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What’s changing 
Today we announced the beta for Google Workspace Client-side encryption, which is available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus and Google Workspace Education Plus customers. The beta will be available for Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, with support for all file types in Drive including Office files, PDFs, and more. We’re committed to a roadmap that enables Client-side encryption across Google Workspace, including Gmail, Meet, and Calendar. Support for Google Meet is coming in the fall. Follow the Google Workspace Updates blog to learn when that’s available. 

The beta will start rolling out in the next few weeks, but eligible customers can now apply for the beta here. 


Who’s impacted 
Admins 


Why it’s important 
Google Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt all data at rest and in transit between our facilities. But with Client-side encryption, we’re taking this a step further by giving customers direct control of encryption keys and the identity provider used to access those keys. This can help you strengthen the confidentiality of your data while helping to address a broad range of data sovereignty and compliance needs. 

When using Client-side encryption, customer data is indecipherable to Google. Customers can create a fundamentally stronger privacy posture, whether that’s to comply with regulations like ITAR and CJIS or simply to better protect the privacy of their confidential data 



Additional details 
To enable Client-side encryption, you’ll choose a key access service partner: Flowcrypt, Futurex, Thales, or Virtru. Each of these partners have built tools in accordance with Google’s specifications and provide both key management and access control capabilities. Your partner of choice holds the key to decode encrypted Google Workspace files, and Google cannot access or decipher these files without this key. If you prefer to build or integrate your own in-house key services, we will be publishing the key access service API specifications that can be used with Client-side encryption later this year. 



Getting started 
Rollout pace 
  • The beta will start rolling out in the next few weeks, but eligible customers can now apply for the beta here. You’ll get more details via email a few weeks after registering your interest in the beta via the form. 
Availability 
  • Available to Enterprise Plus and Education Plus customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.
Resources 
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What’s changing 
We’re expanding betas for two related features which can help categorize content and enhance content protection at scale. Specifically, we’re adding: 
  • Drive labels. This renaming and update to the previously-announced Drive metadata feature enables admins to configure custom labels (formerly “metadata”) for a domain, and then enable users to apply these labels to files in Drive. 
  • Automated classification and Drive data loss prevention (DLP) integration. Automated classification can help organizations automatically add Drive labels to content based on administrator-defined rules and predefined content detectors. 
    • As part of this launch, we’re adding 60 new content detectors, including resumes, SEC filings, patents, and source code. 
    • Using automated classification makes it easier to scale your use of labels while reducing the risk of manual classification errors. 
    • Both manual and automated labels can be used with DLP to prevent external sharing, downloading, and printing of some files. 

These features are currently available in beta. Interested customers can now apply for the beta here. 

Drive labels will be available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Nonprofits customers. Automated classification and DLP will be available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers. 



Who’s impacted 
Admins and end users 


Why you’d use it 
Special handling of sensitive data is an integral part of a strong information governance policy, and that begins with labeling files which may contain sensitive intellectual property, personally identifiable information, data subject to special compliance regulations, and more. Additionally, they can help admins prevent external sharing, downloading, and printing of classified files via an integration with data loss prevention (DLP). Moreover, admins can create labels to indicate department names, document types, document status, and anything else you can think of, to facilitate content discovery in advanced search. 

When used in conjunction with automated classification, labels in Drive can be added automatically based on administrator-defined DLP rules and predefined content detectors. This automated classification can help scale data classification and protection efforts by reducing the administrative burden and potential errors associated with manual labels. 


Admins can define custom labels for their organization 

Users can add labels to Drive files (if permitted by admin), or take advantage of automatic classification 

Admins can set data loss prevention (DLP) rules for files with a certain label 

Getting started 
Rollout pace 
  • The betas will start accepting new organizations on a rolling monthly cadence. Eligible customers can now apply to join the beta here. You’ll get more details via email when the beta is available to use. 
Availability 
Drive labels 
  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Nonprofits customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Education Fundamentals, and Frontline, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers. 

Automated classification & DLP integration 
  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus and Education Plus customers. 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 
Resources 
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What’s changing 
Because sharing ideas and information is at the heart of trusted collaboration, it’s critical that you have the ability to powerfully and precisely manage your files. That’s why we’re introducing a beta for trust rules for Google Drive. Trust rules is a new security feature which allows admins to set fine-grained rules defining whom their users can collaborate with in Drive, both within and outside of their organization. 

Trust rules will replace the existing “Sharing options” in the Google Drive admin controls. Admins will be able to choose to allow, deny, or display warnings to end-users within specific organizational units (OUs) or groups when they attempt to: 
  • Share Drive files with external users or external domains 
  • Receive Drive files from external users or external domains 
  • Share Drive files with other OUs or groups within the organization 
  • Receive Drive files from other OUs or groups within the organization 

Read our announcement blog post to learn more about this beta and our plans for Client-side encryption across Google Workspace. The beta for trust rules for Drive will be rolling out in the coming months and will be available for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus and Education Plus customers. Eligible customers can now apply for the beta here.

Who’s impacted 
Admins and end users 

Why you’d use it 
Trust rules will help Admins to create more sophisticated and secure access policies which help ensure their data is shared with, and accessed by, desired parties. Some examples of how you could use Drive trust rules to better control collaboration include: 
  • Block your internal audit team from sharing files outside of their team. 
  • Warn your finance team when they share files with the sales team to help ensure that sharing is deliberate and thoughtful.
  • Allow your legal team to share with a specific group of external counsels, but not allow them to share with users outside of that group.
  • Prevent any users in your organization from receiving files from a specific external domain. 

Getting started
  • Admins: Learn more and apply for the beta here. The beta will start rolling out in the next few months, but once enabled, trust rules can be scoped at the domain, OU, or groups level with coverage of both My Drive and shared drives. If you are accepted into the beta program, you will get more documentation on the feature. 
  • End users: No end-user impact until their admin joins the beta and configures trust rule settings. 
Rollout pace 
  • The beta will start rolling out in the next few months, but eligible customers can now apply for the beta here. You’ll get more details via email when the beta is available to use. 
Availability 
  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus and Education Plus customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers. 
Resources 
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What’s changing
In 2020, we launched Google Workspace as an integrated solution that provides everything you need to get anything done, all in one place. Earlier this year, we introduced a series of innovations, including smart canvas, all aimed to help you better manage your time and build deeper connections with each other as the future of work continues to evolve. 

Today, we’re announcing new forthcoming innovations in Google Chat to help teams do their best work in the hybrid work world, as many of us begin a return to office. In addition, we will also introduce a more streamlined and flexible user interface that helps people and groups more easily stay organized and balance focus and multitasking. 

Later this year, we’ll evolve the Rooms experience in Google Chat to Spaces, a dedicated place to organize people, topics, and projects in Google Workspace. In Spaces, you’ll notice new features like: 
  • In-line topic threading 
  • Presence indicators 
  • Assigned tasks 
  • Expressive reactions, custom statuses using emojis, and GIFs 
  • Improved content search across Spaces 
  • Message pinning 
  • User roles and moderation tools 
  • Discoverable spaces 
Spaces will also seamlessly integrate with Calendar, Drive, Tasks and across Workspace becoming a new home for getting more done, together. In Spaces, you’ll be able to: 
  • Create and share docs 
  • Side-by-side discuss and edit 
  • See status from calendar 
  • Run interactive polls 
  • Integrate workflows directly with Bots 
For moments when you need to collaborate further, you can easily convert your group conversations into Rooms. In the future, you’ll be able to convert group conversations into Spaces when it becomes available.



The new experience will begin rolling out to all users of Chat in Gmail over the next several months for all organizations that have Chat enabled, with new features being delivered on a rolling basis. We will continue to provide updates on the Workspace Updates Blog as these features become available. 

Who’s impacted 
Admins and end users 

Why it matters 
Google Chat has been an essential part of work during the last year, serving as a bridge for separated colleagues to collaborate in real time. We hope these innovations will give distributed teams more shared spaces, making collaboration easier. 

Additional details 
In the coming months, we will introduce a new streamlined and flexible user interface that helps people and groups more easily stay organized and balance focus and multitasking. The new experience will feature a new left-hand navigation which surfaces critical applications like Gmail, Chat and Meet in one location. 

This will make staying on-top of and navigating to important conversations and critical notifications easier, eliminating the need to switch between various applications. 


Google Workspace customers who are interested in early access to these features, please express interest here. If accepted into the program, we will contact you in the coming weeks to confirm and share next steps.

Getting started 

Rollout pace 
Custom statuses and group chat to Rooms conversion 

We’ll provide an update on the Workspace Updates Blog as the additional features become available. 

Availability 
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 
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New updates 
Google Voice is now available in Belgium 
Google Workspace customers based in Belgium can now sign up for Google Voice, and customers who have purchased Google Voice Premier can get phone numbers for their users in Belgium. With this launch, Voice is now available in these countries. | Learn more. 



Easily view the number of Google Meet hardware devices in your organization in the Admin console 
In the Admin console under Devices > Google Meet Hardware, admins will now see a simple count on the device list page of the number of devices that meet the criteria of the currently selected filters. | Learn more. 



Previous announcements 
The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details. 



Replace your background with a video in Google Meet 
In addition to replacing your Google Meet background with a static image, you can now replace your background with a video. | Learn more. 



Option to replace your background in Google Meet is now available on Android 
You can now blur or replace your background with an image in Google Meet on Android. This feature is already available on the web. | Learn more.



Find admin approved applications in the “Approved for you” section in the Google Workspace Marketplace 



For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).
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What’s changing 
The new “Approved for You” section in the Google Workspace Marketplace allows users to quickly see and install applications that have been approved and allowlisted by their admins. 




Who’s impacted 
Admins and end users 


Why it’s important 
Admins can specify which third-party apps their users can install from the Google Workspace Marketplace. With the addition of the “Approved for you” section in the Marketplace, users can quickly find and install pre-approved apps for Gmail, Drive, Editors, Calendar, and more. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

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

Resources 
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What’s changing 
You can now blur or replace your background with an image in Google Meet on Android. You can choose from Google’s hand-picked images, which include office spaces, landscapes, and abstract backgrounds. This feature is already available on the web. 



Who’s impacted 
End users 

Why you’d use it 
Having the ability to blur or replace your meeting backgrounds can help you show more of your personality, or help hide your surroundings if that’s your preference. 

Additional details 
Support for replacing your background with a custom image on Android and support for iOS will be coming soon; we’ll announce on the Google Workspace Updates blog when they become available. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

Roadmap 
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What’s changing
In addition to replacing your Google Meet background with a static image, you can now replace your background with a video. At the moment, you can select from three Google made videos: a classroom, a party, and a forest — more options will be available soon.


A person video calling using Google Meet with an animated background featuring cartoon characters dancing under a disco ball.
Use a video background to make calls more fun.


Who’s impacted
End users


Why you’d use it
Custom backgrounds can help you show more of your personality, as well help hide your surroundings to maintain privacy. With the option of replacing your background with video, we hope this makes your video calls more fun.


Additional details
Initially available on the web only, coming to mobile soon
Background Video will initially only be available when using Google Meet on the web. We’ll make it available on mobile in the coming months — we’ll post an update on the Workspace Updates Blog when it becomes available.

Requires Chrome M87+
Starting on June 30, 2021, the replace background feature for both video and image backgrounds will require Chrome version M87+ (released November 2020). Update your Chrome to make sure you can continue to use the feature.


Getting started
Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to control whether users can change their backgrounds in Meet. Note: the “Let users select custom images” option is disabled by default for Google Workspace for Education customers.

End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about changing your background in a video meeting.


Rollout pace
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout to eligible devices (up to 7 days for feature visibility) starting on June 7, 2021
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout to eligible devices (up to 7 days for feature visibility) starting on Jun 18, 2021


Availability
Available to all Workspace users. Also available if you're using Google Meet with a personal Google account.


Resources
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What’s changing 
You can now customize the color of folders in shared drives, and shortcuts to folders. Previously, it was only possible to customize the color of folders in My Drive. 


Shared drives empower teams and organizations to store, access, and collaborate on files. Shortcuts are pointers to files that are stored in another folder or in another drive, which make it easy to surface content without creating copies of files. 


Who’s impacted 
Admins, end users, and developers 


Why you’d use it 
Assigning colors to specific folders can help you visually organize your Google Drive. For example, you can assign colors to your most important folders, making it easier to quickly navigate to them in Drive. 

Note: Custom folder colors in My Drive, shared drives, and shortcuts are only visible to you. 


Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • Developers: You can use the Drive API to set folder colors. 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about customizing folder colors. 


Rollout pace 
Google Drive on web 

Google Drive on mobile 
  • Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 3, 2021. 
  • Note: Requires app version 2.21.20 and up for Android and 4.2021.20204 and up for iOS 

Availability 
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers, and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 
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Update
[August 4, 2021]: The rollout for this feature is now complete.

[July 20, 2021]: The rollout for this feature is currently paused while we evaluate performance. We apologize for the delay — we’ll provide an update here when rollout resumes.
What’s changing
Now in Google Sheets, you can:
  • Review comments and conversation threads in a sidebar.
  • Apply filters to find the most relevant comments for getting your work done when a document is highly collaborative.
  • Page through comment threads in a document in the comment overlay.


Use the new comments sidebar to see all the conversations happening in a spreadsheet. Quickly reply, resolve, or create new conversations in collaboration with your colleagues.



In highly collaborative spreadsheets, apply filters in the sidebar to find the most relevant feedback (for example, comment threads that need your response).


Take action directly in the sidebar when tasks are complete, or conversations have been resolved.


Use the new navigator to progress through comments in the spreadsheet.



Who’s impacted
End users


Why you’d use it
Collaborating with teammates is more important than ever, and comments are a powerful way to discuss and collaborate wherever you and your colleagues are, and whenever you’re working. By making it easier to review, respond to, and resolve comments in Sheets, it’s easier to collaborate to create more impactful data and analysis.


Additional details
With these new changes, you now have easy ways to see and navigate all comments in a spreadsheet by clicking:
  • The comment icon in the Appbar.
  • The "open all comments" item in the sheet tab.
  • The "open" from any comment anchored to a cell.
  • A new button in the comment overlay that allows you to page between comment threads in a document.

Getting started
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: This feature will be ON for everyone.

Rollout pace
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 16, 2021

Availability
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.

Resources
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