Google Meet adds 52 new languages to translated captions and 11 more languages for closed captions

What's changing

For all Google Workspace customers and users with personal accounts, we've expanded support for closed captioning to include the following languages in beta*, bringing the total language count to 87: 
Azerbaijani Czech Greek Icelandic Kazakh Lao Lithuanian Malay Serbian Swahili Ukrainian *Newly supported languages are denoted with a "beta" tag as we continue to optimise performance.

For Gemini for Google Workspace customers, we are adding 52 languages to translated captions with full language support, which means these languages can be translated to and from any other fully supported language. We are also launching full language support for 6 previously launched languages. Translated captions now fully support 69 languages which allows for over 4,600 language pairs: 

-Afrikaans

-Albanian 

-Amharic 

-Arabic

-Armenian

-Azerbaijani

-Basque

-Bengali

-Bulgarian

-Burmese

-Catalan

-Chinese (Simplified)*

Chinese (Mandarin)*

-Czech

-Dutch**

-English*

-Estonian

-Filipino

-Finnish

-French*

-Galician 

-Georgian

-German*

-Greek

-Gujarati

-Hebrew

-Hindi*

-Hungarian

-Icelandic

-Indonesian**

-Italian*

-Japanese**

-Javanese

-Kannada

-Kazakh

-Khmer

-Korean

-Lao

-Latvian

-Lithuanian

-Macedonian

-Malay

-Malayalam

-Marathi

-Mongolian

-Nepali

-Norwegian

-Persian (Farsi)

-Polish

-Portuguese*

-Romanian

-Russian*

-Serbian

-Sinhala

-Slovak

-Slovenian

-Spanish*

-Sundanese 

-Swahili

-Swedish**

-Tamil

-Telugu

-Thai*

-Turkish**

-Ukrainian

-Urdu

-Uzbek

-Vietnamese**

- Zulu



* Full language support previously launched
** Previously only English into these languages was supported. For more information, see our previous announcement on the Workspace Updates blog.



Additional details 

Update on the availability of translated captions for some Google Workspace customers 
As we previously announcedIn the future, translated captions in Google Meet will be exclusively available to Gemini for Google Workspace customers. This will go into effect starting January 22, 2025, when existing and new customers will no longer have access to translated captions through their Google Workspace subscription. At this time, translated captions will only be available in the following Gemini add-ons: Gemini Enterprise, AI Meetings and Messaging, and Gemini Education premium. 
We will continue to invest in and improve translated captions with the additional languages and automatic language detection. In addition to translated captions, the Gemini for Workspace add-ons offer other generative AI features such as enhanced audio and image quality on meetings, take notes for me (in alpha), and more - use this link to learn more

Getting started 

End users: These features are available by default. Visit the Help Centre to learn more about captions and translated captions in Google Meet. Meeting participants: You can use live translated captions if the meeting is organised by a user with an eligible Google Workspace edition. Closed captions are available for all users. 

Rollout pace 

Live captions language expansion: 
This feature is available now. Translated captions expansion: 
Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on June 21, 2024 

Availability 

Captions: Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts Translated Captions: Available for Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Enterprise, Gemini Education Premium, and AI Meetings & Messaging add-ons 

Resources 

External users can now securely collaborate on client-side encrypted files

What's changing

We're expanding visitor sharing, a feature that provides secure, pincode-based collaboration over sensitive data with people, to include client-side encrypted files. This allows users to securely collaborate with external partners on sensitive Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides files, while maintaining the confidentiality of the information with the granular control of encryption keys, identity verification and user permissions. 

Getting started 

Admins:Admins will need to update their IdP/KACLS configurations to open up for external participants and determine which third-party Identity Provider they can use to access and collaborate on client-side encrypted documents. 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 Centre to learn more about client-side encryption. End users: Use our Help Centre to learn more about working with encrypted files in Drive, Docs, Sheets & Slides and visitor sharing. Visitors: Use our Help Centre to learn how to delete their visitor session. 

Rollout pace 

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 20, 2024 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
Enterprise Plus
Education Standard and Plus 

Resources 

Create interactive YouTube assignments in Google Classroom more quickly and efficiently, with the help of AI

What's changing

Last yearIn 2006, we introduced interactive questions for YouTube videos in Google Classroom. Since then, educators have been able to turn a passive watching experience into an engaging one, while improving students' understanding of a subject. 
The current process to create interactive questions requires an educator to manually choose a timestamp, come up with questions, and insert correct answers and distractors. To improve upon this experience and save educators time, we're introducing AI-suggested questions that educators can easily attach to the video based on its content. 
Before assigning the interactive video activity, Educators will be able to edit the suggested questions ahead of attaching the YouTube video to the assignment. 

Who's impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why you'd use it 

This update helps educators add interactive questions to YouTube videos more quickly and efficiently. 

Additional details 

Even when using the suggestions feature, educators can still edit, remove or create their own interactive questions. Note that suggested questions are only available for certain videos in English. 

Getting started 

Admins:
In order to enable the interactive questions feature, YouTube must be turned ON by administrators as an additional service for educators. This setting can be managed in the Admin console. Visit the Help Centre to learn more about turning YouTube on or off for users. End users: Educators:If enabled by your admin, you can create or delete interactive questions for YouTube videos and grade & track interactive questions for YouTube videos.Suggested questions are available when you find a spark icon below the video title in the video search results. Visit the Help Centre to learn more about interactive questions for YouTube videos in Google Classroom. Students: Students can complete a video activity regardless of whether YouTube is turned ON or OFF as an additional service. Please note that the video activity must have been created by an educator with YouTube turned ON. 

Rollout pace 

This feature is available now. 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade 

Resources 

Help your students learn to read with Read Along in Classroom

What's changing

In 2019, we launched Read Along as an Android reading app to help young readers have fun while learning to read. Read Along has an in-app reading buddy who guides readers along as they read aloud, offering assistance when they struggle, and rewarding them with stars when they're successful. 
Today, we are excited to introduce Read Along in Google Classroom, a new feature that helps students build their independent reading skills by enabling teachers to assign differentiated reading activities, based on Lexile® measure, grade level, or phonics skills. With this feature, a digital reading buddy, Diya, gives students real-time assistance and pronunciation support, with the help of AI. Read Along offers engaging and inspiring reading assignments, while providing educators with insights on students' reading progress over time, including their accuracy, speed, and comprehension.
Educators can also: 
Access 800+ fiction and non-fiction books in the Read Along library within Classroom, including texts from publishers like Heggerty and ReadWorks. Each book is categorised by Lexile® level, grade level, or phonics skills and some have comprehension questions. Personalise the experience for each learner by assigning books with the right difficulty level based on a student's reading abilities. Check for understanding by assigning books with comprehension questions. Read Along in Classroom will be available globally, so students around the world can practice their reading skills in English. 

Who's impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why you'd use it 

Read Along in Classroom provides fun and engaging reading assignments for students, while also enabling educators to track performance and more easily identify students who need extra support. Some key highlights include the ability to: 
Help boost reading skills with activities for each student based on their reading level or phonics skills. Provide instant help for students, with the help of AI-powered reading buddy, Diya to give students in-the-moment assistance on correct pronunciation and more. Get important insights about your students' progress including their accuracy, speed, and comprehension. Support English language learners in building their reading skills, with additional support in Spanish 

Additional details 

Read Along is now a Workspace Service for Google Workspace for Education customers. Admins will now find this service listed under Workspace Services in Admin Console. Read Along in Classroom will be available to all Google Workspace for Education users with their school issued account and will be governed by the Workspace for Education Terms of Service, with data collection and use being governed by the Google Workspace for Education Privacy Notice

Getting started 

Admins: Existing Workspace Customers (those who signed up for Workspace for Education before July 7, 2024): Read Along in Classroom will be available to all Google Workspace for Education customers as a service that will be covered under the Workspace for Education Terms of Service. You can enable Read Along in the Admin Console for users in your domain to access this service. Visit the Help Centre to learn more about turning Read Along on or off for users. For new Workspace Customers (those who sign up for Workspace for Education on or after July 7, 2024): Read Along will be automatically enabled in the console, and all eligible users will have direct access to it.
Visit the Help Centre to learn how to turn Google Read Along on or off for users. End users: Visit the Help Centre to learn more about Read Along in Google Classroom. 

Rollout pace 

This feature is available now. 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade 

Resources 

Insert images into practice sets in Google Classroom

What's changing

Since adding practice sets to Google Classroom in 2023, we've made numerous improvements such as giving teachers more control over the resources for students in practice sets and adding the option to convert Google Forms into practice sets. 
Today, we're excited to introduce a new feature that will enable teachers to visually illustrate concepts being assessed in practice sets. Now, teachers can import images, like graphs, charts or photos, into practice sets using files from Google Drive or directly from their computer. 
In addition to image editing capabilities within practice sets, this update will be extended to the Forms conversion workflows so if a teacher imports a Form into a practice set any images you have in the Forms will also import. 

Who's impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why you'd use it 

Including visuals in practice sets will provide students with more engaging assignments. 

Getting started 

Admins: Practice sets are enabled by default, but admins need to add teachers to the verified teacher group in order for them to receive a shared practice set from other teachers in their Google Workspace.End users:
To access practice sets, go to Google Classroom > Practice sets > Create (or practicesets.classroom.google.com).
Visit the Help Centre to learn more about creating, editing, deleting, or sharing a practice set.

Rollout pace 

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 18, 2024, with expected completion by July 18, 2024 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources 

Introducing audit logs for these API-based actions

What's changing

Drive log events provide admins with visibility into their organisation'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 Centre 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 yearThis week, we're excited to announce that 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 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 analyse 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 analysing & 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 | 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 Programme, enabling space management at scale on behalf of admin users. These new features are available to all users currently enrolled in the Developer Preview Programme. | 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 organisation, specifically: 
Assigned Gemini licences, 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 organisations. We plan to introduce more reporting features over time, such as the ability to filter these reports by Organisational Units and Groups.

Additional details

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

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Centre to learn more about reviewing Gemini usage in your organisation. 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 organisation name

What's changing

Starting May 28, 2024, the organisation 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 Centre to learn more about adding information to a user's Directory profile. Important note: Some customers may have set both organisation name and organisation department for their users, where department includes the organisation name. We have notified impacted customers via email, but we recommend that you check your settings and update your users' organisation department to prevent duplicate organisation 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: 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 Centre to learn more about client-side encryption.End users: If client-side encryption is enabled by your admin, use our Help Centre 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