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Google Workspace Updates

This official feed from the Google Workspace team provides essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers.

  1. Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - July 26, 2024

    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. 
    Allow dropdown chips to have multiple selections 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 organizations. 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 
    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. | Learn more about Workspace LTI™ integration in PowerSchool Schoology.

    Automatically generated captions for videos in Google Drive 
    Starting this week, when you upload a video to Google Drive, captions for the video can be automatically generated. | Learn more about generated captions for Drive videos. 

    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 organizations. | 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.


    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: 

    Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 

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

  2. Enhancing your productivity on Android devices with new features in Gmail and Google Chat apps

    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.
    additional formatting options in bar



    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. 
    list of helpful keyboard shortcuts in the Gmail app and in the Chat app

    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 gray text or pressing tab on a physical keyboard. 
    Smart Compose on Android tablets and foldables



    Getting started 

    Rollout pace 

    Availability 

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

    Resources 

  3. AI Classification in Google Drive is now available for the Gemini Education Premium add-on

    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. 

    Even though data security is paramount in today’s digital world, organizations struggle to label their data at scale, rendering label-based data protections less useful. This problem is solved by AI classification, automatically applying labels to both new and existing files in Google Drive. 

    Powered by privacy-preserving AI models that can be uniquely trained on specific customer needs, AI classification automatically identifies, classifies, and labels files in Google Drive.. This helps organizations standardize data classification and achieve labeling consistency at scale. Labels can then be used to trigger rules on files that can and cannot be shared through data loss prevention (DLP) controls, lifecycle management policies, as well as audit 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.

  4. Label administration is becoming more discoverable and flexible in the Admin console

    What’s changing

    We’re introducing several changes to make labels more discoverable and flexible for organizations:

    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 organization. Going forward, admins can access the Label Manager tool by going to Security > Access and data control in the Admin console. 

    Label Manager’s New Location
    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 coloring. 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”. 

    Combined Label Types

    3. Label Ordinality: With the combination of label types, organizations 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. 

    Label Ordinality

    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, Plus
    • Enterprise Standard, Plus 
    • EssentialsStarter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus 
    • Education Standard, Plus 
    • Frontline Starter, Standard 

    Resources 

  5. Automatically generated captions for videos in Google Drive

    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 Center 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 selections option 2, no action is required on your end and captions will automatically be generated upon video upload. 
      • Visit the Help Center 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 

  6. Improved collaboration with Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in PowerSchool Schoology Learning

    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 favorite 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, analyze, and grade student work with Google Workspace for Education. 
      • Analyze 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. 
    Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in PowerSchool Schoology Learning


    Getting started 



    Rollout pace 

    Availability 

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

    Resources 

  7. Introducing Google Meet LTI™

    What’s changing

    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™.


    You can use Google Meet LTI™ to easily enable secure remote and hybrid learning - via video conferencing -  directly within Canvas by Instructure and PowerSchool Schoology Learning. Educators can schedule video meetings with pre-configured host controls, including recordings, transcripts, and breakout rooms*. Students can view meeting recordings and artifacts from past class sessions directly within Meet. Google Meet LTI™ is also deeply integrated with your learning management system so that only educators can start the meeting and only students in the course can join.



    *Support for pre-configured breakout rooms is coming soon — we’ll provide more details on the Workspace Updates blog once that becomes available.

    Getting started


    Rollout pace


    Availability

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

    Resources


  8. Enable Classification labels on specific Google Workspace applications

    What’s changing

    Admins can create classification labels for users to apply to files in Google Drive. These classification labels are useful for many common workplace scenarios, including records management, classification, structured finding, reporting, auditing, and more. 

    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. 

    Classification labels can be applied to a Workspace application once it's selected during the setup process. A lock icon will be displayed in line with the application toggle when the label is referenced by a policy, such as a DLP rule. To remove all rules that reference a specific label, go to the Data protection section of the Admin console > Security > Access and data control. 

    The active labels in your Workspace domain will continue to function and will be auto-enabled for Drive & Doc as a result of this update.
     

    Getting started 

    Rollout pace

    • This feature is available now 

    Availability 

    Available for Google Workspace: 
    • Business Standard, Plus 
    • EnterpriseStandard, Plus 
    • Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus 
    • Education Standard, Plus 
    • FrontlineStarter, Standard

    Resources 

  9. Adding Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to form content in Google Forms

    What’s changing

    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 organizations. To expand on this, today we’re announcing that DLP policies for form content in Google Forms is now generally available. 


    With DLP, Forms with sensitive content can be blocked from being viewed or responded to by external individuals. Based on DLP rules configured by the admin, this feature checks form content including questions, form title and description and answer options provided in the form, and prevents sensitive content from being shared externally; it does not check form responses provided by end users that are submitted to external forms. 

    DLP in Forms
    This screenshot of a Google Form includes mentions of “Project X”. DLP rules are configured to detect and prevent sharing of Forms with responders outside the organization with any mentions of “Project X”, the sensitive content in this form.


    Additional details 

    If you do not want DLP rules applied to users in your domain, you can exclude certain groups or organizational units from DLP checks. You can also exclude DLP rules for forms by using nested condition operators in DLP for Drive rules. To do so, add a ‘AND NOT’ conditional operator with a custom detector for “vnd\.google\-apps\.form” as a regex. In scenarios where you only want to apply DLP for forms, add a custom detector for “vnd\.google\-apps\.form” as a regex. Visit this Help Center to learn more about using Workspace DLP to prevent data loss. 


    Getting started 

    • Admins: 
      • Data loss prevention rules scoped to Drive files defined for your domain will be applied automatically to Forms.
      • If you are not using DLP for Google Drive, you can create DLP rules at the domain, OU, or group level in the Admin console under Security > Data protection. You can apply block, warn or audit actions, consistent with DLP for Drive. If you apply the block action, users external to the domain will not be able to view or respond to forms with sensitive content. 
      • Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning data loss prevention in Google Forms on for your organization. 
    • End users: End users can respond to forms as usual to forms that do not violate DLP rules, but if a form violates Drive DLP rules for their domain, form editors may see warnings and form responders external to the domain may be blocked from viewing or responding to the form. 

    Rollout pace 

    Availability 

    Available for Google Workspace: 
    • Enterprise Standard, Plus 
    • Enterprise Essentials Plus 
    • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade 
    • Frontline Standard 
    • Cloud Identity Premium 

    Resources 

  10. Reduce live-stream bandwidth consumption to a fraction of the traffic volume with eCDN for Google Meet

    What’s changing 

    In September 2023, we introduced ultra-low latency livestreaming and since then we’ve introduced several improvements for the overall experience. Today, we’re excited to introduce the latest enhancement for ultra-low latency live streaming: Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN) support for Google Meet.


    When configured by admins, eCDN has the potential to reduce bandwidth consumption to a fraction of the traffic volume. This applies to all live streams, including those originating from outside of your own domain. This is achieved through peer-assisted media delivery — whereby live streamed content is automatically shared between nearby peers, reducing the need to retrieve content from Google servers and minimizing bottleneck. There is no additional software, hardware, or end user action required to use eCDN — it works automatically in the background.

    With eCDN turned on, live streamed content is shared between peers (as seen on the right), reducing the need to retrieve content from Google servers (as seen on the left).



    Who’s impacted

    Admins and end users

    Why it’s important

    Live streaming is a key tool for presenting information to large audiences such as town-hall meetings, weekly broadcasts or other kinds of events with large audiences. As such, video quality of live streamed content is critical. Using eCDN can significantly reduce the strain on internet gateways while delivering a high-quality viewing experience with consistently low latency. Without eCDN, each viewer is sent their own individual feed. With eCDN turned on for a private network, the backend will send media to a significantly lower number of clients in that network. Those clients will then use the eCDN technology to take over and redistribute media to ensure that all viewers in that network receive the media they need, with high quality and preserved ultra-low latency. 

    Getting started


    • End users: There is no end user action required — make sure you’re using Chrome 121 or later on a laptop or desktop computer to ensure the highest quality ultra-low latency live streaming experience.

    Rollout pace

    Note: eCDN is available for those customers who have received the ultra-low latency live streaming experience. For some customers, that update is rolling out at a slower rate and they may not receive these updates for several months.