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What’s changing We’re adding the ability to import questions from your existing Google Forms and forms shared with you into a new form.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it You’ve told us that the ability to import relevant questions from other forms into a new form is important. For example, educators frequently reuse questions from existing forms or forms shared with them for collaboration by others, to create quizzes. Or you could use this feature to quickly create forms that are distributed on a monthly or quarterly basis, like surveying your employees about workplace amenities.

Previously, it was only possible to do this manually, a process that often took a great deal of time.
How to get started 
  • Admins: No action required. 
  • End users:
    • First, open a form and from the action toolbar on the right, select Import Questions.
    • Then, from the dialogue box, select the form with the questions you want to import.
    • From the right hand sidebar menu, you can: 
      • Import all questions by choosing Select All> Import Questions 
      • Or, you can select specific questions to import and then select Import Questions 


Helpful links 

Availability Rollout details



G Suite editions 

  • Available to all G Suite editions 


On/off by default? 

  • This feature will be available by default.



Stay up to date with G Suite launches

We’re offering two new beta programs for G Suite for Education customers to improve their quizzing and grading experience.

Locked mode in Quizzes in Google Forms 
This summer, we announced locked mode in Quizzes in Google Forms as a new way to keep students focused during assessments. Available only on managed Chromebooks running operating system 68 or higher, locked mode prevents students from navigating away from the Quiz in their Chrome browser until they submit their answers. Once enabled, teachers can enable locked mode with a simple checkbox, giving them full control over assessments.




Better grading in Classroom 
Earlier this year, we introduced new grading tools and a comment bank for richer, better feedback. Today, we’re continuing to strengthen the grading process in Classroom with a beta for a new Gradebook to better enable teachers to keep their assignments and grades in one place, and keep this important task more organized.



Express interest in the betas 
Beta programs for locked mode and Gradebook are now available to G Suite for Education customers. All teachers and G Suite for Education admins can express interest by completing this form. Check out the full post on the Google for Education blog and the Help Center for more details. 

Launch Details

Editions:
Available to G Suite for Education editions only

Action:
Admins and teachers can express interest by completing this form

More Information
Help Center
Google for Education blog post



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We’re making Google Forms look and work better when they’re embedded in websites created with Google Sites. These improvements will also mean Forms will work better embedded in websites not managed in Google Sites as well.

Our users embed forms in sites for all sorts of reasons, from collecting customer feedback to capturing new project ideas to gathering and sharing survey data and much more. User feedback told us how important it was that these embedded forms look and work great, especially when embedded in Google Sites.

So we’re making a range of improvements to make embedded forms more useful, including:


  • Improved looks, including a background that blends into the rest of the website 
  • Better suggested height and width when embedding a form on Google Sites 
  • More intelligent use of space in embedded forms 
  • More adaptive viewing on different devices (e.g. mobile vs. desktop) 
  • Easier to view & enter information into the embedded form 



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: Send your form to people 

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In September 2015, we launched a new interface for Google Forms designed to simplify the form creation experience, produce beautiful forms by default, and make analyzing form responses easier. In February 2016, we made that new version of Forms the default option for users. More than 90% of forms are now managed in the new interface, and we’re ready to completely replace the legacy interface.

As part of the replacement process, we will be upgrading forms that use the legacy interface to the new interface. These changes will update the look and feel of some forms, but the functionality of the forms and any data that has been collected from forms will not change.

Limited options to use legacy Forms interface from August 22nd

Starting from August 22nd, 2018:


  • New forms can only be created and managed in the new interface. All new forms will be created and managed in the new UI. There will be no option to move them to the legacy UI. 
  • Forms previously created in the new UI will only be available to manage in the new interface. All forms which were previously created in the new Forms interface will no longer have the option to revert back to the legacy UI. 
  • Forms created in the legacy interface will be upgraded. When an editor opens a form previously created in the legacy UI, the form will be automatically converted to the new Forms interface. Editors will see a notification and have the option to revert to manage the form in the legacy UI until November 2018. We’ll also automatically upgrade forms that haven’t been edited or received any responses in the last year. 


Interface upgrade complete by November 21st 

Starting from November 21st, 2018:


  • All forms in the legacy UI will gradually be auto-upgraded to new UI. Once they are upgraded, you will only be able to manage them through the new interface. 


Making sure new Forms meets your needs

Throughout this transition period, we’ve listened closely to your feedback and incorporated your top requests as new features in the new version of Forms. These features include:


The recently launched new theme options to customize your forms

Upgrade to the new Google Forms interface today

If you haven’t already, we encourage you and your users to start using the new Forms interface today:

  • To create a form in new Forms, go to forms.google.com and select “Start a new form.” 
  • To upgrade a form in legacy Forms, open the form and look for a banner that says “Try the new Google Forms.” 

The locations of some options have changed, but the Forms features you know and love still exist, and there are many new ones we think you’ll find useful.



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To help Google Forms users create more personalized surveys, feedback forms, quizzes, and more, we’re introducing new theme customization options. Specifically, you can now choose colors and fonts to theme your form. This has been a top feature request from our users, who have asked for more options to create forms that match their organization or team branding. We hope these options help you build forms that look and feel just right.


Pick a theme and background color 

You can choose a color for your theme. When you choose a theme color, it will apply to your header background, titles, action buttons, and more. You can pick a predefined color, or a custom one. After you pick a theme color, you can select a complementary color for the background.

Use an image for the form header 

By default, the form header matches the theme color you select. If you want, you can change this and use an image to display in the header instead.

Customize the font style

You can pick from several font styles to apply to your form. When you pick a style, it will apply to your form title and question text.

New theme options for Google Forms 

See our Help Center for more details on how to change the theme of your Google Form.


Launch Details 

Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions: 
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace: 
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact: 
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information 
Help Center: Change the theme or font of your form


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Based on usage data and your feedback, we’re making some changes to the menus in the web versions of the Google Docs editors. These are similar to the changes we made in December and in January and will make it easier to find certain items.

Changes that affect all Docs editors menus (including Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets):
  • In the Tools menu, “Spelling” will be renamed “Check Spelling.”
  • In the Edit menu, “Select none” will be removed. 
  • Items in the File, Edit, and Tools menus will be reordered. 


Changes that only affect Google Sheets menus:
  • In the Data menu, “Filter” will be renamed “Create a filter.”
  • In the Data menu, “Validation” will be renamed “Data validation.”
  • Items in the Data menu will be reordered. 
  • Items in the Format menu will be reordered. 


These changes will only affect the visual menu on the web version of these products. All options will still be available via keyboard shortcuts and the search box in the Help menu.


Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Keyboard shortcuts for Google Docs
Help Center: Keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets
Help Center: Docs editors homepage


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No matter where you or your customers or colleagues are located, we want to make sure Google Docs and Slides work for you at work. That’s why we’re expanding the font catalogue in Docs and Slides to support 62 languages, including non-Latin scripts like Cyrillic and Devanagari (with more coming soon!).

To find these new fonts and others, simply click More fonts at the bottom of the Fonts menu. There you’ll also find suggested fonts, based on your document’s language.


In addition, we’re making Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms templates available in four new languages: European Spanish, Latin American Spanish, French, and Brazilian Portuguese. Stay tuned for additional languages, including Hindi, coming soon.

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: Change how paragraphs & fonts look


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(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. 


Here’s a quick way to preview and accept all changes (or reject them) and name versions of your document.


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.


The new Mutual NDA template from LegalZoom and DocuSign lets you collect NDA approvals stat.


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.


Now you can use Google Cloud Search through the Explore feature in Docs and Slides.


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

More Information


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Google Forms makes it easy to collect information, plan events, solicit feedback, and more. Today, we’re adding new features and using machine learning to make Forms work better for your business. Read on for more details.

Intelligent response validation
When you know the specific type of answer you’re looking for, it’s often helpful to validate responses in Forms. For example, if you’re asking for a website, Forms can double-check that the answer provided is a URL. Following this launch, when we can, we’ll suggest response validation based on the question you ask. If you ask respondents for their age, for instance, we may recommend validating that the answer they provide is a whole number. (Note that this feature is rolling out gradually and may take several weeks to appear in your domain.)


Cross-domain file uploads
Oftentimes, when you use Forms, you’re not collecting data from your colleagues—you’re gathering information from third parties, customers, and more. To guarantee you get the information you need, we’ll now allow users outside of your domain to upload files as responses to your questions—provided both of your organizations allow cross-domain sharing in Google Drive. Based on usage patterns, total uploads to new forms will be capped at 1GB, with an option to increase that limit to 1TB. Uploads to existing forms will be capped at 1TB.

Preferences
If you use similar settings across all of your forms, you can now save time by assigning default settings to apply to any new forms you create. For instance, you can choose to always collect email addresses, make questions required every time, and assign default quiz point values.



“Checkbox grid” questions
Sometimes a question is more complex than multiple choice or checkbox answers alone can satisfy—you need to be able to select multiple options from multiple categories. Going forward, you can use the “Checkbox grid” question type to get the answers you need, like dates and times that work for an upcoming meeting.



Section reordering
We heard you loud and clear—you need an easy way to organize (and reorganize) your questions in Forms. In response to your feedback, we’re now making it possible to reorder whole sections quickly and easily.



Create better forms, more quickly, with these new and intelligent features in Forms.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

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: Edit your form
Help Center: Choose a question for your form

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In November 2016, we introduced custom templates in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms, allowing teams to spend less time formatting and more time brainstorming, collaborating, and sharing their ideas. We also gave G Suite Business, Education, and Enterprise customers the following optional controls in the Admin console:

  • Moderated - require that user-submitted templates be approved by admins with the Drive and Docs admin privilege
  • Restricted - restrict template submission to admins with the Drive and Docs admin privilege
With this launch, it’s no longer necessary to provision the full Drive and Docs privilege to admins who want the ability to moderate and manage templates. Instead, you can grant those admins a new Docs Templates privilege, which gives them the ability to approve templates and modify template settings in the Admin console, but not the authority to change other Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms settings. Admins who retain the full Drive and Docs privilege will continue to be able to manage templates.



This change will allow your organization to manage custom templates in a scalable way, without relinquishing control over sensitive admin settings. For more details on the Docs Templates privilege and for instructions on managing templates, 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, Education, and Enterprise editions only

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

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Administrator privilege definitions - Docs Templates
Help Center: Enable custom templates for Docs, Sheets, and Slides


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Since 2015, we’ve been making it easier to focus on your content—not your formatting—with templates in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. We’ve introduced templates for invoices, pitch decks, and cases studies, as well as templates designed by experts and developed specifically for your organization.

Today, we’re making it easier for users to create files from templates by granting access to templates directly from Drive. Instead of navigating to the Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms home pages, you can simply go to Drive > New > Google Docs/Sheets/Slides/Forms > From a template. From there, you’ll be directed to the applicable template gallery, where you can select the template of your choice.


For more details on templates, visit the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in three weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Create a file from a template


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We recently launched new tools in G Suite like Explore, Action items, and other features to help your teams save time and focus on what’s important: creating impactful work, quicker. We know time spent re-creating files in the workplace takes away from the time your team can spend collaborating and achieving results.

That’s why, today, we’re introducing custom templates in G Suite for the Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms files your teams use the most.

Simply submit files to shared template galleries in the Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms home screens for your co-workers to adapt and use as needed. With these customizable templates, your teams can focus less on formatting and more on driving impact and sharing success.


Note that if you disabled template submissions to the old Google Drive templates gallery in the Admin console, users in your organization will not be able to see and use the new galleries when they launch. You can enable the new galleries for your users in the Admin console (Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs > Templates). You can also configure the categories available for your organization’s templates from that same section in the Admin console.


In addition, G Suite for Business and Education customers can require templates be approved before they appear in the galleries, or prevent end users from submitting new templates altogether. These features are not enabled by default, so you’ll need to update your settings if you want to moderate or restrict template submissions to the galleries.


The old templates gallery will be shut down in early 2017, giving you and your users time to transition to the new galleries. We’ll let you know the exact date with a message in the old gallery, but it will not take place before February 1st, 2017.

An important note regarding this rollout: 
To give you a chance to update your settings and curate your organization’s template galleries, we’re rolling out these features (both in the Admin console and in the home screens) to all admins, regardless of their release track, starting today. We’ll launch to end users on the Rapid release track today as well, with the rollout to end users on the Scheduled release track starting on December 7th. 

Launch Details
Release track:
  • G Suite administrators
    • Launching to both Rapid and Scheduled release
  • G Suite end users
    • Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming on December 7th

Editions:

  • Template galleries
    • Available to all G Suite editions
  • Moderation and restriction capabilities
    • Available to G Suite for Business and Education customers only

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Enable templates for Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms
Help Center: Create a file from a template


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(Cross-posted from The Keyword

One of the core promises of Google Docs is to help you and your team go from collecting ideas to achieving your goals as quickly and easily as possible. That’s why last month we launched Explore in Docs, Sheets and Slides — with machine intelligence built right in — to help your team create amazing presentations, spreadsheets and documents in a fraction of the time it used to take.

Today, we’re introducing five new time-saving features designed to speed up and simplify the way you work, so you can focus on bringing your team’s ideas to life.

1. Spend less time figuring out who owns what with Action Items

According to research by the McKinsey Global Institute, employees spend about 20 percent of their work week — nearly an entire day — searching for details internally and tracking down colleagues for answers. This can be especially true when a document is full of ideas, requests and comments, making it difficult to get a clear sense of who’s responsible for what.

To help keep your projects moving, when you type phrases like “Ryan to follow up on the keynote script,” or “Andrea to schedule a weekly check in” on desktop, Docs will intelligently suggest an Action Item to assign to the right person, thanks to Natural Language Processing (NLP).


You can also manually assign an Action Item to someone in the Docs, Sheets and Slides desktop and mobile apps by mentioning their name in a comment and checking the new Action Item box. The assignee will get an email notification and see the Action Item(s) clearly highlighted with a blue bar when they open the file.


2. Spend less time searching for the files that need attention

Once Action Items have been assigned, it’s easy for team members to identify documents, spreadsheets and presentations that need their attention. The next time they visit Docs, Sheets, Slides (or Drive) from their laptops or mobile apps, they’ll see a badge on any files with Action Items assigned to them, plus any unresolved suggestions that others have made to their files.


3. Spend less time building questions with smarter Forms

Since its launch in 2008, more than a billion questions have been asked in Forms, allowing us to identify common patterns, like question types and the response options that usually go with them. With the help of neural networks, we can now predict the type of question you’re asking and suggest potential responses for you to choose from, giving you back about 25 percent of the time you used to spend creating a Form.

Let’s say you’re planning an all-day event at the office and need to know which day works best for your team. When you type “What days are you available next week?” Forms will intelligently determine that “Checkbox” is the ideal question type, and generate related response options that you can add one by one or all together.


Also debuting today is a top-requested feature from our business and education customers — the new “File upload” question type. Your respondents can now upload files from their computer or Drive — all of which are neatly collected for you in a new Drive folder. Note: This feature is only available for G Suite customers in Forms shared within their organization.


4. Spend less time typing with a set of new voice commands

Last year, we launched Voice typing in Docs on the web to help you capture ideas, big and small, without lifting a finger. Today, we’re adding more ways to format and customize content with commands for changing text color, deleting words, inserting links and comments, plus a number of other ways to format, hands-free.

5. Spend less time switching between apps to get things done

We want you to be as productive and collaborative as possible, regardless of the tools you choose to work with, so we’ve partnered with Slack to make it even easier to work with Google Docs files. With a click of the "+" button in Slack, you can bring files from Drive directly into a conversation with your team, or create new Docs, Sheets and Slides files right from Slack. You can check out more details on Slack’s blog.


With the introduction of Explore, and more and more updates to products that build in machine intelligence, taking back time spent on mundane, repetitive tasks will only get easier with G Suite. Now, you can focus your energy on creative and strategic work, not busy work.

Launch Details
Release track:
  • Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release
    • Assigned action items
    • Priority badges
    • Voice typing improvements
    • Slack integration
  • Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming on November 2nd, 2016
    • Suggested action items
    • Suggested response options in Forms
  • Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming on November 9th, 2016
    • File uploads in Forms
Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Add, edit, reply, or delete comments
Help Center: Edit your form
Help Center: Type with your voice
Slack Blog


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Google Forms makes it easy to create, distribute, and analyze surveys. Starting today, you can craft even more effective forms by inserting images into survey questions or adding images as multiple choice or checkbox options in Forms on the web.

For example, a graphic designer might ask a business owner to to pick one of three different logos, pictures of which would be offered as multiple choice answers.
Or a chef might include a photo of her famous burger between a question asking diners their opinion of it and the section provided for their answer.
For more information on creating and editing surveys in Forms, check out the Help Center.

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:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Edit your form

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

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Today, the new Google Forms will become the default option for Form creators. This follows our launch from last September, where a revamped Google Forms was released as opt-in-only until we could add additional features and functionality. Once launched, Form creators will be redirected to the new Google Forms whenever they create a new Google Form.

To opt-out, users may click the “running man” icon in the bottom left-hand corner.

Here’s a summary of the latest improvements:


  • View individual responses from the editor
    In addition to the summary of responses currently available in the Forms editor, creators will now be able to see individual survey responses as well. This will save valuable time when analyzing Forms. At the same time, if there’s so many responses that there may be performance issues, Google Forms will let users know how to visit the responses separately, instead of slowing down the editor.


    • Get notified for every form response
      Form creators will now be able to configure Google Forms to send them email notifications whenever someone responds. The default is set to off, but users can enable it from the form’s settings menu. 

    • Track responses to your Google Form
      Form creators will be able to see who they’ve sent their forms to and who still needs to respond. There will also be a new option to send out follow-up reminders as needed.


    Limitations

    • Responders will only see the new Google Forms for those forms created or edited in it.

    To opt out and go back to the old Google Forms, simply click the running man icon in the bottom left-hand corner of the Google Form and follow the prompts.


    Launch Details
    Release track:
    Form templates: Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release on Feb 10, 2016
    Most features: Launching to Rapid release on Feb 10, 2016, with Scheduled release coming in 2 weeks

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

    Impact:
    All end users

    Action:
    Change management suggested/FYI

    More Information
    Help Center
    Google for Work Blog Post


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

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    To help you and your employees be as efficient as possible, collaborate more effectively, and create beautiful, compelling content, we’re launching several new features in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. Read on for more information about each!

    Be more efficient
    New functionality in Docs saves you time by enabling you to work on the go, in the way that’s fastest and easiest for you.

    Research in Docs on Android
    Research in the Docs Android app makes working whenever, wherever, easier. Use the feature to search Google without leaving the app, then add those facts, images, and quotes you find directly to your document with only a few taps on the screen. Spend less time toggling between apps and copying and pasting and more time on the work that’s important to you!


    Voice typing in Docs
    Voice typing allows you to dictate your ideas directly to Docs, both in Chrome on the web and via the Android and iOS mobile apps. When using Docs on the web, simply select Voice typing in the Tools menu, click the microphone button to activate the feature, and start speaking —no keyboard necessary. When using your phone, just tap the microphone button on your keyboard to begin. Voice typing is available in more than 40 languages.

    Work better together
    Collaborate more effectively with your colleagues and partners using the following new features in Google Docs, Slides, and Forms.

    See new changes in Docs
    Easily check out the changes made to a Docs file since you last viewed it—and who made them—by clicking See new changes at the top of your document or from the File menu in Docs on the web. Quickly glance at the latest edits and pick up right where your teammates left off.

    Revamped Google Forms
    Ask and get answers in style with the brand new Forms look, feel, and functionality. In addition to an improved mobile-friendly interface, the revamped Forms features a selection of new themes and color palettes, the ability to customize your form with your own photo or logo, and buttons to quickly insert images, GIFs, and videos. Responses are easier to analyze as well, as they now appear in the same window as the form editor (you can also view them in Sheets).

    Try out the new Forms by visiting this site (don’t worry—you can revert back to the old UI at any time). Responders will only see the new UI for those forms created or edited in it. Remember—this is an early, opt-in-only release of the new Forms, and we’ll continue to add features and functionality in the future.

    Google Fonts preserved in Microsoft® Word and PowerPoint on PCs
    You no longer need to worry about sending documents and presentations created in Docs and Slides to customers and partners using Word and PowerPoint on PCs—even when those documents and presentations contain Google Fonts. Google Fonts will now be preserved when you download Docs and Slides files in Word and PowerPoint.

    Create compelling content
    Create your best and most beautiful work with a bit of help from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides—in particular, using the features described below.

    Explore in Sheets
    Spend less time trying to make sense of your data and more time acting on it with Explore in Sheets. This new feature on the web and in the Android app analyzes the data (including some types of text) in your spreadsheets and automatically creates charts and surfaces insights based on that information. Highlight different sets of data and watch as the charts change dynamically, then drag and drop those charts directly into your spreadsheet. You can do the same with instant calculations (for example, the sums and counts of certain ranges). Like a built-in analyst at your beck and call, Explore allows you to easily visualize trends and better understand your data.

    Partial cell formatting in Sheets
    When it comes to spreadsheets—and the cells that comprise them—we know that one size doesn’t always fit all. That’s why it’s now possible to select only a portion of the characters within a cell in Sheets and to apply text formatting to only those characters (as opposed to the entire cell). This functionality is available on the web and in the Sheets Android app.

    Templates in Docs, Sheets, and Slides
    Focus on your content, not your formatting, with the new templates in Docs, Sheets, and Slides on the web. Choose from a wide variety of documents, spreadsheets, and presentations pre-designed for a multitude of use cases, including newsletters, invoices, pitch decks, case studies, and more. Simply visit the Docs, Sheets, and Slides home screens to access these new templates and get started. While these templates are only available in English at the moment, we’ll be rolling them out in additional languages soon.

    If you and/or your employees previously created your own templates, you can still access them (and create new custom templates) at drive.google.com/templates. We understand that some businesses and brands have additional needs when working with templates, and we’re looking to address these in future updates.

    Themes in Slides
    In addition to using the new templates described above, you can also use a set of 22 new themes in Slides to quickly create compelling presentations. Some of these new themes are simply updated versions of old themes (e.g. Simple Light, Simple Dark, and Swiss), while others are completely new (e.g. Beach Day, Modern Writer, and Spearmint). These themes can be accessed from a new Themes side panel in Slides, so you can easily experiment with and toggle between them when crafting presentations. Though the old themes are no longer accessible from this panel, they will continue to work in any presentations already using them.

    Check out the Help Center articles below for more information on each of these new and improved features!

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

    • Research in Docs on Android
    • Voice typing in Docs on Android and iOS
    • Google Fonts preserved in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint on PCs
    • Explore in Sheets on Android
    • Partial cell formatting in Sheets on Android
    Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming the week of September 21st:
    • Voice typing in Docs on the web
    • See new changes in Docs
    • Revamped Google Forms (opt-in only)
    • Explore in Sheets on the web
    • Partial cell formatting in Sheets on the web
    • Templates in Docs, Sheets, and Slides
    • Themes in Slides

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

    Impact:
    All end users