Last year we launched Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Gmail, providing Google Apps Unlimited customers with another layer of protection to prevent sensitive information from being revealed to those who shouldn’t have it. Gmail DLP automatically checks all outgoing emails according to policies set by the Apps admin and prompts the appropriate action.

Today we’re excited to announce several new features for Gmail DLP:
Optical character recognition (OCR) for better attachment scanning 
Sensitive information can reside not just in text documents, but in scanned copies and images as well. With the new OCR enhancement, DLP policies can now analyze common image types, and extract text for policy evaluation. Admins have the option to enable OCR in the Admin console at the organizational-unit (OU) level for both the Content compliance and Objectionable content rules. 

Additional predefined content detectors
Our Work customers span the globe, and we are committed to providing customers in all countries with plug-and-play DLP policies. Towards this goal, we are pleased to announce the introduction of new detectors which cover personally identifiable information (PII) in several additional countries, and provide better coverage for HIPAA data as well.

More control over content detection thresholds
Our largest Work customers desire fine-grained control over DLP policies to minimize false positives, and take action commensurate with the level of perceived risk. We are introducing two new detection parameters to address this:

• Count parameter - The count parameter allows customers to set up different DLP policies based on whether a message contains individual or bulk PII. For example, an email containing a single credit card number might be considered a low risk event, while one that contains 100 credit cards is clearly a high risk scenario. 
• Confidence parameter - The confidence parameter lets the customer tighten or loosen detection criteria for the most commonly used detectors as per their needs. 

Check out the Help Center links below for more information on Gmail DLP and these new features. Stay tuned as we bring DLP to Google Drive later this year.

Note: Gmail DLP is available for Google Apps for Work Unlimited customers only. 

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

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

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information 
Help Center: DLP for Gmail overview
Help Center: Optical character recognition
Help Center: New predefined detectors
Help Center: New detection parameters


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New versions of the Google Sheets and Slides apps for Android are now available on Google Play, making it even easier to work from your mobile phones and tablets. Read on for details.

We recognize that images can be the difference between a spreadsheet that’s difficult to interpret and one that effectively tells a story. To help you better convey your spreadsheet’s message on mobile, images will now render in the Google Sheets Android app. (Note that images in frozen rows and columns may not show properly.)


Similarly, themes allow you to quickly and easily craft engaging and effective presentations, so you need to be able to swap them in and out whether you’re working on your phone or your laptop. Starting today, as long as you’re online, you can change the theme of your presentation in the Google Slides Android app. There are 18 themes to choose from.



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

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: Customize a slide with layouts and themes

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

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Looking back at 2015, we can see that Google Apps Mobility Management has come a long way from an Android-only device management solution to a complete suite with native iOS support and app distribution across both the Android and iOS platforms. This has motivated many Apps admins to adopt our integrated solution, and we’re excited to help their employees be productive while keeping work data secure on their mobile devices.

As Mobile Management becomes increasingly important to admins, we want to make it even simpler to set up. With that in mind, today we’re making it easy for an admin to detect how many of their employees run the risk of accessing corporate data on unmanaged mobile devices and to establish a basic mobile security policy in the Admin console.

By simply clicking MANAGE NOW* on the Admin console landing page, admins can set up Mobile Management with a predefined set of security policies. Doing this will then allow those admins to take various actions, such as performing an account wipe of corporate data on mobile devices, viewing the inventory of all managed devices in a domain, and enforcing a basic password policy. To simplify the overall Mobile Management setup experience, we’ve also made it possible to set up Apple Push Certificates via the same wizard.




In addition, if an admin wants to use Google Mobile Management to set up Android for Work, we’ve made the process significantly simpler and quicker. Prior to this launch, admins needed to complete 15 different steps across four different sections of the Admin console to set up Android for Work. Starting today, they only need to complete one step to manage those devices in their domains. To get started, check out this Help Center article.


*Note that the option to MANAGE NOW will only show on the Admin console landing page if more than 80% of domain users are unmanaged.

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

Rollout pace: 
Gradual rollout (please note that these changes may take several weeks to propagate)

Impact: 
Admins only

Action: 
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information 
Help Center: Android for Work setup overview

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

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In Google Docs, you don’t need to type to put words on a page—you can simply talk. But as any good employee knows, crafting an effective document takes a whole lot more than simply adding text. The process may involve bolding and italicizing, copying and pasting, inserting bullet points and tables, undoing and redoing formatting, and more.

Until now, it was tough to take these types of actions using only your voice. With this launch, we’re changing that. Starting today, you can simply pause, issue a command, pause again, and resume dictating. To see a list of all commands, check out this Help Center article or say “voice commands help” when you’re voice typing. Please note that Voice commands work in English only.


As an added bonus, we’re also making it possible to dictate in Docs on the web in dozens of additional dialects and accents. Please note that these features are only available when you’re working in a Chrome browser on your computer.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release (voice commands)
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming on March 7th, 2016 (additional languages)

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Type with your voice
Video: Type, edit and format with your voice in Docs—no keyboard needed

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

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An update to the Gmail for Android app is coming to Google Play. New features will include:

• Rich Text Formatting: Want to highlight important thoughts on the go? Now you can bold, italicize, underline, add text color, change text background, and remove formatting. To format text, simply long press to select it and tap the 'format' option, next to ‘copy’ and ‘paste’.

• Instant RSVPs: Accepting invitations on the go can be hard if you don't have access to your schedule. If you use Google Calendar or Microsoft Exchange, calendar invitations now include a one-tap option to show your schedule and respond.

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

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (3 or more days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users on Android

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center
Gmail Blog
Google Play

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As noted in our previous update, we are following the Chrome OS release cycle to provide regular updates to Google Apps customers who use Chromebox for meetings devices on new feature releases and improvements. With the recent release of Chrome OS 48 stable, the Chrome for Work team is excited to announce the following updates:

Instant reboot from the Admin console
We recently launched the ability for domain administrators to instantly restart Chromebox for meetings devices on their domain remotely. This policy is enabled at the device level and can be useful when supporting remote office locations when a device is experiencing issues.

Persistent system logs after a crash or reboot
Starting today, we have enabled logs to remain on a Chromebox for meetings device after a crash so that a problem can be more easily diagnosed. Until now it was difficult to troubleshoot issues that resulted in a system crash or reboot because Chromebox for meetings would not save the necessary logs needed to diagnose the root cause of the issue.

Improvements to Chrome
Chromebox for Meetings builds on Chrome, which frequently auto updates with new features and improvements. For Chrome 48, Chromebox for meetings devices and remote users will benefit from improved screen sharing performance on low bandwidth connections.

Launch Details 
Release track:
All features launched to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Impact:
Admins only for instant reboot and system logs features; all end users for screen sharing performance improvements

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center


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A new version of the Google Drive for Android app is coming to Google Play. New features include:

• A new menu icon next to a file or folder will pop-up a set of contextual actions you can take on the file or folder.

• You’ll now have the ability to view trash and delete or restore files from within your Android app

• When viewing the Shared With Me view, you’ll now see the avatars of the person who has shared with you.

Launch Details

Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

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: Getting started with the Drive app for Android
Help Center: Trash
Help Center: Shared with me
Get the latest Google Drive Android app on Google Play


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Google Drive users love to collaborate with each other, but if you've ever tried changing the sharing settings for a folder, you know that it’s not always easy to find out who the folder has been shared with or how to update the permissions.

In the coming weeks, we will be adding a new “people icon” to shared folders, which simplifies seeing who you’ve shared a folder with and gives you quick access to the sharing settings. With this change, we hope to reduce the amount of clutter for users and make sharing more transparent for folder owners.

Hover over the people icon for a snapshot of sharing details.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in 2 weeks

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


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

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Google Apps Password Sync (GAPS) version 1.5 is now available for download:

What’s New

• GAPS now uses the Crypt hash function (salted SHA512 hashes instead of SHA1) when updating the password with the Directory API.
• Uses new OAuth 2.0 endpoints to authorize and refresh tokens (avoids conflict when overriding DNS to enforce SafeSearch).
• Improved feedback in the configuration UI to help diagnose issues with authorization. Improved trace logging and Windows Event Log system messages.
• Removed redundant log events for computer accounts.
• Improved diagnostic logging for authorization issues can now be found in the service authorization logs.

Note: There is also a new version of the GAPS support tool available to help you troubleshoot your GAPS installation.

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

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

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action required (download the latest version)

More Information
Help Center

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

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Late last year, we announced a change to our security policy, whereby OAuth 2.0 tokens issued for access to certain products would be revoked when a user's password was changed. We decided in December to delay the full rollout of this policy change until early 2016.

After further consideration and based on continuing customer feedback, we have decided not to move forward with this change for Apps customers at this time. Instead, we are working on a different approach which will roll out later this year. Stay tuned for additional communication in advance of any future changes.*

*Note: A revised launch was announced on Sept 21, 2016.

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

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