Introducing audit logs for these API-based actions

What’s changing

Drive log events provide admins with visibility into their organization’s user activity in Drive. Previously, download activity for files triggered by the use of Google Workspace APIs was not visible to admins as a Drive log event. 
Today, we’re adding audit logs for these API-based actions to the security investigation tool and the audit and investigation tool to expand upon an admin’s ability to identify, triage, and take action on security and privacy issues in their domain. 

Getting started 

Admins: This feature will be ON by default. No action is required, relevant events will appear in the logs automatically. Use our Help Center to learn more about Drive audit logs. Note: Your ability to run a search depends on your Google Workspace editions, your administrative privileges, and the data source. You can run a search on all users, regardless of their Google Workspace edition. End users: No end user impact. 

Rollout pace

This feature is now available 

Availability

Available for Google Workspace: 
Business Starter, Standard, Plus Enterprise Standard, Plus Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, Teaching and Learning Upgrade 

Resources 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – May 24, 2024

2 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.

Expanding row limits in Connected Sheets for BigQuery 
Last year, we increased the maximum number of rows of results returned from BigQuery to 50,000 for pivot tables and data extracts. This week, we’re excited to announce this has been expanded to 100,000 rows for pivot tables and 500,000 rows for extracts (with a cell limit of 5 million). This will allow you to analyze even more results in Sheets from the petabytes of data in BigQuery. | Rolling out to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains now. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about analyzing & refreshing BigQuery data in Google Sheets using Connected Sheets, Google Sheets limitations, and getting started with BigQuery data in Google Sheets.
Custom text fields are now available for eSignature in Google Docs and Google Drive 
You can now input custom text fields when using eSignature. This gives you the flexibility to collect specific information as needed, including a phone number, job title, company name, and more. | Available to Google Workspace Individual users and other eligible Google Workspace customers who are on the eSignature alpha. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains now. | Learn more about sending signature requests & signing documents with eSignature.

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.
Filter, sort, and display your Google Meet hardware devices by product service status 
You can currently filter, sort, and display your Google Meet hardware devices by whether they are online, offline, or experiencing an application load-failure. This week, we’re expanding these parameters to include whether the Calendar and Jamboard services are turned OFF. | Learn more about filtering, sorting and displaying Meet hardware devices. 
Introducing adaptive audio in Google Meet: creating ad-hoc meeting spaces with multiple laptops 
With “adaptive audio,” you and your team can join Google Meet using multiple laptops in close proximity without awkward echos and audio feedback. | Learn more about adaptive audio in Google Meet. 
Send emails to spaces in Google Chat 
After a space manager generates an email address for a space, members (or anyone in your domain with the email address) can send or forward any email to that space. This provides a great way for teams to easily triage or discuss email content with stakeholders within the space. The email will appear as a clickable card showing a snippet of the email in the designated space. | Learn more about sending emails to spaces. 
Manage spaces at scale with new Chat API functionality 
We are pleased to announce the launch for additional features of Chat API via the Developer Preview Program, enabling space management at scale on behalf of admin users. These new features are available to all users currently enrolled in the Developer Preview Program. | Learn more about new Chat API functionality. 
Introducing Gemini offerings for Google Workspace for Education customers 
Beginning May 23, 2024, Google for Education customers will be able to leverage new and powerful ways of working, teaching and learning with Gemini for Google Workspace with two new paid add-ons. | Learn more about Gemini Education and Gemini Education Premium add-ons.
Expanding voice typing and automatic captions to additional browsers 
We’re expanding support for voice typing and captions features to additional browsers, such as Edge and Safari. When a user turns on voice typing or captions, the web browser controls the speech-to-text service, determines how speech is processed, and then sends text data to Google Docs and Google Slides. | Learn more about voice typing features in additional browsers.

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: 

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

Gemini for Workspace usage reports are now available in Admin console

What’s changing 

Starting today, we’re introducing Gemini for Workspace usage reports in the Admin console. This report gives admins an overarching view of how Gemini is being used in their organization, specifically: 
Assigned Gemini licenses, Active Gemini users, And the number of users who are using Gemini over time.

Gemini usage reports in the Admin console
These reports will help admins understand how many users are using Gemini features and make informed decisions about expanding Gemini further within their organizations. We plan to introduce more reporting features over time, such as the ability to filter these reports by Organizational Units and Groups.

Additional details

Admins can access these reports via admin  console under Menu > Generative AI > Gemini reports. Visit the Help Center to learn more about reviewing Gemini usage in your organization.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about reviewing Gemini usage in your organization. End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–4 days for feature visibility) starting on May 27, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons.
We plan to introduce Gemini reports for the Gemini Education and Gemini Premium add-ons in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to the Workspace Updates blog for more information. 

Personal information cards and Contacts sidebar will now display the organization name

What’s changing

Starting May 28, 2024, the organization name and department will be displayed on personal information cards and in the Contacts sidebar. This information provides helpful context about the people you’re interacting with and displaying this additional information will help you learn more about who you’re collaborating with, and more.

Getting started

Admins: Admins can populate user data via the Admin console or via the Admin SDK API with the list and update commands. You can also visit the Help Center to learn more about adding information to a user’s Directory profile. Important note: Some customers may have set both organization name and organization department for their users, where department includes the organization name. We have notified impacted customers via email, but we recommend that you check your settings and update your users’ organization department to prevent duplicate organization names from showing. You can do this via the Admin console or via the Admin SDK API with the list and update commands.

End users: End users: You can view this information within Google Contacts (contacts.google.com), while hovering over a user, or from the Contacts sidebar.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 28, 2024

Availability

Available for all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Now generally available: Edit client-side encrypted Excel files in Google Sheets

What’s changing 

Last year, we announced in beta the ability to view and edit client-side encrypted Excel files with Google Sheets. Starting today, we’re rolling it out in general availability for select customers.

Additional details

With this release:
You can only view and edit .xslx Excel file types — additional Excel and tabular file types are not supported.The maximum supported file size is 100MB.The maximum number of cells that can be opened is 10 million.
As we continue to improve Office editing in encrypted Google Sheets, you may encounter incompatibilities for certain features. Some features are not displayed and/or editable, but will be preserved in the document and viewable in Microsoft Office. Other features may be lost or altered in the latest version of the file when it is edited in Google Sheets. You will see a notification within the document if editing will cause any features to be lost or altered.

Getting started

Admins: Client-side encryption can be enabled at the domain, OU, and Group levels (Admin console > Security > Access and data control > Client-side encryption). Visit our Help Center to learn more about client-side encryption.End users: If client-side encryption is enabled by your admin, use our Help Center to learn more about working with encrypted files in Drive, Docs, Sheets & Slides.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 28, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:
Enterprise PlusEducation Standard and Plus

Resources