Tag Archives: Google Meet

Quickly access more features during meetings, available for Google Meet on the web

Quick summary 

We are introducing a new quick action to access popular features in Google Meet. By hovering the mouse on top of your own video feed, you can access video effects such as immersive backgrounds or fun filters to bring more fun to your meetings and a reframing option to improve your visibility. 

Quick action from your own video feed




You can also turn off the video feed from other participants using the quick action on their video. This can be helpful in situations where you want to focus your meeting view to just the presenter or hide participants with distracting video feeds. 

Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • The new quick action menu is available to all Google Workspace customers 
  • Note: The reframing feature is only available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning upgrade, and Workspace Individual customers. Also available to Google One Subscribers with 2TB or more storage space 

Resources 

Use companion mode to check-in to a Google Meet conference room, so everyone can know you by name

What’s changing 

One of the challenges of joining a virtual meeting from a conference room, is that the people in the room are identified by the name of the conference room rather than as individuals. But that’s changing today with the new companion mode check-in feature in Google Meet. If you’re joining a meeting from a conference room, you can use companion mode on your personal device to check in to that specific room. Room check-in allows everyone on the call to easily identify who is in the conference room, rather than simply seeing the conference room name.

You’ll be prompted to check into a room after joining companion mode on your personal device.

Checked-in participants will appear under the conference room 


Checked-in participants will be grouped under the conference room in the people panel







Room check-in will be available by default, but admins can turn this feature off for specific Meet hardware devices or specific users. For more information, see the “Additional details” section.


Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 



Why you’d use it 

Rather than being represented in a meeting just by the conference room you’re in, room check-in helps ensure everyone in the meeting can see your name and be aware of your presence. 

If you turn on your personal video tile in companion mode, it along with the conference room name, will be shown while you’re presenting. 

You’ll notice the same experience when using hand raise as well.


If your personal video tile is turned off, we’ll display the hand raise icon next to your name in the conference room view.

The conference room name is visible when using your personal tile & the hand raise feature.







Combined, this helps boost individual representation, making meetings more equitable, inclusive, and collaborative. 


Additional details 

Admin controls for room check-in 
Admins can turn off room check-in for specific Meet hardware devices within an organizational unit in the Admin console under Admin Console > Devices > Google Meet hardware > [Organizational Unit] > Device Settings > Room Check-In > Uncheck “Users can check in to this device’s meeting room.” This can be particularly useful in instances where the check-in feature should not be used on dedicated executive devices or in large meeting rooms. 


Admins can also turn this feature off for specific users within an organizational unit. Admins can use this option to slowly rollout room check-in department by department, for example. To turn room check-in off for specific users, navigate to Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > [Organizational Unit] > Meet Video Settings > Room Check-In > Uncheck “All users can check in to eligible rooms” in the admin console. 


Device Support 
This feature is only available for Google Meet hardware devices; interop devices are not supported at this time. 


Getting Started 

  • Admins: 
    • This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled at organizational unit level for specific hardware devices or users. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Meet settings. 

  • End users: 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Meet Hardware devices 

Resources 

Google Meet expands language support for closed captioning and translated captions

What’s changing 

To make Google Meet more inclusive, we’ve expanded support for closed captioning to include the following languages: 
  • French Canadian (web only, support for mobile coming soon) 
  • Indonesian 
  • Polish 
  • Romanian 
  • Thai 
  • Turkish 
  • Vietnamese 

We’ve also added additional languages for translated captions. You can now translate meetings spoken in English into: Dutch, Indonesian, Turkish, and Vietnamese 


Note: the newly supported languages will be denoted with a “beta” tag as we continue to optimize performance. 


Additional details 

We’ve also removed the “beta” tag from the following closed caption languages, as they have been validated and are out of beta: 
  • Dutch 
  • Italian
  • Japanese 
  • Korean 
  • Portuguese 
  • Russian 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There are no admin controls for these features. 
  • End users: These features are available by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about captions and translated captions in Google Meet.
  • Meeting participants: 
    • You can use live translated captions if the meeting is organized by a user with an eligible Google Workspace edition. 
    • Closed captions are available for all users. 

Rollout pace 

  • Available now. 

Availability 

Translated captions 
  • Available for meetings organized by Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade

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

Resources 

Enhanced experience for picture-in-picture for Google Meet in Chrome

What’s changing

We’re updating the Google Meet picture-in-picture experience to be more engaging and feature-rich. Directly from the picture-in-picture window, you can now: 
  • Raise your hand 
  • Use in meeting chat 
  • Turn captions on and off 
  • More effectively resize the picture-in-picture view 
  • Access flexible layouts 

Previously, you could only turn your camera or microphone on/off or leave the meeting from the picture-in-picture window. Our new picture-in-picture experience provides greater flexibility when screen sharing or navigating to a relevant screen for a more dynamic experience. 
Enhanced experience for picture-in-picture for Google Meet in Chrome

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Improved experience for admitting or denying join requests in Google Meet

What’s changing 

We’ve heard requests from our customers to update the experience for admitting participants in Google Meet. Currently, the admitting dialog can disrupt access to other meeting features. Additionally, because the dialog box takes up so much screen space, users can feel pressure to quickly accept or deny join requests in order to dismiss the notification window. 
Old experience (Knocking Simplification)
For a better experience, we’re moving join requests to the people panel. Here, users can take their time reviewing join requests without disrupting the overall meeting experience, and without blocking functionality of other meeting features. 
new experience (Knocking Simplification)

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  •  Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

 Resources 

Better control the flow of meetings with viewer mode in Google Meet

What’s changing 

To help provide a better experience and scale attendance for larger meetings, you can now select “Everyone is a viewer” when creating your Calendar invite. Viewers are defined as meeting attendees who cannot share their audio or video into the meeting. You can designate attendees who are leading, presenting, or moderating a meeting as co-hosts and contributors. 


Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

If you’re using Google Meet for large meetings, like webinars or town halls, designating attendees as “viewers” helps reduce potential meeting distractions, such as audio disruptions. Further, it keeps the attendees focused on the speaker and content of your meeting. 

Configure viewers in Google Meet by going to Video call options (gear icon) > Guests. 





When it’s time for the larger group to engage, hosts can transition viewers to contributors. We hope this update creates a more seamless experience for hosting and attending large scale Google Meet calls. 

You can switch a user between viewer and contributor via the people panel




Viewers will be able to use Meet features such as Q&As and polls. Viewers will not be able to use in-meeting chat or emoji reactions — viewer support for these features is coming in the future. We’ll provide an update here on the Workspace Updates blog at that time. 




Additional details 



Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers can scale their meetings to 1,000 attendees, with 500 attendees being viewers
Using these new viewer and contributor roles, Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers can expand the maximum number of meeting attendees to 1,000 — an increase from 500. If a host does not pre-configure the meeting, all users will be designated as viewers after 500 contributors have joined the call. 


The maximum number of meeting attendees will not change for the remaining Google Workspace editions that are receiving the viewer functionality. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature, nor is admin action required.
  • End users: 
    • When creating or editing a meeting in Calendar, you can configure viewers by going to Video call options (gear icon) > Guests. 
    • During the meeting, you can transition viewers to contributors via the people panel using the three-dot overflow menu and selecting “make a contributor”. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

Assign viewers 
  • Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching & Learning upgrade, and Education Plus customers 

1,000 meeting attendees
  • Available for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – May 26, 2023

6 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 customers.


Improving the Google Meet experience on foldable devices
If you’re using Google Meet on a foldable device, you’ll notice an improved experience in tabletop mode. Meet will automatically adjust the grid layout and control bar to best suit your device, making it easier to participate and interact during meetings. | Learn more about joining a video meeting.


Additional refinements to email notifications sent from Google Classroom
We’re updating the email notification experience in Google Classroom to make it easier for students and teachers to find the right information more efficiently in order to take action in Classroom. Specifically, you’ll notice refreshed visual design and language, clearer focus on action items, and easier access to notification settings. | Learn more about managing notification.
Additional refinements to email notifications sent from Google Classroom

Introducing new keyboard shortcuts in Google Sheets
We’re adding new keyboard shortcuts to Google Sheets to help you increase your productivity and perform actions faster. Examples include: applying/removing bold formatting, moving to the next Sheet, and displaying the Find and Replace box. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for June 7, 2023. | Learn more about keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets.

Find what you need faster with new Google Drive organizational options
You will now have more control over how files and folders are displayed in various views within Google Drive for Web. For example, we’re adding a new drop-down menu in both grid and list layouts that will enable you to select whether folders should always appear "on top" or if they should be "mixed with files". Additionally, while in the Search view, the new menu will provide display options specifically related to your search, which returns results sorted by relevancy and modification date. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for June 7, 2023. | Learn more about viewing & reordering your files and folders.




Pin multiple participants from Google Meet Hardware devices
You can now pin multiple video tiles using Google Meet hardware. Pinning can be used to highlight speakers, presentations, and other key attendees in the video feed. Now you can use this functionality however you’re joining a meeting: desktop, mobile, or a conference room. | Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet Hardware. | Learn more about pinning Google Meet participants.

Improving the Google Meet experience on foldable devices
If you’re using Google Meet on a foldable device, you’ll notice an improved experience in tabletop mode. Meet will automatically adjust the grid layout and control bar to best suit your device, making it easier to participate and interact during meetings.

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.


Simplify workflows in Google Docs with variable chips
We introduced variable chips, a new feature that makes document creation for things like invoices, contracts, or broader communications much easier. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus customers and Nonprofits only. | Learn more about variable chips in Google Docs.


Extending client-side encryption to chat messages in Google Meet
If you’re using client-side encryption for Meet, in-meeting chat will now be supported. As with the audio and video content of your client-side encrypted meetings, all in-meeting chat messages will be encrypted and inaccessible by any third party, including Google. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers hosting client-side encrypted calls only. | Learn more about client-side encryption for in-meeting chat on Google Meet.


Adding new capabilities to timeline view in Google Sheets
We added the following capabilities to expand the timeline view feature: enhanced formatting options, including card text truncation and the undo/redo option, a card collapsed view that enables you to merge cards into a single row for each card group, and print and download support. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers only. | Learn more about timeline view in Google Sheets. 


Set expirations for files in shared drives using Google Drive API
Developers will now be able to fully control file expirations via the Google Drive API (creating, reading, updating, deleting), and users will be able to see, but not edit file expirations in the sharing dialog. | Available to Google Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more about setting expirations for files in shared drives using Google Drive API. 


Enable your users to report inappropriate messages for review
Admins can enable content reporting for their Google Chat users. Once a user has flagged a message, admins can find more information about the incident in the Security Investigation Tool and decide whether further action is needed. This feature is available for Google Chat on the web and mobile devices. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more about reporting inappropriate messages. 

Contacts delegates can now update labels and manage “Other” contacts
We’re updating the functionality for delegated users to manage contact labels on behalf of their delegator via contacts.google.com. While this functionality was previously available in Gmail, they can now be managed directly at the source: Contacts. This will happen in two phases: 

Beginning this month, delegators will be prompted to review and re-approve access for their existing delegates. If existing delegates are not re-approved before July 2023, they will lose access to manage contacts. | Learn more about these additional capabilities for Contacts delegates and additional action required.

Improving consistency of Gmail data across the Security Investigation Tool and BigQuery
In August 2022, we announced the movement of the existing Gmail logs in BigQuery to Google Workspace logs and reports in BigQuery, creating a single space to access all of your Google Workspace audit events. 

To further improve this experience, you’ll see all Gmail log events from the Security Investigation Tool (SIT) in your Google Workspace logs and reports in BigQuery. This includes device types and post-delivery actions (for example open, delete, clicked links, and attachment downloads). | Learn more about the newly added columns.

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog post for additional details.


Rapid Release Domains:
Scheduled Release Domains:

Extending client-side encryption to chat messages in Google Meet

What’s changing 

If you’re using client-side encryption for Meet, in-meeting chat will now be supported. As with the audio and video content of your client-side encrypted meetings, all in-meeting chat messages will be encrypted and inaccessible by any third party, including Google. 

Meet already encrypts all of your data at rest and in transit between our facilities — client-side encryption gives users direct control of their encryption keys and the identity service that they choose to authenticate for those keys. For more information, see our original announcement.


Getting started


Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release domains:  Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 24, 2023
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 26, 2023

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, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 


Full HD in Google Meet live streams

What’s changing

Recently, we announced full HD Google Meet video calls, allowing you to set your Google Meet video resolution to 1080p. Similarly, we’re adding 1080p as a resolution option for live streaming video, an increase from 720p. If there is not enough bandwidth, the video feed will automatically revert to the best quality possible. This update delivers a higher quality, crisp video experience for those viewing a live stream.


Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available for Google Workspace Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and Teaching and Learning Upgrade


Resources


Full HD in Google Meet video calls

Quick summary 

For select Google Workspace editions, you can set your Google Meet video resolution to 1080p. This resolution is available on the web when using a computer with a 1080p camera and enough computing power in meetings with two participants. The new high definition resolution is off by default — eligible users will be prompted before entering the meeting about the new 1080p option, or it can be turned on or off via the settings menu. 





Note that additional bandwidth is required to be able to send 1080p video — Meet will automatically adjust the resolution if the device is bandwidth constrained.

Getting started

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Plus, Enterprise Essentials and Frontline customers
  • Also available to Google One subscribers with 2TB or more storage space with eligible devices. 

  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, Nonprofits, and G Suite Basic and Business customers. 
  • Not available to users with personal Google Accounts.

Resources