Tag Archives: Google Sheets

Expanding Braille support in Google Sheets

As part of our ongoing effort to make our products more accessible, we’re expanding support for Sheets on Windows computers via the latest versions of the JAWS and NVDA screen readers.

Earlier this year we launched Braille support in Google Sheets, and recently announced expanded support for Windows computers. Users with a Braille display will be able to read and edit cell contents, as well as navigate between cells in a sheet. This expanded Braille support will roll out to all users over the next two weeks. With these updates, Braille support on Sheets will be available on the following platforms: 

Chrome OS 
On Chrome OS, you can use ChromeVox with Chrome.

Windows 
On Windows, you can use JAWS or NVDA with Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer. Please upgrade to a recent version of JAWS 2018 (2018.1803.24 or newer) or NVDA (NVDA 2018.1 or newer).

Mac 
On Mac, you can use VoiceOver with Safari or Chrome, on Mac OS X Yosemite.


Note: This will only work with recent versions of these browsers and screen readers. To use the feature, make sure your screen reader software is up to date.

For more details on Braille support in Sheets, including detailed software requirements, see our Help Center article on how to use a Braille display to read and enter text.

Launch Details 
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions: 
Available to all G Suite editions 

Rollout pace: 
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact: 
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information 
Help Center: Accessibility for Docs Editors
Help Center: Use a Braille display to read and enter text 


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Get more control over chart data labels in Google Sheets

We’re adding new features to help the charts you create in Google Sheets better represent the data they contain. These features include showing total data labels for stacked charts and controlling where data labels are placed.

Show totals in stacked charts
You can now add total data labels in stacked charts, which show the sum of all content in a data set.



Choose the alignment of your data labels
You can also choose where data labels will go on charts. The options you have vary based on what type of chart you’re using.

For column and bar charts, the data label placement options are:

  • Auto - Sheets will try to pick the best location
  • Center - In the middle of the column
  • Inside end - At the end of the column
  • Inside base - At the base of the column
  • Outside end - Past the end of the column


For line, point, and area charts, the placement options are:

  • Auto - Sheets will try to pick the best location
  • Center - over the middle of the plot point
  • Left - to the left of the plot point
  • Right - to the right of the plot point
  • Above - above the plot point
  • Below - below the plot point


Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Edit a chart in Sheets

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Think macro: record actions in Google Sheets to skip repetitive work

(Cross-posted from The Keyword)

Since their debut nearly 40 years ago, spreadsheets have remained core to how businesses get work done. From analyzing quarterly revenue to updating product inventory, spreadsheets are critical to helping companies gather and share data to inform quicker decisions—but what else can you do if they’re in the cloud?

We’ve been focused on making Google Sheets better for businesses for this reason, which is why we’ve recently added new features to help teams analyze and visualize their data. Today we’re adding more updates to Sheets, including a way to record macros in the cloud to automate repetitive tasks, as well as more formatting options. Check it out.

Record macros in Sheets, skip mundane tasks

We want to help companies automate work by approaching macros differently: cloud-first. Starting today, you can record macros in Sheets. Let’s say you need to format new data imports or build the same chart across multiple sheets of quarterly data. Repeating the same steps manually can take hours, but the Sheets macro recorder lets you record those actions and play them back on command without having to write any code.


Here’s how it works: when you record a macro, Sheets converts the macro actions into an Apps Script automatically. If you want to update your macro, you can simply edit the script directly instead of having to re-record the macro from scratch. You can also write your own Apps Script functions and import them as new macros.

The best part about Sheets macros is that they’re built for use in cloud-based files, which means that teams can run macros at the same time that others are working in the sheet without interrupting them. For example, a finance team having a budget meeting can run macros while reviewing the same spreadsheet. It also means that coworkers or clients won’t be forced to download sensitive files to use your macros. Since your Sheets files are in the cloud, you can keep tighter controls over who can view and re-share your data.

More updates to Sheets

You may have noticed that over the past few years we’ve put effort toward building Sheets features to help businesses view, analyze and share their data more easily. This includes adding new chart types (waterfall and 3D), ways to embed charts while keeping data up-to-date in Docs and Slides (even if you move files), more functions (up to 400+ now), additional formatting, print options and more. 

Today, we’re adding even routinely requested features, including the ability to add printing page breaks, custom paper sizes, more options for row and column grouping and a way to add checkboxes in cells. We’ve also made it possible for you to group your data by time frame (like week, month or year) when you create pivot tables.

Speaking of pivot tables, our engineering team has also been hard at work bringing the power of Google’s artificial intelligence into Sheets to help teams know what their data knows. You might have noticed that we recently added intelligent pivot tables in Sheets to help analyze and find new insights, no matter how skilled you are at data analytics.


Companies like Whirlpool Corporation and Sanmina are using Sheets for more collaborative data analysis. These latest additions are designed to make Sheets a go-to resource for businesses and will begin to roll out today. Learn more about Sheets on our Learning Center.



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Additional details on new macro recorder and formatting options in Google Sheets

In our earlier post, we provided an overview of some of the ways we’re making Google Sheets better for business. This included several new feature announcements. This post will provide some more specific feature and rollout information that may be useful to G Suite admins.

Record macros in Sheets
To help save your team time when completing repetitive tasks, you can record macros in Sheets. When you record a macro, it’s saved as an Apps Script that you can run in the cloud whenever you need to perform the task. You can also edit the script to change it, or import existing Apps Scripts as new macros. See the previous post for more details, or the Help Center for the specific how-tos.

Group rows and columns in a spreadsheet
There’s a new option to group rows or columns in Sheets. This makes it easier to collapse or expand several rows and columns at once to customize your view. See the Help Center for more on how to manage rows, columns, and cells.


Add checkboxes to a list in Sheets
You can turn a list of items into a checklist with the new checkbox feature. See the Help Center to learn how to add and use checkboxes.


Improved date-based pivot tables
We’re making it easier to work with dates in pivot tables by adding an option to create groupings by time and date, including hour, day, month, quarter, year, and more. See the Help Center to learn how to add and use pivot tables.


Better spreadsheet printing
We’re adding new features to make it easier to print spreadsheets. Specifically, you can specify custom paper sizes and set custom page breaks. This makes it easier to get the right content from a spreadsheet on a printed page. See the Help Center for more about how to print from Google Sheets.


Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in 4 weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility); rollout to Scheduled Release domains will only start after rollout to Rapid Release domains is complete.

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
The Keyword: Think macro: record actions in Google Sheets to skip repetitive work
Help Center: Automate tasks in Google Sheets
Help Center: Customize a pivot table
Help Center: Print from Google Sheets
Help Center: Edit rows, columns, and cells in a spreadsheet
Help Center: Add and use checkboxes



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Menu and toolbar updates in Google Docs editors

Based on usage data and your feedback, we’re making some changes to the menus in the web versions of the Google Docs editors. These are similar to the changes we made in December, in January, and in February and will make it easier to find certain items.

Changes that affect the Google Docs and Google Slides menus: 
  • In the Format menu, text formatting options (including bold, italic, font size, and more) will be moved to a new “Text” submenu.

Changes that only affect Google Slides menus: 
  • The Table menu will be removed. Options to add or remove a table will be in the Insert menu. Options to format tables will be in the Format menu. 
  • In the Slide menu, four options for moving slides will be moved to a new “Move” submenu. 
  • In the Arrange menu, "Align horizontally" and "Align vertically" will be moved into a new "Align" submenu. 

Changes that only affect Google Docs menus and toolbars: 
  • In the toolbar, text color and highlight color will be split into separate controls for each. 
  • In the toolbar, a new option will be added to “Insert image” 
  • The Table menu will be removed. Options to add or remove a table will be in the Insert menu. Options to format tables will be in the Format menu. 

Changes that affect all Docs editors menus (including Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets): 
  • Items in the Insert menu will be reordered.

These changes will only affect the visual menu on the web version of these products. All options will still be available via keyboard shortcuts and the search box in the Help menu.

Launch Details 
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions: 
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace: 
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact: 
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Keyboard shortcuts for Google Docs 
Help Center: Keyboard shortcuts for Google Slides 
Help Center: Docs editors homepage

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Improve collaboration in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides with Activity dashboard

G Suite makes it easier for users to collaborate efficiently and effectively. An important part of collaboration is deciding how and when to follow up with others. To help inform these decisions, we're introducing Activity dashboard in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. It’s a feature that lets users with edit access see who has viewed the file and when they viewed it.



For example, a user can check if a coworker has seen a file already and alert them that it’s been updated. Or an account manager can judge the best way to follow up with a partner, depending on whether that partner has viewed the materials they previously sent.

As of March 7th, G Suite administrators have access to new Admin console settings to control the Activity dashboard feature for their domain or the organizational units (OUs) within it. On March 21st, end users will begin to see Activity dashboard in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. See the “Release schedule” section below for more information.

Understand when user viewing data will be visible

A file’s Activity dashboard contains viewing data, which is information on who viewed the file and when they viewed it. The viewing data that’s shown in the dashboard depends on both your organization’s Admin console settings and a user’s individual settings:

  • As an admin, you can determine whether viewing data from your organization’s users is shown in Activity dashboard. Specifically, you can choose to make viewing data for your organization’s users visible, not visible, or only visible within your organization. See the “Review and change your organization’s Activity dashboard settings” section below for more information.
  • If you make viewing data visible for your organization, your users can still choose to exclude their individual viewing data from showing in Activity dashboard via their personal privacy settings. If an admin makes their organization’s viewing data not visible, your end users won’t be able to choose to share their viewing data. See the “End user controls for Activity dashboard” section below for more info.

Users with edit access to a file and who belong to the same domain as the file’s owner will be able to see that file’s Activity dashboard and any viewing data which is available in it.

Review and change your organization’s Activity dashboard settings

Admin controls for Activity dashboard are now available in the Admin console. There are three options:
  • On: Activity dashboards show all user views, unless individual users hide their information.
  • On - Only within your domain: Your users’ viewing information is only visible in Activity dashboards of files owned by users in your domain and to other users within your domain, unless individual users hide their information. Your users’ viewing data will not be visible in Activity dashboards of files owned by users in other domains.
  • Off: Your users’ viewing data will not show up in Activity dashboard for any file. Your users may be able to see whether external users have viewed their files, depending on the Activity dashboard settings of those external users.


Find out how to change the setting for your organization in our Activity dashboard Help Center article for admins.

Note: Activity dashboard and its settings don’t affect the data collected in your G Suite Drive audit log.

End user controls for Activity dashboard

When Activity dashboard becomes available to your users, they’ll see a notification in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides that explains the feature and their control options. Activity dashboard will only show viewing data for a user after they see this notification. It will not display any activity from before they saw it.



All users will have access to privacy settings that allow them to control whether their views show up in Activity dashboard at any time. For more information and to change settings, users can see the Activity dashboard Help Center article for users.

Release schedule

Admin console settings are available now. Activity dashboard will start to become available to users in two weeks:

  • If your domain is on the Rapid Release track, Activity dashboard will not be available to end users before March 21st. Due to a gradual rollout, all Rapid Release domains may not have access to the feature for up to two weeks after that. 
  • If your domain is on the Scheduled Release track, Activity dashboard will not be available to end users before April 9th. Due to a gradual rollout, all domains may not have access to the feature for up to two weeks after that. 


Learn more about this feature in our Help Center article on how your users can use and control Activity dashboard, as well as our Activity dashboard Help Center article for G Suite admins.

Over time we’ll add features to Activity dashboard to provide more insights into activity on the file and to make it easier to communicate with collaborators directly from Activity dashboard.

Launch Details
Release track:
  • Admin console settings are available today to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. 
  • User-facing feature will begin to roll out to Rapid Release domains in two weeks and to Scheduled Release domains in five weeks. 

Editions: 
  • Activity dashboard access: Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, Education, and Nonprofit editions only. Users will be able to see the Activity dashboard for a file if they have edit access to that file. 
  • Activity dashboard viewing data visibility settings: All users have access to privacy settings for Activity dashboard, as data from users in all G Suite editions can appear in the dashboard. 

Rollout pace: 
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) 

Impact: 
Admins and end users

Action: 
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center (admins): Let users see who viewed files 
Help Center (users): See who has viewed Google Docs, Sheets & Slides


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Improving the menus in Google Docs editors

Based on usage data and your feedback, we’re making some changes to the menus in the web versions of the Google Docs editors. These are similar to the changes we made in December and in January and will make it easier to find certain items.

Changes that affect all Docs editors menus (including Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets):
  • In the Tools menu, “Spelling” will be renamed “Check Spelling.”
  • In the Edit menu, “Select none” will be removed. 
  • Items in the File, Edit, and Tools menus will be reordered. 


Changes that only affect Google Sheets menus:
  • In the Data menu, “Filter” will be renamed “Create a filter.”
  • In the Data menu, “Validation” will be renamed “Data validation.”
  • Items in the Data menu will be reordered. 
  • Items in the Format menu will be reordered. 


These changes will only affect the visual menu on the web version of these products. All options will still be available via keyboard shortcuts and the search box in the Help menu.


Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Keyboard shortcuts for Google Docs
Help Center: Keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets
Help Center: Docs editors homepage


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Improved accessibility for Google Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

We want to make sure our products work well for everyone. That’s why, as part of our ongoing accessibility initiatives, we’re launching new features for Google Sheets, Slides, and Drawings. Specifically, we’re adding Braille support in Google Sheets, and screen magnifier support in Google Slides and Drawings.

Use Google Sheets with Braille displays

You can already use Braille displays to read and edit text in Docs, Slides and Drawings. Now we’re adding Braille support to Sheets as well. You’ll be able to use a Braille display to read and edit cell contents as well as navigate between cells in a sheet. At the moment, Braille support in Sheets will only be available on Chrome OS with the ChromeVox screen reader. We’re working to add support for other platforms and screen readers.

See our Help Center to find out how to use a Braille display with Sheets.

Use screen magnifiers with Google Slides and Drawings

We recently added screen magnifier support to Docs and Sheets. Now screen magnifiers will also work with Slides and Drawings.

You can use screen magnifiers with Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings on Mac and Chrome OS devices. See our Help Center to learn how to use screen magnifiers with Google Docs editors.

Launch Details

Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information


Help Center: Accessibility for Docs editors 
Help Center: Use a Braille display to read & enter text


Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Improved accessibility for Google Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

We want to make sure our products work well for everyone. That’s why, as part of our ongoing accessibility initiatives, we’re launching new features for Google Sheets, Slides, and Drawings. Specifically, we’re adding Braille support in Google Sheets, and screen magnifier support in Google Slides and Drawings.

Use Google Sheets with Braille displays

You can already use Braille displays to read and edit text in Docs, Slides and Drawings. Now we’re adding Braille support to Sheets as well. You’ll be able to use a Braille display to read and edit cell contents as well as navigate between cells in a sheet. At the moment, Braille support in Sheets will only be available on Chrome OS with the ChromeVox screen reader. We’re working to add support for other platforms and screen readers.

See our Help Center to find out how to use a Braille display with Sheets.

Use screen magnifiers with Google Slides and Drawings

We recently added screen magnifier support to Docs and Sheets. Now screen magnifiers will also work with Slides and Drawings.

You can use screen magnifiers with Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings on Mac and Chrome OS devices. See our Help Center to learn how to use screen magnifiers with Google Docs editors.

Launch Details

Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information


Help Center: Accessibility for Docs editors 
Help Center: Use a Braille display to read & enter text


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Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

New categories and languages for templates in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

We know how valuable templates can be to a company—they save employees’ precious time, ensure that their work product looks professional, and increase brand consistency across their materials. That’s why we’ve spent the last several months working with partner experts to develop templates in four new categories:

1. Project Management in Sheets, in partnership with Smartsheet



2. Sales in Docs, in partnership with PandaDoc



3. Human Resources (HR) in Docs, in partnership with Zenefits



4. Freelancer Engagement in Docs, in partnership with Upwork



At the moment, these templates are only available in English and on the web.

While the new templates above are English only, our existing templates are now available in several additional languages, including Hindi (hi), German (de), Indonesian (in), Japanese (ja), Dutch (nl), and Chinese (zh-CN). These localized templates will be available in Docs, Sheets, and Slides on the web.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Create a file from a template


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