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What’s changing
In 2022, we made it easier for you to send professional-looking emails, announcements, newsletters and more with layouts. These are predefined email templates that can be further customized with company or brand color schemes, logos, images, links and more. In 2023, we took this a step further by introducing the ability to customize an existing template, reuse a custom layout in multiple email campaigns, or create a brand new layout from scratch for Workspace Individual subscribers. 


Today, we’re excited to announce that even more users across Google Workspace editions can now create customized email layouts using a new email layout editor that is accessible from the compose screen in Gmail or Google Drive. In the layout editor, you can create a new email layout from scratch or select from a predefined set of email templates, which include images, text elements and buttons. 


You can then fully customize these templates by placing elements such as color schemes, logos, images, footer text and links wherever you’d like. You can also share a layout file directly from the email layout editor using the Share button. Once another user has edit access, they can open the same layout in their Gmail or from Drive and you can collaborate with them in real time. 
Create fully customized email campaigns using new layout editor tool


Who’s impacted 
Admins and end users 


Why you’d use it 
With Google Workspace, you can create, collaborate and communicate seamlessly across our apps. This new feature is yet another way we are striving to help you do so as you create fully customized announcements, newsletters, and other mass-email campaigns. 

Getting started 
  • Admins: 
    • Customized layouts are ON by default at the domain level. You can turn layouts ON or OFF for specific domains, OUs, or groups by going to the admin panel for Gmail. 
    • If you don't want users to use Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and email layouts, but to still use Drive for file management, leave Drive turned ON and turn OFF Docs creation.
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Gmail settings for your users, customizing access policies for different organizational units or groups, and turning Docs creation ON or OFF.
  • End users: If enabled by your admin, visit the Help Center to learn more about using layouts in Gmail and Drive. 
    • Gmail: 
      • You can access custom email layouts in Gmail from the layout icon in your Compose toolbar.

gmail - compose toolbar
      • You can then open the full screen editor from the embedded editor in Gmail using the “Edit in full screen” button in the top-right:

gmail - edit in full screen


    • Drive:
      • You can open an email layout that you have in Drive (an email layout created previously or an email layout shared with you) by double clicking the email layout file in Drive.

email layout in drive
      • Your custom layouts are stored in Drive as a special file type associated with the layouts editor.  You can find email layouts in Drive by searching: “type:email-layouts”
    • You can also access the standalone editor by going to docs.google.com/email-layouts/create?title=newDoc.
    • Mail-merge tags work with email layouts when enabled in Gmail. You can insert mail merge tags in email layouts. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending personalized emails with mail merge.

Rollout pace 
Embedded layout editor (in Gmail's compose window): 
Full screen editor for email layouts & feature availability via Google Drive: 

Availability
  • Available to Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus and Workspace Individual subscribers 

Resources 
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What’s changing
In November 2023, we announced a series of improvements for managing Google Meet hardware devices, which included surfacing additional information about device issues, such as a description of the issue, when the issue was detected, and more. Today, we’re adding an additional data point: admins can now see when the Google Meet app fails to load for a device.


“Application load failures” will now be displayed in the “Device status” column.


When you click on the alert, you’ll see more detailed information on the error.






Getting started
  • Admins: 
    • To filter for devices that are in the “Application load failure” state specifically, navigate to Admin Console > Google Meet hardware > Devices > Filter by ‘Device Status’ and select ‘Application load failure’.
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about understanding device usage in your organization.
  • End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace


Availability
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices

Resources

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3 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.


Hovercards for group messages and spaces are now available in Google Chat 
When hovering over a space or group chat within the left navigation in Google Chat, you will now see a hovercard that displays an abridged list of members and their avatars. This is especially useful when you need to distinguish one chat from another. In addition, you can include space hovercards across Chat apps using the shared hovercard library. | Available now to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. 
hovercards in Chat


New Google Calendar lock screen widgets on iOS mobile devices 
We’re excited to announce the launch of Google Calendar lock screen widgets on iOS mobile devices (iOS16+) and iPads (iOS17). These will surface an upcoming event or task, giving you a quick glance right from your lock screen. 
| Available now to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about how to add widgets to your Lock Screen. 

widgets


Remove the background from your images in Google Slides 
You can now easily remove the background from images added to your Google Slides presentations. To do so, simply select an image on your slide > right-click and select "Remove background" or select the “Remove background” button in the toolbar. | Available now to Gemini Enterprise and Gemini Business add-ons, and to users on personal accounts through Google One AI Premium. | Learn more about removing an image background.
Remove the background from your images in Google Slides



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.



Smooth scrolling in Google Sheets now available on desktop 
With smooth scrolling, you can scroll to a specific part of a row or column and stop wherever you’d like within the spreadsheet. | Learn more about scrolling in Sheets. 


New enhancements in the Space Management Tool For admins: add multiple members or groups, review settings and details 
We’re introducing several updates for the Space Management Tool in the Admin console, including an improved user interface and additional management capabilities. | Learn more about Space Management Tool For admins. 


Migrate email data from one Google Workspace account to another, available in open beta 
Beginning today, a new data migration experience is available: you can migrate your users’ email data from one Google Workspace account to another in a more reliable and efficient manner. You can configure your data migration for up to 100 users at a time and also run delta migrations, which smartly brings over any newly generated data from the source without duplicating previously migrated content. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, and Business Plus; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus; Essentials Starter, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more about migrating email data. 


Set up dropdown chips more easily in Google Sheets 
Instead of manually creating values for your dropdown chips, you can now insert preset dropdown chips that are configured for common use cases like priority or review statuses. | Learn more about preset dropdown chips. 


Google Meet co-host support added for client-side encrypted meetings 
Client-side encrypted meetings are now getting support for using the co-hosts feature. This means that an organizer can plan and book client-side encrypted video meetings on behalf of other users and assign those as co-hosts to allow them to join and open the meetings independently from the organizer. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers only. | Learn more about client-side encrypted meetings. 


User enrollment for managed iOS devices is now generally available 
In late 2023, we introduced user enrollment in beta, an additional option for iOS mobile management. User enrollment separates work and personal data on iOS devices, giving admins control over Workspace data on the device while users retain privacy over their personal data. Beginning today, user enrollment is now generally available. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Frontline Standard, Frontline Starter, Business Plus, Cloud Identity Premium, Education Standard, Education Plus and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more about user enrollment.


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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What’s changing 
In late 2023, we introduced user enrollment in beta, an additional option for iOS mobile management. User enrollment separates work and personal data on iOS devices, giving admins control over Workspace data on the device while users retain privacy over their personal data. Beginning today, user enrollment is now generally available. For more information, use our Help Center or reference our original announcement.


Getting started


Rollout pace

Availability
  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Frontline Standard, Frontline Starter, Business Plus, Cloud Identity Premium, Education Standard, Education Plus and Nonprofits customers.


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What’s changing
Client-side encrypted meetings are now getting support for using the co-hosts feature. This means that an organizer can plan and book client-side encrypted video meetings on behalf of other users and assign those as co-hosts to allow them to join and open the meetings independently from the organizer. Client-side encrypted meetings differ from point-to-point encrypted meetings in the way they always require a host to join first. This task can now be delegated and shared between multiple users without the organizer ever joining the call.



Getting started

Rollout pace
Note: This feature is only available on the web as planning meetings with co-hosts can only be done on a computer.

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

Resources

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What’s changing
In 2022, we announced the ability to create dropdown chips in Google Sheets. This custom formatting smart canvas feature enables you to easily indicate statuses or various project milestones within your spreadsheet. 

Today, we’re building upon this by introducing preset dropdowns. Instead of manually creating values for your dropdowns, you can insert preset dropdown chips that are configured for common use cases like priority or review statuses. After inserting a preset dropdown, you can use the data validation sidebar to easily adjust the options or add styles. 
Set up dropdown chips more easily in Google Sheets


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

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

Resources
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What’s changing

Beginning today, a new data migration experience is available: you can migrate your users’ email data from one Google Workspace account to another in a more reliable and efficient manner. You can configure your data migration for up to 100 users at a time and also run delta migrations, which smartly brings over any newly generated data from the source without duplicating previously migrated content.

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


Additional details
You can find more information in our Help Center about migrating other forms of data from different types of source accounts.

Getting started
  • Admins: Visit The Help Center to learn more about the new data migration service and migrating email.
  • End users: There is no end user action required

Rollout pace
  • This feature is available now in open beta.

    Availability
    • Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, and Business Plus; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus; Essentials Starter, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus, and Nonprofits customers

      Resources
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        What’s changing 
        We’re introducing several updates for the Space Management Tool in the Admin console, including an improved user interface and additional management capabilities. We’ve introduced several more ways to manage a single space, including: 
        • Adding multiple members and groups to a space at once 
        • Review detailed space settings 
        • Review invited members

        Space Management Tool for Admins provide visibility into all spaces in an organization




        Groups are now included in the list of Space members


        Admins can now see detailed information regarding space settings, including those defined by space managers, who can access the space, post new messages, and more.



        Admins can now see detailed setting information


        Who’s impacted
        Admins


        Why it’s important
        Spaces in Google Chat are an essential part of collaboration and community building across organizations of all sizes. As such, it’s important for admins to easily view and manage their spaces to keep them productive and safe. This update makes it easier for admins to execute space management tasks and view more information about spaces.


        Finally, you’ll notice that we’ve aligned the look-and-feel of the interface and workflows for individual space management across Google Chat on the web and the Admin console for a more consistent experience.


        Getting started
        Important note: Both Super admins and Delegated admins must have Google Chat turned on for their account in the Google Chat service settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning on Google Chat.







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        What’s changing
        We’re excited to announce a highly-requested feature that improves control over your scrolling experience in Google Sheets. With smooth scrolling, you can scroll to a specific part of a row or column and stop wherever you’d like within the spreadsheet. 

        This update works with all Sheets features, such as frozen rows, hidden columns, charts, buttons, comments, on right-to-left layouts, and when you use scrollbars (instead of a mouse/trackpad). 
        smooth scrolling in Sheets


        Getting started 
        • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
        • End users: Use a trackpad, mouse or the scrollbar to access this update in new and existing spreadsheets. 
        Rollout pace 
        Availability 
        • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts
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        3 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.


        Playback improvements to videos uploaded on Google Drive 
        We’re enabling the generation and playback of Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) video transcodes for all new videos uploaded to Google Drive. DASH transcodes provide adaptive bitrate playback, which allows users to receive higher or lower resolution playback based on aspects like their local network quality. As a result of this change, you’ll also notice: 
        • Improvements in join time (the time it takes from clicking play to actually starting playback) 
        • A reduction in re-buffering, both in normal playback as well as during playback at higher speeds 
        While this feature applies to all new videos uploaded to Drive, existing videos in Drive will be updated by the end of the year. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains now. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. 


        Enhancing search within the Google Drive app 
        We’re improving Google Drive’s search experience on iOS devices (with Android coming soon) by: 
        • Simplifying how you access query filters by introducing filter categories that are accessible directly below the search bar and include filters for File Type, Owners and Last modified. 
        • Showing you relevant query filters as you type your query, enabling you to easily select a filter and saving you the time and effort of typing out the full search. 
        • Adding the option to further refine your search after reaching the search results page. 
        These updates are available now to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts using iOS devices. | We will provide an update when this is available on Android devices. | Learn more about finding files in Google Drive. 



        Further extending long running queries within Connected Sheets 
        Last year, we extended the timeout time from 5 minutes to 10 minutes for BigQuery and Looker. Now, the timeout time has increased to 20-30 minutes, and starting this week Connected Sheet users can view the status of a query and easily cancel it on Google Sheets. In addition to the ability to analyze data from queries that scan even larger data sets in Sheets, we hope these increased user controls give you even more oversight, especially in cases where queries might be taking a while to complete. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains now. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about Connected Sheets for Looker and Analyze & refresh BigQuery data in Google Sheets using Connected Sheets.


        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.



        Now generally available: Import and convert sensitive Excel files into client-side encrypted Google Sheets 
        You can now import and convert sensitive Excel files into Google Sheets with client-side encryption. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers only. | Learn more about working with encrypted files in Sheets. 

        Easily identify which unread threads are most relevant to you in Google Chat 
        With multiple threads across numerous spaces, we know it can be difficult to identify which unread threads are most relevant to you. In order to provide you with more context upfront, you will now see participant avatars for unread threads in the conversation view. Without having to click to open the thread side panel, it will now be much easier to decide which threads to read and reply to. | Learn more about participant avatars for unread threads in Chat. 

        Available in open beta: the Groups Admin role can now be provisioned for specific group types 
        The Groups Admin role can now be assigned for security groups or non-security groups. Previously, those with the Groups Admin role had access to all groups within an organization. This change gives administrators more granular delegation of group admin responsibilities, helping limit access to the most sensitive groups to only those who absolutely need it. | Learn more about the beta for the Groups Admin role. 

        New ways to annotate Google Docs 
        We’re excited to announce a new feature, markups in Google Docs, which gives you more flexibility when providing feedback in a document. The new markups experience lets you add handwritten annotations to documents with a stylus or your finger when using an Android device. | Learn more about markups in Docs. 

        Conduct direct 1:1 calls with people outside your video calling network on Google Meet mobile 
        Earlier this year, we introduced cloud-encrypted 1:1 video calls between users in the same domain using the Meet mobile app. In the coming weeks, users from outside of your domain will be able to initiate 1:1 video calls with your users and vice versa. Admins will be able to pre-configure this functionality as on or off for their users with a new admin control. | Learn more about 1:1 calling using Google Meet mobile. 

        Easily manage and secure your school’s accounts and mobile devices centrally in Google Admin console with the Endpoint Education Upgrade 
        This year, we announced Endpoint Education Upgrade, which adds enterprise endpoint management features to your Google Workspace for Education edition. Using endpoint management, admins can better manage and secure the phones and tablets used across their school directly from the Admin console. | Available to Education Standard and Education Plus only. | Learn more about the Endpoint Education Upgrade. 

        Set client-side encryption as the default mode for new emails, events, and files on mobile 
        Admins can now set client-side encryption (CSE) to be on by default on Android and iOS for: newly drafted Gmail messages and replies, newly created Google Calendar events, and newly uploaded Google Drive files. | Available to Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. | Learn more about client-side encryption default mode.


        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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