In the last year, we’ve made numerous improvements to Google Chat that help you stay on top of the busy flow of communication and make it easier to prioritize and find the conversations that are most important to you. However, there are some conversations where you always need to be notified, like spaces dealing with customer support or operational issues. 

For conversations that require a higher level of attention, we’re introducing a new “notify all” functionality for in-line threaded spaces. If this option is selected, you will be notified of all new messages in the space. This includes receiving notifications for all @ mentions, threads followed, and even threads that you do not follow, allowing you to stay on top of everything happening in a conversation. 

The options within notification settings are being updated to: “All”, “Main conversations”, “For you”, and “None” so that you can better tailor your notifications preferences for in-line threaded spaces. 

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. End users: To update your notification settings in a space, click the three dots (more options) next to the space name > Notification settings > select an option for notifications. Or you can click the space header > Notifications > select an option for notifications. Visit the Help Center to learn more about customizing notifications for a space with in-line threading. 

Web: 

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 10, 2024 Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 4, 2024 Android: 

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 10, 2024 iOS: 

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 21, 2024 

Availability 

Available to all Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual Subscribers 

Resources 

We’re introducing several updates around framing controls for Google Meet hardware devices:

First, we’re introducing an admin setting which will allow admins to choose a default framing option for their meeting spaces, ensuring every meeting begins with an optimally configured view. This will help your users jump right into their meetings without having to re-adjust camera settings from the previous meeting. This can be set individually for each device or via the bulk updates across your fleet.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

Resources

We’re now including breakout room attendance as part of attendance reporting in Google Meet. Attendance reports help meeting organizers keep track of who attended their meetings and for how long, which can be challenging during larger meetings or while presenting. This becomes more complicated when using breakout rooms to divide meeting participants into smaller groups. Adding breakout room attendance makes for a more comprehensive report and reduces the burden on meeting hosts to track breakout room attendance manually.

Getting started

What’s changing

To help solve for this, we’re excited to announce tables in Google Sheets. With tables, you can simplify and accelerate spreadsheet building by bringing format and structure to unorganized ranges. By selecting your data range and going to Format > Convert to table, Sheets now does the heavy lifting to format and organize data with a polished design including column types, filters, color coding, dropdown menus and more. 

Here’s how using tables reduces the time you would usually spend manually formatting data: 

Auto-applied formatting: When you convert your data to a table, Sheets automatically applies formatting to polish your data so that all inputs are properly aligned, reducing the need for manual changes. You can further customize your table by changing colors, readjusting the row height, and more. Column types: For each column, you can set the appropriate column type (e.g., date, currency, dropdown), and your table will make sure all entered data has the right formatting based on the column type. Data entered that does not align with a set column type will result in a warning. Unified menu: Above the table, you will see a menu option to manage table-level settings (e.g., adjust table range) and take action (e.g., create a filter view for your table). Table references: Table references are a special way to refer to a table or parts of a table in a formula. When you convert your data to a table, Sheets provides a name for the table and each column header. When you reference table elements by name, the references update whenever you add or remove data from the table. For example: Instead of explicit cell references: =COUNTIF(B2:B10, “P0”), you can use table references: =COUNTIF(Task_tracker[Priority], “P0”). When you are using tables, you’ll also have access to our new type of view, group by, where you can aggregate your data into groups based on a selected column. For instance, you can decide to group all data at the same priority level in one place, as shown below.

Who’s impacted

Why it matters 

Getting started