Tag Archives: Google Vault

Google Vault API updates to replace Team Drives fields

What’s changing 

We recently updated the Vault API to reflect the renaming of “Team Drives” to “shared drives.” You can see more details on the name change here.

The new fields in the API are detailed below. Currently, both the old and updated fields are available. However, we will stop supporting the old fields in the API on June 1, 2020. You will need to migrate any app(s) that use the affected fields before June 1, 2020, to make sure they continue to work.

The specific changes to the API are:


Who’s impacted 

Admins and developers only

Why you’d use it 

Google Vault is the eDiscovery and compliance solution for G Suite, allowing customers to retain, hold, search, and export their data. The API means you can programmatically manage your organization's eDiscovery operations. If you’ve developed apps that use the API, you may need to make minor updates to make sure they keep working as intended.

How to get started 




Helpful links 




Availability 

Rollout details 
  • New “shared drives” fields are available today.
  • We will stop supporting the old “Team Drives” related API fields on June 1, 2020.


G Suite editions
  • Google Vault is available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, Education, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as other G Suite customers with the Vault add-on license.


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Search and export new Sites with Vault beta

What’s changing 

You can use Vault to search and export content in new Google Sites with a new beta program. Note that the beta will only support Vault’s search and export functionality, it will not support Vault’s holds and retention functionality.

Use our Help Center to find out more, or apply to join the beta here.

Who’s impacted 

Admins only

Why you’d use it 

Customers that sign up for the beta will be able to find content in new Sites, preview and navigate through the site in the Vault interface, and export sites for further analysis. This can expand your organization’s archiving and eDiscovery by adding content from new Sites.

How to get started 


Additional details 


Details of actions available in the beta 

Search for content in new Sites. You can search for Sites alongside other Drive content, or use the operator type:site to target just Sites data in Google Drive.


Find specific sites by their published URLs. Use our Help Center to learn more about searching for Sites data in Vault.


Preview and navigate through the site in the Vault interface, and export sites for further analysis.

 
Scope of functionality available through the beta: 

  • Vault only supports content in new Sites. Classic Sites content is not supported. 
  • Only the most recent version of the draft site will be available for search and export in Vault. 
  • This could be different from the published version of the site, as unpublished changes would be included. 
  •  This beta program only provides access to search and export functionality for new Sites, and does not include retention or hold functionality. 

Helpful links 



Availability 

Rollout details 


G Suite editions 

  • Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as other G Suite customers with the Vault add-on license 


On/off by default? 



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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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Use Vault for Gmail confidential messages and Jamboard files

What’s changing 

Google Vault is adding support for two new types of content:

  • Gmail confidential mode emails - If your users send or receive messages in Gmail confidential mode (currently available for G Suite as a beta program,) Vault will retain, preserve, search and export confidential mode messages as per the details below. 
  • Jamboard files stored in Google Drive - Vault will automatically retain and preserve Jamboard files (‘jams”) according to the retention rules and holds set for Google Drive, and let you search and export these files. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins only

Why you’d use it 

Google Vault lets you retain, hold, search, and export data to support your organization’s retention and eDiscovery needs. This launch adds support for new data types so that you can comprehensively govern your organization’s data.

How to get started  




Additional details 


Support for Gmail confidential mode emails 
Gmail confidential mode lets users restrict recipients' access to sensitive email content. This feature is available to G Suite domains through our Gmail confidential Beta program.

Vault and confidential messages sent by members of your organization - Vault can hold, retain, search, and export all confidential mode messages sent by users in your organization. Messages are always available to Vault, even when the sender sets an expiration date or revokes recipients' access to confidential messages.

Here’s an example of what [email protected] will see in Vault when they search for [email protected] and preview this email sent by [email protected].


Vault and confidential messages received from external senders - Your users might receive confidential mode messages from external parties such as other G Suite customers and from personal Gmail accounts. You can hold, retain, search and export message headers and subjects of external confidential messages. However, you can't search or export message content or attachments from external confidential messages.

Here’s an example of what [email protected] will see in Vault when they search for [email protected], and preview this email sent by an external domain ([email protected]).


See our Help Center for more information on Vault and Gmail confidential mode. You can also see how to protect Gmail messages with confidential mode.

Support for Jamboard files (“jams”) stored in Google Drive 

With this launch, you’ll be able to manage Jamboard files that have been saved to a user’s Google Drive:

  • Retain Jamboard data through Vault with the same retention rules that you set for Google Drive. All your retention rules set for Drive will automatically apply to jams in Drive. 
  • Preserve Jamboard data through Drive holds. 
  • Search for Jamboard data in Vault, alongside other Drive files, or only search Jamboard files with the “type:jam” search operator. You can also preview jams and export them. 

See our Help Center for to see how to set retention rules for Drive, which will also apply to jams. 

Helpful links 




Availability 

Rollout details 

Vault support for Jamboard 


Vault support for Gmail Confidential in beta is completely rolled out to all domains.

G Suite editions 
Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as G Suite users with the Vault add-on license

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

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Easily copy your Gmail holds to Hangouts Chat in Google Vault

What’s changing

As we previously announced, beginning on April 16, 2019, Mail retention rules and holds will stop protecting chat messages in classic Hangouts. Instead, Hangouts Chat retention rules and holds will protect chat messages in both classic Hangouts and Chat. To continue to preserve messages in classic Hangouts, before April 16, 2019, you must copy any existing Mail holds (that apply to messages in classic Hangouts) to Hangouts Chat in Google Vault. Today, we’re launching a new feature in Vault to help you copy your holds from Mail to Hangouts Chat, with a few clicks.

Who’s impacted

Vault Admins only

Why you’d use it

This feature helps you ensure all your messages in classic Hangouts and Hangouts Chat are preserved by the same Vault policies as your classic Hangouts messages are today.

How to get started

Admins: In Vault,
  • From the list of Vault matters, click on any matter that may contain Gmail holds. When viewing the list of holds in this matter, you can select multiple Mail holds at once.
  • Select the Mail hold(s) and click Copy holds to Hangouts Chat.


End users: No action required

Additional details

Note that Hangouts Chat doesn’t support holds based on date ranges or search terms, so they won’t be copied with the hold. You can also choose to extend these holds to cover conversations associated with these custodians in rooms.

Additionally, if you have a large number of holds in place, you can also use Vault APIs to duplicate your holds in bulk.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions
  • Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as G Suite users with the Vault add-on license.

On/off by default?
  • This feature will be ON by default.
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Upcoming Hangouts service consolidation for all G Suite customers

What’s changing

As we announced in 2017, Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet are the next generation of Hangouts that focus on team communication. Later this year, we'll transition classic Hangouts users on G Suite domains to Chat and Meet. As a first step, some changes are coming on April 16, 2019.

Key dates to note

G Suite customers can expect the following timeline of changes:
  • April 16, 2019 – Several changes that may require administrator action (see below for details).
  • Between April and September 2019 – Features from classic Hangouts will come to Chat.
  • October 2019 – Start retiring classic Hangouts for G Suite customers.


Consumer impact
The above dates are specific to G Suite customers and their end users who use classic Hangouts. We will continue to support consumer use of classic Hangouts, and expect to transition consumers to free Chat and Meet following the transition of G Suite customers. A more specific timeline will be communicated at a later date.

What changes will take place on April 16, 2019?
For G Suite domains that have classic Hangouts enabled, Chat will also become available to users on the web and via mobile apps. They can also continue using classic Hangouts in Gmail, mobile, web or the Chrome extension. See these details for how interoperability works between Chat and classic Hangouts.

The following admin-facing changes will begin taking place on April 16, 2019:
  1. For Google Vault customers, Mail retention rules and holds will stop protecting chat messages in classic Hangouts. Instead, Chat retention rules and holds will protect chat messages in both classic Hangouts and Chat.
  2. Chat admin settings will now control chat capability in both classic Hangouts and Chat.
  3. A new setting in the Admin console under Apps > G Suite > Hangouts Chat will be added so you can disable classic Hangouts user interfaces at a time of your choosing.
  4. The "Google Hangouts" settings page in the Admin console will be renamed "Hangouts Meet." This setting will control both classic Hangouts video and Hangouts Meet.

Google Vault customers need to take action before April 16, 2019
Between March 16 and April 16, 2019, Vault customers that have any Mail retention rules or holds will have an indefinite retention rule automatically created for Chat. This rule is to protect all your chat messages in classic Hangouts when Chat rules start protecting them on April 16, 2019. Before April 16, 2019, you must:

  • Review and set new retention rules for Chat in Google Vault.
  • Duplicate any existing Mail holds for Chat in Google Vault.
  • Set any new holds on chat messages from Chat in Google Vault.
  • Once you have set your preferred retention rules and holds for Chat, in order for them to take effect, remove the indefinite retention rule that may be overriding your rules.

If you don’t take set your preferred retention rules or holds in Chat and then remove the indefinite retention rule by April 16, 2019, all your chat messages in classic Hangouts and direct messages in Chat will be retained indefinitely. Refer to this Help Center article to learn more about completing these actions.

What will happen in October 2019?
Classic Hangouts will be retired for all G Suite customers starting in October 2019 and all remaining users will be transitioned to Chat. More notices and details will be shared on the G Suite Updates blog in the future. In order to make the transition easier for your users, you can review our Chat documentation.


What is the best time to move my users to Hangouts Chat?
You can transition your users immediately if you’d like. If there’s more functionality that your organization needs before switching, rest assured that between April and September 2019, we’ll add features that will make it easier for your users to move from classic Hangouts to Chat such as:

  • Integration with Gmail
  • Chatting with external users
  • An improved video calling experience
  • Making calls with Google Voice

We will communicate availability of these new features via the G Suite Updates blog so stay tuned!

Helpful links


Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Improving search in Google Vault with custodian counts and saved queries

Before you perform a search of Gmail messages in Google Vault, you can see the number of results that your search criteria will return—helping you plan next steps and establish resources for review. Going forward, in addition to the total number of results, you’ll also see the number of accounts with matches. You can then download a list of those accounts and the number of messages that match each. This can help you determine the key custodians involved in an investigation. (Note that this feature is only available when searching Gmail messages.)



Programmatically save your search queries with the Vault Matters API

In addition to the feature above, we’re making it possible for admins to programmatically read, create, and delete saved search queries with the Vault Matters API. This will allow you to quickly and easily copy search parameters from one matter to another, saving you valuable time.

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

Editions:
Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as G Suite users with the Vault add-on license

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

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: How does the count feature work?

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Programmatically manage exports with the Google Vault API

We launched the Google Vault API in 2017 so that customers could integrate Vault with the other tools and processes critical to their business. We’re now improving the API by making it possible to programmatically create and manage exports, in addition to legal matters and holds.

With this launch, you can use the Google Vault API to:
  • create an export—send a request to export messages and files that match your criteria.
  • list exports—retrieve the status of all exports associated with a matter.
  • get an export—retrieve the status of an export anytime, and if the export is completed, download that export using the standard Cloud Storage API.
  • delete an export—remove an export from a matter when it’s no longer needed.
For more information, check out the Google Vault API Developers Guide.

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

Editions:
Available to G Suite Business, Education, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as any G Suite users with the Vault add-on license

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

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Google Vault API Developers Guide


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New in Google Vault: Hangouts Meet and Drive trash file retention, improved search and exports

We're introducing new features in Google Vault that allow for more granular retention and provide a more transparent search experience. These features can help you retain exactly the data you need and thereby reduce your liability risk, as well as improve your eDiscovery process with better search and export capabilities.

Set retention policies for Hangouts Meet recordings
Previously, Hangouts Meet recordings were subject to applicable Drive retention rules. With this launch, you can set default and custom retention rules specifically for Hangouts Meet. This will allow you to set shorter retention periods for Meet recordings if, for example, they happen to contain more sensitive content.

Create a custom retention rule for Hangouts Meet

Set retention policies for files in Drive trash
As a G Suite admin, you can now also set custom retention rules specifically for Drive files that have been moved to a user’s trash. This option provides more flexibility for organizations who wish to control the lifecycle of files deleted by users separately from those files still active in their users' My Drive and Team Drives.

Retain files moved to trash

Large search improvements
With this launch, we’re making the process of searching your entire domain and large OUs easier and more transparent. If a data type supports domain-wide search, you can now select “All Accounts” to search the entire domain.

Search all accounts in a domain

As Vault processes your large search request, you’ll see an activity indicator and the amount of time that has elapsed. You’ll also have the option to cancel your search or run another search in a new tab.


See details of a search in progress

When your search is complete, in addition to your results, you’ll now see the total time taken for the search. For a Gmail search, you’ll also see the total number of accounts searched and the number of accounts searched per second. This will give you an idea of Vault's performance during the large search.

See details of a completed search

Simpler exports for Hangouts Chat
We’re also making it easier for organizations to export large amounts of Hangouts Chat data. Going forward, export data from Hangouts Chat will be condensed into a small number of files. Previously, you’d see one conversation per file; now you’ll see multiple conversations included in the same file, until the file size limit is reached.

For example, in the past, 100 conversations would be exported as 100 MBOX or PST files. With this launch, those same 100 conversations will be exported as just one or two MBOX or PST files, making it simpler to process the results.

In addition, each Chat conversation will continue to have metadata associated with it, but with two new fields: (1) type of conversation (direct message or room), and (2) conversation ownership (either the room name or a comma-separated list of accounts that participated in a direct message).

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

Editions:
Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Education editions only, as well as G Suite users with the Vault add-on

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

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: What's new in Vault


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Google Vault support for Hangouts Chat

We just announced some new G Suite products and features to help your organization collaborate more effectively and efficiently. As part of that announcement, we introduced Google Vault support for Hangouts Chat. Below are some admin-specific details to help you get started.

The newly launched Hangouts Chat is an intelligent and secure tool that makes team collaboration easy. An enterprise-ready solution, Hangouts Chat gives G Suite admins the governance controls they need to manage and secure their organization’s data, including full support in Google Vault—a tool that can help with their eDiscovery and compliance needs.

Set retention policies for Hangouts Chat messages
As a G Suite admin, you can now set retention policies that apply to all Hangouts Chat messages, including those sent directly and those sent in rooms.

You can set a default rule that applies to all users in your domain. This can be an indefinite retention policy (such that messages are never expunged), or one that expunges messages at the end of a specific time period. The default rule applies to all direct messages and rooms in your domain.

You can also set custom retention rules for specific organizational units (OUs), which apply to direct messages only, and/or for all rooms, which apply to room conversations only. This allows you to manage the lifecycle of direct and room messages separately. Custom rules override the default rule and, if multiple custom rules apply to a message, the rule with the longest retention coverage period takes precedence.


Place legal holds on Hangouts Chat messages
In addition to setting retention policies, you can now place legal holds on your employees' Hangouts Chat conversations, whether they take place via direct message or in rooms.

Doing so will preserve room conversations in which a held user is a participant (i.e. they’ve sent a message) and direct messages in which a held user is a member (i.e. they’ve sent or received a message), regardless of whether that user deletes those messages. If a user on hold deletes a message, it will appear deleted to them—but it will be available in Vault until the hold is removed. Remember that holds always take precedence over retention rules.


Search, preview and export chat content 
Finally, you can now search, preview, and export your employees’ Hangouts Chat messages. This enables you to apply the same eDiscovery programs you use for other G Suite services (like Gmail and Drive) to content stored in Hangouts Chat direct messages and rooms.


To learn more about how Vault's support for Hangouts Chat can help your organization meet its legal obligations and archiving needs, check out the Vault Help Center.

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

Editions:
Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Education editions only

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

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Google Vault
Help Center: Supported data types
The Keyword: New ways to help teams work faster and smarter with G Suite
The Keyword: Move projects forward from one place—Hangouts Chat now available
G Suite Updates: Hangouts Chat now generally available



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