G Suite Updates Blog

Updated interface for managing Google Groups in the Admin console

September 17, 2020

Quick launch summary We’re updating the interface admins use to manage Google Groups for Business in their organizations. Google Groups for Business settings let admins control how Google Groups can be created and used within their domains. All the same settings will be available in the new interface, but the structure will be revamped to make it easier to find and change settings.
In addition, we’re adding Groups information to the Admin audit log, which will enable admins to see when and by whom settings were changed.
A new look for Groups for Business settings
Groups information is now in the admin audit log

Getting started

Admins: You’ll see the new interface by default when you go to Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Groups for Business. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Groups for your organization.
End users: No end-user impact.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 17, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming G Suite release.

Folder sharing in shared drives now generally available

September 16, 2020

Quick launch summary You can now share folders in shared drives. Previously, this feature was available in beta.
Shared drives empower teams and organizations to store, access, and collaborate on files. With this launch, you can share a specific folder with other users, or upgrade member access to provide users with additional permissions on specific folders within shared drives.
At launch, the feature is available via Drive on the web, the Drive API, Drive File Stream (v. 42+) and the latest Google Drive apps for iOS (v. 4.2020.36202+) and Android (v. 2.20.321+). It will be available through the native file system on ChromeOS with an upcoming release.
See our beta announcement for more details and examples of how you could use the feature.
Some updates and reminders from the beta post:

Commenter role available in My Drive: In order to align My Drive and shared drives, ‘Commenter’ roles will now be available for folders in My Drive. Previously, only Viewer and Editor were available.
Manager role required to move folders between shared drives: As explained in our previous post, moving folders between shared drives are only allowed for users who are managers on both the original as well as the target location.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be available for all domains with Shared Drives enabled. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to manage shared drives for your organization, and how to use folder sharing in shared drives.
End users: This feature will be available to all users with shared drives. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to store and share files with shared drives.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits, and G Suite Essentials customers
Not available to G Suite Basic customers

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming G Suite release.

Google Device Policy app ending support for iOS 10 soon

September 16, 2020

Quick launch summary The Google Device Policy app won’t support mobile devices running iOS version 10 or lower after the end of 2020. If your organization has advanced mobile device management (MDM) enabled, users must upgrade to iOS version 11 or higher to access new MDM features or to download the Device Policy app for the first time.
We will remove support for iOS 10 in the first release of the Device Policy app in 2021. Therefore please ensure your users upgrade their devices before the end of the year to avoid any disruption to their work.
Use our Help Center to find more information on minimum device requirements for Google mobile management.

See up to 49 people, including yourself, in Google Meet

September 15, 2020

What’s changing You can now see up to 49 people at the same time in the auto and tiled layout options in Google Meet.
In addition, we’ve added the ability to see yourself as a tile on the call. When you hover over your thumbnail in the top right corner, you’ll now see the option to add or remove yourself from the grid. These changes are only visible to you.

See up to 49 participant tiles in Google Meet

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it Seeing more people at the same time can improve the dynamics of larger group meetings and classes. Whether it's seeing everyone's reactions to what's being discussed, or more easily tracking multiple speakers, it can help virtual meetings feel more like in-person meetings and encourage participation. Additionally, adding yourself as a full tile let’s you see yourself better. This can make you feel more like part of the larger group, especially when taking screenshots or photos.
We hope that this helps individuals and teams feel more connected while apart.

Additional details This feature is only available in Meet on the web. By default, the maximum number of tiles you’ll see in auto layouts is 9, and in tiled layouts is 16.
With this launch, you’ll also be able to use a slider to adjust the number of tiles you see. You may want to increase the maximum when you have a large group, or reduce the number of tiles if you have a weak internet connection. Note that the slider adjustments are specific to each meeting, it will reset between each meeting and you can then customize each time. You may also see fewer tiles depending on your window size, as the tiles available will adjust to fit your screen.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: These features will be OFF by default. To change your layout, go to Settings > Change layout. Visit our Help Center to learn how to see yourself in a meeting.

Rollout pace 49-tile view

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on September 15, 2020
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 21, 2020

Self view

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: View yourself in a video meeting

Blur your background in Google Meet

September 15, 2020

Quick launch summary To help limit distractions during meetings, you can now blur the background of your video in Google Meet. When it’s turned on, Meet will intelligently separate you from the background, blurring your surroundings while keeping you clear and in focus.
We recently also launched the ability to filter out disruptive background noise in Google Meet. Together, these features reduce audio and visual distractions, and help ensure more productive meetings.
Background blur works directly within your browser and does not require an extension or any additional software. At launch, it will work on the Chrome browser on Windows and Mac desktop devices. Support for ChromeOS and Meet mobile apps will be coming soon, we’ll announce on the G Suite Updates blog when it’s available on those devices.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature is OFF by default. Visit our Help Center to learn more about how to blur your background on Google Meet.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout to eligible devices (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 15, 2020
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout to eligible devices (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 28, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google accounts.

Resources

Google Help: Blur your background in a video meeting

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming G Suite release.

Google Drive trash items will be automatically deleted after 30 days starting on October 13, 2020

September 15, 2020

What’s changing Starting October 13, 2020, we’re changing the retention policies for items in the Trash in Google Drive. With this new policy, any file that is put into a Google Drive trash will be automatically deleted after 30 days. Previously, trashed items would be retained indefinitely until the trash was emptied by the user.
Any files already in a user’s trash on October 13, 2020 will remain there for 30 days. After the 30-day period, files that have been in the trash for longer than 30 days will begin to be automatically deleted.

Who’s impacted End users

Why it’s important This change matches the policies of other G Suite products and services, such as Gmail. This will help ensure behavior is consistent and predictable for users across G Suite products, and will help make sure that items users trash are actually deleted as expected.

Additional details Policy change notes

In-app notification for users As this policy takes effect, we will show a banner to users with details of the change. The policy change will take effect regardless of whether a user sees or acknowledges the banner. We will be showing in-app notifications in Drive starting today and in our Editors products (e.g., Google Docs and Google Forms) starting September 29.

Getting started

Admins: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit our Help Center to see how admins can restore a user’s Drive data.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to delete and restore files in Google Drive.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)] starting on October 13, 2020

Availability

Applicable to all G Suite customers

Resources

G Suite Admin Help: Restore deleted files or shared drives
Google Help: Manage shared drives
Google Help: Clear Google Drive space & increase storage
Google Help: Delete and restore files in Google Drive

Introducing the Google Meet hardware Series One room kit

September 15, 2020

What’s changingWe just announced the next generation of meeting room hardware—Series One room kits for Google Meet.

Our new Series One room kits for Google Meet
Who’s impactedAdmins and end users
Why you’d use itEmployees are holding more video meetings than ever these days. We’ve developed the Series One kits to help your organization stay even more connected with features like:

Onboard AI with Google Edge TPUs in the smart audio bar and Meet compute system.
TrueVoice® proprietary voice isolation and multi-channel noise cancellation.
Power-over-ethernet for single cable installation.
New 4K smart cameras, equipped with high-resolution and large image sensors that can zoom in on and automatically frame meeting participants for better visibility.
Chrome OS for easy setup, along with automatic security and feature upgrades.

Additional detailsCheck out our announcement on the Cloud Blog to learn more about Series One and the research and technology that went into its development.
These kits will be available in the coming months. Contact Lenovo for purchasing information.
Getting started

Admins: Contact Lenovo for purchasing information.

Resources

Cloud Blog: Re-imagine your future workspace with Google Meet Series One hardware
First Look: Introducing Google Meet hardware Series One

More Google Meet participant controls for education meetings

September 14, 2020

What's changing

We’re giving hosts (meeting creators and calendar owners) of G Suite for Education meetings new meeting safety controls to manage who can join their meetings.

Who's impactedEnd users
Additional details

Manage meeting attendees

To control access to their meetings, hosts can turn "Quick access" on or off. By default, this setting will be on.

When "Quick access" is on:

Participants in the same domain as the host do not need to knock to request to join the meeting.
Participants joining by phone do not need to knock to request to join the meeting.
Participants can dial-out from within the meeting.

When "Quick access" is turned off:

All users, including those in the same domain as the host, must knock to request to join the meeting unless they're on the calendar invite. This includes any users who are dialing in to the meeting by phone.
Any participants invited from within the meeting by anyone other than the host need to knock to request to join.
Only the host can dial-out from within the meeting.

Hosts can turn "Quick access" on or off as often as they wish from Google Meet on the web once the meeting has started. Note: Hosts will not see the option to change this setting on mobile devices.

Soon we'll be adding additional functionality to the "Quick access" setting. Stay tuned to the G Suite Updates blog for the rollout timeline for those additional features:

When "Quick access" is off, the host must join the meeting first. Until the host joins, participants on the web will see the message: "Waiting for the Host to Join: The meeting will start as soon as the host has joined."
Hosts can turn "Quick access" on or off for meetings created in Google Calendar in addition to those created from Google Meet.

Getting started

Admins: There are no admin controls for these features.

End users: "Quick access" will be on by default and can be turned on or off by the host during each meeting. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning these features on or off in your meetings.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Availability

Available to all G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers
Not available to G Suite Essentials, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, and G Suite for Nonprofits customers

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming G Suite release.

New APIs to sign out users and control 2-Step Verification

September 14, 2020

Quick launch summary We’re adding two new APIs to the Admin SDK Directory API:

Sign user out of all sessions This new endpoint allows an admin to programmatically sign a user out of all web and device sessions. This can help manage account access when users leave an organization, if a device is lost or misplaced, or if a user forgot to sign out of a shared device. We do not recommend using this to sign users out and force a sign-in periodically; you can explore the Google web session control feature for that use case.

Turn off 2-Step Verification This new endpoint allows an admin to turn 2-Step Verification (2SV) off programmatically. This action also removes all 2SV methods on the account. Note that in some cases, 2SV cannot be turned off for a user due to other policies that may be in effect. For example, a user may be enrolled in the Advanced Protection Program, or “2SV enforced” is turned on; in such cases the API will fail with an appropriate error code and message.
Note that both of these actions can already be performed via the Admin console. The current launch makes them accessible via API as well so they can be integrated into automated offboarding workflows.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

New look and feel for Google Meet mobile apps

September 11, 2020

Quick launch summaryWe’re updating the user interface (UI) of the Google Meet mobile apps for Android and iOS. The new mobile UI will have the same look and feel as that of the meeting experience in the Gmail app.

A new look and feel for Google Meet mobile apps
In addition to the revamped design, you’ll now see a New Meeting button. When you tap on this button, you’ll see three options:

Get meeting joining info to share with others.
Start a Meet call instantly.
Schedule a new meeting in Google Calendar.

New options for new meetings in Google Meet mobile apps
This new UI is rolling out on iOS now; check back for an update on this post when the rollout to Android begins.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This new UI will appear by default once you’ve upgraded your Meet iOS app to version 45 or above.

Rollout paceiOS

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: This feature is available on iOS now.

Android

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Coming soon. Check back for an update on this post when the rollout to Android begins.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: Join a video meeting

New Google Groups becoming the default for all users on September 15, 2020

September 11, 2020

What’s changing Earlier this year, we made the new Google Groups generally available. Since then, it’s been the default version of Groups, but admins could turn off the new interface for their users via an Admin console setting.
Starting on September 15, 2020, we will make new Groups the default for all users. When this happens:

The Admin console setting to turn off new Groups for your users will be removed.
Any users who were using classic Groups will start to see new Groups instead.
Individual users can still choose to use the classic Groups interface by clicking Settings > Return to classic Google Groups.

Visit our Help Center for more information on new Groups and the transition from classic Groups.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important New Groups has a more efficient and streamlined user interface, which makes it easier for users to create and manage groups. See our previous announcement for a full overview of the new Groups experience. In that announcement, we noted that some features in classic Groups were not yet available in new Groups. Since then, we’ve listened to your feedback and recently launched several highly requested features, including:

We’re working to add more soon. See the Help Center for the full list of features we’re planning to launch, and follow the G Suite Updates blog for launch announcements.

Additional details Planning for a complete migration to new Groups
We’re planning to migrate all users to new Groups at a future date. At that time, classic Groups will no longer be available. We’ll announce this change on the G Suite Updates blog at least three weeks before it takes place. Note that you can use the Help Center to see a list of the features that we don’t plan to add to new Groups before this migration.

Getting started

Admins: The Admin console setting to turn off new Groups for your users will be removed. There will no longer be a way for you to require your users to use classic Groups. Visit the Help Center to learn more about new Groups and the transition from classic Groups.
End users: End users will see new Groups by default when they go to groups.google.com, but can revert to classic Groups at any time. Visit the Help Center to learn how to go back to classic Groups. If users were already using new Groups there will be no change to their experience with this change.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on September 15, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Filter audit logs and usage reports by groups

September 10, 2020

Quick launch summary You can now filter audit logs and usage reports by specific groups. When you add a new or existing group to an allow list, you can then filter to see log events or usage reports by that specific group.
This can make it more efficient to find log entries, and allow you to more quickly and easily focus in on a specific target audience to better understand user account information, apps usage, and security.

Getting started

Admins: This feature is available by default and enables control at the group level. Visit our Help Center to learn more about how to filter by a group or how to check user or admin activity with reports.
End users: No end user impact.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on September 10, 2020.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Office editing on Android brings G Suite collaboration to Microsoft Office files

September 8, 2020

Quick launch summary We’re making Office editing available on Android. This feature brings the collaborative and assistive features of G Suite to your Microsoft Office files when you’re using your Android device. Already available on the web, it:

Allows you to edit, comment, and collaborate on Microsoft Office files using Google Docs’, Sheets’, and Slides’ powerful real-time collaboration tools.
Improves sharing options, improves sharing controls, and reduces the need to download and email file attachments.
Streamlines workflows by reducing the need to convert file types.

Office editing will replace QuickOffice (sometimes known as Office Compatibility Mode), which has more limited functionality and collaboration capabilities. See more about Office editing in our announcement for the feature on the web.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 8, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Docs line spacing will now adjust based on font

September 8, 2020

Quick launch summary We will now adjust line spacing in Google Docs based on the font used. Previously, line spacing was based only on the font size and line spacing you chose. Now, the font you choose will also be a factor in the spacing.
This will increase consistency in document length between Google Docs and other word processing programs, and help make sure converted Microsoft Word documents retain a similar length. It will be particularly useful for education and enterprise users, who may have documents with specific length requirements based on specific formatting combinations.

Line spacing will adjust based on the font used
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default for new documents only. Existing documents will not be affected. Use our Help Center to learn more about formatting in Google Docs.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on September 8, 2020.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal accounts.

Resources

Google Help: Change how paragraphs & fonts look

Security groups help manage groups used for security and access control

September 3, 2020

What’s changing We’re making security groups available in beta. Security groups help you easily regulate, audit, and monitor groups used for permission and access control purposes. They enable admins to:

Apply a label to any existing Google Group to distinguish it from email-list groups.
Provide strong guarantees that:

External groups (owned outside your organization) and non-security groups cannot be added as a member of a security group.
Security labels, once assigned to a group, cannot be removed.

Soon, you’ll be able to use more granular admin roles to separate administration of security and non-security groups. Keep an eye on the G Suite Updates blog for an announcement when that rolls out.

Who’s impacted Admins and developers

Why you’d use it Groups are used in a variety of ways. This can include groups that help teams communicate and collaborate, as well as groups that control access to important apps and resources. Security groups can help customers manage these categories of groups differently to increase their overall security posture.
For example, if you have compliance or regulatory requirements for managing access control, you may have set up naming conventions to keep track of which groups were used for this purpose. With security groups, you can now assign a security label to these groups and more easily manage them without having to use workarounds like naming conventions.

Getting started

Admins: You can assign a group as a security group through the Cloud Identity Groups API, and then manage these groups through the Admin SDK Groups API, the Admin console, or the Cloud Identity Groups API. See our API documentation to learn how to update a Google Group to a security group.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users in beta.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Cloud Identity API documentation: Updating a Google Group to a security group

New device management API now generally available

September 3, 2020

Quick launch summary Earlier this year, we announced that a new API to manage company-owned and personal mobile devices and desktop devices was available in beta. Now, we’re making that API generally available. There are no changes to the new API since we launched the beta.
The new Devices API enables you to manage mobile and desktop devices within your organization. It is intended to fully replace the existing Mobiledevices endpoint of the Admin SDK Directory API, and provides some significant additional functionality as described below. The Mobiledevices endpoint (aka “old API”) will continue to be supported.
The device management API implements the following new functionality not found in the Mobiledevices endpoint of the Directory API:

Support for desktop devices
Add company owned devices to the device inventory
Manage company-owned devices inventory
Manage desktop device inventory
Ability to manage devices under all management modes (Fundamental, Basic or Advanced)
Create and manage custom state with each user account on a device. This custom state can be used in making context-aware access decisions.

In addition, the following main functionality from the older API is also available in the new API:

Manage BYOD inventory for Android and iOS devices
Manage organizational user accounts on devices
Devices under Basic or Advanced management can be managed
Perform actions such as wipe on devices and organizational user accounts on devices
Search devices and organizational user accounts on devices

Find out more about the new API in our beta announcement.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 3, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

API documentation

Adding present and chat Meet moderator capabilities for education users

September 3, 2020

What’s changingWe’re giving hosts (meeting creators and calendar owners) of G Suite for Education meetings new meeting safety controls to manage who can share their screen and who can send chat messages within the meeting.
Who’s impactedEnd users

Additional details

Manage who can share their screenTo control who can share their screen in a meeting, hosts can turn "Share their screen" on or off. By default, this setting will be on.
When "Share their screen" is on, participants will see the option to share their screen to all meeting participants.
When "Share their screen" is off:

Only the host can share their screen.
The option to "Present now" won't show for participants.

Hosts can turn "Share their screen" on or off from within meetings on the web. Hosts will not see the option to change this setting on mobile devices.
Manage who can send in-meeting chat messagesTo control who can send chat messages in a meeting, hosts can turn "Send chat messages" on or off. By default, this setting will be on.
When "Send chat messages" is on, participants will see the option to send chat messages to meeting participants.
When "Send chat messages" is off:

Only the host can send chat messages, but participants will still be able to see messages sent by the host.
Messages sent when "Send chat messages" was on will still show in the chat history.

Hosts can turn "Send chat messages" on or off from within meetings on the web. Hosts will not see the option to change this setting on mobile devices.

Moderator controls for who can share their screen

Moderator controls for who can send chat messages

If you're unable to turn the features on or off, it's possible that you have a Chrome extension for Meet which is preventing the features from working. To fix the issue, try turning your Meet Chrome extensions off.
Getting startedAdmins: There are no admin controls for these features.
End users: These features will be on by default and can be turned on or off by the host during each meeting. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning these features on or off in your meetings.
Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Availability

Available to all G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers
Not available to G Suite Essentials, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, and G Suite for Nonprofits customers

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming G Suite release.

Coming soon: See read receipts on direct messages in Google Chat

September 3, 2020

Quick launch summaryNo sooner than October 5, you’ll be able to see when your Google Chat direct messages have been seen. This will only apply in active chat windows for one-on-one conversations on Android, iOS, and the web. In these messages, you'll see the avatar of the person you're chatting with to the right of the last message they've seen.

See when your Google Chat message has been read

Read receipts will show a sender when a message has been read by the recipient or if the recipient has replied to a message from a notification. Read receipts won’t be visible in group messages or rooms.
This feature was previously available in classic Hangouts and is now available in Google Chat.
Stay tuned on the G Suite Updates blog for more information on exact timing.
Getting startedAdmins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.
Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) no sooner than October 5, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Quickly add a contact into a Gmail message on Android

September 1, 2020

Quick launch summaryGmail users on Android can now automatically add a contact to the “To” line of an email by typing "+" or “@” in the body of the email and then choosing the contact's name from the list that appears.
This feature was previously available on the web.

Getting startedAdmins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending messages in Gmail.
Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 1, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Google Help: Send or unsend Gmail messages

Context-Aware Access for SAML apps now generally available

September 1, 2020

Quick launch summary In April, we announced a beta which enabled admins to control access to SAML apps based on context. Now, we’re making this feature generally available.
You can use Context-Aware Access (CAA) to create granular access control policies for pre-integrated SAML apps or custom SAML apps based on attributes including the user, location, device security status, and IP address. This can improve your security posture by reducing the chances that there’s unintended access to specific apps and the data in them.
See our beta announcement for more details on how the feature works and how you can use it. CAA can be used for SAML apps (policy evaluation on sign-in) that use Google as the identity provider. A third-party identity provider (IdP) can also be used (third-party IdP federates to Google Cloud Identity and Google Cloud Identity federates to SAML apps). Visit our Help Center to see how to set up single sign-on for managed Google Accounts using third-party Identity providers.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be available by default. Any policies created during the beta will persist when the feature becomes generally available.
End users: No end-user impact until turned on by the admin.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on September 1, 2020

Availability

Available to G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and Cloud Identity Premium customers
Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits, G Suite Essentials, and Cloud Identity Free customers

Resources

Collaborate with people who are not using a Google account in Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites

August 31, 2020

What’s changing We’re making visitor sharing—secure, pincode-based collaboration with people who do not have a Google account—generally available. This means you can share items with non-Google accounts, enabling them to view, comment on, or edit content in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites using a secure pincode.
Visitor sharing was previously available in beta, and will replace the current admin setting to allow users in your organization to send sharing invitations. '
We’ll introduce the new feature according to this timeline:

August 31, 2020: The setting to control sharing with people who are not using a Google account will begin to appear in the Admin console. This setting may be on or off by default depending on your current settings. See “Getting started” below to learn more. This setting will not start taking effect for users until September 8, 2020 (for Rapid release domains) or September 28, 2020 (for Scheduled release domains).
September 8, 2020: Users in Rapid Release domains will be able to use the new feature, if enabled by their admin.
September 28, 2020: Users in Scheduled Release domains will be able to use the new feature, if enabled by their admin.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why you’d use it G Suite customers often work with partners outside of their company. These external users, or “visitors,” don’t always have Google accounts, making it more difficult for G Suite and non-Google users to collaborate seamlessly and securely.
This new feature will help ensure smooth and secure collaboration with visitors through:

Rich collaboration—including comments, edits, and more⁠—with anyone you need to work with, regardless of whether they have a Google account.
Audit logging for collaboration with visitors, so that all interactions are monitored and recorded.
Ability to revoke access and remove collaborators as needed.
Reduced need to download, email, or create separate files to work with external users who don’t have Google accounts.

If the visitor chooses to create a G Suite account with their email address, their collaboration and activity history will be preserved after the account is created.

Additional details Visitor sharing will not be supported for Cloud Identity users. With this launch, Cloud Identity users will only be able to share with non-Google recipients by sending invites that allow users to preview file contents in a read-only mode without signing in to Google accounts.

Getting started Admins:

End users: Visit our Help Center to learn more about visitor sharing. Visitors can use our Help Center to learn how to delete their visitor session.

Rollout pace Admin console setting:

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 31, 2020

End user feature availability:

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 8, 2020
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 28, 2020

Availability

Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits, and G Suite Essentials customers
Not available to G Suite Basic, Cloud Identity customers, or users with personal accounts

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming G Suite release.

Improving braille support in Google Docs

August 31, 2020

Quick launch summary We’re making several improvements to braille support in Google Docs to make it easier for users of assistive technologies, including refreshable braille displays, to work on documents. These changes will enhance the experience of reading documents with new keyboard shortcuts, improved navigation, and more reliable verbalizations. We encourage assistive technology users to enable braille support when working in Docs.
Improvements you may notice include:

You can use the new Ctrl+Alt+H (CMD+Option+H on Mac) shortcut to toggle braille support in Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
When you use shortcuts to navigate, we now announce where your cursor moves to, including comments, headings, misspellings, and suggestions.
We improved the reliability of navigating through lengthy documents and lists.
Images, misspellings, and grammar errors are now verbalized directly by assistive technology.
We’ve improved navigation and selection verbalizations when moving through tables and when selecting content, including announcing the entire cell’s contents.

Please make sure to update to the latest versions of your assistive technologies and browsers to fully benefit from these improvements.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default for users with braille support turned on. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to use a braille display with Docs editors, and make sure to update to the latest versions of your browser and screen reader to use all features.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Dark theme now available for Google Voice on iOS

August 31, 2020

Quick launch summaryGoogle Voice will now support dark theme on iOS. Dark theme is already available for Voice on Android.

Dark theme for Google Voice

Getting startedAdmins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: The latest Google Voice update for iOS (version 20.36) will adopt the dark or light theme as set in iOS Settings. Learn more.
Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout through the App store (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 31, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers with Google Voice licenses and Voice users with personal accounts.

Use service accounts with Google Groups APIs without domain-wide delegation

August 27, 2020

What’s changing Service accounts can now have direct access to Groups APIs without needing domain-wide delegation and admin impersonation. This means you can:

Assign an admin role to a service account using the Admin SDK roles API and Admin console Roles page.
Use a service account with an admin role to manage groups at a customer level via the Admin SDK Groups API and the Cloud Identity Groups API.
Use a service account with group owner or manager role (non-admin) to manage groups via the Cloud Identity Groups API.
See accurate audit logs with service accounts as the actor.

Who’s impacted Admins and developers

Why it’s important Using service accounts with Groups can help provide sufficient data access for business apps and enable the automation of various admin tasks.
Previously, you had to use domain-wide delegation and admin impersonation to provide service accounts with sufficient data access. This was a cumbersome process, which could result in overly broad privileges for the service account and audit logs that were hard to interpret.
By enabling direct API access, we’re making it easier to use service accounts to enable critical business apps and processes while making it easier to maintain a strong security and compliance posture.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Adding support for service accounts in Google Groups

August 27, 2020

What’s changing We’re adding full support for service accounts in Groups in beta. This builds on our recent announcements of a new Cloud Identity Groups API beta and the ability to use service accounts with Groups APIs without domain-wide delegation. With this launch, you can now:

Add service accounts from primary and secondary domains without turning the “Allow external members in the group” setting on.
See the service account member type on the Groups page and audit logs in the Admin console.
Add, remove, and manage service account membership via the Admin console and Cloud Identity Groups API.

Who’s impacted Admins and developers

Why it’s important Groups are a critical tool for customers to manage their G Suite deployment. Many customers use service accounts with Groups to automate user management, manage migrations, and integrate G Suite with other apps, tools, and services.
Until now, it was difficult to use service accounts in groups due to limitations in the functionality. This launch fixes many challenges and makes it easier to use service accounts with groups while increasing security and transparency.

Additional details The feature does not affect Admin SDK Group APIs.

Getting started

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Cast Google Meet to your TV

August 27, 2020

Quick launch summaryYou can now cast Google Meet calls to your TV or smart display.

Cast Google Meet to your TV

You can start casting before you join a meeting or anytime during a meeting.

By viewing your Meet on Cast, you can turn any room in your house into your own personal conference room. Whether you want to step away from the notifications on your laptop or phone to be more present in a meeting or you’re on mute in a larger meeting and want to concentrate on your task at hand, casting to your TV can help you be more productive and stay focused.

Meet and Cast can also pair up to simplify distance learning. Students can view their classmates and lesson plans on the big screen while working from their laptops, and teachers can get a broader view of their students on a call.

Check out our announcement on the Keyword for more information on using Meet and Cast together.
Getting startedAdmins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: To get started, you‘ll need to have a Google account, update to the latest version of Chrome, and ensure that your Chromecast device has the latest firmware installed. Google Cast functionality is available for all Meet users, and casting works on Chromecast, TVs with built-in Chromecasts, and Nest displays. Check out the Help Center to learn more.Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Automate and expand Connected Sheets updates with new APIs, connections, and capabilities

August 26, 2020

What’s changing We recently launched Connected Sheets, which connects Google Sheets and BigQuery to help you analyze large datasets using familiar spreadsheet tools. We’re now adding support for macros and APIs to help you automate tasks, as well as providing mobile access. Specifically, you can now use Connected Sheets with:

Who’s impacted Developers and end users

Why you’d use it
Sheets Macro recorder You can use the macro recorder to record when to create, edit, delete, and refresh Connected Sheets objects. This generates macros which you can then directly run in Sheets to refresh the data. This can automate common tasks, saving time and reducing errors.
Apps Script and Sheets API You can use these APIs to write scripts and applications that automate tasks. For example, you can automate CRUD functions for Connected Sheets objects, including sheets, formulas, pivot tables, and extracts. Additionally, you can use the APIs to refresh these objects, as well as to refresh charts.
Mobile app support You can now view Connected Sheets on mobile devices. You can also copy and paste data from Connected Sheets using the mobile apps. At this stage, you can’t create, edit, or refresh data in Connected Sheets on mobile.

Getting started

Macro recorder in Sheets: Find the tool at Google Sheets > Tools > Macros. Use our Help Center to learn how to use macros to automate tasks in Google Sheets.
Apps Script and Sheets API: See our guide to using Apps Script and Connected Sheets, the Apps Script spreadsheet service documentation, and the Sheets API documentation.
Mobile apps: Make sure you’re using the latest versions of the Sheets Android and iOS apps.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains:

Sheets Macro recorder: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 26, 2020.
Apps Script: Available now for all users.
Sheets API: Available in September.
Android app: Gradual rollout (up top 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 17, 2020. To get access, update to the latest version of the Sheets Android app.
iOS app: Gradual rollout (up top 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 24, 2020. To get access, update to the latest version of the Sheets iOS app.

Availability

Connected Sheets is available to G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and G Suite Enterprise Essentials customers
Connected Sheets is not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits, and G Suite Essentials customers

Resources

Updates

Updated interface for managing Google Groups in the Admin console

Folder sharing in shared drives now generally available

Google Device Policy app ending support for iOS 10 soon

See up to 49 people, including yourself, in Google Meet

Blur your background in Google Meet

Google Drive trash items will be automatically deleted after 30 days starting on October 13, 2020

Introducing the Google Meet hardware Series One room kit

More Google Meet participant controls for education meetings

New APIs to sign out users and control 2-Step Verification

New look and feel for Google Meet mobile apps

New Google Groups becoming the default for all users on September 15, 2020

Filter audit logs and usage reports by groups

Office editing on Android brings G Suite collaboration to Microsoft Office files

Google Docs line spacing will now adjust based on font

Security groups help manage groups used for security and access control

New device management API now generally available

Adding present and chat Meet moderator capabilities for education users

Coming soon: See read receipts on direct messages in Google Chat

Quickly add a contact into a Gmail message on Android

Context-Aware Access for SAML apps now generally available

Collaborate with people who are not using a Google account in Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites

Improving braille support in Google Docs

Dark theme now available for Google Voice on iOS

Use service accounts with Google Groups APIs without domain-wide delegation

Adding support for service accounts in Google Groups

Cast Google Meet to your TV

Automate and expand Connected Sheets updates with new APIs, connections, and capabilities

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