With this launch, an employee can quickly and easily see a list of the Google and third-party apps they have access to, like Gmail, Drive, SurveyMonkey, and more, at apps.google.com/user/hub. This page features links to all the apps currently turned on for that user, as well as a section dedicated to those apps that have been whitelisted by their admin but not yet installed. This should encourage employees to use their enabled apps more often and to finally check out those apps they haven’t yet tried (especially the mobile versions, which will be easier to access). New users will also be directed to apps.google.com/user/hub during the onboarding process.



Note that an individual must be signed in to their Apps for Work account to access apps.google.com/user/hub. Check out the Help Center for more information.

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: 
Admins and end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Customize your User Hub interface

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We know that copying data and pasting it into a spreadsheet can be a pain if the data does not separate neatly into columns. With that in mind, today we're launching a feature in Google Sheets that allows you to split delimited data (e.g. data separated by commas) from one column across multiple columns.

There are a few ways you can split delimited data across columns. For example, you can select the columns you want to split, and click Data > Split text to columns. A menu will then appear underneath the data, allowing you to split the data using commas, semicolons, periods, spaces, and even custom separators.

In addition to the “Split text to columns” option, you can also format cells containing delimited data using a contextual menu that appears immediately after you’ve pasted data, as shown in the animation below. You can choose a custom separator through this method also. See the Help Center to learn more.


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

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

Impact:
All end users

Action: Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center


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Check out the latest "What's New in Google Apps" newsletter [pdf] for a roundup of all Apps launches from February 2016.

Newsletter Archive & Translated Versions (coming soon for February issue)


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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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


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

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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

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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


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

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