Tag Archives: Google Meet

Use studio look in Google Meet to look your best

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘23. Visit the Workspace Blog to learn more about the next wave of AI innovation in Workspace. This feature is exclusive to the Duet AI for Google Workspace Enterprise add-on.


What’s changing

Google Meet already offers a variety of tools to help you appear your best during meetings, including automatic framing and lighting adjustments. Today, we’re taking these enhancements a step further by introducing studio look in Google Meet, powered by Duet AI. Studio look enhances the quality of your portrait by reducing noise and increasing sharpness, bringing you into focus more clearly.


In the hybrid work world, our video feeds can be hindered by low light or lower quality webcams. Studio look helps ensure you’re coming across crisp and in focus, helping strengthen human connections in a hybrid work world.

For illustrative purposes only — to use Studio Light, go to settings > video > studio look.


Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: This feature will be available by default. You can turn studio look on before a call or during a call from the three-dot settings menu. Visit the Help Center to learn more about improving your video experience with studio look.

Rollout pace 

Availability 


Join client-side encrypted meetings from your mobile device

What’s changing 

Beginning today, you can join a client-side encrypted meeting directly from the Google Meet and Calendar apps. 


Client-side encryption gives users direct control of their encryption keys and the identity service that authenticates those keys. Further, client-side encryption ensures that Google cannot access audio and video content under any circumstances. Our original announcement has more information about client-side encryption in Meet.


Getting started


Rollout pace



Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers hosting client-side encrypted calls 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, The Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Frontline, and Nonprofits customers

Resources



View speaker notes while co-presenting Google Slides in Google Meet

What’s changing

Earlier this year, we added a new feature that allows multiple people to present a Google Slides presentation together in Meet. Starting today, co-presenters are now also able to view speaker notes. 
View speaker notes while co-presenting Google Slides in Google Meet

Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

Primary and co-presenters can now read from the same speaker notes while engaging with their audience during a presentation. This allows everyone to present with greater confidence and reduces context switching between Meet and Slides. 


Additional details 

This feature requires a computer with a Google Chrome or Edge browser. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • As the main presenter: 
      • To start a presentation, select “present a tab” in Meet > “start slideshow”. 
      • To add a co-presenter, select "Add co-presenter" in the people panel drop down menus. 
      • To view speaker notes, click the speaker notes button in the controls at the bottom corner of the presentation. 
    • As a co-presenter: 
      • You’ll be notified that the primary presenter assigned you as a co-presenter. 
      • You’ll get control over the Slides presentation, allowing you to navigate the deck for everyone in the meeting. 
      • To view speaker notes, click the speaker notes button in the controls at the bottom corner of the presentation. 
        • Note: co-presenters must have edit access to the Slides presentation in order to view speaker notes 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about co-presenting Slides in Google Meet. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade, and Workspace Individual customers 

Resources 

Gallery view for Zoom interoperability on Google Meet hardware

What’s changing 

When we previously announced Zoom interoperability for Google Meet hardware devices, Zoom interop calls only supported Zoom’s Speaker view. We’re now introducing support for Zoom’s Gallery view, which makes much better use of screen real estate and allows more participants to be seen on screen at the same time. 


Note: There is no way to toggle between Speaker View and Gallery View at this time – Gallery view has replaced Speaker view as the default layout for Zoom calls. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin action required. 
  • End users: There is no action required — you’ll automatically notice this change. 

Rollout 


Availability 

  • Available for all Google Meet hardware customers 

Resources 

Q&A moderation now available for Google Meet

What’s changing 

Meeting hosts can now enable Q&A moderation, which will allow hosts to review and approve questions before they’re shared with meeting attendees. Question moderation can be used for meetings and in-domain live streams, on web and mobile devices. This update will help ensure questions are appropriate and on topic before they’re shared broadly with meeting participants. 

Review and approve questions before they're shared in the meeting.



Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this specific feature. Visit our Help Center to learn more about turning Q & A on or off for your organization. 
  • End users: 
    • This feature will be OFF by default and can be turned on in the host controls “Meeting activities” section:



    • Meeting participants will see a banner indicating whether question moderation is turned on or off for their meeting:

Question moderation is turned on


Question moderation is turned off

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – July 28, 2023

3 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.


Set Context Aware Access policies for 1P & 3P applications to access Workspace APIs 
Admins can now use context-aware access to block or limit first and third party API access to Google Workspace applications. With context-aware access, you can set up different access levels to Workspace applications based on a user’s identity and the context of the request (location, device security status, IP address). Extending these policies to APIs that request Workspace core data gives admins another layer of control and security and helps protect against data exfiltration. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers only. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about controlling which third-party & internal apps access Google Workspace data, context-aware access, creating context-aware access levels, and assigning access levels to apps. 

Include audio when sharing your screen using Google Meet on mobile
If you're using Google Meet on a mobile device, you can now share audio in addition to your screenshare. Share a video with sound, or share music along with your presentation. | This feature is available now on iOS and will begin rolling out for Android mid-August 2023. | Learn more about presenting during a video meeting. 

A single Google group can be a member of 30,000 shared drives 
Previously, a single Google group could be added as a member to an unlimited number of shared drives. To protect the reliability of access changes for users in Google groups, a single group can now be added to no more than 30,000 shared drives. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains at an extended pace (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility). | Available to Business Standard, Business Plus, Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits only. | Learn more about shared drive limits in Google Drive. 


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.


Adding line numbers to Google Docs 
We’ve introduced the option to display line numbers within Docs that are set to paged mode. | Learn more about line numbers to Google Docs. 

Import sensitive external files to Google Drive with client-side encryption using the Drive API, launching in beta 
For select Google Workspace editions, admins can import sensitive, encrypted files from third-party storage using Client-side encryption and the Google Drive API, preserving the confidentiality of your data. Eligible admins can apply for beta access using this form. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more about the ​​migrate to Drive client-side encryption beta. 

Sync users and groups from an Azure Active Directory using Directory Sync Google 
Workspace Admins can now use Directory Sync to sync users and groups from Azure Active Directory. Directory Sync is an alternative to Google Cloud Directory Sync (GCDS), which admins can use to synchronize user and group data with their Google Cloud directory without the need to manage on-prem hardware and deployments. | Learn more about Directory Sync. 

Disable submissions after a due date in Google Classroom 
We’ve introduced a new option for teachers to disable submissions after an assignment past the due date. | Learn more about disabling submissions in Google Classroom. 

In-line replies now available within announcement spaces in Google Chat
We've added an in-line reply option to enable members of a space to respond to or discuss an announcement. | Learn more about in-line replies in Google Chat spaces.

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).

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – July 14, 2023

4 New updates 

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), 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), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers. 


Improved media viewing on Android devices in Google Chat 
We’re introducing a new media viewer in Google Chat on Android devices that significantly improves the media browsing experience. Now, media thumbnails open faster in full screen, repeat playback is quicker, and you can swipe between all of the media in the conversation. We've also added a shared media option that allows users to quickly browse through all media shared in a Chat conversation, which is accessible from the conversation as well as from the full-screen view of every media item. | Learn more about sending & sharing files in Google Chat messages.




Extending long running queries within Connected Sheets
Currently, we timeout any queries that take longer than 5 minutes for Connected Sheets. This week, we extended the timeout time from 5 minutes to 10 minutes for BigQuery and Looker. This means Connected Sheets users will be able to analyze data from queries that scan even larger data sets in Sheets.  


Filter by measures and value in a pivot table with Connected Sheets for Looker
Previously, Connected Sheets users could filter by dimensions in pivot tables, but not measures. Now, Looker users are able to filter by measures in a pivot table, which allows for even more targeted analysis on Connected Sheets. Additionally, Looker users will be able to filter by value in a pivot table on Connected Sheets. | Learn more about measure types on Looker and creating & using pivot tables. 




Add emojis in Google Sheets
Emojis are a great way for people to express themselves across Google Workspace. We’re excited to announce that you can now insert emojis into a Google Sheet by:
  • Typing “@” > “Emoji” > select the desired emoji
  • Going to “Insert” > “Emoji” > select the desired emoji

Scale meetings to 1,000 attendees, with 500 attendees being viewers, now available for Google Workspace Education Plus
In June 2023, we announced viewer mode for Google Meet. For certain Google Workspace editions, viewer mode can be used to scale their meetings to 1,000 attendees, with 500 attendees being viewers. We’re now expanding this functionality to Google Workspace Education Plus customers. | Learn more about scaling meetings with viewer mode.


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.


Add hyperlinks to text in Google Chat
You can now hyperlink text on web and Android when composing or editing a message in Google Chat. This update also includes the ability to copy over hyperlinks from other places like Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Slides. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Learn more about adding hyperlinks to text in Chat.


Paid appointment bookings now available in Google Calendar
To improve upon the current capabilities of appointment scheduling, the Google Calendar feature that allows users to share their availability via a booking page, we're now integrating paid appointment bookings into Google Calendar. | Available to Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits and Workspace Individual only. | Learn more about paid appointment bookings in Google Calendar.


Negotiate time directly in Gmail to schedule meetings faster
We’re adding a feature into Gmail that helps you find convenient 1:1 meeting times with others much quicker. This is especially useful when scheduling time with customers, partners or people in your organization whose Google Calendars are not visible to you. | Learn more about scheduling meetings in Gmail.


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:

Use polls or Q&As during Google Meet live streams

What’s changing 

If you’re live streaming a video meeting, meeting hosts can now enable the Q&A and poll features, which previously were only offered in traditional Meet meetings. Expanding these features to live streamed meetings will help take your meetings to the next level with a more feature-rich, collaborative experience. 


Q&A in Meet offers an easy way to better engage audiences and help them get their questions answered, both at work and in school. Educators can use Q&A as a structured way for students to ask questions on class content and get answers from teachers. Businesses can use Q&A to help make meetings more inclusive, giving everyone the opportunity to ask questions. Participants can submit and upvote their favorite questions without disrupting the flow of the call. 

Using Q&A's during a live stream




Polls are a great way to quickly gauge the pulse of your audience. You can use polls to identify topics that need more discussion or test understanding of the meeting content. This means business users can easily get real-time feedback from their colleagues, teachers can quiz remote students to ensure they’re absorbing the material, and sales teams can make their sales presentations to prospective customers more engaging and interactive.

Using polls during a live stream



Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using polls and Q&As in Google Meet.

Rollout pace



Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning upgrade customers

Resources

Simplified access controls coming to Google Meet beginning July 17, 2023

What’s changing 

We’re introducing simplified controls for meeting access in Google Meet. These will replace the existing Quick access meeting settings and the admin setting to turn Quick access on or off by default will be removed. This update will begin rolling out on July 17, 2023. 

From a Google Calendar invite or Google Meet itself, meeting organizers will now be able to pick from the following three levels of access: 

  • Open: 
    • Anyone with a meeting link will be able to join your meetings. 
    • No one will have to ask to join. 
    • Anyone can dial in. 
  • Trusted: 
    • Anyone within the meeting hosts’ organization will be able to join without having to ask to join (AKA knocking). 
    • Anyone outside the organization but invited via a Google Calendar event, or anyone invited from within the meeting, will also be able to join without having to ask to join. 
    • Anyone can dial in. 
    • Everybody else will have to ask to join. 
  • Restricted:
    • Only someone who is invited via a Google Calendar event or someone invited from within the meeting by a host will be able to join. 
    • Everyone else will have to ask to join, including participants inside a host’s organization who aren’t included on the invite, and those dialing in.

Additionally, meeting hosts can configure whether guests can join the meeting before hosts.




See below for more information regarding how the new behavior will be applied to new and existing meetings:

Workspace Edition

New Meetings

Existing Meetings with Quick Access “OFF”

Existing Meetings with Quick Access “ON”

Business users

If you use Meet with a paid work account then by default all your new meetings will be set to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.

Meetings will default to RESTRICTED and your guests won’t be able to join your meetings until you join 

Meetings will default to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you. 


Education users

If you use Meet with a paid school account then by default all your new meetings will be set to TRUSTED  and your guests will be able to join before you. 



Any meetings created via Google Classroom will be set to RESTRICTED and your guests won’t be able to join before you.

Meetings will default to RESTRICTED and your guests won’t be able to join before you.

Meetings will default to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.



Workspace Individual, Google One Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

New Meetings

Existing Meetings

By default all your new meetings will be set to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.

 

Anyone who is invited to a meeting via a Google Calendar invite will be considered as “trusted”. 

For any meetings previously created by you, those will also default to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you. 


You won’t see an option to create Restricted meetings. 


Who's impacted

Admins and end users


Why it matters 

To help ensure your meetings run as smoothly as possible, we made the decision to replace the Quick access settings with a more intuitive and explicit set of controls for meeting organizers and hosts. 


Getting started

  • Admins: 
  • End users: 
    • You can follow this post in our community forum to stay on top of the latest news regarding this update.
    • We recommend familiarizing yourself with the chart above, which explains more about the new default access settings, so you can adjust your settings as needed. 


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers
  • Available to users with personal Google accounts

Apply background blur when joining a call using a virtual desktop

What’s changing 

If you’re using a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to join a Google Meet meeting, you can now use background blur and light adjustment. Background blur will intelligently separate you from the background, blurring your surroundings while keeping you clear and in focus. Light adjustment automatically detects when you appear underexposed and enhances the brightness to improve your visibility. Note that these effects will only be applied once you join a call, they cannot be previewed in the greenroom. 




For admins, this optimization will help cut down on the demand put on your VDIs, such as CPU, GPU, and memory usage while helping to improve meeting quality and performance. For this reason, you may consider removing GPU resources from your VDIs for cost savings. 

Getting started 


Rollout pace