaborate on Microsoft Office files sent and received in Gmail using Docs, Sheets, and Slides. With this launch, we’re adding: 
  • Open Office files in Docs, Sheets, or Slides with one click: When you send or receive email with an Office file attached, you’ll see an edit icon that will open the file directly in Docs, Sheets, or Slides while preserving the original file format. 
  • Easily reply to the email from within the file: Once the file is opened, you’ll have new options to respond to the email thread from the File menu in Docs, Sheets, or Slides. 

See images below. 


Who’s impacted 
End users 


Why it’s important 
This provides a fast and convenient way to view, edit, and collaborate on emailed Office files directly in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Previously, users would have to save a file to Drive before being able to use G Suite’s Office editing features. With this launch, they can open files more quickly and reply to email threads featuring Office files more easily. 


Getting started 

When you receive an Office file in Gmail, click the Edit icon to quickly open the file to view, edit, and collaborate. 

After opening an Office file from Gmail, you’ll see new options in the Docs, Sheets, or Slides File menu to reply with a file, or open the original message. 


Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials and Enterprise Essentials customers 
Resources 

Update
December 10, 2020: We updated this post to reflect a change in the rollout timing for Scheduled Release domains. Rollout to these domains will now be at the same time as Rapid Release domains—full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on December 9, 2020. We previously stated that it would be a gradual rollout starting January 5. 


Quick launch summary 
Based on your feedback, we’re changing the behavior of some Google Meet settings for G Suite for Education and Enterprise for Education customers. Specifically, certain settings are now “sticky.” This means that if you turn them on or off during a meeting, they will be saved for any future meetings that use the same meeting code. Previously, all settings would return to their default state whenever a meeting was restarted. 

This change will apply to these settings: 


Settings are saved for each meeting code, not per user 

Any changes will only be saved for the specific meeting code, and will not affect other meetings that the user owns with a different meeting code. Additionally, if you change these settings in a one-time, nicknamed, or instant meeting, the settings will not be saved, and will return to their default state after the meeting ends. Scenarios when meetings have the same meeting code include: 
  • Some recurring meetings (including recurring meetings scheduled via Google Calendar) 
  • A meeting owner joins, exits, then rejoins the same meeting 


Getting started 
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to G Suite Education and Enterprise for Education customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofits customers 
Resources 

Quick launch summary 
We’re making Office editing available on iOS. This feature brings the collaborative and assistive features of Google Workspace to your Microsoft Office files when you’re using your iOS device. Already available on the web and Android, it: 
  • Allows you to edit, comment, and collaborate on Microsoft Office files using Google Docs’, Sheets’, and Slides’ powerful real-time collaboration tools. 
  • Improves sharing options, improves sharing controls, and reduces the need to download and email file attachments. 
  • Streamlines workflows by reducing the need to convert file types. 

Office editing will replace Quickoffice (sometimes known as Office Compatibility Mode), which has more limited functionality and collaboration capabilities. See more about Office editing in our announcement for the feature on the web

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

Availability 
  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

What’s changing 
We’re changing the default editing mode for Microsoft Office files in Google Drive on the web. Now, when you double-click on an Office file, it will open directly in Office editing mode

Previously, double clicking would open a preview of the document, from which users could choose whether to open in Office editing mode or download the file. You can still use the preview mode by right clicking the file and clicking "Preview,” or by pressing ‘P’ on the keyboard while double clicking the file. 



Who’s impacted 
End users 


Why it’s important 
This change makes it quicker to open and start editing documents. Users can directly edit, comment, and collaborate on Office files using the familiar interface of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, with changes automatically saved to the file in its existing Office format. 


Additional details 
Note that: 
  • This change will apply to all compatible Office file types, including .docx, .doc, .ppt, .pptx, .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm 
  • Password protected Office files will not open directly in Office editing mode. These files will continue to open in Preview mode. 
  • If the “Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides” Chrome extension is installed, we will redirect to the extension and not to Docs, Sheets, or Slides. This is the same as if you select “Open with” today. 


Getting started 
  • Admins: This feature will be ON by default. There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This change will take place by default when opening compatible Office files in Drive on the web. You can still use the preview mode by right clicking the file and clicking "Preview," or by pressing ‘P’ on the keyboard while double clicking the file. Visit the Help Center to learn more about working with Office files in Drive
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers, and users with personal Google Accounts 
Resources 

Quick Summary 
Google Workspace Add-ons are now available for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Google Workspace Add-ons are already available for Calendar, Gmail, and Google Drive.


Google Workspace Add-ons allow you to use third-party applications within Google Workspace, helping you get work done faster without switching from one app to another. 

Organizations can also create add-ons using Apps Script or alternative runtimes — use the Google Workspace Developer guide for add-ons to learn more about building add-ons

Getting started 
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, G Suite Business, Basic, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers and users with personal accounts.  
Resources 

Quick launch summary 
You can now mention another user in Google Docs within the document itself. Previously, this was only possible within a comment. 

When another user is mentioned, you can hover over their name for information about them and suggested actions like adding that person to Contacts or reaching out via email. This is the same information you see today when hovering over a user's name in other Google Workspace apps, such as Gmail or Calendar. 

[Read more about this feature and other new features in the Google Workspace announcement]
Additional details 
In the future, mentioning someone in a document will send them a notification. Stay tuned to the Workspace Updates blog for information on when this will become available.

Additionally, if you mention a user who does not have access to the doc, you’ll receive a prompt with sharing suggestions. You can share the document at that time or decline and use the regular Docs sharing function when the time is right. 

Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature is available for all Google Workspace end users. When typing in Docs, press “@” — this will trigger a dropdown menu where you can search for the user you want to mention. 
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers, and users with personal Google Accounts 
Resources: 

What’s changing 
Organizers of G Suite Enterprise for Education meetings will now receive an attendance report via email once the meeting is over. Attendance reports will be generated for web or mobile meetings with at least five (and no more than 250) participants and will contain the following information for each:
  • Participant’s name 
  • Participant’s email 
  • Length of time a participant was on the call, including when they joined and exited 
Once a meeting is finished, you’ll receive an attendance report via email.

The attendance report contains the names, email addresses, and duration of time participants were in the meeting.


Students who have the ability to create meetings will receive attendance reports as well. 

Who’s impacted 
End users 

Why you’d use it 
We hope attendance reports will help meeting organizers keep track of who attended their meetings and for how long, which can be challenging during larger meetings or while presenting. 

Additional details 
Recording attendance for ejected or dial-in participants 
We’ll record the attendance of any participants who chose to dial in. The obfuscated phone number and name displayed during the meeting will appear in the attendance report. 

If a meeting participant is ejected and re-admitted to the meeting, you’ll see the time they first joined and the time they last left. The total duration of their attendance will be a sum of their sessions. 

Getting started 
  • Admins: At this time, there is no admin control for this feature. We’re planning to introduce this setting later this year; stay tuned to the G Suite Updates blog to learn when it launches. 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Attendance reports will automatically be sent to the meeting host. Visit the Help Center to learn more about attendance tracking
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to G Suite Enterprise for Education customers only at this time. 
  • Not available to G Suite Essentials, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise, and G Suite for Nonprofits customers. Stay tuned to the G Suite Updates blog for information when this launches to additional customers. 
Resources 

Quick launch summary 
You can now use Dark theme with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on iOS devices. Dark theme is already available for Android users

Dark theme in Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets on iOS. 

You can also preview how your document will look in light theme for collaborators and viewers by selecting the three-dot “More” menu and toggling the “view in light theme” option.  

Getting started 
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 
Resources 

Quick launch summary 
We’re launching a new feature to help you add, manage, and format academic citations in Google Docs. This will make writing academic papers easier since you won’t have to use add-ons, or copy citations from other tools. 

Using this feature, you can easily insert in-text citations and create a bibliography in the MLA, APA, or Chicago (author-date) styles. Sources types supported include books, book sections, websites, journal articles and newspaper articles. 

Citations tool in Google Docs 

Getting started 
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to all G Suite customers 
Resources 

Quick launch summary 
We’re making Office editing available on Android. This feature brings the collaborative and assistive features of G Suite to your Microsoft Office files when you’re using your Android device. Already available on the web, it: 
  • Allows you to edit, comment, and collaborate on Microsoft Office files using Google Docs’, Sheets’, and Slides’ powerful real-time collaboration tools. 
  • Improves sharing options, improves sharing controls, and reduces the need to download and email file attachments. 
  • Streamlines workflows by reducing the need to convert file types. 
Office editing will replace QuickOffice (sometimes known as Office Compatibility Mode), which has more limited functionality and collaboration capabilities. See more about Office editing in our announcement for the feature on the web. 


Getting started 
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 
Resources 

Quick launch summary 
We will now adjust line spacing in Google Docs based on the font used. Previously, line spacing was based only on the font size and line spacing you chose. Now, the font you choose will also be a factor in the spacing. 

This will increase consistency in document length between Google Docs and other word processing programs, and help make sure converted Microsoft Word documents retain a similar length. It will be particularly useful for education and enterprise users, who may have documents with specific length requirements based on specific formatting combinations. 
Line spacing will adjust based on the font used 

Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default for new documents only. Existing documents will not be affected. Use our Help Center to learn more about formatting in Google Docs
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal accounts. 
Resources 

What’s changing
We’re giving hosts (meeting creators and calendar owners) of G Suite for Education meetings new meeting safety controls to manage who can share their screen and who can send chat messages within the meeting.

Who’s impacted
End users

Additional detailsManage who can share their screen
To control who can share their screen in a meeting, hosts can turn "Share their screen" on or off. By default, this setting will be on.

When "Share their screen" is on, participants will see the option to share their screen to all meeting participants.

When "Share their screen" is off:
  • Only the host can share their screen.
  • The option to "Present now" won't show for participants.

Hosts can turn "Share their screen" on or off from within meetings on the web. Hosts will not see the option to change this setting on mobile devices.

Manage who can send in-meeting chat messages
To control who can send chat messages in a meeting, hosts can turn "Send chat messages" on or off. By default, this setting will be on.

When "Send chat messages" is on, participants will see the option to send chat messages to meeting participants.

When "Send chat messages" is off:
  • Only the host can send chat messages, but participants will still be able to see messages sent by the host.
  • Messages sent when "Send chat messages" was on will still show in the chat history.

Hosts can turn "Send chat messages" on or off from within meetings on the web. Hosts will not see the option to change this setting on mobile devices.

Moderator controls for who can share their screen


Moderator controls for who can send chat messages


If you're unable to turn the features on or off, it's possible that you have a Chrome extension for Meet which is preventing the features from working. To fix the issue, try turning your Meet Chrome extensions off.

Getting started
Admins: There are no admin controls for these features.

End users: These features will be on by default and can be turned on or off by the host during each meeting. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning these features on or off in your meetings.

Rollout pace 

Availability
  • Available to all G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers
  • Not available to G Suite Essentials, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, and G Suite for Nonprofits customers

ResourcesRoadmap

Quick launch summary 
We’re making several improvements to braille support in Google Docs to make it easier for users of assistive technologies, including refreshable braille displays, to work on documents. These changes will enhance the experience of reading documents with new keyboard shortcuts, improved navigation, and more reliable verbalizations. We encourage assistive technology users to enable braille support when working in Docs.

Improvements you may notice include: 
  • You can use the new Ctrl+Alt+H (CMD+Option+H on Mac) shortcut to toggle braille support in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. 
  • When you use shortcuts to navigate, we now announce where your cursor moves to, including comments, headings, misspellings, and suggestions. 
  • We improved the reliability of navigating through lengthy documents and lists. 
  • Images, misspellings, and grammar errors are now verbalized directly by assistive technology. 
  • We’ve improved navigation and selection verbalizations when moving through tables and when selecting content, including announcing the entire cell’s contents. 

Please make sure to update to the latest versions of your assistive technologies and browsers to fully benefit from these improvements. 


Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default for users with braille support turned on. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to use a braille display with Docs editors, and make sure to update to the latest versions of your browser and screen reader to use all features. 
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 
Resources 

Quick launch summary 
Today, we announced several new features that will help administrators, teachers, and students be more productive using our tools. See our Google for Education blog to learn more about these features and other upcoming launches in Google for Education

Announced improvements to Google Classroom include: 
  • New to-do widgets: We’re adding a to-do widget for students and a to-review widget for teachers to help keep track of work in Google Classroom. Learn more
  • Join classes via link: Teachers can now send out links to classes, which students can join with a single click. This can help educators share classes anywhere they communicate with students, including in messaging platforms. Learn more
  • Student information systems (SIS) grade export: You can now export grades from Gradebook to your SIS. This can make it easier to keep track of grades in one central location. Learn more
  • Support for new languages: We’re launching Classroom in 10 additional Indian languages. Soon, Classroom will support over 54 languages globally. 
In addition to these improvements, we’re also making other changes: 
  • Assignments now generally available: Assignments will move from beta to general availability. Learn more
  • Applied Digital Skills integration: You can now connect your Google Classroom account with Applied Digital Skills to import classes, student rosters, and assign Applied Digital Skills lessons more seamlessly. Learn more


Who’s impacted 
Admins, teachers, and end users 

Getting started 
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to all G Suite editions. 
Resources 

Quick launch summary 
We’re making Assignments generally available as a Core Service for G Suite for Education customers. It was previously available in beta. Assignments is an add-on for your school’s learning management system (LMS), which simplifies the process of creating and grading coursework with flexible, collaborative, and easy-to-use tools. 
  • You can use G Suite for Education tools to optimize your assignment workflows, including: 
  • Distributing personalized Google Drive templates and worksheets to students 
  • Enabling students to submit Google Drive files as assignments 
  • Analyzing student work for plagiarism and fostering authentic writing with originality reports 
  • Providing feedback and grades which sync to your LMS gradebook 
See the Google for Education blog for more information on how Assignments brings the G Suite experience to your LMS. 


Getting started 
  • Admins: Assignments works as a Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) tool integrated within your LMS. It must be installed or configured in your school's LMS before any instructor or user can start using it. Visit our Help Center to learn more about how to set up Assignments for your organization
  • Instructors and end users: No action needed until Assignments is enabled by an admin. Once enabled, use our Help Center to learn more about how Assignments works

Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Nonprofits, G Suite Essentials, and G Suite Enterprise Essentials customers 
Resources 

Quick launch summary
We’re making two changes to “knocking” (requesting to join a meeting) in Google Meet to reduce disruptions in education meetings.

First, if a meeting moderator rejects a knock twice from the same participant, the participant will be blocked from knocking again. This means the moderator won’t see any additional knocks from that user for the duration of the existing meeting.


Second, if the moderator ejects a participant, that participant will be unable to:
  • Rejoin the existing meeting (even if they are in-domain or on the calendar invite).
  • Knock to request rejoining the existing meeting.
Previously, when disruptive members were ejected from a meeting, they were able to continue disrupting the meeting by either re-joining or continuously knocking.


Note, if the moderator mistakenly ejects a participant, they can still add that participant to the meeting by manually inviting them. They can use the add person button in the people panel.


Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.

End users: This feature will be ON by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about removing Google Meet participants.
Rollout pace
Availability
  • Available to G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers
  • Not available to G Suite Essentials, G Suite Enterprise Essentials, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise and G Suite for Nonprofits customers
Resources

What’s changing
To increase the privacy of education meetings in Google Meet, anonymous users (users not signed into a Google account) can no longer join meetings organized by anyone with a G Suite for Education or G Suite Enterprise for Education license. This prevents participants from sharing a link publicly to encourage anonymous users to request access. Note, this does not prevent users from dialing in by phone.

Who’s impacted
Admins and end users

Why it’s important
Anonymous users can cause disruption to learning by making noise and sharing content, and become a distraction for the meeting organizer when they try to join meetings.

Getting started
Admins: There is no admin for this feature.

End users: This feature will be ON by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up Meet for distance learning.

Rollout pace
Availability
  • Available to G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers
Resources

Quick launch summary 
We’re enhancing Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on Android with Dark theme support. Dark theme will intelligently adjust the product interface and user-generated content in ways that can make it more usable in low-light environments and save battery life. 

Settings for Docs, Sheets, and Slides will adjust automatically when the Android system is set to use Dark theme. You can also turn dark mode on or off for Docs, Sheets, or Slides independently. If you do this, each app will always be in the selected theme regardless of the Android system settings. 


Docs, Sheets, and Slides in Dark Theme 

Getting started 
  • Admins: No action needed. 
  • End users: This feature will automatically respect the Android system settings. Dark theme can also be enabled in the Docs, Sheets, or Slides apps individually by going to Menu > Settings > Theme > Dark in each app. When using Dark theme, you can preview your current document or sheet in the Light theme using More > View in light theme. Visit our Help Center to learn more about Dark theme in Google Docs, Sheets & Slides

Choose your theme

View in light theme 

Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal accounts 
Resources