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Update
[April 1, 2022]: We have updated this post with additional information about these features, including admin controls and feature availability. 


What’s changing 

We’ve added several new assistive writing features in Google Docs, which will provide a variety of tone and style suggestions to help you create impactful documents faster. Specifically, you’ll see suggestions for: 

  • Word choice: More dynamic or contextually relevant wording 
  • Active voice: Active rather than passive voice 
  • Conciseness: More concise phrases 
  • Inclusive language: More inclusive words or phrases 
  • Word warnings: Reconsidering potentially inappropriate words 

Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why you’d use it 

These new features offer a variety of stylistic and writing suggestions as you compose documents. Suggestions will appear as you type and help guide you when there are opportunities to avoid repeated or unnecessary words, helping diversify your writing and ensuring you’re using the most effective word for the situation. 

You’ll see suggestions when there are opportunities to structure a sentence with an active voice or when a sentence can be more concise, helping to make your writing more impactful. Potentially discriminatory or inappropriate language will be flagged, along with suggestions on how to make your writing more inclusive and appropriate for your audience. 

We hope this will help elevate your writing style and make more dynamic, clear, inclusive, and concise documents. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: 
    • These features will be ON by default and can be turned off in the admin console for eligible select Google Workspace education editions — see Availability details below. 
    • In the coming weeks, we will introduce these admin controls for the remaining eligible Google Workspace editions —see Availability details below. For those editions, these features will be ON by default and can be turned off at the domain, OU, and group level. 
  • End users: 
    • This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled by the user. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing writing suggestions in Google Docs. 
    • When typing in Docs, tone and style suggestions are indicated with a purple underline. Selecting the underline will show a brief description for the suggestion — you can accept or reject the suggestion from here. 

Rollout pace

Update: [May 20, 2022]: We have paused rollout for these features while we evaluate and optimize performance. For users enrolled in the alpha for these features, your experience will not change.

Availability 

  • Word choice, Active voice, Conciseness, Inclusive language: 
    • Available to Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus 
    • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Standard, Frontline, Nonprofits, G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Word Warnings: 
    • Available to Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, Teaching and Learning Upgrade 
    • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Frontline, Nonprofits, G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

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 What’s changing 
Last year we announced the beta for Google Workspace Client-side encryption. Now, this feature is generally available for Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides, with support for multiple file types including Office files, PDFs, and more. 
This is a step in our commitment to enable Client-side encryption across Google Workspace, including Gmail, Meet, and Calendar. Follow the Google Workspace Updates blog to be informed on our next milestones on Client-side encryption. 
Who’s impacted 
Admins 
Why it’s important 

Google Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt all data by default, at rest and in transit between our facilities. Client-side encryption goes beyond this, giving you authoritative control and privacy as the sole owner of private encryption keys and the identity provider used to access those keys. 
This can help you strengthen the confidentiality of your sensitive or regulated data while addressing a broad range of data sovereignty and compliance needs. 
When using Client-side encryption, your data is indecipherable to Google. You can create a fundamentally stronger privacy posture, whether that’s to help your organization comply with regulations like ITAR and CJIS or simply to better protect the privacy of your confidential data. 
Read our announcement blog post to learn our plans for Client-side encryption across Google Workspace.

Additional details 
To enable Client-side encryption, you’ll choose a key access service partner: Flowcrypt, Fortanix, Futurex, Stormshield, 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 either holds the key to decode encrypted Google Workspace files or simply provides you with software that allows you to hold the keys on-premise. Either way, Google cannot decipher these files without this key, which Google never has access to. You can also decide to build your own key service implementation using our API specifications. 


Client side encryption



Getting started 
Rollout pace 
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 legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers.  
Resources 
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What’s changing 

In Google Docs, you can now select “Automatically detect Markdown” from Tools > Preferences to enable auto correcting for Markdown syntax, a lightweight markup language for applying formatting using plain text. Currently, Google Docs supports some Markdown syntax, such as: 

  •  * or - followed by a space autocorrects to bullet points 
  • Various ways to start a numbered list similar to Markdown 
  • [] followed by a space autocorrects to checkboxes 

The expanded support will now support autocorrection for: 

  1. Headings
  2. Italic and bold
  3. Bold + italic
  4. Strikethrough
  5. Links



Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why you’d use it 

With this added support, you can create rich text documents faster without having to learn keyboard shortcuts. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 

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Quick summary 

We've improved how comments and highlighted text are announced with braille support enabled in Google Docs. This change makes it easier for users of assistive technology, including screen readers and refreshable braille displays, to interact with comments in documents and identify text with background colors. 

When reading the document, you’ll now hear start and end indications for comments and highlights alongside the rest of the text. These announcements will respect the comment and marked text settings that screen readers provide. We hope this additional information serves as useful context and makes it easier to collaborate when working in Google Docs. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled by the user going to Tools > Accessibility settings > Turn on braille support. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to Use a braille display with Docs editors. 

Additional details 

Users should update to the latest versions of their assistive technologies and browsers to fully benefit from these improvements. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 

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What’s changing

Through new settings in the Admin console, admins can now control access to the following Google Meet features:

  • Chat
  • Present
  • Q&A
  • Polls

These new settings are available for Google Workspace editions that include admin capabilities. See below for more information.


Who’s impacted
Admins and end users


Why it’s important
Previously, only the meeting hosts and co-hosts could control access to these features on a per meeting basis. Now admins will be able to specify which interactive Meet features users in their domain can access. 


These features give administrators more control over how Google Meet is used in their organization. For example, in a school, these settings allow you to control whether or not students can present or send chat messages during video meetings. In business settings, specifically at large company meetings, giving the event host control over whether or not to conduct polls or Q&As during video meetings is a useful feature.


Additional details
Once an admin turns access to a particular feature off, the setting will be applied to all new and existing meetings for users in the selected organizational unit.


Features that are turned off won’t be accessible to end users — see the Help Center for more information.


Getting started
  • Admins: These features are enabled by default. Access to these features can be controlled at the OU level  in the Admin console under Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Meet safety settings.  Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Meet admin settings.

  • End users: Your admin will determine access to present, chat, Q&A, and polling features in Google Meet.

Rollout pace

Availability
  • Available to all Google Workspace editions with Admin console access.
  • You’ll see admin toggles for the Google Meet features available to your specific Google Workspace edition.

Resources

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What’s changing 
In addition to appointment slots in Google Calendar, we’re introducing appointment scheduling for selected Google Workspace editions. Introduced first for Google Workspace Individual users in June 2021, the appointment scheduling feature allows users to share their availability via a booking page, which can be used by external stakeholders, clients, and partners to schedule time.




See below for more information and availability. 


Who’s impacted 
End users 


Why you’d use it 
The existing appointment slot feature in Google Calendar is helpful for internal use cases, specifically if you don't know who needs to meet with you, but you want to make yourself available. For example, professors can invite their students to office hours each week or HR professionals can share availability for benefits Q&A sessions. 


The new appointment scheduling feature is suited for external use cases, allowing external users, including those without a Google account, to schedule meetings. Additionally, with automatic conflict detection with existing Calendar events, this feature helps reduce time spent finding and rescheduling appointments. 


We hope these scheduling options give users the flexibility to share their availability the way that works best for their particular needs.


Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • If you have used appointment slots before, you can enable appointment scheduling in your Calendar settings. 
    • For all other users, appointment scheduling will be ON by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using appointment slots and appointment scheduling. 
Setting up appointment scheduling in Google Calendar.


Rollout pace 

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

Resources 
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Quick summary 
All meeting attendees can now use noise cancellation capabilities in Google Meet if: 

Additionally, if a user has noise cancellation, it will function in all meetings regardless of whether the meeting organizer has noise cancellation or not. 


We hope that by making noise cancellation available to all meeting attendees will help improve the quality of meetings by limiting background noise distractions. 


Getting started 

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

Availability 
  • Noise cancellation is on by default for: Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Frontline, Enterprise Plus, and Workspace Individual Subscriber accounts. 
  • Noise cancellation is off by default for: Education Plus, and Teaching and Learning Upgrade accounts. 
  • For all Google Workspace accounts: If the settings is on by default for your organization in a meeting with other people outside of your organization, they can also use this feature during that meeting. 

Resources 
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Quick summary 
Google Workspace developers can now create Google Workspace add-ons that attach files to a Google Calendar event from any third-party service. This feature enables developers to create add-ons that support attachments from a wide range of sources beyond Google Drive, such as digital whiteboard, content creation, or file management tools. 


Users who have the relevant add-ons installed will be able to attach files from these sources to a Calendar event, and attendees can view the event with the attachment on the web or on mobile.



Attach files from a third-party service to a Calendar event


After attaching files in Calendar on the web, users can view the event with the attachment on the web or on mobile. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 
  • This feature is available now for all developers and users. 

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

Resources 
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What’s changing

We’re announcing a new tool for Google Classroom called practice sets, which enables educators to transform new and existing content into engaging and interactive assignments. With autograding built in, teachers can receive performance insights and snapshots into student progress and use those insights to help inform future lesson plans. 

If they get stuck and need support, students will see automated hints and video suggestions, along with real time feedback on their answers. Assignments can be completed with a variety of tools for annotation, such as a mouse, stylus, touchpad, or math keyboard depending on how students work best.

When available, the beta will be globally available (note: in English only) for Google Workspace for Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade. Education leaders can use this form to express interest in the beta.


Who’s impacted
End users


Why you’d use it 
Every student learns in their own way, though practice and specific feedback helps us all learn more effectively. In large classes, it can be challenging for teachers to support their students' individual journeys. Based on feedback we heard from our users, we’re introducing practice sets for Google Classroom. 


Educators can easily transform their own teaching content into interactive assignments.  Students get real-time feedback as they complete practice sets, so they know whether they’re on the right track. When they’re struggling to solve a problem, they can get hints through visual explainers and videos. 


With practice sets, educators can more easily get insight into which concepts need more instruction time and who could use extra support, giving them quick performance insights to shape future lesson plans. Visit the Keyword Blog to learn more about practice sets.




Availability
  • When available, practice sets will be available to Google Workspace Education Plus (formerly G Suite Enterprise for Education) and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

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What’s changing 
You can now create spaces in Google Chat that you can share with others in your organization to join via link. 

Update a space's access to everyone in an organization when creating a new space

Quickly copy a link to share with others


Easily join a new space with a shared link
Who’s impacted 
End users 


Why it’s important 
With this launch, Spaces are no longer restricted to only people added to the conversation. This update allows for the creation of topic-based conversations that can be shared more broadly within an organization. This can be particularly useful for spaces that are oriented around: 
  • Sharing knowledge widely with others, including team discussions, how-to guides and mentoring opportunities. 
  • Organizational and policy updates. 
  • Situations where you need to quickly gather interested folks or those with relevant expertise, for example to investigate an outage. 
  • Cultural and social topics of interest, like reading, sports, or cooking. 

We hope this feature makes it easier to more broadly share information, build communities and foster discussion across your organization. 


Additional details 
Configuring a space to be shareable 
Users can only enable a space to be shareable within an organization at creation. At this time, users cannot enable discovery for existing spaces and share them via link. 


Access to a shareable space 
Note that users outside of your organization will not be able to join such a space, even with the shared link. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

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

Resources
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