Admin alerts help give Google Apps admins visibility into important events within their domain, such as potentially suspicious login attempts, or service setting changes by other administrators. Previously, admins could turn on pre-defined alerts for various user activities, settings changes, and mail flow events. Today we are launching a new feature that allows admins to set up custom alerts for any of the following audit stream types:
Drive audit (Google Drive for Work and Google Apps for Education customers only)
Custom alerts give admins the flexibility to name and define the triggering audit stream event, add granular criteria like specifying the username of the person who performs the activity (e.g. Alert me when [email protected] deletes a calendar) and specify who will receive any corresponding alerts. Set alerts by clicking the ‘Set Alert’ button on any audit page within the Reports section:
Admins can view and edit custom alerts from the 'Manage alerts' page within the Reports section: Setting alerts on Drive events: Google Drive for Work and Google Apps for Education customers will now be able to configure alerts on sensitive Drive events like making a document public or a change in sharing permissions. Check out the Help Center for more details. Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release (gradual rollout) For more information: Help Center Google for Work blog post Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
Password recovery can be a frustrating and time-consuming activity for both Google Apps admins and the people in their domains who have been locked out of their accounts. With today’s launch, we’re giving admins the option to reduce their workload, and save time for those who have been locked out of their accounts, by enabling the ability for non-admins to reset their own passwords. This new feature is defaulted off at launch and can be enabled from the Admin console at: Security > Basic settings > Password Management. In the Password recovery section, click on "Enable/disable non-admin user password recovery."
Non-admins must have set up a recovery phone in order to reset their own password. Admins should check the Help Center for considerations regarding 2-Step Verification, off-boarding, and hijacked accounts before enabling this feature. Note: this feature is not available for customers using Single Sign-on (SSO). Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release (gradual rollout) For more information: Help Center - Admins Help Center - Users Google for Work blog post Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
When it comes to sharing Google Drive content outside of your domain, whether giving marketing materials to your design agency or inventory lists to your caterer, you want to make sure they can see it―whether they use Drive or not. With today’s launch, Google Apps admins now have the option in the Admin console to allow Drive content to be viewed by recipients outside of their domain, without them having to sign-in with a Google account. This feature will be defaulted off at launch. It can be enabled in the Admin console at: Apps > Google Apps > Drive > Sharing settings. Check out the Help Center for more details on enabling this feature. Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information: Help Center Google for Work blog post Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
Different departments have different needs when it comes to sharing content outside of your domain. You might, for example, have a research department that needs to keep information confidential and a sales team that needs to share presentations with their clients. With today’s launch, Google Apps admins now have the flexibility to choose Drive sharing permissions based on organizational unit (OU), as you currently can with other apps like Gmail and Calendar. To enable Drive sharing at the OU-level in the Admin console, click on: Apps > Google Apps > Drive > Sharing settings.
Note: this feature is available for Google Drive for Work and Google Apps for Education customers only Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information: Help Center Google for Work blog post Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
Complex businesses can require multiple Google Apps domain instances to meet their needs. Previously, certain domain management functionality was restricted to primary domains only, making managing multiple domains a bit cumbersome. With today’s launch, we’re extending several key features to secondary domains to make managing multiple domain instances more seamless:
Custom app URLs―make it easy for people in any of your domains to find your core Google Apps services by creating custom web addresses to each service. For example, mail.primarydomain.com or mail.secondarydomain.com.
Web address mapping―have your Google Sites appear under custom URLs for all of your domains, such as hr.yourdomain.com, hr.yourdomain.in or hr.yourdomain.fr.
Group renaming―create a Google Group in a primary domain and move it to a secondary domain. For example, rename the group [email protected] to [email protected].
Check out the Help Center links below for more information. Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information: Custom app urls Web address mapping Group renaming Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
Last June, we redesigned the Reports section in the Admin console to make it easier for admins to manage Google Apps and gain insights that help their entire organization run more efficiently. The improved Reports section provides domain highlights, user-level reporting, custom filtering/sorting on data, aggregated domain level reports and new audit streams (Login and Calendar Audit). Since the launch of the new Reports section, the old UI has been accessible via the Settings icon. On March 31, 2015, we’ll be removing access to the old Reports UI and shutting it down. All functionality available in the old UI is currently available in the new Reports section. Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release on March 31, 2015 For more information: Help Center Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
Previously, the deployment of 2-Step Verification (2SV) within a domain could be a tedious process, as it required Apps admins to carefully monitor the 2SV enrollments of their users before the actual enforcement, potentially leading to lock out situations requiring admin intervention. Today, we are improving the enrollment and enforcement process for 2SV for Google Apps. Admins can now set a 2SV enforcement date in the future, giving users a monitored amount of time to enroll. Users will be prompted to enroll when they sign-in, and also will receive email reminders if they have not enrolled before the enforcement date.
We highly encourage all Apps customers to take advantage of the simplified set-up process and add an extra level of security protection by implementing 2SV for their domains. See the Help Center for details on how to implement this feature. Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information: Help Center Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
Chrome application settings in the Admin console allow admins to control which Chrome applications and extensions their users can access, and whether users can create and publish their own apps. With today’s launch, the Admin console has been updated with a new App management view, providing admins with greater visibility and control in managing specific apps and extensions in their domain. Key improvements include:
The existing app and extension manager view under User Settings will remain available as an option moving forward. The new interface will roll out gradually over the coming weeks. See the Help Center for more information on the new and existing views for managing Chrome Apps. Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release (gradual rollout) For more information: Help Center Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
Starting today, from a single interface, Google Apps admins can define and push networks to Mobile, Chromebook, and Chromebox for Meetings devices. Previously, admins had to configure the same network in multiple places to make it available to different device types. With today’s launch, we have removed the redundant network configuration points in the Admin console: To access the new settings interface, select Device Management > Network in the Admin console. Learn more about the full capabilities in the Help Center for mobile and Chrome devices. Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information: Google Apps Help Center Chrome Help Center Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
Sending and receiving emails is something we all do many times a day, and it nearly always works flawlessly. When something does go wrong, however, it’s not always clear that there is even a problem and, once identified, it can be very difficult to determine the problem’s root cause. With today’s launch, we’re adding greater transparency for Google Apps admins into any mail flow issues that arise with Email alerts. These alerts can be managed by admins in the Admin console and will trigger email notifications to super admins (or other designated recipients) around the following potential mail failures (see Help Center for more details):
Exchange journaling failure
Smarthost failure
TLS failure
Mail flow notifications can be managed in the Admin console under the Reports > Manage Alerts > Email section. Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information: Help Center Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted
