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What’s changing
We are making two improvements to the space creation flow in Google Chat: preventing duplicate space names and providing a method to configure spaces for specific use cases. 

In order to prevent duplicate space names in Google Chat, you will no longer be able to create a space within your company’s domain if the space name already exists. Similar to the experience in Gmail and Google Groups, if a space name already exists, an error message will appear. The same will happen if a user tries to edit the name of a space to another name that already exists. 

This feature will not immediately apply to space names created via Chat API. Starting June 3, 2024, spaces created via Chat API will also be subject to this error. 
prevent duplicate space names
Starting this week, you will also notice an updated user interface when creating a new space in Chat. In addition to easily determining access settings, you can now designate the space for Collaboration (useful for discussing a topic or team project) or for Announcements (helpful for facilitating one-way controlled communication such as company-wide updates). 
new space creation flow

After creating the space, an updated welcome page will appear with contextual options that provide users with next steps depending on the space type selected. For a Collaboration space, users get the options to add members, share files, assign tasks and create a welcome message that appears when a new member joins the space. You will also have the ability to toggle “History on” and will see contextual suggestions for eligible apps (based on popular apps in your domain) to explore in Marketplace and add into the space. For an Announcement space, users will get the option to add groups, manage space permissions and add guidelines on how to use the space. 
space welcome page

Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • You will receive an error message when editing or creating a space in Google Chat that has the name of a space that already exists. Existing spaces with the same name will not be impacted. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about the new space creation flow. 
  • Developers: Update apps created via Chat API to ensure they do not conflict with this new error code for duplicate space names by June 3, 2024. 

Rollout pace 
Duplicate space name

New space creation flow

Web: 

Mobile: 
  • This feature will be available on mobile by the end of Q1 2024 

Availability 
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and Google Workspace Individual subscribers 

Resources 

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What’s changing

We’ve expanded support for closed captioning to include the following additional languages:

-Afrikaans

-Albanian 

-Amharic 

-Armenian

-Australian English

-Basque

-Burmese

-Catalan

-English (India)

-English (Philippines)

-Estonian

-Farsi

-Filipino

-Galician 

-Georgian

-Hungarian

-Japanese

-Latvian

-Macedonian

-Mongolian

-Nepali

-Norwegian

-Sinhala

-Slovak

-Slovenian

-Sundanese 

-Tamil (India)

-Telugu (India)

-Urdu

-Uzbek

- Zulu



You’ll notice that the newly supported languages are denoted with a “beta” tag as we continue to optimize performance.

Getting started

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

Availability
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources


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What’s changing

We’re introducing a centralized location for reviewing and taking action on reported Google Chat content in the Admin console under Apps > Google Workspace > Moderation, alongside the email quarantine tool for Gmail. Here can be found an overarching view of active and resolved reports, as well as additional information and context about reported messages, allowing for more informed decisions to be made.

Super admins will have access to the moderation tool and can also assign users the new “Moderate Chat content report” privilege. The new privilege can be assigned to users in your organization who are best suited to review Chat content, helping to reduce the burden on super admins.


Who’s impacted
Admins and designated moderators 


Why it’s important
Google Chat is key to accelerating productivity and collaboration — content reporting and moderation helps ensure that information exchanged across Chat is safe and appropriate.  When a report is submitted by users, the moderation tool can be used to:

  • See all reports associated with the message (including those resolved in the past).
    • Note that resolved reports will be removed from the Moderation tool after 180 days.
  • Review the edit history of a message and conversation transcript, including up to five messages posted before the reported message.
  • Conversation details provide information about the type of conversation (direct messages, group direct messages, or Spaces) with number of participants, space managers, guidelines, etc.


Using this information, combined with organization policies, admins and moderators can choose the best course of action, whether that be deleting a specific message or deleting an entire space before resolving the report. Additionally, moderators can add comments to the report for prosperity should the content require further auditing in the future.

The moderation tool can be accessed in the Admin console by selecting Apps > Google Workspace > Moderation.

Upon selecting a reported message, you’ll see a variety of information including conversation details and other reports for the message.

You can select “Show more” from the “Reported message” section to view up to five messages sent prior to the reported message.



Additional details
As part of this change, the moderation tool will also include a tab for managing quarantined Gmail messages. Visit our Help Center for more information regarding setting up email quarantine and the admin privileges required to manage quarantined messages. The Gmail tab is available to all Google Workspace customers.


Getting started


Rollout pace

Availability
  • Google Chat content reporting and moderation is available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers

Resources

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2 New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.


Unsubscribe from emails on Gmail more easily 
We know managing unwanted emails is a source of frustration for many users. That’s why we announced new guidelines for bulk senders a few months ago to help users stay safe. Now, we’re introducing new ways to make it even easier to unsubscribe from unwanted emails in Gmail on web and mobile by:
  • Adding the unsubscribe button to the hover actions in the threadlist on web. When the unsubscribe button is clicked, Gmail sends a http request or an email to the sender to remove your email address from their mailing list. 
    Unsubscribe from emails on Gmail more easily
  • Moving the unsubscribe button from the three dot menu to appear more prominently in your email on your Android and iOS devices.
Additionally, we know it is common for people to receive unwanted messages, despite initially signing up to receive them from brands or organizations. These messages often originate from legitimate senders, and marking them as spam can negatively impact the sender's email reputation and can potentially affect the deliverability of future emails. For this reason, we're changing the text of the buttons to make it clearer for users to choose between unsubscribing or reporting a message as spam. 

These features are now available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts on web and iOS devices, and are rolling out now on Android devices at an extended pace (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility). | Learn more about unsubscribing from emails and reporting spam in Gmail.


Updating the mobile experience on Android tablets and foldable devices 
Last year, we announced enhancements to the Google Drive mobile experience on Android tablets. This included several modernizations, such as shifting the navigation bar to the side of the Drive app. Similarly, we’ve moved the navigation bar for Gmail to the side to optimize the experience on tablets and foldable devices. This migration will make it easier for users to switch tabs in Gmail. | Available now to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. 
Updating the mobile experience on Android tablets and foldable devices




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.


Launch the Lucidspark whiteboarding app directly from Google Meet Series One Board 65 and Desk 27 devices 
By the end of the month, Lucidspark by Lucid Software can be launched directly from Google Meet Series One Board 65 and Desk 27 devices. With this integration, users will be able to share and participate in a Lucidspark whiteboard session in a Meet call, either initiated from the Series One Board 65 and Desk 27 or a remote participant on the call. | Learn more about the Lucidspark whiteboarding app. 

Use comments & action items on your client-side encrypted Google Docs 
You can now collaborate with others on client-side encrypted Google Docs to add, edit, reply, filter, or delete comments. You can also assign action items to yourself or others. This added functionality helps bring parity to unencrypted docs while also ensuring your data is behind encryption keys you control, including the identity provider used to access those keys. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more about CSE comments & action items in Docs. 

Combine multiple video effects, improve lighting and audio in Google Meet 
We’re launching three new features to personalize your appearance in Google Meet. | Learn more about combining multiple video effects on web and mobile, studio lighting on web and studio sound. 

Join meetings as a guest without a Google account on mobile devices 
You can now quickly join a meeting as a guest without signing into a personal or work Google account or creating a new Google account. This functionality already exists for meetings on the web and, by expanding to mobile, guests now have greater flexibility for joining Meet meetings on the go. | Learn more about joining meetings as a guest.

Star messages in Google Chat on mobile
Last November, we introduced starred on web, an additional shortcut in the redesigned Google Chat navigation panel that helps you stay on top of your most important messages. We’re excited to announce this is now available on Android and iOS mobile devices. | Learn more about starring messages.

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog posts for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains: 

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 

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
Last November, we introduced starred on web, an additional shortcut in the redesigned Google Chat navigation panel that helps you stay on top of your most important messages. Today, we’re excited to announce this is now available on Android and iOS mobile devices. 
star messages on mobile

Getting started 
Rollout pace 
Android: 
iOS: 
Availability 
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts
Resources 
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What’s changing 
You can now quickly join a meeting as a guest without signing into a personal or work Google account or creating a new Google account. This functionality already exists for meetings on the web and, by expanding to mobile, guests now have greater flexibility for joining Meet meetings on the go. 




To join as a guest, you need to be on the Calendar invite for the meeting or have been provided the meeting code or the meeting link beforehand. Before you join the meeting, you’ll be prompted to enter your name and “knock” (aka ask to join the meeting) to be admitted. Once a meeting host or co-host accepts your knock, you’ll jump right into the meeting.

Getting started
Rollout pace
  • iOS: Available now.
  • Android: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 17, 2024

Availability
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts.


Resources
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What’s changing 
We’re launching three new features to personalize your appearance in Google Meet. Specifically, we’re adding: 

  • Combine multiple video effects on web and mobile: You can now combine a background effect with a filter effect to create a more dynamic, fun experience. This gives you the flexibility to find the right mix of effects that will represent you best during your meetings. The new layer icon on your self view tile can be used to keep track of which effects you’re using and remove one or all effects at once.

Combining effects using Google Meet on the web


Combining effects using Google Meet on a mobile device





You'll also notice a brand new user interface for effects. The streamlined design makes it easier for you to discover and apply various features. Specifically, you’ll notice effects grouped by category:

    • Backgrounds: Backgrounds are now organized into categories based on the type of scene you are looking for, such as new backgrounds, blurred backgrounds, your uploaded or company uploaded background, and more.
    • Filters: Sort through filters by category, including funny filters, accessories, costumes and characters.
    • Appearance: Adjust your appearance as needed by improving your lighting, framing, and video quality.


  • Studio lighting on web: Available with the Duet AI for Google Workspace Enterprise add-on, the new studio lighting feature can be used to simulate studio-quality lighting. You’ll be able to adjust the lighting position, brightness, and color to look your best. Note that for this initial launch an eligible device is required to use this feature.


For illustrative purposes only — to use Studio Lighting, go to Apply visual effects > Appearance > Studio lighting.




  • Studio sound: This feature will automatically improve poor audio quality from typical bluetooth headsets and dial-in participants by using AI to recreate higher audio frequencies. Currently, this feature is available for meetings on the web and dial-in, with support for the mobile Meet app coming in the coming weeks — we’ll share an update on the Workspace Updates blog at that time. This feature is available with the Duet AI for Google Workspace Enterprise add-on.
Studio sound will use AI to improve audio quality.

 

Getting started

Rollout pace
Combining multiple video effects
Web availability: 


Mobile availability: 
  • Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on January 16, 2024 for iOS and Android devices.

  • Scheduled Release domains: 
    • For Android devices: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 17, 2024
    • For iOS devices: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 17, 2024
Studio lighting  
Web availability:

Studio sound 
Availability
Combine multiple video effects:
  • Available to all users. The availability of specific video effects is based on your specific Google Workspace edition and admin policy

Studio lighting and sound:

Resources

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What’s changing 
You can now collaborate with others on client-side encrypted Google Docs to add, edit, reply, filter, or delete comments. You can also assign action items to yourself or others. This added functionality helps bring parity to unencrypted docs while also ensuring your data is behind encryption keys you control, including the identity provider used to access those keys. 


This feature is available as an open beta, which means you can use it without enrolling in a specific beta program. 




This feature is currently only available for Docs —support for Sheets and Slides will be coming in the future.



Additional details
Note that when sharing encrypted files, you can only assign “viewer” or “editor” permissions. “Commenter” permission is not supported. Viewers can view comments.


Comments are saved each time the document is autosaved. If you restore the document to a previous version, the comments added to the document in that version are also restored.

Getting started
Rollout pace


Availability
  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers

Resources

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What’s changing 
In September 2023, we announced the next phase of digital whiteboarding for Google Workspace. At that time, we announced that new whiteboarding tools would soon be integrated with Series One Board 65 and Desk 27 devices. By the end of the month, Lucidspark by Lucid Software can be launched directly from these devices. With this integration, users will be able to share and participate in a Lucidspark whiteboard session in a Meet call, either initiated from the Series One Board 65 and Desk 27 or a remote participant on the call.



Who’s impacted
Admins and end users


Why you’d use it 
Integrating third-party collaboration tools is a key component of the new digital whiteboarding experience in Google Workspace. Specifically, we’ve heard from our customers that whiteboarding tools like Lucidspark by Lucid Software help their teams work better together with features like infinite canvas, templates, and diagramming. Today, Lucidspark can already be launched inside a Meet call from your laptop. Now, you also have the option to use Lucidspark on the Board 65 and Desk 27 devices within a Meet call.


Later this year we’ll introduce support for launching FigJam and Miro directly from Board 65 and Desk 27 devices. We’ll provide an update here on the Workspace Updates blog with more information at that time. For more information on the future of digital whiteboarding in Workspace, please refer to our initial announcement.


Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet Board 65 and Desk 27 devices


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4 New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.


Version history limits for Apps Script projects 
For all new scripts, you’ll be able to create and save up to 200 versions of your script. If needed, you can permanently delete a script version from the project history page. | This is available now to all Google Workspace customers. | Learn more using our developer documentation on working with Apps Script versions. 


Share a link to a specific time in a Google Drive video 
We’re adding new functionality to the Drive sharing button that lets you share timestamped links to specific parts of a video. On web, simply navigate to drive.google.com > find and open a video file > play the video (you can pause the playback before performing the following steps) > select the dropdown on the “Share” button in the top-right corner > select “Copy link to this time” > send the link. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Learn more about copying a specific time in the video. 
Share a link to a specific time in a Google Drive video

Introducing dropdown options on the sharing button in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings
We’re adding a new feature that ensures a seamless sharing experience across Workspace. In Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings, you will now see a dropdown on the Share button that surfaces quick actions, such as pending access requests and the “Copy link” option. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. 
dropdown options on the sharing button

Using functions in Connected Sheets for BigQuery 
Today, Connected Sheets for BigQuery supports 23 Sheets functions, such as AVERAGE and XLOOKUP. However, all of these functions behave somewhat differently than their native counterparts. Thus, to help Connected Sheets users write better functions, we now display context-aware Help Center content in Sheets. The ‘formula help’ shows descriptions for Connected Sheets functions when writing a formula that would query BigQuery, and otherwise shows descriptions of native Sheets functions. | This is available now to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Learn more about the XLOOKUP function.
Using functions in Connected Sheets for BigQuery


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.


Updates to metrics in Google Drive Apps Reports and Reports API 
We’re making some updates to the Google Drive metrics in the Admin Console Apps reports and the Reports API. As a result of these improvements, admins who analyze metrics will have more reporting clarity and can better understand activity trends within their domain. | Learn more about metrics in Drive Apps Reports and Reports API. 

Easily share Google Drive files to Google Calendar meeting attendees 
We’re introducing the option to share any file with all meeting participants on a Google Calendar invite via the sharing dialog within a file. | Learn more about sharing Drive files to Calendar. 

Google Meet is now available on Logitech Android appliances 
Google Meet is now supported on Logitech’s Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini Android-based appliances for collaboration rooms and spaces of just about any size. After initial setup, admins can easily enroll, manage, and monitor these devices using the Google admin console. Google Meet on Logitech Android-based devices is supported on CollabOS v1.11 as a video conferencing provider | Learn more about Meet on Logitech Android appliances. 

Google Meet hardware devices from Poly now support interoperability with Cisco Webex and Zoom 
We’re expanding the existing interoperability between Google Meet, Cisco Webex, and Zoom to include Android-based Meet hardware devices from Poly. Specifically, these devices include: Poly Studio X30, X50, X52, and X70. | Learn more about support interoperability with Cisco Webex and Zoom.

Extending Trusted Types to Gmail
We’re excited to announce the expansion of Trusted Types to Gmail. This will provide a defense against DOM XSS and further enhances our advanced data protection controls to keep users and data safe across more of the apps they use everyday. | Learn more about Trusted Types.


Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog posts for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains: 

Scheduled Release Domains: 

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 

For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases). 
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