Author Archives: G Suite Updates

Apply to be a part of the Hangouts Chat Accelerated Transition Program

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.


What’s changing

We’re announcing an Accelerated Transition Program to give a first wave of organizations a head start on migrating to Hangouts Chat and get early access to new features.

Additionally, we've heard your feedback, and we want to give you early access and more time before the general availability of these features. Therefore, we’re extending the previously announced timelines to give you more time to manage change in your organization. See below for more information.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you should apply to the Accelerated Transition Program

Simplify communications by disabling classic Hangouts apps and migrating all users to the newest enterprise-grade Chat product on a faster timeline. As a part of this program, you’ll receive early access to new Chat features such as Chat integration with Gmail and the ability to chat with external users.

For more information about the additional benefits of this program, check out the Acceleration Transition Program Help Center.

How to get started



Upcoming changes to the Chat and Vault transition schedule

Some changes originally scheduled to happen starting on April 16, 2019, such as Chat retention rules and holds applying to your messages in Hangouts Classic, and enabling Chat for all users that are using classic Hangouts, will now take place over the next few months. We'll also be giving you more time before we transition all domains from classic Hangouts to Chat. More notices and details will be shared on the G Suite Updates blog as they approach.

Note: If you are a Google Vault customer, you still must set Chat retention rules and holds before April 16, 2019. You must continue to create new holds in both Mail and Hangouts Chat if you need to preserve chat messages during this migration period.


Helpful links



Availability

G Suite editions

  • All G Suite editions are welcome to apply to this program.

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Introducing Currents, the newest G Suite app

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

Launching first to beta, Currents is a G Suite app that enables people to have meaningful discussions and interactions across your organization, helping keep everyone in the know and giving leaders the opportunity to connect with their employees.

Currents is replacing Google+ for G Suite, and has a new look, feel, and set of features. All of your organization’s existing Google+ content will automatically transfer to Currents once you are enrolled in the beta.


Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users.

Why you’d use it 

Exchange ideas at scale: 
Currents makes it easy to have meaningful discussions by enabling leaders and employees to exchange ideas across the organization and gather valuable feedback and input from others — without flooding inboxes.

  • Currents features a streamlined experience for composing content — users can easily tag their posts and attach relevant attachments or images. 
    • Once a user posts, others can comment, give feedback, and ask questions all in the same place. 
    • Individual users can also track analytics for their posts. 
Currents also gives leaders a way to engage with their employees more directly, allowing them to take the pulse of their organization and understand what’s important.

  • Posts from leadership can be given priority in the home stream, improving visibility across the organization to drive alignment. 


Connect people to content: 
Currents connects employees to useful and timely content that is personalized to their role and interests. Giving employees access to relevant content keeps them connected to the organization and creates more learning opportunities:

  • Content remains on Currents over time, so users can revisit and engage at a later date. 
  • Tags and streams make it easy to find and discover content of interest. 
  • Content in the home stream is ordered by relevance so it’s prioritized for what is most important to that individual, or users can choose to sort it chronologically. 

Manage and curate with ease: 
Admins can shape the discussion in the organization by creating custom streams to promote specific content to a targeted set of employees or the entire company. Additionally, admins can measure engagement across the platform with metrics to track usage and understand what content is resonating across the organization.

  • Admins can delegate content management responsibilities to a new role called Content Administrator. 
  •  These Content Admins can easily create custom streams, manage tags, define leaders, moderate content, and track usage and engagement with metrics. 

How to get started 

  • Admins: To request access to the beta program for your organization, please email [email protected]. 
  • End users: No action required. 

Helpful links 

To request access to the beta program for your organization, please email [email protected].   
To learn more about the sunsetting of Google+ for consumers.
To learn more about new enterprise-grade features for Google+.

Availability 

G Suite editions 
  • Available to all G Suite editions.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Office editing makes it easier to work with Office files in Docs, Sheets, and Slides

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

With Office editing, you can now edit, comment, and collaborate on Microsoft Office files using Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. This feature brings the collaboration benefits of G Suite to Office files while streamlining workflows by eliminating the need to convert file types.


Who’s impacted 

End users

Why you’d use it 

Office editing will make it easy for G Suite users to open and edit Microsoft Office files that have been shared by partners, vendors or other teams. In cases where some members of your organization use Office while others use G Suite, this ensures seamless collaboration and eliminates the need to consider or convert file types.

Office editing brings everyone the benefits of G Suite’s real time collaboration tools and intelligence features to Office files.

How to get started 

Admins: If your organization uses the Office compatibility app in Chrome, you may experience issues using this feature. To learn more about disabling this app for your domain or having users remove it, see here.
End users:
  • In Google Drive, double-click your Office file. This will open a preview of the file. 
  • At the top, click Open in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides. 
  • From here, you can edit, share, view version history, collaborate in real-time with others, and more. 
  • All changes you make will be saved to the original Office file. 

Additional details 

The following Office file types are supported: 
  • Word files: .doc, .docx, .dot 
  • Excel files: .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm (macro enabled Excel files), .xlt 
  • Powerpoint files: .ppt, .pptx, .pps, .pot 
Note: If you edit Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents older than Office 2007, files will be saved to a newer format when editing using Office editing. 

Helpful links 

To learn more about removing the Office compatibility app, see here. 

Availability 

Rollout details
  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 17, 2019. 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting no earlier than May 6th, 2019. 
G Suite editions 
  • Available to all G Suite editions 

On/off by default? 
  • This feature will be ON by default. 

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Work with billions of rows of BigQuery data with connected sheets, launching in beta

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

We’re introducing connected sheets in beta (coming soon). This new type of spreadsheet activates when using the Sheets data connector and will allow users to access, analyze, visualize, and collaborate on up to 10 billion rows of BigQuery data without the need for SQL scripts.

With connected sheets, it’s easier for users to surface insights in Sheets and make sense of that data using tools and features already familiar to them — like formulas, Explore, pivot tables, and charts. 

Admins can learn more about the beta here.


Who’s impacted 

Admins

Why you’d use it 

Connected sheets makes it easier to do the following:

  • Access and refresh large volumes of connected data without CSVs or SQL scripts 
  • Streamline reporting workflows and easily build data driven reports 
  • Simplify collaboration with other analysts and stakeholders. 

How to get started 



  • Admins: To learn more and apply to the connected sheets beta, see here. 
  • End users: No action required. 

Additional details 


Users can refresh their data which in turn will refresh any associated data within a chart, pivot table, function or table.

Data can also be set to refresh automatically, making it even easier to stay up to date on the latest and greatest data.

Helpful links 

To learn more about connected sheets, see here. 
To apply for the connected sheets beta, see here. 

Availability 

G Suite editions 

  • Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic.


Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get extra visibility and control over how Drive File Stream is used in your organization

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

We’re giving admins more control over their corporate data by integrating controls for Drive File Stream into Google’s device management interface. Drive File Stream streams data between devices and the cloud to ensure users can access the files they need safely and efficiently whether they’re online or offline. Device management helps you easily manage and protect corporate data on devices.
This integration will allow admins to:

  • Control which devices can use Drive File Stream by restricting use to company-owned devices only. 
  • See the status of Drive File Stream on a device (size of the offline content cache, software version, time of last sync etc.). 
  • Remotely block the device and wipe the account specific offline content cache from a machine should it become lost or they no longer want Drive File Stream to be used on the device. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins only

Why you’d use it 

Drive File Stream is a simple and efficient way for users to access Drive data on Windows and Mac devices. This integration provides tools for administrators to gain extra visibility into how it’s used in their organization, and ensure corporate data is protected by controlling which devices can be used to access Drive File Stream. With the ability to block or wipe drive cache with a few clicks, admins have more control on over remediation activities.

How to get started 


  • Admins: 
    • To see the Drive File Stream information for specific devices in the Admin console at Admin console > Device Management > Devices. 
    • To restrict Drive File Stream to company owned devices, go to Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs > Features and Applications > Drive File Stream > Only allow Drive File Stream on authorized devices. 
    • To manually approve new Drive File Stream installations, go to Admin console > Device management > Setup > Device Approvals > Requires Admin approval 
  • End users: No action needed. Notifications are sent to the user when a device is blocked, account is wiped, or if a device is pending approval. 


Additional details 

Control which devices can use Drive File Stream 
If you do not choose to manually approve devices before they can use Drive File Stream (see above), there will be no change to how your users set up Drive File Stream today unless the device also has a pending admin approval for Endpoint Verification. However, you will still be able to block and wipe Drive File Stream data from the devices. If you activate the “Requires Admin approval” setting, devices with Drive File Stream already installed will be grandfathered to continue working, unless the device also has a pending admin approval for endpoint verification.

See the status of Drive File Stream on devices 
With the new integration, you can see and manage the Drive File Stream information for specific devices in the Admin console at Admin console > Device Management > Devices. You’ll be able to see information such as the Drive File Stream offline content cache size, when Drive File Stream last synced, the device model, OS and more.

Remotely block the device and wipe the Drive File Stream data 
If a device is lost or you don’t want Drive File Stream to be used on a device, you can block the device. If you do this, all Drive File Stream data will be wiped, and the device will not be able to re-login and access Drive File Stream again.


You can see and manage Drive File Stream information in the Devices section of the Admin console. 


New admin policies to control the use of Drive File Stream 

Helpful links 




Availability 

Rollout details

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially more than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 10, 2019.
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially more than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 10, 2019. 


G Suite editions 

  • Available to all G Suite editions. 


On/off by default? 

  • By default, devices will be able to use Drive File Stream without specific approval. You can require manual approval by adjusting the endpoint verification setting as described here. 
  • Devices already using Drive File Stream will be grandfathered to continue working with Drive File Stream, unless the device also has a pending admin approval for Endpoint Verification. 
  • The setting to only allow Drive File Stream on company-owned devices will be OFF by default.


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Set, structure, and search metadata in Drive launching in beta

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

Quick Launch Summary 

We’re launching the beta of metadata in Drive. This beta will allow users to add structured metadata to all their files in Drive, making it easier to search and organize based on that information. Admins and end users can use metadata to ensure their content stays organized and accessible, helping them streamline their work.

Admins for Drive Enterprise, G Suite Business, Enterprise, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits can learn more and apply for the beta here.

Here are some ways you can use metadata in Drive:

  • Create common file categories for your domain 
    • Admins can create metadata categories like “contract” or “engineering design” that consist of the properties that are relevant to these categories. End-users can apply them to all files that they can edit.
  • Organize team content 
    • Team Drive managers can create categories for their Team Drives or select which existing categories to enable for their Team Drives.
  • Curate and find files faster 
    • End-users can select the suitable categories for their files and folders. The new advanced search methods allow for searching over categories and properties to enable queries like “all contracts that need to be signed by next week.” 

Helpful links 

To learn more about and apply for the metadata in Drive beta, click here. 
To learn more about metadata in Drive, see here. 
Add metadata to files in Google Drive.

Availability 

  • G Suite editions Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, Drive Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits. 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic. 

On/off by default? 
  • This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the domain level.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Enhancing data regions by supporting more data types and products

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

G Suite’s globally distributed cloud infrastructure reduces latency and protects data with geo redundancy. Therefore, most organizations choose not to geo-restrict their data. However, some organizations have preferences around where their data is stored at rest. To serve this need, last July, we introduced data regions allowing you to choose the regions where covered G Suite data at rest is stored - globally distributed, US or Europe. We’re now launching enhancements to data regions with two key updates:

  • Coverage for Backups: Backup data for covered Apps is now included. 
  • Coverage for additional products: Forms’ and new Sites’ covered data is now included. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins only

The expanded product and data coverage will not alter any previous settings you may have configured. Your existing settings will be applied to the additional apps and data types covered with this release. As with the prior release, there is no impact to your end users.

Why you’d use it 

Data regions has been built keeping in mind the requirements of a geographically dispersed organization. With data regions, you can create as many organizational unit-specific regions as you want with no minimum seat requirements. Your end users don’t have to deal with downtime and continue to enjoy full edit capabilities of all files, even during a data move. Additionally, when file ownership changes happen, or users switch OUs, covered data is moved dynamically according to your settings.

How to get started 




Additional details 

To ensure visibility into your data move progress, there will be a new ‘Backups’ tab in the data regions dashboard (Admin console > Dashboards). The tab shows a breakdown of the Backup data move progress for each of the covered products. See image below for an example of the new dashboard view.


Helpful links 




Availability 

Rollout details



G Suite editions 

  • Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education and Drive Enterprise 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits 


On/off by default?

  • For customers already using data regions, expanded product and data type coverage will automatically be supported according to the pre-established settings. 
  • For customers not using data regions, it will be OFF by default and can be enabled on the Company Profile page at individual OU levels.



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Use an Android phone as a security key for 2-Step Verification

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.


What’s changing

We’re adding an option to use your Android phone’s built-in security key for multi-factor authentication in G Suite. All phones running Android 7.0+ (Nougat) have a built-in key which can be activated. This means your users can use existing phones as a primary 2-Step Verification method to protect against phishing. Using a phone as a security key is currently offered in beta.

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it 

2-Step Verification greatly improves the security of your account by adding another layer to your account security and making it more resistant to phishing attacks. By adding the additional option of using your Android phone’s built-in security key, we’re expanding access to phishing-resistant 2-Step Verification method in a convenient form - your phone. This can make it faster for you to implement 2-Step Verification in your organization while keeping user training and overall costs to a minimum. 

Previously, in order to protect your users against password phishing, the only option was to use a security key fob. With this beta, their mobile phone can be that security key.

How to get started 




Additional details 


  • Available to G Suite, Cloud Identity, GCP customers, and personal Google Accounts. 
  • Available on phones running Android 7.0+ (Nougat) with Google Play Services. 
  • Compatible with Bluetooth-enabled Chrome OS, macOS X, or Windows 10 devices with a Chrome browser. 



2-Step Verification on a Pixel 3 

Helpful links 




Availability 

Rollout details



G Suite editions 

  • Available to all G Suite editions in beta. 


On/off by default? 

  • If 2-Step Verification or Security Key Enforcement is turned on for an organization, Android phone will be available as an option for security keys by default.


Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Dynamically control G Suite access with context-aware access beta

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

We’re launching a beta program that enables G Suite admins to dynamically control access to G Suite apps based on a user’s identity and the context of their request (device security status, IP address, etc.). Members of the beta will be able to:

  • Set up different access levels based on a user’s identity and context of the request., 
  • Use granular controls for different organizational units (OU) 
  • Control access to several G Suite apps by setting different policies for the different access level profiles that have been set up 

Who’s impacted 

Admins only

Why you’d use it 

Currently G Suite admins can turn access to apps and services on or off for specific OUs or groups of users. This beta will provide more dynamic controls, so you can take into account contextual signals, such as device security status or IP address, to control access to those apps and services. Examples of access controls that can be set up through the context-aware access beta include:

  • Only users from corporate-owned device and a corporate IP address can access Google Drive. 
  • Only a “High Trust” group can access Google Drive when not on a corporate IP address. 
  • Only users from an encrypted device with a screen lock enabled can access Gmail. 

How to get started 


  • Admins: This is an opt-in beta. Admins can opt-in by changing their security settings Admin console> Security> Context-Aware Access
  • End users: No action needed


Additional details 

In the beta, context-aware access will only be configurable for Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and Keep. You’ll be able to use the following contextual signals to control access:

  • IP Subnet (specific IPv4 or IPv6 address) 
  • Device policies as reported through the Endpoint Verification extension, including whether a device password is active, device encryption status, minimum OS versions, and company-owned devices. 

You can apply policies by OU or to the whole domain, and all admin activity is logged in audit logs in the Admin console > Reports > Admin view.

Availability 

G Suite editions 

  • Available to G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and Cloud Identity Premium 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits, and Cloud Identity Free.


Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Increase email security with the security sandbox for Gmail beta

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

Security sandbox for Gmail (beta) detects the presence of previously unknown malware in attachments by virtually "executing" them in a private, secure sandbox environment, and analyzing the side effects on the operating system to determine malicious behavior.

Email attachments are detonated within a sandbox in the exact same way as they would if an actual user had clicked on it. This is done in a matter of minutes prior to the delivery of the email, and provides users with an extra layer of security. Security sandbox has been developed with a focus to provide coverage against malware propagated through malicious embedded scripts and zero day threats. The security sandbox for Gmail beta will provide:

  • Granular admin controls for rules to trigger pre-delivery deep scanning and quarantine behavior for potentially malicious emails 
  • Reporting through the G Suite security center 

Who’s impacted 

Settings impact admins only. If turned on, users may notice a delay of a few minutes in the delivery of affected mail due to scanning time.

Why you’d use it 

Security sandbox provides an additional level of anti-malware protection over and above conventional detection. By virtually opening an attachment in a secure environment that can analyze the effects on the target operating system, it’s better able to detect ransomware, sophisticated malware propagated through embedded scripts (like files containing macros or .js files), and zero-day threats. 

How to get started 

  • Admins: Find and turn on the beta security sandbox feature at Admin console > Menu > Apps > G Suite > Gmail > Advanced settings. Use our Help Center to find more information on how to detect harmful attachments. 
  • End users: No action needed 



Additional details 

Granular admin controls 
If desired, admins will be able to set up custom rules to control which messages are tested in the security sandbox. If custom rules are not applied, all messages with attachments sent to the OU will be checked in the sandbox. Rules can be customized for each organizational unit (OU). Admins can also decide what to do with messages that have malware. Malware detected by Security Sandbox is put in the spam folder by default. You can quarantine malware attachments detected by Security Sandbox instead. Create a content compliance rule using the spam metadata attribute.


Availability 

Rollout details 



G Suite editions 

  • Available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits 


On/off by default? 
This feature will be OFF by default and can be customized at an OU level.


Stay up to date with G Suite launches