Google Meet increases ultra-low latency live streaming support to 100,000 viewers in distributed audiences

What’s changing

For select Google Workspace editions*, we’re pleased to announce that the Google Meet ultra-low latency viewing experience for live streamed meetings will now support up to 100,000 viewers. This gives organizations the flexibility to reach a wider audience with improved user experience at lower bandwidth consumption. In order to receive the ultra-low latency experience, no more than 25,000 viewers can be connected to a single regional data center at a time

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why it’s important 

Live streaming is a critical tool for large audiences, such as town-halls or keynote events. Increasing support for the low-latency live streaming experience from 25,000 viewers to 100,000 users helps our customers reach a wider audience, while their users benefit from several functional and quality improvements, such as:
A virtually lag-free experienceSignificantly increased speaker video resolution (up to 720p per speaker)Shared content and presentations shown up to 2880x1800Improved automatic camera cuts that focus on the most relevant speakers & content Audience interaction through emoji reactions, polls and Q&A, and more.

Additional details

Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN) for Google Meet
If large groups of your audience are connecting from a single network location or a shared gateway, you may benefit from using eCDN for Meet to get full media quality with substantial network bandwidth savings. For more information on eCDN, see this post on the Workspace Updates blog and visit our Help Center.    
Viewers can now join ultra-low latency live streams from Google Meet room hardware
The Google Meet ultra-low latency viewing experience for live streamed meetings is now available also from Google Meet room hardware. Live streaming is a critical tool for large audiences, such as town-halls or keynote events. Support for room hardware means that users can join and watch live streams together in smaller or larger groups. To view a live stream via Google Meet hardware, invite the room to a view-only calendar event granted that your host has allowed guests to modify events. When the event is about to start, the live stream will be visible with its name as an upcoming event in the room agenda. Join the live stream by tapping it on the touch screen.
Meeting hosts and meeting organizers can invite rooms directly in view-only calendar events — visit the Help Center to learn more about live streaming a video meeting. If the calendar event is locked for editing, individual users can also duplicate the event and create their own view-only copy with the rooms they want to add as viewing locations. Visit the Help Center to learn more about viewing a live stream.

Getting started

Admins: There is no action required — the increased viewer limit will be applied automatically for those customers with an eligible Google Workspace edition*.Check out the latest on the Workspace Updates blog and visit our Help Center to learn more about configuring eCDN and hosting large live streams and preparing your network for meetings and live streams.
End users: There is no end user action required. Live stream hosts with an eligible license can start to invite larger audiences to their live-streamed meetings with a regional spread across data centers.  

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Enterprise Essentials Plus customers*
*Note: The ultra-low latency live streaming experience is rolling out at a slower pace for some customers. Once you receive the experience, you’ll be able to take advantage of these updates.

Resources

Refine emails faster with updates to Help me write in Gmail

What’s changing 

Building upon our popular Help me write feature in Gmail and the recent launch of the summarization feature in the Gmail mobile app, we’re excited to introduce two new Gemini in Gmail updates to help you draft emails even faster: 
A new option for Help me write that polishes emails drafts on web and mobile devices Help me write and Refine my draft shortcuts on Android and iOS devices When using Gemini to refine emails, users can choose from the following options: Formalize, Elaborate and Shorten. We recently added the Polish option to web and mobile, which can effortlessly refine your emails, saving you time. For example, if you enter rough notes into a draft, Gemini can turn the content into a completely formal draft, ready for you to review in one click. 

On mobile, when an email draft is empty, the “Help me write” shortcut now appears in the body of the email and when selected, it will open the full Help me write experience. When 12+ words are present in an email draft, the ​​“Refine my draft” shortcut will be shown below the email content to indicate that there are options available to Polish, Formalize, Elaborate, or Shorten your draft, or Write a new draft. The menu can be triggered simply by swiping right on “Refine my draft”. 

Getting started 

Admins: This feature will be ON by default and there is no admin control for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gemini for Google Workspace. End users: This feature will be ON by default and cannot be disabled by the user. Visit the Help Center to learn more about drafting emails with Gemini in Gmail. 

Rollout pace 

The option for Help me write to polish email drafts is available now on web, Android and iOS. The Help me write and Refine my draft shortcuts are available now on Android and iOS. 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace customers with: 
Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on Google One AI Premium 

Resources 

Providing student engagement signals for Google Drive file attachments in Google Classroom

What’s changing

We’re introducing a new feature that surfaces richer student engagement data on assignments with Google Drive attachments in Google Classroom. 
With this update, teachers will have easily accessible visibility into whether students have made progress on assignments with Drive attachments through pre-existing workflows in Classroom. This can help to identify students who may need additional support and make more informed decisions about how to assist their students. 
Specifically, teachers can see: 
From the Classwork page: The number of students who haven’t edited attachments for assignments. From the student work page on individual assignments: When the attachments were last edited by each student. 
With this information, teachers can: 
Quickly see whether students have started on their assigned work Provide timely interventions like sending reminders to the class or individual students Adjust instruction based on class progress 

Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why you’d use it 

This feature gives teachers visibility into student progress on academic work and helps them provide effective interventions to best support students. 

Additional details

The feature is currently only available on assignments with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings attachments. 

Getting started 

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. End users: Teachers can view edit activity for a Drive attachment associated with a student submission by going to the Student work page and viewing submissions with Drive files attached. Visit the Help Center to learn more about viewing student engagement on assignments with Drive attachments.  

Rollout pace 

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 7, 2024, with expected completion by end of August, 2024. 

Availability 

A Google Workspace for Education Plus license is required to access this feature for educators. Learn more about assigning licenses in the Help Center. 

Resources 

“Take notes for me” in Google Meet is rolling out soon; pre-configure access with a new admin setting

What’s changing 

“Take notes for me,” an AI-powered feature in Google Meet that automatically takes notes during your meetings, will be rolling out soon. Prior to end user availability, admins can now configure whether their users can use this Google AI note-taking feature with a new Admin console setting. This setting can be configured in the Admin console by going to Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Gemini Settings. 
Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Gemini Settings > Google AI note-taking
Similar to Meet transcripts Admin settings, this control gives admins more flexibility to test the feature within specific Organizational units (OUs) or Groups before deploying the feature more broadly within their organization.
“Take notes for me” is available for customers who have a Gemini Enterprise, Gemini Education Premium, or AI Meetings and Messaging add-on. Only users who are assigned one of these licenses will be able to use the note-taking feature. 
We’ll provide more information and timing on end user availability about “Take notes for me” in the coming weeks here on the Workspace Updates blog.

Additional details

Notes documents will be stored in the meeting owner’s drive folder and will follow the Meet retention policy that your organization has configured. If you are currently testing this feature in Workspace Labs and Alpha, your experience will change from respecting the Drive retention policy to respecting the Meet retention policy. 

Getting started

Admins: Take notes for me will be ON by default and can be configured at the OU and Group level in the Admin console by going to Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Gemini Settings > Google AI note-taking. If you want all of your users to receive the feature at once, you may want to consider turning this setting OFF and then after rollout switching it to ON.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout of the admin setting (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 13, 2024 with expected completion on August 21, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace customers with the:
Gemini Enterprise add-onGemini Education Premium add-onAI Meetings & Messaging Add-on

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – August 9, 2024

3 New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.


Appointment slots booking pages are no longer available in Google Calendar 
Earlier this year, we announced that the appointment slots feature will be replaced by appointment schedules in Google Calendar. Starting this week, appointment slots booking pages will no longer be available and all new appointments will need to be booked through appointment schedules. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is scheduled to complete by the end of August 2024. |  Appointment schedules are available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, Google Workspace Individual, Google One Premium users and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center for detailed information about appointment schedules. 
Dark mode now available in Google Classroom on mobile 
Similar to the recent announcement of dark mode in Google Drive, users will now be able to change the color theme of Google Classroom on their mobile device. This new setting aims to provide users with a more comfortable, customizable viewing experience and also reduces battery usage. | Available to Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade customers. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Dark Mode in Classroom.
New automation event for AppSheet databases is now generally available 
We’re excited to announce the general availability of AppSheet database automation events, allowing users to kick off automation workflows based on changes made directly in their AppSheet database. | Available to AppSheet Free, AppSheet Core and AppSheet Enterprise Plus. Google Workspace editions that include AppSheet Core can be viewed here. |  Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Visit the AppSheet community to learn more about this feature and check out the Help Center to get instructions for building your first automation using an AppSheet database.

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.
Available in open beta: configure third-party apps by select API scopes 
We’re giving admins another layer of granular control for third-party apps. Specifically, you can now configure apps to be limited by selected OAuth 2.0 Scopes for Google APIs, such as Drive or Gmail scopes. | Learn more about the beta to configure third-party apps by select API scopes. 
Providing student engagement signals for Google Drive file attachments in Google Classroom 
We’re introducing a new feature that surfaces richer student engagement data on assignments with Google Drive attachments in Google Classroom. With this update, teachers will have easily accessible visibility into whether students have made progress on assignments with Drive attachments through pre-existing workflows in Classroom. | Learn more about Drive file attachments in Classroom.
“Take notes for me” in Google Meet is rolling out soon; pre-configure access with a new admin setting
“Take notes for me,” an AI-powered feature in Google Meet that automatically takes notes during your meetings, will be rolling out soon. Prior to end user availability, admins can now configure whether their users can use this Google AI note-taking feature with a new Admin console setting. | Learn more about the admin setting for “Take notes for me.”

Completed rollouts

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

Rapid Release Domains: 
Scheduled Release Domains: 
Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 
Introducing a new experience for data regions reportingPre-configure meeting notes, recordings, and transcripts from the Calendar invite (Android)Google Meet and Zoom interoperability now includes presented content via a wired HDMI connectionLabel administration is becoming more discoverable and flexible in the Admin consoleAI Classification in Google Drive is now available for the Gemini Education Premium add-onPrevent downloading, printing, or copying files by combining Data Loss Prevention rules with Context-Aware Access conditionsAllowlist and Audit Logs for URLs accessed from Google Apps Script and Google SheetsEducators can now create new classes in Google Classroom using SIS data and import grading periods from the SISMore granular control for Google Apps ScriptAvailable in open beta: configure third-party apps by select API scopes

For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).  

Google Meet hardware event logs are now available in the security investigation tool and BigQuery

What’s changing 

We’re pleased to announce a new set of features to help you conduct deeper analysis and more flexible issue detection within your Google Meet hardware fleet:
 

First, Meet hardware log events are now captured in the security investigation tool. Within the tool, you’ll be able to view historical events for your devices and create customized alerts. You can also click out to Meet hardware log events from individual device pages (Devices > Google Meet Devices > [Device Name]), allowing you to find information on specific devices even faster.
Meet hardware logs in the security and investigation tool
Secondly, through integration with BigQuery, Meet hardware logs can be imported from the security investigation tool to be analyzed at scale. This is a powerful new tool that can be used to build customized views of your historical data across your entire hardware fleet. For example, you can use this data to identify which devices are the most used across your organization, which devices are experiencing the most issues within a specific timeframe, and more.

Specifically, you’ll be able to filter by the following details: 

Getting started

Admins: These features require Google Workspace customers to have active Google Meet hardware license(s) and proper privileges (Security Center > Audit and Investigation > View > Meet Hardware). Visit the Help Center to learn more about Meet hardware log events in the security investigation tool and reporting logs in BigQuery. End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 12, 2024

Availability

The security investigation tool is available for Google Workspace:
Enterprise Standard and PlusEducation Standard and PlusEnterprise Essentials PlusFrontline StandardCloud Identity Premium
Reporting logs in BigQuery is available for Google Workspace:
Enterprise Standard and PlusEducation Standard and PlusEnterprise Essentials PlusFrontline Standard

Manage all Calendar interop settings from the Admin console

What’s changing

Previously, the interoperability settings that allow Calendar users to see availability of colleagues using Outlook and vice-versa were split between two separate locations: in the Admin console and from https://calendar.google.com/Exchange/tools. Going forward, all interoperability settings will be housed in the Admin console at Apps > Google Workspace > Settings for Calendar > Calendar Interop management. This will make it easier for admins to view and manage their interop setups.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using both Exchange and Google Calendar, specifically allowing Exchange users to see Calendar availability data.End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 12, 2024Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 26, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace customers except Google Workspace Essentials and Workspace Individual Subscribers 

Use intelligent suggestions for table conversion in Google Sheets

What’s changing

Following the introduction of tables in Google Sheets and the recently announced improvements to tables, we’re excited to support a new automated way for users to transform their data into a well-formatted table, with rich data types.
If you have a meaningful range of data, Sheets will show a “Convert to table” suggestion when you click into your data range. By hovering over that indicator, you can preview the suggestion and then convert your range to a table in one click. 

Who’s impacted

End users 

Why you’d use it 

This update encourages the use of tables, a feature that enables users to transform the way they organize their data, simplify data creation, and reduce the repetitive tasks needed to format, input, and update data in Sheets. 

Getting started 

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. End users: This feature will be on by default and can be disabled by going to Tools > Suggestion controls > (deselect) Enable table suggestions. While the suggestion to convert to table will likely appear automatically, you can also convert data to a table manually by selecting a data range and going to Format > Convert to table. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using tables in Google Sheets. 

Rollout pace 

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 13, 2024 Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 4, 2024 

Availability 

Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 

Resources 

Chat safer with new settings for students in Google Chat

What’s changing 

We’re introducing a new setting that enables education admins to restrict which users can create and manage members in Google Chat conversations. 
This can be useful for admins who want to prevent groups of students from initiating or adding users to a conversation. 

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why it’s important

This is a highly-requested feature that restricts the creation of unsupervised activity among K-12 students and helps provide a safer and easier way for teachers to communicate with students. 

Getting started 

Admins: To restrict users from accessing features in Chat, go to the Admin console > Apps > Google Workspace > Google Chat > click the Chat and Space restrictions setting > Inside the Google Chat box, search for the group of users you’d like to apply Chat restrictions to > check the box for Restrict creating direct messages, group messages, and spaces > hit Save. Note: groups can be restricted at the group level only.We recommend admins enable the “automatically accept chat invitations” setting for their OU. This will ensure teachers can easily initiate messages to students that instantly deliver without the need to accept an invitation. We also recommend turning OFF Chat with external users.Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up Chat restrictions for Education accounts.End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace 

Admin setting: 
Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 13, 2024
Chat UI: 
Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 13, 2024 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade 

Resources 

View and structure Google Form data as a table in Google Sheets

What’s changing

We’re introducing a new feature that enables users to more easily view and structure their Google Form data in Sheets. 

Starting today, when a user initiates the creation of a new sheet using their Forms data, Sheets will automatically open the data as a table, bringing format and structure to your data. If a user opens a pre-existing sheet connected to a Form, there will be no change and the user will need to convert the data to a table by going to Format > Convert to table. 

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. End users: For pre-existing spreadsheets connected to Form data, you can convert the data to a table manually by selecting the data range and going to Format > Convert to table. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using tables in Google Sheets. 

Rollout pace 

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 15, 2024 Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 5, 2024 

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 

Resources