by | Jul 31, 2024 | News
What's changing
We're introducing a feature that will allow admins to restrict which URLs Apps Scripts and Sheets can source external content from. More specifically, admins can now monitor which URLs are being accessed by referencing new logs that we're adding to
the audit and investigation page. Admins can then create an allowlist that controls which of those URLs they'd like to enable/disable.
When such an allowlist is specified, users in the organisation will only be able to use those allowlisted URLs for both their Apps Scripts and their Sheets
IMPORT functions. This allows organisations to more granularly control access in a way that better aligns with a
Zero Trust security posture. Who's impacted
Admins and end users
Why it's important
Data exfiltration is an important security concern for admins, especially when it comes to Apps Scripts and Sheets because certain functions are capable of accessing external data. With this update, admins have more granular control over URLs accessed by users in their organisation.
Getting started
Admins: Logs can be found under Reporting > Audit and investigation > Drive Log Events OR Security > Security Centre > Investigation Tool. The URL allowlists can be found in the Admin console under Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Features and Applications > Importing and fetching from URLs. If an allowlist is not established, no URLs will be restricted. Visit the Help Centre to learn more about
Drive log events. End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.
Rollout pace
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers
Resources
by | Jul 31, 2024 | News
What's changing
Controlling access to sensitive content stored in Google Drive is a critical component for any company's security posture. One way admins can do this is with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) rules that enable Information Rights Management (IRM) on specific files. This allows admins to disable actions that can lead to accidental or deliberate data exfiltration, such as downloading, copying, and printing.
Today, we're expanding on these protections by enabling admins to combine DLP rules with
Context-Aware Access conditions. When combined, admins can configure if IRM should be enforced based on context conditions, like a user's location or IP address, are met. This gives admins the ability to configure context-aware-access conditions in a more granular fashion - previously, context-aware-access could only be used to restrict full access to an entire application. This is an important step forward in applying administrator controls at the document level.
Getting started
Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled per-file by creating DLP rules with a CAA access level attached. See this help centre article for more information on
how to configure these rules.
End users: Depending on your admin configuration, you may be restricted from taking certain actions on Drive files.
Rollout pace
Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) beginning on July 31, 2024
Availability
Available for Google Workspace:
Enterprise Standard and PlusEducation Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching and Learning upgradeFrontline StandardEssentials: Enterprise, Enterprise Plus
by | Jul 30, 2024 | News
What's changing
You can now interact with the Gemini side panel while viewing PDFs. This new viewing experience works with all kinds of PDFs, such as:
Scanned PDFs: Pictures of paper documents turned into PDFs. Native PDFs: PDFs created on a computer, not from a scan.Text-heavy PDFs: Long PDFs with lots of writing. Table-heavy PDFs: PDFs with complicated tables. With this update, you can use Gemini in Drive to help you with PDF files in the following ways:
Summarise: Get a quick overview of long, complicated PDFs. Ask questions: Find specific information or insights from the PDF. Create new content: Use PDF contents to make something new, like a study guide or an email draft. Bring in more information: Combine the PDF with other files you have in Google Drive by typing @.
Getting started
Admins: To access Gemini in the side panel of Workspace apps, users need to have smart features and personalisation turned on. Admins can
turn on default personalisation setting for their users in the Admin console. End users: To access this feature, double-click on a PDF from the Google Drive doclist to open it in a new tab > click on the Gemini icon in the top bar next to your profile picture. When using this for the first time, you'll see a welcome dialogue that automatically opens the side panel. Visit the Help Centre to learn more about
using Gemini in Drive to work with PDFs. Rollout pace
Available for Google Workspace customers with:
Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, and Education Premium add-ons Google One AI Premium
Resources
by | Jul 29, 2024 | News
What's changing
Many users
follow threads within spaces in Google Chat to ensure they don't miss any updates. To build upon this experience and help you keep track of important discussions occurring in threads, we're introducing the ability to follow and review threads within the home shortcut.
Threads you've chosen to follow will now appear directly within home, enabling you to quickly catch up. Rather than searching for the space and finding the thread, clicking on the thread via home takes you directly to the threaded conversation. You can also use the "Threads" button in home to filter your view to show threads only. This option is next to the "Unread" toggle, which filters your unread messages across DMs, spaces, and threads. You have the ability to filter for unread threads specifically when this is toggled on and the "Threads" button is selected.
Who's impacted
End users
Why it matters
Through this update, the
home view has become even more useful with the ability to easily stay on top of followed threads.
Additional details
As a reminder, threads are followed in the scenarios below:
You are the author of the main message that a thread was initiated from. You are explicitly following (via the "Follow" button). You have replied via thread or were mentioned. You have set the notification setting of the corresponding space to notify for "All". If a thread is no longer relevant to you, you can "Unfollow" it via the button in Home.
Getting started
Rollout pace
Web:
Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 29, 2024, with expected completion by August 31, 2024
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 26, 2024, with expected completion by September 30, 2024
Android:
iOS:
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual Subscribers
Resources
by | Jul 26, 2024 | News
1 New update
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.
Allow dropdown chips to have multiple selections in Google Sheets
Previously, dropdowns could only have one value selected in Google Sheets. Starting this week, we're introducing the ability to allow for multiple selections within a dropdown. This functionality is useful in scenarios when multiple project milestones, statuses, or teams are applicable for one item. | Rolling out to
Rapid Release domains now; launch to
Scheduled Release domains planned for August 12, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about
inserting dropdown chips in Google Sheets.
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.
Google Drive inventory reporting is now available in open beta
Google Drive inventory reporting is now available in open beta, providing admins with enhanced visibility into the state of their data assets. | Learn more about
Drive inventory reporting. Reduce live-stream bandwidth consumption to a fraction of the traffic volume with eCDN for Google Meet
In September 2023, we introduced ultra-low latency livestreaming and since then we've introduced several improvements for the overall experience. This week, we're excited to introduce the latest enhancement for ultra-low latency live streaming: Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN) support for Google Meet. | Learn more about
reducing live-stream bandwidth. Adding Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to form content in Google Forms
We're continually investing in data protection capabilities for Google Forms. We've already enabled data loss prevention (DLP) for Google Drive policies that apply to files submitted in external Forms, including Forms from external organisations. To expand on this, we're announcing that DLP policies for form content in Google Forms is now generally available. | Learn more about
DLP with Forms. Enable Classification labels on specific Google Workspace applications
To improve granularity in enabling & governing labels, we are replacing and improving the existing "Labels" setting within Apps > Google Workspace > Drive & Docs and adding label-level application toggles to the Label Manager tool. | Learn more about
classification labels on Workspace apps. Introducing Google Meet LTI™
To help improve remote and hybrid learning, we're introducing Google Meet LTI™ for Canvas by Instructure and PowerSchool Schoology Learning. This builds on the existing Google Workspace Learning Interoperability Tools including Assignments LTI™ and Google Drive LTI™. | Learn more about
Meet LTI™ Improved collaboration with Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in PowerSchool Schoology Learning
Automatically generated captions for videos in Google Drive
Label administration is becoming more discoverable and flexible in the Admin console
We're introducing several changes to make labels more discoverable and flexible for organisations. | Learn more about
labels in the Admin console.AI Classification in Google Drive is now available for the Gemini Education Premium add-on
We're expanding the availability of AI Classification in Google Drive to Google Workspace for Education customers with the Gemini Education Premium add-on. | Learn more about
AI Classification in Drive.Enhancing your productivity on Android devices with new features in Gmail and Google Chat apps
We're introducing numerous improvements across the Gmail and Google Chat apps on Android foldables and tablets in order to enhance your productivity when using these devices. | Learn more about
Android features in Gmail and Google Chat apps. by | Jul 25, 2024 | News
What's changing
We're expanding the availability of AI Classification in Google Drive to Google Workspace for Education customers with the
Gemini Education Premium add-on. Powered by privacy-preserving AI models that can be uniquely trained on the specific needs of your organisation, AI classification empowers IT teams to automatically and continuously identify, classify sensitive files. The challenge with label-based policies is that they are only effective on files that are correctly identified and labelled. Further, labelling files placed a considerable manual burden on Admins.
This is where AI Classification can help. By training models on customer-identified examples of content that match their data classification definitions, AI Classification can evaluate files where text can be extracted to see if it should be labelled. This helps enable organisations to achieve label coverage at a scale and accuracy that is very difficult to accomplish through traditional means and manual Admin intervention. Once labelled, classified files can then be further protected with existing
data loss prevention (DLP) controls,
lifecycle management policiesas well as
auditing and reporting use cases.
AI Classification in the Admin console
AI Classification in Google Docs
Getting started
Rollout pace
Availability
Available for Google Workspace for Education customers with the Gemini Education Premium add-on.
This feature is already available to customers with the Gemini Enterprise add-on, and via the AI Security add-on for select Google workspace customers.
by | Jul 26, 2024 | News
What's changing
We're introducing numerous improvements across the Gmail and Google Chat apps on Android foldables and tablets in order to enhance your productivity when using these devices.
In the Gmail app, you'll notice a new formatting bar located on the email compose screen. This now includes additional formatting options like the ability to change the font type and make a bulleted list.
Next, you'll be able to view a list of helpful keyboard shortcuts in the Gmail app and in the Chat app by pressing "?" when you plug an external keyboard into your Android device.
Lastly, we're enabling
Smart Compose on Android tablets and foldables, a feature originally introduced on
Gmail web that intelligently autocompletes your emails. Similar to the mobile experience, Smart Compose suggests text as you type that can be accepted by swiping across the grey text or pressing tab on a physical keyboard.
Getting started
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts
Resources
by | Jul 25, 2024 | News
What's changing
Today, we're excited to announce that when you upload a video to Google Drive, captions for the video can be automatically generated. These captions are automatically generated using speech recognition technology to transcribe the audio. Automatically generated captions will be supported in English, with plans to expand to other languages in the future.
Who's impacted
Admins and end users
Why it matters
Automatic caption generation can improve the accessibility of media stored in Drive and can save you the effort of manually creating captions. It also allows you to easily search for videos based on their content, making it much simpler to find the exact file you need.
Additional details
You can manually request automatic captions for any video that was uploaded prior to this new update. See end user instructions below for more information.
Getting started
Admins: This feature will be ON by default and as a result captions will generate automatically when a user uploads a video to Drive. Or, admins can choose between two options: Option 1: Disable this feature Option 2: Set it so captions only generate when a user requests them for a specific video by going to the Admin console > Drive and Docs > Features and Applications > Automatically-Generated captions. Visit the Help Centre to learn more about
turning on automatically-generated captions for videos in Drive. End users: If your admin selects option 1, you can add generated captions by right-clicking the video in your Drive > Manage caption tracks > generate automatic captions. You can also generate captions when the video is playing by going to the three dot menu on top right > manage captions tracks > generate automatic captions. If your admin selects option 2, no action is required on your end and captions will automatically be generated upon video upload. Visit the Help Centre to learn more about
automatically generated captions. Rollout pace
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts Note: Users with personal Google accounts must request automatic captions after uploading a video to Drive.
Resources
by | Jul 25, 2024 | News
What's changing
We're introducing several changes to make labels more discoverable and flexible for organisations:
1. Label Manager's New Location: The Label Manager interface is moving from a standalone UI into the Workspace Admin console. Prior to this change, Label admins had to navigate to https://drive.google.com/labels to manage labels in their organisation. Going forward, admins can access the Label Manager tool by going to Security > Access and data control in the Admin console.
2. Combined Label Types: Currently, there are two label types: Badged and Standard. Badged labels are single-field option lists with prominent visual display and colouring. Standard labels support complex metadata structures with up to ten fields of various formats. To make labels more adaptable, we're combining these label types together, and going forward, every label will support up to 10 fields, one of which can be set as a "Badged list".
3. Label Ordinality: With the combination of label types, organisations will now be able to create many labels with badge fields. As a result, there will be scenarios in which multiple badges are applied to a single file. Some UI surfaces only support the display of a single badge, so to address this, admins will now be able to configure label ordinality in the Label Manager list view. The ranking of label ordinality will govern which label is prominently displayed when there are multiple badged labels on the same file.
Getting started
Admins:
To access the Label Manager in the Admin console, go to
https://admin.google.com/ac/dc/labels or Security > Access and data control > Label manager). End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.
Rollout pace
Availability
Available for Google Workspace:
Business Standard, PlusEnterprise Standard, Plus Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus Education Standard, Plus Frontline Starter, Standard
Resources
by | Jul 25, 2024 | News
What's changing
We recently
announced that our Learning Interoperability Tools, including Assignments LTI™, Google Drive LTI™, and
Meet LTI™ will be consolidated under a new brand: Google Workspace LTI™.
In order to bring the collaborative power of Google Workspace for Education to even more partners, we're excited to announce updated Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in
Schoology, a K-12 learning management system that makes it easy to implement hybrid learning and integrate your favourite teaching and learning tools.
To simplify this experience and enable users to operate on a newer, more secure and feature-rich version, Google Workspace LTI™ in PowerSchool Schoology Learning will now use the
LTI 1.3. As a result, teachers and students have access to enhanced assignment capabilities and a secure classroom-centric Google Meet experience, directly in PowerSchool Schoology Learning:
With Assignments LTI™, you can: Distribute, analyse, and grade student work with Google Workspace for Education. Analyse student work submissions originality reports to save time and ensure authenticity. With Google Drive LTI™, you can securely embed and upload Google Drive files directly in PowerSchool Schoology Learning.With Google Meet LTI™, you can seamlessly schedule and host secure Google Meet sessions directly within PowerSchool Schoology Learning.
Rollout pace
Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.
Availability
Available for Google Workspace:
Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade
Resources
