G Suite Updates Blog

Easily copy your Gmail holds to Hangouts Chat in Google Vault

February 20, 2019

What’s changing

As we previously announced, beginning on April 16, 2019, Mail retention rules and holds will stop protecting chat messages in classic Hangouts. Instead, Hangouts Chat retention rules and holds will protect chat messages in both classic Hangouts and Chat. To continue to preserve messages in classic Hangouts, before April 16, 2019, you must copy any existing Mail holds (that apply to messages in classic Hangouts) to Hangouts Chat in Google Vault. Today, we’re launching a new feature in Vault to help you copy your holds from Mail to Hangouts Chat, with a few clicks.

Who’s impacted

Vault Admins only

Why you’d use it

This feature helps you ensure all your messages in classic Hangouts and Hangouts Chat are preserved by the same Vault policies as your classic Hangouts messages are today.

How to get started

Admins: In Vault,

From the list of Vault matters, click on any matter that may contain Gmail holds. When viewing the list of holds in this matter, you can select multiple Mail holds at once.
Select the Mail hold(s) and click Copy holds to Hangouts Chat.

End users: No action required

Additional details

Note that Hangouts Chat doesn’t support holds based on date ranges or search terms, so they won’t be copied with the hold. You can also choose to extend these holds to cover conversations associated with these custodians in rooms.

Additionally, if you have a large number of holds in place, you can also use Vault APIs to duplicate your holds in bulk.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 20, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 20, 2019

G Suite editions

Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as G Suite users with the Vault add-on license.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get G Suite product update alerts by email
See the G Suite launch release calendar
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

See a filterable, searchable list of the latest G Suite launches

February 20, 2019

We’ve just updated the “What’s new in G Suite?” Help Center article to include recent launches. The article has a list of all the G Suite launches from the past six months. You can filter by product or search by keyword to find and learn about any launch.

Feedback? Let us know.

Change to per-conversation settings in classic Hangouts on Android

February 14, 2019

Quick launch summary

We're moving notification settings for classic Hangouts conversations to notification channels on O+ Android devices. With these changes, customized ring tones and chat messaging tones per conversation/contact will be removed and defaulted to the general app settings.

New settings page

To view or edit the ring and chat messaging tone settings for classic Hangouts on your Android device, open the classic Hangouts app and, in a conversation, click the more menu > “Options.”

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 14, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 14, 2019

G Suite editions

All G Suite editions

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Google Drive and Google Docs available in Burmese and Welsh

February 13, 2019

Quick launch summary

We’re expanding our language offerings in Docs, Sheets, Slides, new Sites, Forms, and Drive on web to include Burmese and Welsh.

Here’s how to change your display language:

Open your Google Account
Click Data and Personalization
Scroll down to the General preferences for the web panel
Click Language
Select Edit
Choose your language from the dropdown box and click Select.

Availability

Available for Drive on February 13, 2019.
Available for Docs on February 19, 2019.

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite Editions.

On/off by default?
This feature will be ON by default for users who have their Google language preference set as Burmese or Welsh.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get G Suite product update alerts by email
See the G Suite launch release calendar
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Easily refresh Salesforce data in Sheets

February 11, 2019

Update (Feb 12, 2019): We have encountered an unexpected issue with this launch. We expect to have it resolved in the coming days and will provide further updates as soon as they’re available.

What’s changing

You now have the option to refresh the Salesforce data populated in Sheets using the Salesforce data connector. You can refresh this data manually or schedule the data to be refreshed.

Currently, the Salesforce data connector for Sheets gets data from reports or imports when the sidebar is opened and has been configured. In order to get updated data, users would need to go through the same configuration steps in the sidebar.

Who’s impacted

End Users

Why you’d use it

If you use Salesforce to track important conversations with key leads, you can make sure this data is consistently fresh by scheduling a refresh rather than reimporting the Salesforce data.

If your Sales team uses the add-on to import details of their accounts from Salesforce into Sheets, they can schedule this data to refresh daily or even multiple times a day to stay on top of the current data.

How to get started

Admins: No action needed.
End users: Here’s how to refresh your Salesforce Data in Sheets:

Open the Data connector from Salesforce Add-On and select Refresh.
Select Manual Refresh to refresh the current data on your sheet or Auto Refresh to schedule a refresh every 4, 8, or 24 hours.
Review your selections and select Create.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 11, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility starting on February 11, 2019

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite Editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Easily take action in Gmail with new right-click context menu options

February 11, 2019

What’s changing

We’re adding more options to the right-click context menu in Gmail.

New menu options in Gmail with conversation mode on

New menu options in Gmail with conversation mode off

Who’s impacted

All end users

Why you’d use it

With these new options, you can take even more actions, directly from a message, in your inbox such as:

Reply to, or forward, an email in one click from the main page
Search for all emails from a sender
Search for all emails with the same subject (if conversation view is turned off)
Open multiple emails in multiple new windows at the same time
Easily add a label or move an email

How to get started

Admins: No action necessary.
End users: The context menu can be opened by:

Right-click
Ctrl+click on Mac keyboards
The menu key on Windows keyboards.

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 11, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 22, 2019

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Manage workflows and automate processes with the new Google Docs API

February 11, 2019

What's changing

With the new Docs API, there are more ways to build services that better support your business and improve your workflows. For documents that require consistency, collaboration, and accuracy — like invoices, proposals, contracts, and reports — the API will help automate common word processing tasks with the real-time editing and collaboration of Docs.

Who’s impacted

Developers

Why you’d use it

Some ways you could use this API are:

Create documents automatically

Use the Docs API to automate document creation, like creating all of the blank invoices you need for a particular quarter with a single click. Documents that require a template, like legal documents or contracts, can be automated based on user input and monitored with the API as well.

Manage workflows

Use the Docs API to add user or system-provided data to a document at various stages of a process. Programmatic edits to the same document over time, or to multiple documents at once, can simplify your workflows.

Sync with your content management systems

From internal wikis to blog content, you can import and export document details seamlessly between Google Docs your employees are editing and your content management systems. For example, publishing platforms can now allow their customers to compose and collaborate in Docs to drive content to their sites.

How to get started

For more information and how to get started, see the Docs API developer site.

Additional details

See our post on the Cloud Blog for more details and examples of how G Suite customers are using the API.

The Docs API will round out a complete set of APIs across all G Suite editor applications along with the Sheets API and the Slides API.

Helpful links

Learn more about the Docs API
Here’s how G Suite customers are using the Docs API
Learn more about the Sheets API
Learn more about the Slides API

Availability

G Suite editions

Available immediately to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

The API is available and accessible by default to all G Suite users.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get G Suite product update alerts by email
See the G Suite launch release calendar
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Refresh BigQuery data in Sheets using Apps Script and Macros

February 7, 2019

What's changing

Recently we launched the BigQuery data connector to allow users to easily import data from larger datasets into Sheets. Now, you can use tools like Apps Script and the macro recorder to schedule automatic updates within Sheets to the connected BigQuery data.

Who’s impacted

End Users

Why you’d use it

Stay on top of the latest and greatest data critical to your business by automatically refreshing the BigQuery data in your sheet.

For example, you can set sales data to automatically refresh so that it’s ready for analysis at the beginning of each day. You can also auto-update data in preparation for key meetings or presentations that occur on a weekly or monthly basis. Or you could set a trigger to auto-update your data each time you open the spreadsheet.

How to get started

Admins: No action required.
End users: Here’s how to schedule a refresh on the data pulled in by the BigQuery data connector:

Record a macro to refresh your data

Schedule your macro

At the top, click Tools > Script editor.
At the top, click Edit > Current project’s triggers.
At the bottom right, click Add trigger and select your options.
Click Save.

Additional details

For key permissions for the BigQuery data connector see here.
As always, use sharing permissions to control who can view, edit or share your data.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 5, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Full Rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 19, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and Drive Enterprise.
Not available to G Suite Basic and G Suite for Nonprofits

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get G Suite product update alerts by email
See the G Suite launch release calendar
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Additional Thai fonts available in Docs, Sheets, and Slides

February 7, 2019

Quick launch summary

We’ve expanded our font offerings for Thai users in Docs, Sheets, and Slides by adding several fonts that are part of the Thai “National Fonts” collection. This collection of fonts has been distributed and used by the Government of Thailand as public and official fonts since 2007. We updated the collection so that it could be part of Google Fonts in 2019.

The complete list of new fonts is below:

Bai Jamjuree
Chakra Petch
Charm
Charmonman
Fah Kwang
K2D
KoHo
Kodchasan
Krub
Mali
Niramit
Sarabun
Srisakdi

These updated fonts are now available in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides with modern OpenType technology, expanded weights and more harmonious designs between Latin and Thai scripts.

These fonts will be made default in the drop down menu for users who have their Google language preference set as Thai.

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite Editions.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Whitelist trusted apps for your domain to ensure apps work properly

February 6, 2019

What’s changing

To give end users more granular control over what account data they choose to share with each app, we’re changing how users give apps permissions to access their information. See our Google Developers blog post for more details on what’s changing. These changes may impact how well an app functions should a user choose not to provide certain permissions.

As a result, we recommend that G Suite admins whitelist apps they trust and want their users to be able to use.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d whitelist apps

Whitelisting an app means admins assign permissions at the domain level, and that end users don’t have to make choices on permissions for those apps. By whitelisting apps admins can ensure apps have the permissions they need to work properly.

How to get started

Admins: As mentioned above, we recommend admins use our Help Center to learn how to whitelist trusted apps.
End users: No action needed.

Helpful links

Help Center: Whitelisting connected apps

Availability

Rollout details

Different apps will implement updated app permission controls at various times over the next several months. Some apps will make this change immediately, but the most commonly used apps will implement them after April 2019. To minimize disruption, we recommend admins whitelist trusted apps before April.
G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions.
On/off by default?
Whitelisting apps is OFF by default. Apps can be enabled at the domain level.
Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Easily enter building locations into the Admin console

February 6, 2019

What’s changing

You can now input addresses, instead of latitude and longitude coordinates, to enter the locations of your office buildings in the Admin console. This is a more efficient and reliable ways for you, as a G Suite admin, to manage international office locations.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

Adding address information immediately unlocks automatic correction of room and resource time zones based on building address. This ensures that you have correct data in the room insights dashboard. Additionally, with this change we’ll now automatically set the correct time zones for all resources in these buildings, and help ensure you see accurate usage by time of day in the room insights dashboard.

In the future, this information will also power other intelligent features such as:

How to get started

Admins: There are three ways to input this information:

Directly from the Admin console user interface: In the Admin console under Manage Resources > Manage Buildings, you can enter addresses directly and be shown a Google map to confirm their location. This is recommended for entering a small number of buildings at a time.
Bulk upload via CSV file: This is also in the Admin console under Manage Resources > Manage Buildings. The bulk upload spreadsheet supports a general address format, so you can verify your locations in many countries and regions.
Upload via the Building Resources API.

End users: No end user impact.

Additional details

Check out the Help Center for complete instructions on adding locations for all three of these methods and read the documentation on how to add building addresses via the API.

Helpful links

Help Center: Set up buildings, features, and other resources

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 6, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 6, 2019

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions
On/off by default?
This feature will be ON by default

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Changes to Google Groups settings starting May 6, 2019

February 5, 2019

What’s changing

In May 2019, we’ll make some changes to the settings in Google Groups. In response to your ongoing feedback, we are updating Groups’ settings to make it easier for you and your users to manage and configure groups. Specifically, we will remove settings and features that are rarely used, and combine settings that cover similar functionality. These changes will affect the groups.google.com interface and also the APIs used to manage groups.

Your existing groups may be affected by the upcoming settings changes. When the changes take effect, we’ll update the settings for existing groups. These updates may change how groups can be accessed and used.

Use this Help Center article to see details of these changes and see how you can prepare for the update.

The changes will start to roll out on May 6, and may take up to 15 days to reach all domains.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d take action

Some users who are not group owners or group managers but who currently have access to specific group management features may lose that access. We recommend you audit groups in your organization and adjust the settings before May 6 to make sure these users don’t lose access.

When the new settings take effect:

Existing group settings will be updated to conform to the new controls available.
Group owners will still be able to change the settings that apply to their group at any point.
New groups will be subject to the same default controls that they are today.

How to get started

Admins: We encourage you to audit groups in your organization and adjust the settings before May 6 to make sure users don’t lose access. Use this Help Center article to see what’s changing and how you can prepare for the changes, and this Help Center article to see how you could tell group owners about what’s changing.
End users: Support any group audits as decided by admin.

Additional details

In the next few days, users will see an in-product message about the upcoming changes when they use Groups. The message will direct them to the Help Center for an overview of the changes and change timeline.

Most groups will be affected in some way by these changes. You can use the Groups API to get a list of all groups and get a list of group owners in your organization, which might help you prepare for the changes.

Helpful links

Help Center: Details of upcoming changes to Groups settings
Help Center: How you can communicate with Groups owners about the changes

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 6, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 6, 2019 G Suite editions Available to all G Suite editions On/off by default? This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Manage and distribute Android apps when using basic mobile management

February 5, 2019

What’s changing

You can now manage Android apps for your users when using basic mobile management. Previously, you could only do this if you used advanced mobile management.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

With basic mobile management you can now:

Organize apps in the managed Google Play store
Automatically install apps on users' devices
Create web apps
Create private apps

See below for more info.

How to get started

Additional details

Organize apps in the managed Google Play store:
To help your users find the apps they need, you can organize apps into collections. These collections appear on devices in the “Work apps” section in the managed Google Play store.

Automatically install apps:
With basic mobile management you can now automatically install apps on your users’ devices. Use our Help Center to find out how to manage app preferences. Note that preventing users from uninstalling apps, and some other advanced features, require advanced mobile management.

Create web apps
You can now create and manage web apps in the Admin console. Web apps look like native apps and can make web pages easier to find and simpler to use on mobile devices. You can also distribute web apps the same way you distribute native apps–by adding them to collections in a managed Google Play store or automatically installing them on users’ devices.

Create private apps
You can now create private Android apps directly from the Admin console. Simply upload the APK and give the app a title. The app will appear in the managed Google Play store within minutes. You can also install the app directly on your users’ devices (see above). Previously, it took several hours to create and publish an app, and you had to create a Play Console account, provide a credit card, and fill in many other fields before the app would be available to your users.

The ‘Work Apps’ tab in the managed Google Play store has the G Suite apps and other apps whitelisted by admins.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions:
Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?
This feature will be OFF by default until app management is set up, and can be enabled at the domain, OU, or group level.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get G Suite product update alerts by email

See the G Suite launch release calendar

Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Automatically provision users with three additional apps

February 5, 2019

What’s changing

We’re adding auto-provisioning support for three new applications:

Boomi
Keeper
SpaceIQ

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

When auto-provisioning is enabled for a supported third-party application, any users created, modified, or deleted in G Suite are automatically added, edited, or deleted in the third-party application as well. This feature is highly popular with admins, as it removes the overhead of managing users across multiple third-party SaaS applications.

How to get started

Helpful links

Help Center: Automated user provisioning
Help Center: Using SAML to set up federated SSO

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility starting on Feb 4, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility starting on Feb 4, 2019.

G Suite editions

G Suite Education, Business, and Enterprise customers can enable auto-provisioning for all supported applications
G Suite Basic, Government, and Nonprofit customers can enable auto-provisioning for up to three applications

On/off by default?
This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the OU level.
Stay up to date with G Suite launches

What's New in G Suite - January 2019

February 4, 2019

Check out the latest "What's New in G Suite" launch recap (pdf) for a roundup of all G Suite launches from January 2019.

Archive and translated versions (coming soon for January issue)

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Dedicated Hangouts Meet IP addresses

January 31, 2019

What’s changing

We’re adding a range of official, fixed IP addresses to be used exclusively for classic Hangouts and Hangouts Meet in G Suite domains. That means that you can identify video conference traffic used in G Suite and deprioritize Hangouts traffic from consumer accounts. This can help you better configure and optimize network and firewall access.

Who’s impacted

Admins and network operators only

Why you’d use it

Hangouts Meet IP addresses allow you to recognize the G Suite video conference traffic. Use the IPs to:

How to get started

Admins: Update your firewall for Hangouts IP addresses. You can find those IP addresses and more information in the Help Center.
End users: No end user impact.

Additional information

Hangouts Meet and classic Hangouts will stop using the old IP address on February 14, 2019. As this change might interfere with previous network optimization you might have set up, we recommend adopting these IP addresses as part of your firewall and network configuration.

Helpful links

Help Center: Optimize your network for Meet

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 14, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 14, 2019

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get G Suite product update alerts by email
See the G Suite launch release calendar
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Five new third-party applications added to G Suite pre-integrated SAML apps catalog

January 30, 2019

What’s changing

We’re adding SAML integration for five additional applications:

Carbonite
ComponentSpace
Emburse
Sentry
Twic

Use our Help Center to see the full list of SAML apps and find out how to configure SAML applications.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

With Single-Sign-On (SSO), users can access all of their enterprise cloud applications—including the Admin console for admins—after signing in just one time. Google supports the two most popular enterprise SSO standards, OpenID Connect and SAML, and there are already many applications with pre-integrated SSO support in our third-party apps catalog.

How to get started

Admins: You can find our full list of pre-integrated applications, as well as instructions for installing them, in the Help Center.
End users: No action needed.

Additional details

Note that apart from the pre-integrated SAML applications, G Suite also supports installing “Custom SAML Applications,” which means that admins can install any third-party application that supports SAML. The advantage of a pre-integrated app is that the installation is much easier. Use out Help Center to learn more about installing Custom SAML Applications.

Helpful links

Help Center: Using SAML to set up federated SSO
Help Center: Set up your own custom SAML applicationAvailability

Rollout details

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions.
On/off by default?
This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the OU level.
Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Feedback requested: New blog post format

January 30, 2019

Over the past few weeks, you may have noticed a new format to our launch announcements on this blog. Based on customer feedback, we tried to:

Use headings to make our posts more scannable
Reorder information to call out what’s most important for you to know.

We hope that this new formatting saves you time and makes our launch announcements more useful for you. If you haven’t already provided feedback, we’d love to get your thoughts on the new style. Please let us know what you think of the changes by filling out this form.

Thanks, The G Suite Launch Announcement team

A new look and feel for Gmail on mobile

January 29, 2019

What’s changing

In addition to similar announcements we’ve recently made for Drive and Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites on the web, we’re now bringing a new look to Gmail on mobile, too.

As part of the new design, you can quickly view attachments—like photos—without opening or scrolling through the conversation. It’s also easier to switch between personal and work accounts, so you can access all of your emails without breaking a sweat.

A more minimal use of color helps you focus on content and what's important to you. We’ve also replaced the search button with a more prominent search bar at the top of the screen.

And just like on the web, you’ll get big, red warnings to alert you when something looks phish-y.

Who’s impacted

All end users

Why you’d use it

This update is part of a larger effort to bring the look and feel of our G Suite apps together as a whole, and always with ease-of-use in mind.

How to get started

Admins: No action needed
End users: You'll see the changes coming to your Android and iOS devices over the coming weeks.

Additional details

We’ve already updated the web apps for Gmail, Drive, Calendar, and most recently Google Docs and Sites. In the coming weeks, you’ll see the new mobile design in Gmail on Android and iOS, with more G Suite mobile apps to follow later this year.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 29, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 29, 2019

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

More language options available for the 2019 Calendar Template in Sheets

January 29, 2019

Quick launch summary

We’ve expanded language options for creating a 2019 Calendar Template in Sheets. The new language options available are:

Brazilian Portuguese
Chinese
Danish
Dutch
Filipino
French
German
Hindi
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latin American Spanish
Polish
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Turkish
Vietnamese

Note: The template was previously released in English languages.

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Updated roadmap for classic and new Google Sites

January 28, 2019

We have updated our plans for Google Sites and want to let you know two key things:

We're going to build more enterprise-focused features into new Sites (including ones from classic Sites): We listened to extensive feedback from customers and have identified a number of features in classic Sites that are particularly valuable to larger organizations. We plan to add comparable functionality for those features, along with new and unique features, to new Sites. We believe these will help you use new Sites in different and exciting ways, while making the transition process to new Sites easier and more streamlined. See below for more details on specific features.

The final date to transition from classic Sites to new Sites will be the end of 2021: Also based on customer feedback, we realize that classic Sites still offers unique value to our enterprise customers today. While we add more of the requested features to new Sites, we will continue to invest in maintaining core classic Sites functionality until end of year 2021.

More features coming to new Sites

Here are some examples of commonly requested functionality that you will see in new Sites in the future:
Create richer, more customized sites:

New site themes so your sites can match your company look, feel, and brand.
Improved text controls to provide you with a greater choice of fonts, colors, styles, and more.
Standard templates from Google to help you quickly create common types of sites (such as team sites, project sites, and events sites).
Custom templates to provide simple access to starter websites specific to your domain.
Better integration with other G Suite products so you can easily embed content in Sites.
New API capabilities, including Apps Script support, so you can automate and manage sites.
New page elements, like tables of contents and image carousels.

Create and manage larger sites:

Additional functionality and controls to help you create and manage larger sites.
Increased size limits so you can build larger sites.
Ability to see what’s changed between the previous published version and current draft of a site, so you can make more informed publishing decisions.
Version history so you can see and restore previous versions.
Richer and more comprehensive search from within a site.
Google Vault support for content from new Sites.

Transitioning from classic Sites to new Sites

In 2016 we announced a new version of Google Sites, and in 2017 we announced that new Sites would eventually become the only version of Google Sites. We’ve heard feedback that classic Sites remains valuable for our customers. While we work to add some of the features detailed above, we plan to maintain core classic Sites functionality. This will extend the deadline to transition from classic to new Sites, which we detailed in this post, to the end of 2021.

We continue to have dedicated engineers maintaining core functionality, but classic Sites was originally built many years ago and its infrastructure and integrations with other products and gadgets are quickly becoming outdated. As a result, we cannot guarantee all features will continue to work as they currently do.

As we make progress along the roadmap and expand the features and functionality of new Sites, we plan to improve our migration tools and processes to help make the migration from classic Sites to new Sites easier.

We’ll provide more updates as work progresses. Keep an eye on the G Suite Updates blog for details of these announcements.

Try new Sites today

The new Google Sites has a simple interface that makes it easy for anyone to create functional and attractive sites. Many of our customers already prefer it to create common types of sites, including team sites, product sites, and event sites. If you want to try it:

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get your whole team jamming with Jamboard web improvements

January 23, 2019

What’s changing

We’re adding several new features to Jamboard which will make it easier to create and collaborate on jams on the web. We recently announced that you can now create and edit jams in a Chrome browser. We’re enhancing this web-based Jamboard experience with several useful features including:

Support for familiar keyboard shortcuts: Use Ctrl/CMD+c to copy, CTRL+V to paste, and CTRL+D to duplicate Jam objects when editing on the web.
Create, delete, and duplicate frames on the web: Easily manage frames (the equivalent of pages in jams) on the web.
Easier switch between creation modes: Quickly switch between the drawing and selection modes - hold down Ctrl/CMD to switch to the select mode, and release to switch back to drawing mode.
Better image management: Add images to jams by drag and drop, copy and paste, or through a simple image upload dialog.

A new dialogue will make it easier to insert images in jams

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

Jamboard is a great tool for brainstorming, encouraging collaboration, and generally bringing ideas to life. This launch makes it easier for everyone on your team to collaborate on jams, regardless of whether they’re by a physical Jamboard or not.

With these improvements to Jamboard on the web, and the pre-existing apps for phones and tablets, we hope more if your team can join in and share ideas, capture sticky notes, brainstorm, and much more.

How to get started

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Keyboard shortcuts, frame management, and mode switching will have a gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on Jan 23, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Keyboard shortcuts, frame management, and mode switching will have a gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on Jan 23, 2019.

Better image management will start rolling out in February. Keep an eye on the G Suite Updates blog to know when to expect it.

G Suite editions

Available to G Suite Basic, Business, Enterprise, Enterprise for Education, and Education editions. Not available to G Suite for Nonprofits edition.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

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New Gmail compose formatting and download options

January 22, 2019

What’s changing

We're adding three new features to Gmail:

Shortcut to undo/redo in the compose window
Shortcut to strikethrough text
Ability to download messages as .EML files in rfc822 format from Gmail on the web

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

Undo/Redo: If you need to undo an action, like if you accidentally delete the content of your draft of an email, you can do so straight from the compose view. Anytime you have undo, you want to also have the option of redo, so we’ve added that as well.
Strikethrough: Strikethrough is a visual cue that something has been completed or can be used as an edit suggestion. We’ve heard from you that this functionality is critical to quickly and efficiently write emails, especially when you want to visually indicate a change in language.
Download as .EML: This format is recognized by other email clients, allowing you to view the Gmail content along with attachments within these clients. In addition, with this functionality users can now add these downloaded messages as attachments in their emails.

How to get started

Admins: No action necessary.
End users - new compose formatting: Click on the formatting menu in the Gmail compose window.

End users - new download format: Open the overflow (three dot) menu and select “Download message.”

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days) starting on January 22, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days) starting on January 22, 2019

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?

These features will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Notice the new format for these launch announcements? Give us feedback on it here.

Two new Hangouts Meet tools added to the Admin console

January 22, 2019

What’s changing

We’re launching two new features in the Admin console to help G Suite admins better understand and manage the usage of Hangouts Meet within their organizations. Specifically, we’re adding:

Meet quality tool: This tool gives quick and easy access to meeting information in your domain. With that information, you can better understand what happened in a meeting and what might have caused quality issues, significantly reducing troubleshooting time.

Hangouts Meet activity logs: Information about Meet usage and quality is now available to admins through Meet activity logs (in the Admin console under Reports > Audit > Hangouts Meet), enabling you both high level and detailed views on usage within your domain.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

Meet quality tool: Meet quality tool is designed to help you to troubleshoot your meetings. You can either look at one specific meeting or filter for a time frame, location, device or user. The data visible in Meet quality tool is available in the Hangouts Meet activity log (explained below) to enable further analysis.

Hangouts Meet activity logs: Each time a device or a user leaves a call, an "Activity event" that summarizes usage and quality is generated. The event includes information about the endpoint (such as device type, location, IP, identifier, or call rating), its usage (such as time sharing their video, screen sharing or audio) and network statistics (such as jitter, packet loss, or RTT). Learn more about the data available in the Help Center.

Hangouts Meet activity logs provides data to help better answer questions such as:

Is video conferencing transforming my organization (and if so, how)?

Which locations communicate actively and which locations are isolated?
How many minutes of video conference (VC) are run every day/week for different groups of people?
Does Meet help my organization work remotely?
Analyze Hangouts Meet Hardware usage. How does it change over time or location?

How is my network performing and what is the impact it has on video quality for my users?

How do users rate the quality of the calls on my domain? Does it vary over time or per location?
How much bandwidth does Meet use overall and at a specific location?

How to get started

Admins

Meet quality tool: To use Meet quality tool you need to be a super admin or have the correct delegated admin privilege. Follow the instructions in the Help Center to learn more about Meet quality tool access delegation.
Hangouts Meet activity log: Visit the Admin console and go to Reports > Audit > Hangouts Meet. Here, you can export the data to your favorite analytical tool (using the Activity API or BigQuery for G Suite Enterprise customers) to answer specific questions you may have.

Export the data using BigQuery

End users: No end user impact.

Helpful links
Help Center: Troubleshoot meeting quality
Help Center: Hangouts Meet audit log

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days) starting on January 22, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days) starting on January 22, 2019

G Suite editions

Both the Meet quality tool and the Meet activity log are available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

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Upcoming Hangouts service consolidation for all G Suite customers

January 22, 2019

What’s changing

As we announced in 2017, Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet are the next generation of Hangouts that focus on team communication. Later this year, we'll transition classic Hangouts users on G Suite domains to Chat and Meet. As a first step, some changes are coming on April 16, 2019.

Key dates to note

G Suite customers can expect the following timeline of changes:

April 16, 2019 – Several changes that may require administrator action (see below for details).
Between April and September 2019 – Features from classic Hangouts will come to Chat.
October 2019 – Start retiring classic Hangouts for G Suite customers.

Consumer impact

The above dates are specific to G Suite customers and their end users who use classic Hangouts. We will continue to support consumer use of classic Hangouts, and expect to transition consumers to free Chat and Meet following the transition of G Suite customers. A more specific timeline will be communicated at a later date.

What changes will take place on April 16, 2019?
For G Suite domains that have classic Hangouts enabled, Chat will also become available to users on the web and via mobile apps. They can also continue using classic Hangouts in Gmail, mobile, web or the Chrome extension. See these details for how interoperability works between Chat and classic Hangouts.

The following admin-facing changes will begin taking place on April 16, 2019:

For Google Vault customers, Mail retention rules and holds will stop protecting chat messages in classic Hangouts. Instead, Chat retention rules and holds will protect chat messages in both classic Hangouts and Chat.
Chat admin settings will now control chat capability in both classic Hangouts and Chat.
A new setting in the Admin console under Apps > G Suite > Hangouts Chat will be added so you can disable classic Hangouts user interfaces at a time of your choosing.
The "Google Hangouts" settings page in the Admin console will be renamed "Hangouts Meet." This setting will control both classic Hangouts video and Hangouts Meet.

Google Vault customers need to take action before April 16, 2019
Between March 16 and April 16, 2019, Vault customers that have any Mail retention rules or holds will have an indefinite retention rule automatically created for Chat. This rule is to protect all your chat messages in classic Hangouts when Chat rules start protecting them on April 16, 2019. Before April 16, 2019, you must:

Review and set new retention rules for Chat in Google Vault.
Duplicate any existing Mail holds for Chat in Google Vault.
Set any new holds on chat messages from Chat in Google Vault.
Once you have set your preferred retention rules and holds for Chat, in order for them to take effect, remove the indefinite retention rule that may be overriding your rules.

If you don’t take set your preferred retention rules or holds in Chat and then remove the indefinite retention rule by April 16, 2019, all your chat messages in classic Hangouts and direct messages in Chat will be retained indefinitely. Refer to this Help Center article to learn more about completing these actions.

What will happen in October 2019?
Classic Hangouts will be retired for all G Suite customers starting in October 2019 and all remaining users will be transitioned to Chat. More notices and details will be shared on the G Suite Updates blog in the future. In order to make the transition easier for your users, you can review our Chat documentation.

What is the best time to move my users to Hangouts Chat?
You can transition your users immediately if you’d like. If there’s more functionality that your organization needs before switching, rest assured that between April and September 2019, we’ll add features that will make it easier for your users to move from classic Hangouts to Chat such as:

Integration with Gmail
Chatting with external users
An improved video calling experience
Making calls with Google Voice

We will communicate availability of these new features via the G Suite Updates blog so stay tuned!

Helpful links

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Allow Google Calendar users to book Microsoft Exchange resources

January 17, 2019

What’s changing

You can now let your Google Calendar users book Microsoft Exchange calendar resources, such as meeting rooms, when they schedule a meeting.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

We know that some of you manage a coexistence of Google Calendar users and Microsoft Exchange users within your organizations. Last year, we added the ability to share free/busy information across users in these two environments. With this launch, Calendar users can now easily book any resources that are stored in Exchange.

How to get started

Additional details

For more information about Calendar interop, check out the Help Center.

Helpful links

Help Center: Allow Calendar users to book Exchange resources

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the domain level.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Notice the new format for these launch announcements? Give us feedback on it here.

Updates

Easily copy your Gmail holds to Hangouts Chat in Google Vault

See a filterable, searchable list of the latest G Suite launches

Change to per-conversation settings in classic Hangouts on Android

Google Drive and Google Docs available in Burmese and Welsh

Easily refresh Salesforce data in Sheets

Easily take action in Gmail with new right-click context menu options

Manage workflows and automate processes with the new Google Docs API

Refresh BigQuery data in Sheets using Apps Script and Macros

Additional Thai fonts available in Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Whitelist trusted apps for your domain to ensure apps work properly

Easily enter building locations into the Admin console

Changes to Google Groups settings starting May 6, 2019

Manage and distribute Android apps when using basic mobile management

Automatically provision users with three additional apps

What's New in G Suite - January 2019

Dedicated Hangouts Meet IP addresses

Five new third-party applications added to G Suite pre-integrated SAML apps catalog

Feedback requested: New blog post format

A new look and feel for Gmail on mobile

More language options available for the 2019 Calendar Template in Sheets

Updated roadmap for classic and new Google Sites

Get your whole team jamming with Jamboard web improvements

New Gmail compose formatting and download options

Two new Hangouts Meet tools added to the Admin console

Upcoming Hangouts service consolidation for all G Suite customers

Allow Google Calendar users to book Microsoft Exchange resources

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