Updates to image insertion in Google Sheets on Android 
You can now drag and drop or copy/paste an image into Google Sheets on Android as an over-grid image rather than an in-cell image. You’re also now able to convert over-grid images into in-cell images via the context menu. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for May 8, 2023. | Learn more about adding an image to a spreadsheet.
Updates to image insertion in Google Sheets on Android
Replace images quicker in Google Slides with new drag and drop feature
Previously, to replace an image in Google Slides, you could either use the menu toolbar or right-click on the image you wanted to replace and select “Replace image.” Starting this week, you’ll have the additional option to easily drag and drop images from anywhere to replace images in your Slides presentations. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for May 9, 2023. | Learn more about inserting or deleting images and videos. 
Replace images quicker in Google Slides with new drag and drop feature
Attach a document, spreadsheet, or presentation to a Google Calendar event directly from Meet in Docs, Sheets, and Slides
You can already share a file in a Google Meet chat when using Meet in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. With this launch, you can easily attach that file to the associated Google Calendar event, allowing meeting attendees to access the file more easily. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more about using Google Meet with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, & Jamboard. 


Add emoji reactions to existing comments in Google Docs
Last year, we introduced an emoji reaction feature that provides a less formal alternative to comments in Google Docs. We’re building upon this by giving you the ability to add emoji reactions to existing comments in Docs. This new feature increases collaboration by enabling you to quickly and creatively express your opinions about document content. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for May 3, 2023. | Learn more about using comments, action items, & emoji reactions. 
Add emoji reactions to existing comments in Google Docs



Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.


Enhancing tool discovery in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
We’ve rolled out an enhanced tool finder at the top of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides to make it easier for users to discover commonly used tools and features. These refined tool-finding capabilities aim to help you quickly locate relevant features or functionality using your own words. | Learn more about enhanced tool discovery in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. 


Full HD in Google Meet video calls
For select Google Workspace editions, you can set your Google Meet video resolution to 1080p. This resolution is available on the web when using a computer with a 1080p camera and enough computing power in meetings with two participants. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Plus, Enterprise Essentials and Frontline customers only. Also available to Google One subscribers with 2TB or more storage space with eligible devices. | Learn more about full HD in Google Meet video calls. 


Introducing additional smart chip functionality in Google Sheets
We’re expanding YouTube chips to Sheets to help you more easily manage YouTube content. You can also now insert multiple smart chips and text into a single cell using the @ menu. | Learn more about additional smart chip functionality in Google Sheets.


New Alert Center notifications for Apple push certificates
The Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) certificate is a critical component for advanced mobile management for iOS devices. This certificate expires yearly and requires manual renewal. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, The Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Cloud Identity Premium customers only. | Learn more about new Alert Center notifications for Apple push certificates.


Set a custom time period for messages to automatically be deleted in Google Chat
For select Google Workspace editions, admins can now define a duration after which their users' messages in Google Chat will be deleted automatically. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more about setting a custom time period for messages to automatically be deleted in Google Chat. 


Set Full HD in Google Meet live streams
For select Google Workspace editions, we’re adding 1080p as a resolution option for live streaming video, an increase from 720p. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers only. | Learn more about full HD in Google Meet live streams.


Completed rollouts

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


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Recently, we announced full HD Google Meet video calls, allowing you to set your Google Meet video resolution to 1080p. Similarly, we’re adding 1080p as a resolution option for live streaming video, an increase from 720p. If there is not enough bandwidth, the video feed will automatically revert to the best quality possible. This update delivers a higher quality, crisp video experience for those viewing a live stream.


Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available for Google Workspace Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and Teaching and Learning Upgrade


Resources


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Who’s impacted

Admins and end users


Why it’s important

Currently, admins have limited control over the history duration of conversations in Google Chat: with history off, messages are deleted after 24 hours; with history on, messages remain visible for indefinite time, unless proactively deleted by Vault Retention policy or proactively deleted by user by user.

This update gives admins more granular control over how long their users can see messages in conversations. For end user practicality, this helps unclutter conversations, while complying with retention requirements (if a retention policy is applied). If you’re using the Auto Deletion policy combined with a Vault Retention Policy, the Vault policy prevails. For more information, see this article in our Help Center.


Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

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

Resources


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Notify you via the Alert Center and email when: 
  • Your certificate is 30, 10, and 1 day from the date of expiration. 
  • Your certificate has expired. 








Getting started 

  • Admins: 
  • End users: There is no end user impact or action required.


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, The Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Cloud Identity Premium customers 

Resources 

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Previously in Docs, we’re expanding YouTube chips to Sheets to help you more easily manage YouTube content. This feature allows you to add YouTube data, such as the title, description, and video preview, directly into your spreadsheet cell. Simply copy and paste a YouTube link into the cell, hover over it, and click the “Chip” option included in the “Replace URL” hovercard. 
YouTube Chips in Sheets
You can also now insert multiple smart chips and text into a single cell using the @ menu. This enhances your ability to quickly preview and interact with even more context-setting information in Sheets.
insert multiple smart chips and text into a single cell

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

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Note that additional bandwidth is required to be able to send 1080p video — Meet will automatically adjust the resolution if the device is bandwidth constrained.

Getting started

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Plus, Enterprise Essentials and Frontline customers
  • Also available to Google One subscribers with 2TB or more storage space with eligible devices. 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Nonprofits, and G Suite Basic and Business customers. 
  • Not available to users with personal Google Accounts.

Resources


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If you open the enhanced tool finder immediately after you create a file, you’ll notice suggestions for common actions users take when preparing a new document, spreadsheet, or presentation, such as:
  • Page setup, Dropdown, Meeting notes in Docs.
  • Insert rows/columns, merge cells, and freeze rows/columns in Sheets.
  • Page setup, Spell check, Edit theme in Slides.
Once you begin editing, you can find recent actions by clicking into the tool finder for easy access to your previously used features. 

Prior to this launch, you could find features by navigating to Help>Search the menus. Starting today, that will redirect you to the enhanced tool finder. After a short transition period, the redirect will be removed and the tool finder will live permanently in the toolbar.
enhanced tool discovery

Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

Whether you’re exploring collaboration, smart canvas, or formatting features, the enhanced tool finder will save you time and streamline your flow of work by helping you find the exact features you’re looking for much quicker.


Additional details 

You’ll also always be able to get to the find & replace tool at the bottom of search results, which will open with your query pre-populated.


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 25, 2023 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 21, 2023

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

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Improving multi-instance support for the Google Drive Android app
Last year, we announced multi-instance support on Google Drive, a feature that gives you better insight into your files by allowing you to have two Drive app windows open side-by-side on large screen Android devices. Now, we’re improving this experience by adding multi-account support, which lets a single user have two instances of the Drive app open side-by-side on a single device, showing content from two different Google Accounts. With this update, you can preview a file from one account in one instance, while navigating through the folders of your secondary account in the other instance. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for April 28, 2023. | Learn more about using Google Drive.
Improving multi-instance support for the Google Drive Android app

Autofill using a mouse on the Google Sheets Android app
Following the recent announcement of full mouse support for the Google Sheets app on Android, we’re introducing mouse autofill capabilities. With this update, you can autofill by dragging or double clicking a selection handle using a mouse in Google Sheets. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for May 3, 2023.
Autofill using a mouse on the Google Sheets Android app



Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.


Assign admin roles to specific groups
Scale and secure your role-based access controls (RBAC) practice on Workspace by leveraging a new capability for role assignments to groups. You can now assign admin roles to groups in addition to or instead of individual users. | Learn more about assigning admin roles to specific groups. 


Expanding admin privileges for Google Meet hardware devices
We’re increasing the number of admin privileges for Google Meet hardware devices from three to twelve. This gives admins more ways to delegate admin roles and access as it pertains to device data and management within the Admin console. | Learn more about expanding admin privileges for Google Meet hardware devices. 


Turn off the video feed for select tiles in Meet
You can now turn off the video feed from other participants during a Google Meet call. This can be helpful in situations where you want to focus your meeting view to just the presenter or hide participants with distracting video feeds. | Learn more about turning off the video feed for select tiles in Meet. 


Better location context for events and RSVPs in Gmail
Earlier this year, we made it even easier to use RSVPs in Google Calendar to let others know how you’re planning to join a meeting. Now, you can do the same thing directly from an invite in Gmail. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, Teaching & Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Business customers only. | Learn more about better location context for events and RSVPs in Gmail. 


Co-present Google Slides in Google Meet
We’re adding a new feature that allows multiple people to present together in Meet. As the primary presenter, you can assign participants to co-present Slides with you. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers  only. | Learn more about co-presenting Google Slides in Google Meet. 


Completed rollouts

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


Rapid Release Domains:

Scheduled Release Domains:

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:


For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).
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  • See the audience, presentation, and Slides controls in one window 
  • Navigate the presentation 
  • Start and stop media within the presentation 
Co-present Google Slides in Google Meet


Who’s impacted

End users 


Why it matters 

This eliminates the need to ask a colleague to move to the next slide in a presentation, leading to smoother transitions and minimal distractions. In addition, this feature further bridges the gap between people working from different locations. 


Additional details 

This feature requires a computer with a Google Chrome browser. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • As the main presenter: 
      • To start a presentation, select “present this tab” in Meet > “start slideshow”. 
      • To add a co-presenter, select "Add co-presenter" in the people panel drop down menus. 
      • Visit the Help Center to learn more about controlling Slides presentations in Google Meet. 
    • As a co-presenter: 
      • You’ll be notified that the primary presenter assigned you as a co-presenter. 
      • You’ll get control over the Slides presentation, allowing you to navigate the deck for everyone in the meeting. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Frontline, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Not available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

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Better location context for events and RSVPs in Gmail

Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

This feature aims to improve the way you and your colleagues utilize your planned working location for meetings and events, especially in a hybrid work environment. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, Teaching & Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Business customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Frontline, and legacy G Suite Basic customers 
  • Not available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

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Additional details 

If you’re joining a meeting from a mobile device, you can now select “Audio only”, which will turn off all video feeds apart from tiles that are presenting content. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: From the people panel or an individual meeting tile, select the three-dot menu and then select “Don’t watch”. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning off video feeds from other participants. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

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Previous Google Meet hardware privileges





Updated Google Meet hardware privileges






Why it’s important 

Previously, admins had limited ability to restrict access to Google Meet hardware data and functionality in the Admin console to their delegated admins. Aside from the most recently added enrollment privilege, access could otherwise only be granted with or without calendar assignment functionality—no further customization was possible. 

Some of the new privileges include the ability to: 
  • View devices: Admins get read-only access to device data, including issue history and fleet data export functionality; required to be able to access pages hosting functionality in many other privileges (including Manage calendar assignment, Perform actions and its child privileges, and Deprovision Google Meet hardware).
  • Manage organizational unit settings: Admins can edit Google Meet hardware settings controlled at the organizational unit-level and move devices between organizational units 
  • Manage device meetings: Admins can connect to a meeting remotely and mute or hang up an active call 

A full list of new roles, with descriptions, can be found in our Help Center. 

Additionally, two of the existing hardware privileges have been renamed for clarity within the new privilege structure: 
  • Google Meet hardware with Calendar is now Manage Google Meet hardware and calendars.
  • Google Meet hardware without Calendar is now Manage Google Meet hardware.
Admins who have already been assigned existing privileges will not experience any functional changes – the privilege will remain assigned but with the updated name. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: Admins who wish to use this new functionality to provide more limited access will need to create a custom role (create, edit, and delete custom admin roles) with the specific Google Meet hardware privileges they wish to assign to a delegated admin. Existing admins already assigned privileges will not be affected. 

Rollout 


Availability 

  • Available for all Google Meet hardware customers. 

Resources

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Currently, there is a limit of 500 role assignments— since groups can contain unlimited members, this gives you more flexibility to manage roles as needed. This is particularly helpful for larger organizations, allowing them to pare down their role assignments without exceeding the limits. 

Also, roles assigned to groups will automatically reflect changes in underlying membership of the group. This allows admins to manage role assignments at a higher-entity level vs adding/removing end-users one at a time to maintain updated privileges.




Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
  • Available to Google Cloud Identity Premium customers

Resources


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Reminder: Google Calendar and Assistant Reminders will migrate to Google Tasks soon
In February 2023, we shared plans for the next phase of migrating Google Calendar and Assistant Reminders to Google Tasks. As a reminder, if you use a Google account for work and school, you’ll start to see a prompt in Assistant and Calendar to move reminders created in these apps to Tasks. For more information on this migration, please refer to our original announcement.

Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.


Improve search results with Personalization Boost and Click Boost for Cloud Search 
To help you find relevant documents faster, we’re introducing user personalization boost and click boost for the Cloud Search API. | Available to Google Cloud Search Customers only. | Learn more. 


Enabling organizational communication with announcements in Google Chat 
We're giving Space Managers the ability to configure spaces for sharing organizational announcements. Using the new announcement-only configuration, message posting and other capabilities are limited to designated Space Managers. | Learn more. 


Fine tune access to data with additional options for Access Approvals 
In 2022, we introduced Access Approvals, which enables customers to control when Google support personnel can access specific data during support and general maintenance. Beginning this week, we’re introducing additional options that provide customers even more control over these data interactions. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. | Learn more. 


Introducing new collaboration and flexibility features for Google Sites 
We've announced even more enhancements that improve upon collaboration within Sites and give you even more control over the layout of your Site’s content. | Learn more. 


Practice sets in Google Classroom are now generally available 
We’re excited to announce that practice sets are now generally available in English in Google Classroom to Google Workspace for Education Plus and Google Workspace for Education Teaching and Learning customers. | Learn more. 


Streamlined file organization with the new Google Drive location picker 
We've added improvements to the web Google Drive location picker that enable you to quickly and efficiently select a location to organize files and folders. The updates include a new visual experience and helpful suggestions when moving files and folders or adding shortcuts to items in Drive. | Learn more. 


New community features for Google Chat and an update on Currents
Last year, we announced plans to wind down Currents, to focus efforts on community experiences that are better integrated with the rest of Google Workspace. To help our customers manage this transition, we published detailed guidance for Workspace administrators and enabled customers to opt-in for automated migration of Currents data to spaces in Google Chat. | Learn more. 


Set default label values for files in Google Drive
This week, we’re expanding the automated classification capabilities of Drive labels to support setting default label values in addition to the current admin ability to apply labels by default. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more. 


Completed rollouts

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


Rapid Release Domains:
Scheduled Release Domains:
Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

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This update is based on Google’s Material Design 3 and includes updated font, colors, layouts, panel sizing and more. Specifically, you’ll notice changes to the top app bar, left navigation, main message view, compose setup, new topic button, and the thread panel within direct messages and spaces. 

We hope this modernized product experience increases collaboration and enables you to more easily complete tasks within your workflow. 

Getting started 

  • Admins and end users: No action required. You’ll automatically see these updates in your web experience over the next several weeks. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 


Roadmap 

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This week, we’re expanding the automated classification capabilities of Drive labels to support setting default label values in addition to the current admin ability to apply labels by default. With automated classification, label admins can construct rules that add labels when files are created or when file ownership is transferred.

This update helps organizations ensure critical labels are applied to files at file creation. Using labels can serve as a condition for enforcing certain policies, such as Data Loss Prevention.


Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it matters 

With default field values, admins can now be more specific with their label configuration. In addition, this feature provides more flexibility with policy controls while creating a default policy standard within an organization. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Education Standard customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Education Fundamentals, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, and Frontline, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Not available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

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