G Suite Updates Blog

Advanced password controls for increased security

November 14, 2018

When it comes to protecting online accounts, a strong password is the first line of defense. As such, organizations have various stipulations for their users’ passwords. G Suite admins can already specify minimum and maximum length limits for passwords for their users. With this launch, we’re making it possible to enforce additional rigorous password requirements for increased security and to meet their compliance needs.

Going forward, an admin can do the following:

Require that users set a strong password.

Admins can already see which passwords in their domain are weak; enabling this setting will allow admins to force users with weak passwords to change them. Direct your users to this Help Center article for tips on creating a strong password. Note that this setting is OFF by default.

Control when password length and strength requirements go into effect.

You can choose to enforce password length and strength requirements either the next time a user changes their password or the next time they log in. The default is to start enforcement the next time a user changes their password. To change it, check the box next to “Start password policy enforcement at next sign in.”

Prompt users to change their passwords after a certain number of days.

If you’re unsure about whether or not you need to do this, we recommend you leave this setting as “Never.”

Prevent users from reusing old passwords.

To prevent password reuse, we recommend you leave the box for “Allow password reuse” unchecked. This is the default.

Each of these settings can be found in the Admin console under Security > Password management. As part of the launch we are also moving the password length (minimum and maximum) settings from the Basic Settings card to this new Password management card. For more information, visit the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins and end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Manage your users' password settings

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Now your Activity Dashboard is one click away in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

November 13, 2018

We’ve made it easier for you to open the Activity dashboard directly from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings. You’ll now see the Activity dashboard icon (a jagged arrow pointing upward) next to the comments button in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Clicking on the icon opens the dashboard, where you can analyze time statistics and adjust privacy and document settings. This gives you instant access to the Activity dashboard information you’re seeking. Hovering over the icon enables you to view the information others can see about you in the Activity dashboard. To learn more about seeing the view history of your Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files, consult the Help Center.

Launch Details

Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in 2 weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact: All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: See the view history of your Google Docs, Sheets & Slides

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Organize and create apps for your domain directly from the Admin console

November 12, 2018

With this launch, we’re making it easier for you to create—and for your users to find—the Android apps they need at work.

Group and order apps in the managed Google Play store

To help your users find the apps they need, you can now group whitelisted Android apps into “collections” that users will see in the managed Google Play store. For example, you can create a collection for frequently used apps or one for apps related to expenses. You can then change the order in which those collections appear, as well as the order of apps within those collections.

You can do all of this without leaving the Admin console; visit the Help Center for detailed instructions. Note that this feature is only available to customers with advanced mobile device management enabled.

Create private apps quickly and easily in the Admin console

We know that creating a private app in the Google Play Console can be time-consuming and often requires unnecessary steps. To streamline that process, we’re now making it possible to publish a private Android app directly from the Admin console.

You no longer need to create a Play Console account, provide a credit card, or fill in irrelevant fields; simply upload the APK and give the app a title (see full instructions here). The app will then appear in the managed Play store within minutes—as opposed to the hours previously required.

Note that this feature is also only available to customers with advanced mobile device management enabled.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins and end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Organize Android apps into collections
Help Center: Manage Google Play private apps

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Invite people to an ongoing Hangouts Meet meeting

November 9, 2018

We’re adding a new way to invite people to an ongoing meeting directly within Hangouts Meet. When you’re in a Meet meeting, you’ll now see an option to “Add people” at the top of the participant list.

Add people directly from the call

Clicking on this option will open a dialog box to send them an email invite to join as a full participant or call them into the meeting by phone.

To invite someone into your meeting, simply input their email address or lookup by name from the company directory.The invited participant will receive an email with instructions to join your meeting.

Enter the person's name, email address, or phone number

As always, inviting someone using their phone number will immediately call the phone number to to add them to the meeting. They will join as an audio only participant and will not see any video or the screenshare.

For more information on inviting people to Meet meetings, check out the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Invite people

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Check out the most recent G Suite launches

November 7, 2018

Last year, we introduced a new resource for admins: What’s new in G Suite? Don’t forget to visit the page regularly for a list of the most recent launches across G Suite.

Feedback? Let us know.

Improving search in Google Vault with custodian counts and saved queries

November 6, 2018

Before you perform a search of Gmail messages in Google Vault, you can see the number of results that your search criteria will return—helping you plan next steps and establish resources for review. Going forward, in addition to the total number of results, you’ll also see the number of accounts with matches. You can then download a list of those accounts and the number of messages that match each. This can help you determine the key custodians involved in an investigation. (Note that this feature is only available when searching Gmail messages.)

Programmatically save your search queries with the Vault Matters API

In addition to the feature above, we’re making it possible for admins to programmatically read, create, and delete saved search queries with the Vault Matters API. This will allow you to quickly and easily copy search parameters from one matter to another, saving you valuable time.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

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

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: How does the count feature work?

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Copy formatting to multiple objects in Google Slides

November 5, 2018

We’re making it easier to copy formatting from one object (like a block of text or a shape) to multiple others in Google Slides. Previously, you could use the paint format tool to copy formatting from one object to another, but you’d need to reclick it every time you wanted to apply it to a new object. Now, you can simply double-click the tool icon to enter “persistent” mode and apply that formatting to multiple objects in a slide. Just re-click the icon or tap Escape on your keyboard to stop.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Copy and paste text and images

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

What's New in G Suite - October 2018

November 1, 2018

Check out the latest "What's New in G Suite" launch recap (pdf) for a roundup of all G Suite launches from October 2018.

Archive and translated versions (coming soon for October issue)

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Timeline to move users to new Google Contacts and shut down old Contacts

November 1, 2018

Over the next few months, we’ll completely replace old Google Contacts with new Google Contacts (also known as Contacts preview).

We launched new Contacts in 2015 to provide a modern, smart, and quick contact management experience. We’ve added many features since then and, with the recent launch of contacts delegation, new Contacts now has many comparable features from old Contacts, and more.

As a result, new Contacts will replace the older version, and it will be the only Google Contacts version after February 12, 2019. The replacement process will take place in three stages:

Stage 1: New admin-controlled defaults and user options

On November 28, 2018, we’ll change the Admin console setting that controls new Contacts. Currently, there’s a checkbox to enable new Contacts for your users. If you enable it, your users are moved to new Contacts but can opt out. On November 28, this setting will change to formally define a default version of Contacts for your organization. Your current setting will determine the impact of this change:

If you currently have new Contacts preview enabled, new Contacts will be the default and there will be no change for your users. Your users will stay using new Contacts with the option to revert back to old Contacts. If they previously opted out of new Contacts preview, they’ll remain opted out until stage 2 (see below).
If you don’t currently have new Contacts preview enabled, old Contacts will be the default but users will get a new option to try new Contacts. None of your users will be automatically upgraded to new Contacts, but all users will be able to opt in to new Contacts individually if they choose.

You can find and change the setting in the Admin console at Apps > G Suite > Directory > Sharing settings > Contacts Preview.

The setting to control new Contacts preview in the Admin console

Stage 2: All users upgraded to new Contacts, with the option to opt out

On January 15, 2019, new Contacts will automatically become the default version in your domain and we will remove the Admin console setting. When this happens, all users still using old Contacts will be moved to new Contacts. You won’t be able to change this for your organization, but individual users will still be able to revert back to old Contacts if they want until stage 3 (see below).

Stage 3: All users upgraded to new Contacts, old Contacts turned off

On February 12, 2019, old Contacts will be turned off completely, and any remaining users will be moved to new Contacts. There will be no option to use the old version.

Launch Details
Release track:
All stages launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) for all stages

Impact:
Admins and end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Delegate contact management in the new Google Contacts preview

October 31, 2018

We’re adding the ability to delegate contact management to someone else in new Google Contacts (aka Contacts preview). When you delegate contact management, you give someone else the ability to edit or delete information in your personal contacts folder on your behalf. Any changes they make to those contacts will update in your Contacts. Customers will often use delegated contacts so administrative assistants can manage contacts for executives.

This feature was previously available in old Contacts, but not in new Contacts (see below for more). If you use delegation in old Contacts, the delegation will still be active if you move to new Contacts. Contacts and contact delegation are no longer available through Gmail.

Delegate access to your contacts

You can invite someone else within your organization to manage your contacts through the new Contacts website at contacts.google.com. Once you’ve delegated access, the person you delegated to will be notified by email and will be able to add, edit, and delete contacts on your behalf.

To see and change delegate access to your contacts, click on the Delegate access button in the product’s main navigation menu. See our Help Center to learn more about how to delegate your contacts.

Accept delegation invitation and manage someone else’s contacts

When someone delegates their contacts to you, you’ll get an email asking if you want to accept the request. If you accept, the contacts will appear in a new “Delegated contacts” section of the Contacts menu. You can add, edit, and delete someone else’s contacts the same way you can with your other contacts. If you want to stop managing these contacts, click Remove delegated contacts at the top of the page.

See our Help Center to learn more about managing delegated contacts.

Delegated contacts appear in a separate section of Contacts

Use the new Google Contacts

If you haven’t already, you can launch new Contacts for your users. New Contacts (aka Contacts preview) was launched in 2015 and has many comparable features from old Contacts, with an updated interface and additional features that increase efficiency. If you’ve previously enabled new Contacts and a user has opted out, they can opt back in by looking for the link to “Try Contacts preview” in the left hand menu at contacts.google.com.

A comparison of the old and new Google Contacts interface

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Delegate contacts to an assistant

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

An update on the GData Admin Settings API shutdown

October 30, 2018

Last year, we announced that we’re shutting down the GData Admin Settings API on October 31, 2018. As previously communicated, the following features will be shut down or replaced on that date:

Admin Settings API	Endpoint	Replacement (if any)
General settings	/defaultLanguage	Directory API: Customers
	/organizationName	Directory API: Customers
	/currentNumberOfUsers	no replacement / discontinued
	/maximumNumberOfUsers	no replacement / discontinued
Account settings	/accountInformation/supportPIN	no replacement / discontinued
	/accountInformation/customerPIN	no replacement / discontinued
	/accountInformation/adminSecondaryEmail	Directory API: Customers
	/accountInformation/edition	no replacement / discontinued
	/accountInformation/creationTime	Directory API: Customers
	/accountInformation/countryCode	Directory API: Customers
Appearance settings	All endpoints	no replacement / discontinued
Verification settings	All endpoints	no replacement from Google / any publicly available domain verification APIs can be used

Single Sign-on (SSO) settings and Gateway and routing settings features not yet shutting down

We’re still working on replacements for the following features:

Single Sign-on (SSO) settings (all endpoints)
Gateway and routing settings (all endpoints)

Monitor the G Suite Updates blog to learn about these replacements when they launch. Note that we’ll continue to support these features for at least 12 months after their replacements become available.

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

View emails from multiple accounts at once in the Gmail iOS app

October 30, 2018

You can view email from multiple accounts, be it your work or personal, G Suite or non-G Suite (even third-party IMAP accounts), in the Gmail iOS app. But you’ve traditionally needed to toggle between different inboxes to do so. To save you time, we’re now making it possible to view emails from multiple accounts in a single inbox on an iOS device—the same way you can with the Gmail Android app.

To see emails from different accounts at one time, simply select the “All Inboxes” view from the left-hand side drawer. This will show all your emails in a single list, but don’t worry—no emails will be shared between your accounts.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Check emails from other accounts

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Automatically provision users with two additional apps

October 29, 2018

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.

We’ve heard continued positive feedback from admins, so we’re adding auto-provisioning support for two new applications:

Bonusly
Klipfolio

Customers with G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Education editions, as well as Cloud Identity Premium, can enable user auto-provisioning in all supported applications. Customers with G Suite Basic, Government, and Nonprofit editions can configure auto-provisioning for up to three applications from the supported list.

For more information on how to set up auto-provisioning, check out the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:

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

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

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

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

New interface for Activity dashboard in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

October 29, 2018

We’re updating the interface of Activity dashboard in the Google Docs editors. The options and settings available won’t change, but we hope the new interface makes it easier to find data and collaborate more effectively.

See the new Activity dashboard UI

“View time” in the new Activity dashboard interface

“Viewer trend” in the new Activity dashboard interface

A comparison of the old and new Activity dashboard interfaces

See our Help Center for more information on how to see the view history of your Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: See the view history of your Google Docs, Sheets & Slides
G Suite Updates blog: Improve collaboration in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides with Activity dashboard

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Check out the most recent G Suite launches

October 24, 2018

Last year, we introduced a new resource for admins: What’s new in G Suite? Don’t forget to visit the page regularly for a list of the most recent launches across G Suite.

Feedback? Let us know.

New settings and connectivity logs improve Jamboard fleet management

October 22, 2018

We’re adding new Jamboard logs to the Admin console. These will give G Suite admins better visibility into the status of their Jamboards, as well as what actions have been taken on them. We hope this will help you better manage your fleet of Jamboards and better diagnose and fix any issues you have with them.

Easily access logs of Jamboard actions

Logs will be displayed with simple descriptions, and admins will be able to search within and filter these logs to quickly see important information about the status of their Jamboards. The logs will include:

Recent changes to Jamboard settings, such as device name, location, screensaver timeout, device updates, and more
For recent settings changes, who made the changes, as well as both the old and new value (where possible)

Following our previous announcement that we’ve moved Jamboard fleet management to the G Suite Admin console, these logs will be in the G Suite Admin console at Home > Reporting > Audit.

Pinpoint and fix Jamboard issues

This information can help admins:
Diagnose issues: For example, if a Jamboard is offline, an admin can review the logs to see when it went offline and see when the device was last rebooted. This can help you narrow down and fix the possible cause of the connectivity issues more quickly.

Save time: For example, if a Jamboard user reports an unhelpful change or is experiencing an issue, admins will be able to see when recent on-device settings were changed. This could help narrow down the issue and track admin actions taken for the board, which helps avoid duplicating any steps that have already been tried.

See our Help Center for more information on how to manage Jamboards.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Manage your Jamboards

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Export a CSV file of room insights data from the Admin console

October 22, 2018

In August of this year, we announced the room insights dashboard in the Admin console. As a G Suite admin, you can use this dashboard to better understand how meeting resources are being used within your organization.

We’ve heard from you that you’d like to export this helpful information in order to further analyze it. That’s why we’re now adding an option for you to export the raw data for your selected rooms and timeframe from the dashboard as a CSV file.

The downloaded file will include:

Building
Floor
Resource name
Capacity
Total hours the room was booked
Average booking rate
Average occupancy rate
Booking distribution bucket (for example, rooms in the “Overbooked (8+hrs)” bucket were booked more than 8 hours every day)

Check out the Help Center for more information on how your meeting rooms are used.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: See how rooms and resources are used

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Securely log in to Hangouts Chat desktop apps with SSO or security keys

October 18, 2018

We’re improving the Hangouts Chat sign in process to support using Single-Sign-On (SSO) and security keys within our native MacOS and Windows apps. These authentication options were previously only available for Chat on the web.

With SSO, employees can use the same, easy sign-in process for Chat that they use to access all of their enterprise cloud applications after signing in just one time.

For admins who have required that their users have 2-step verification enabled, this requirement will now apply to Chat desktop apps as well.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center:Add 2-Step Verification
Help Center: Use Security Key for 2-Step Verification

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Compose actions in Gmail Add-ons now available

October 18, 2018

Compose actions in Gmail Add-ons make it easy to add links and attachments from apps like Box, Dropbox, Atlassian’s Jira, and Egnyte to any Gmail message—right as you’re drafting it. We’re launching Compose actions to G Suite customers today with those four partners (plus more on the way). See our post on the G Suite blog for more details.

Gmail Add-ons with compose actions can be installed from the G Suite Marketplace. Like all other Gmail Add-ons, G Suite admins can install them for their entire domain or add them to their whitelist.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins and end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
G Suite blog: Never miss a beat—new integrations make it easy to insert content, trigger actions within Gmail
Help Center: Install Marketplace apps
Help Center: Control user installation of Marketplace apps

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Hangouts Meet add-in for Microsoft Outlook available

October 17, 2018

We’ve built a Hangouts Meet add-in for Microsoft Outlook to help Outlook users schedule Meet meetings. This add-in allows you to create a new Meet video meeting in your Outlook event or email. Simply install the add-in, and tap on the Meet icon to automatically insert video conferencing details and info on how to join the Calendar event or email.

This add-in is the Meet equivalent to the previous Hangouts Outlook plugin.

Check out our Help Center to learn more about adding Meet video meetings to Outlook events, including instructions for downloading the add-in.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Add Meet video meetings to Outlook events

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Vertical ruler improves table management in Google Docs

October 15, 2018

In response to user feedback, we’re adding a vertical ruler in Google Docs on the web that will help you manipulate tables and control the margins in headers and footers.

Better table management with new vertical ruler

When you’re using a table, you’ll see your table structure highlighted in a vertical ruler on the left side of the screen. The vertical ruler matches the horizontal ruler, which already exists and is a popular way to control cell width and margins.

You can use the ruler to change the height of rows in the table. When you do so, you’ll see a guide telling you the specific height of the row so you can quickly format it to the specific size you want. You can also use it to control the vertical margins in headers and footers (see more details below).

New controls over header and footer layout

We recently added new controls which let you specify the size of the margins in your header and footer. You can control the margins using the vertical ruler feature highlighted above or by using the interface pictured below. By controlling this spacing, you can make sure your document is formatted just as you want it.

New header and footer margin options in Google Docs

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

New Team Drives role and names, plus a migration update

October 10, 2018

In September, we told you that a new “Content manager” role was coming soon to Team Drives. We also provided an optional role migration to help organizations take full advantage of the new role. See details of that announcement here.

These changes are now starting to take effect. Along with the new role, we’ll also be updating the names of the existing Team Drives membership roles. This post contains more details on what to look for and what to expect as these changes roll out.

Timeline for changes

For Rapid Release domains, new names for roles in Team Drives will start to roll out on October 10th, 2018. The new role and optional auto-migration will start to roll out on October 15th, 2018.

For Scheduled Release domains, new names for roles in Team Drives will start to roll out on October 17th, 2018. The new role will start to roll out on October 22nd, 2018. The optional auto-migration will start on October 29th, 2018.

New names for roles in Team Drives

The existing roles for Team Drives memberships will get new names:

“Full access” will now be known as “Manager.”
“Edit access” will now be “Contributor.”
“Comment access” will now be “Commenter.”
“View access” will now be “Viewer.”
There will also be a new role, “Content manager.” See below for more details.

See our Learning Center to see more about roles and permissions in Team Drives.

New Content manager Team Drives role

Users with the Content manager role will be able to edit, reorganize, and delete content in a Team Drive, but they won’t be able to modify Team Drive membership or settings. Content manager will replace “Full access” as the default role for new Team Drive members.

We recommend that Drive File Stream users also make use of the Content manager role, as it will make it easier to manage Team Drive files through their computer’s file system or the Drive web interface. See our initial announcement for more details on the Content manager role.

If opted in, auto-migration starts soon

If you previously opted in, the migration to change users from “Edit access” to “Content manager” will take place soon. When the migration happens, users and admins will not be explicitly notified, but will be able to see the different role description when they look at their Team Drive membership. As a reminder, the migration will mean:

All individual users and groups in your organization who are members of Team Drives with “Edit access” will become “Content managers.”
External users who are members of Team Drives in your organization will not be migrated, unless they belong to a group that also contains internal users. If they belong to a group that also contains internal users and that group is a member of a Team Drive with “Edit access,” the group will be migrated and as a result those external users will have the Content manager role.

Note: The window to opt in to the migration has now closed, and we can’t accept any additional migration requests.

Update to the latest software versions to get the new features

To make sure you get these features on all of your devices, make sure your apps are up to date. You should be using the following versions:

Google Drive app on Android - use version 2.18.372 or above.
Google Drive app on iOS - use version 4.2018.40 or above.
Google Drive File Stream - versions 27.1.49.1806 or above on Windows and 27.1.49.2230 or above on OSX.

Launch Details
Release track:

For Rapid Release domains:

New names for roles in Team Drives will start to roll out on October 10th, 2018.
The new role and optional migration will start to roll out on October 15th, 2018.

For Scheduled Release domains:

New names for roles in Team Drives will start to roll out on October 17th, 2018.
The new role will start to roll out on October 22nd, 2018.
The optional migration will start to roll out on October 29th, 2018.

Editions:

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Learning Center: Get started with Team Drives
G Suite Updates blog post: New Content manager role coming to Team Drives

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Email Settings API to be shut down on October 16, 2019

October 10, 2018

In 2016, we announced the deprecation of the Email Settings API in the Admin SDK and encouraged people to use the Gmail API instead. This is a reminder that we’re planning to turn down the Email Settings API on October 16, 2019, at which point any requests to the API will fail.

We recommend using the Gmail API, which has replacements for most Email Settings API endpoints. This includes the ability to manage Gmail delegate settings, which just launched earlier this month.

Please note that the Web Clips and General Settings features don’t have replacements in the Gmail API; a replacement for the Language Settings feature is planned for Q1 2019.

If you haven’t done so already, we suggest migrating to the Gmail API as soon as possible. You can use this guide to help you transition.

More Information
Gmail API Guide: Migrating from the Email Settings API

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Alert center for G Suite generally available to help identify security threats

October 10, 2018

We’re making the alert center for G Suite generally available. The alert center provides a single, comprehensive view of essential security-related notifications, alerts, and actions across G Suite. The alert center was previously available in beta and helps G Suite organizations detect threats and take action to mitigate them.

Alert center provides a unified view of essential notifications

The alert center brings together alerts on some of the most critical security concerns including account warnings, gmail phishing and malware, and device management. These alerts cover a number of scenarios.

Account warning alerts: These will cover seven different scenarios, ranging from suspended accounts triggered due to suspicious activities to alerts on government-backed attacks.

Gmail phishing and malware alerts: We leverage machine learning to identify threat indicators and uncover malware threats. We surface alerts for potentially malicious IP addresses, even if these are placed on your trusted whitelist. We’ll also show potential phishing events, including those messages that have been quarantined or delivered.

Device management alerts: We look the various device attributes to determine if user device has been jailbroken or rooted. These alerts are surfaced, along with other device management alerts on suspicious device activity.

Google operations alerts: The Google operations alert provides details about security and privacy issues that are affecting your organization's G Suite services.

Alerts link to specific information and remediation steps

For every alert, we include dedicated knowledge articles to help admins learn about the alert type. Where relevant, we also have links that admins can use to take actions to help remediate the threat. Links to these resources are accessible from the alert detail page within the Admin console. They can help admins take action right away to shield users and remediate incidents.

Alert center builds on security center functionality

The unified view that the alert center provides will help all G Suite admins manage alerts more efficiently, and provide insights that help them assess their organization's exposure to security issues at the domain and user levels.

In addition, G Suite Enterprise edition domains can use the G Suite security center for integrated remediation of issues surfaced by alerts. From every alert in the alert center, admins at G Suite Enterprise domains will have a dedicated link that will trigger a pre-configured query in the investigation tool. This helps these admins go from detection to remediation with just a few clicks.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: About the Alert center
G Suite Updates blog: Get a unified view of essential notifications with the alert center Beta

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Easily add images and charts from other files to Google Docs and Slides

October 9, 2018

The Explore feature in Google Docs and Slides makes it simple to search for Google Drive files related to whatever you’re currently working on. With this launch, G Suite Basic, Business, and Enterprise users can view images and charts in those files—right from within the Explore panel—and insert them quickly and easily into their document or presentation.

Visit the Help Center for more information on how to use Explore in Google Docs and Slides.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions:
Available to G Suite Basic, Business, and Enterprise editions only

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: See and use suggested content in a document
Help Center: See and use suggested layouts in a presentation

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Get Google sign-in prompts on all of your phones

October 8, 2018

Instead of using a 2-Step Verification code to sign in to your G Suite account, you can tap a prompt that Google sends to your phone. This prompt is an easier and even more secure way of authenticating your account, and it respects mobile policies enforced on G Suite employee devices.

Until now, in order to receive Google prompts on a new device, you had to explicitly approve that phone when you first signed in with your G Suite account. With this launch, however, you can opt to get Google prompts on all of your devices automatically.

To get Google sign-in prompts on all of your phones, visit the 2-Step Verification page in My Account.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Sign in faster with 2-Step Verification phone prompts

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Manage your Jamboard fleet directly from the Admin console

October 8, 2018

You can now manage your Jamboards, along with your users and other devices, all in one place. We’re moving Jamboard fleet management and administration into the Admin console under Device Management > Jamboards. This move creates a more consistent and intuitive resource management experience for G Suite admins.

This replaces the Jamboard Admin console, but all of its functionality to provision, deprovision, and see device health is still available and all of its settings will be preserved. We’ve also added new features like filtering for improved searching, pagination, and a refresh button.

Visit the Help Center for more information on viewing, modifying, and updating settings for your Jamboard in the Jamboard Admin console.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Manage your Jamboards

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Add automatic real-time captions when you present in Google Slides

October 8, 2018

You can now show automated closed captions in real-time when presenting in Google Slides. This feature uses your computer’s microphone to detect your spoken presentation, and then transcribes what you say as captions on the slides you’re presenting. We hope that this will make your presentations more effective in more environments to a wider audience.

Captions created automatically from your audio

If you turn captions on, Google Slides will use the audio from your microphone to automatically create captions of what you say. These captions will display in real time at the bottom of your screen to all audience members watching the presentation. This will work for local presentations and for presentations over video conferencing software, where captions will show on the shared screen.

The feature works in U.S. English on Chrome browsers. Captions are created from the presenter’s computer and its microphone, so captions may not work consistently if there are multiple presenters using different computers. You may want to let the audience know that captions are from Google Slides, not the video conferencing software, and that only the speaker's voice is captioned.

Helps improve accessibility and in environments where it’s hard to hear

This feature can help make your presentation more effective for:

Audience members who are deaf or hard of hearing
Non-native speakers and/or audience members who prefer written content
In venues with poor audio or in noisy ambient environments

To find out how to turn on and use automated captions in Slides, visit our Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Present slides with captions

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Updates

Labels

Archive

Feed

Subscribe by email

Localized G Suite Updates

Useful Links

Company-wide

Products

Developers