Tag Archives: Groups

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – February 14, 2025

4 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.




2.0 Flash is now the default model in the Gemini app and Gemini Advanced for Workspace users 
The Gemini app is now operating on 2.0 Flash, which features improved response quality, speed, and efficiency. This update is applicable when using Gemini or Gemini Advanced on web or mobile. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Available to all Google Workspace users accessing the Gemini app or Gemini Advanced. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about accessing the Gemini app with your Workspace account. 


Pin conversations on your Google Group
Users can already star, mark as read/unread, report, delete, or lock a conversation in a Google Group. Today, we’re excited to reintroduce the additional ability to pin a conversation, which can be useful to highlight a conversation for other users in a group. The ability to pin messages is limited to users who have permissions to “moderate” a group. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release domains is complete; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for February 18, 2025. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about pinning conversations. 
pinning a conversation to your google group





Managing bills & finances using summary cards in the Gmail mobile app 
Following last month's announcement of event summary cards, we're excited to introduce updated summary cards that enable you to view and pay bills, or set a reminder to pay later using Google Tasks. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains on Android and iOS devices. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using summary cards in Gmail. 


summary cards that enable you to view and pay bills, or set a reminder to pay later using Google Tasks

Now generally available: migrate messages from Microsoft Teams to Google Chat 
In December 2024, we introduced the ability for Google Workspace admins to migrate conversations from channels in Microsoft Teams to spaces in Google Chat in open beta. Beginning today, this functionality is generally available for all Google Workspace customers, making it easier for organizations to onboard and deploy Chat in their organizations. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Available for all Google Workspace customers. | For detailed information, please refer to our original announcement, as well as our Help Center.

Example of a completed migration

Example of a completed migration



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.


Google Meet Learning Tools Interoperability™ update: control when meeting recordings are shared with a new toggle
Instructors using Meet LTI™ to create and host meetings can control how meeting recordings are shared. | Learn more about Google Meet Learning Tools Interoperability™.

Create and vote on polls directly in Google Chat 
In order to provide users with an easy way to gather feedback directly in their Google Chat conversations, we’re introducing a new Poll app. | Learn more about the poll app.

Improving the cover images experience in Google Docs 
We’re introducing improvements to adding and working with cover images in Google Docs. | Learn more about the cover image improvements. 

Data classification labels in Gmail are now available on all Android and iOS devices
In November 2024, we launched an open beta for data classification labels in Gmail. Beginning this week, data classification labels will be available when using the Gmail app on mobile Android and iOS devices. | Learn more about Data classification labels in Gmail. 

Create names for group direct messages in Google Chat 
Users can now create names for existing and new group direct messages. | Learn more about naming group messages in Chat. 

Introducing the board tab in Google Chat 
In our continuing effort to improve the ways Google Chat helps teams communicate and collaborate, we’re excited to introduce board in Google Chat. This feature, which can be thought of as a virtual bulletin board, organizes important information and helps keep your team on the same page. | Learn more about board in Chat.


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: 

Rapid and Scheduled 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 – December 20, 2024

    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.


    Introducing instant video playback after uploads in Google Drive 
    Following up on the recent announcement of a smoother, more modern video player in Google Drive, we’re excited to share that you can now watch videos the moment you upload them to Drive on web. This highly-requested feature eliminates wait times between upload and playback, while ensuring your videos still get fully processed. | Rollout to Rapid Release domains is complete; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for January 2, 2025. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about storing & playing video in Google Drive.

    instant video playback after uploading video to Google Drive

    Updated keyboard shortcuts for Google Groups 
    Google Groups is designed to work with keyboards, screen readers, braille devices, screen magnification, and more. We’re excited to improve the accessibility of Groups by introducing updated keyboard shortcuts. New and existing keyboard shortcuts will continue to work through early 2025, after which only new shortcuts will work. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains, with expected completion by January 13, 2025. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using keyboard shortcuts in Google Groups.


    SOC 1 compliance for Gemini 
    We’re pleased to announce that the Gemini app on web and mobile has achieved SOC 1 compliance. This latest certification is in addition to SOC 2 and SOC 3, which the Gemini app achieved on web and mobile earlier this year. | SOC 1 is available now for Google Workspace customers with a Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, or Education Premium add-on. Also available for Google Workspace customers accessing the Gemini app as a core service with a qualifying edition. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about how Google Workspace satisfies certification and compliance standards and about turning the Gemini app on or off for your users.


    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.


    Available in open beta: migrate messages from Microsoft Teams to Google Chat 
    We're expanding our data migration experience to include the ability for Google Workspace admins to migrate conversations from channels in Microsoft Teams to spaces in Google Chat, making it easier for organizations to onboard and deploy Chat. | Learn more about migrating messages from Microsoft Teams to Google Chat. 


    Available in open beta: Set up Single-Sign On with custom OpenID Connect profiles 
    Via open beta, admins now have the option to set up a custom OpenID Connect (OIDC) profile for single sign-on (SSO) with Google as their Service Provider. | Learn more about Single-Sign On with custom OpenID Connect profiles. 


    Now generally available: Monitor and manage AppSheet usage in your organization with the AppSheet Admin console 
    All Google Workspace Admins with the AppSheet service privilege can access the AppSheet Admin Console. | Learn more about the AppSheet Admin console. 


    Control whether your users can add account recovery information with two new admin settings
    We’re launching two new settings that will allow admins to control whether their users can add recovery email information and phone information to their Google Workspace account. | Learn more about the new admin settings.


    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.


    Scheduled Release Domains: 
    Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 


    For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

    Now generally available: the Groups Editor & Groups Reader roles can now be provisioned for specific group types

    What’s changing

    At the beginning of the year, we launched the ability to assign the Groups Editor and Groups Reader roles for security groups or non-security groups in open beta. Beginning today, this feature is now generally available. Groups Admins have access to all groups. The new roles of Groups Editor and Groups Reader offer delegated admin permissions for groups, and can use conditions to limit access to sensitive groups as needed.

    Getting started: 

    Available in open beta: prevent sensitive changes by locking Groups

    What’s changing

    Admins can now label a Google Group as “Locked,” which will heavily restrict changes to group attributes (such as group name & email address) and memberships. This will help admins who sync their groups from an external source and want to prevent getting out of sync, or who want to restrict changes to sensitive groups. This feature will be available in open beta, which means no additional sign-up is required. 

    The Group Details page in the Admin console shows a “Locked” label on the group, with the message “You can’t update this group - it might be managed by an external identity system.”


    Who’s impacted

    Admins

    Why it’s important

    If you use third-party tools, like Entra ID, to manage group synchronization, you may encounter inconsistencies when modifications are made to these groups, like adding or removing members, for example. To help address this, we’re introducing the option to “lock” a group, which will prevent modifications within Google Workspace and help maintain synchronization with the external source. 

    When a group is locked, only certain admins* can modify:

    • The group name, description, email, and alias(es)
    • Group labels
    • Memberships (adding or removing members) and member restrictions
    • Membership roles
    • Delete the group
    • Set up a new membership expiry

    When a group is locked, access and content moderation settings are not affected, this includes:

    • Who can post
    • Who can view members
    • Who can contact members
    • Membership removals due to an existing membership expiry
    • Access or content moderation settings

    *Super Admins, Group Admins, and Group Editors with a condition that includes “Locked Groups”

    Additional details

    By default, the changes listed above will be restricted from end users, including group owners and managers of a locked group. If you want to also restrict some admins from making these changes in the Admin Console or APIs, you can assign them the Group Editor role with a condition that excludes locked groups. 

    The ability to lock or unlock a group using the “Locked” label is available to Super Admins, Group Admins, or a custom role with the “Manage Locked Label” privilege. Lock a group using the “Locked” group label in the Admin Console, or the Cloud Identity Groups API.


    Getting started

    Rollout pace

    Availability

    Available for Google Workspace:
    • Enterprise Standard and Plus
    • Enterprise Essentials Plus
    • Education Standard and Plus
    • Also available to Cloud Identity Premium customers

    Resources


    Available in open beta: the Groups Admin role can now be provisioned for specific group types

    What’s changing

    The Groups Admin role can now be assigned for security groups or non-security groups. Previously, those with the Groups Admin role had access to all groups within an organization. This change gives administrators more granular delegation of group admin responsibilities, helping limit access to the most sensitive groups to only those who absolutely need it. 

    This feature is available in open beta, which means no additional sign-up is required to use the feature.

    Getting started

    Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – December 15, 2023

    2 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.


    We have begun enforcing 2-step verification for all admin accounts 
    Two-step verification (2SV) is a critical security measure that has been proven to reduce password-based hijacking by more than 50%. We are committed to protecting the security of our users and are taking additional steps to help customers guard against data compromise and prevent account takeovers.

    We have begun enforcing 2SV for all admin accounts and will continue this enforcement on an ongoing basis. As of December 2023, this change is already in effect for some customers. When this goes into effect for your organization, you will receive the following notifications:
    • 30 days prior to enforcement in your domain: Super admins will receive various email and in-app notifications informing them of the forthcoming enforcement, encouraging them to verify their admins’ 2SV status. 
    • Once enforcement goes into effect in your domain: All admins will receive email and in-app notifications upon signing into their accounts for the next thirty days. If they do not enable 2SV within this time period, they will be locked out and will need to follow these steps to recover an administrator account.
    We highly encourage all administrators to turn on 2SV as soon as possible. Visit the Help Center for more details and further guidance.



    Dynamic groups limit increased to 500 
    We’re increasing the number of dynamic groups a customer can have from 100 to 500. Dynamic groups are defined as groups whose membership is managed automatically based on specific criteria, such as a user’s department or location. This increase gives admins more flexibility to create dynamic groups as needed and cuts down on manual group management tasks that would otherwise be required. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains at a gradual pace (up to 15 days for feature visibility). | Available for Google Workspace Frontline Standard, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus, Enterprise Essentials Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers only. | Learn more about dynamic groups.


    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.


    Meet Add-ons SDK available in Developer Preview 
    The Google Meet Web Add-ons SDK is available through our Developer Preview Program. Developers can use the SDK to bring their app experience right into Meet. End users can install, open, and collaborate in apps right inside a meeting, either as the meeting focal point, or in the sidebar — all without ever leaving Meet. | Learn more about Meet Add-ons SDK .

    Huddly cameras bring continuous framing to Google Meet Series One room kits 
    As part of our initiative to bring adaptive framing to Google Meet meeting rooms, we’re proud to announce that you can now access Huddly’s continuous framing capability available as part of the Series One room kit hardware devices. | Available to all Google Workspace customers using Google Meet Series One room kits only. | Learn more about Google Meet Series One.

    Record and share your name pronunciation across Google Workspace products 
    From your Google account settings, you can now record your name and share its pronunciation with other users. The pronunciation can be played from your profile card across various Google Workspace tools such as Gmail or Google Docs on web or mobile devices. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more about name pronunciation. 

    Easy access to people, documents, building blocks and more in Google Docs 
    When moving to a blank line within your Doc, you will see an “@” button with the option to select, search and insert smart chips, such as people, dates, timers, or files, building blocks, calendar events, groups and more. | Learn more about bringing smart canvas features to the forefront of your workflow. 

    Excuse assignments in Google Classroom 
    Teachers can mark an assignment for a particular student as “Excused” instead of giving it a 0-100 score. This will exclude that particular assignment from the student’s overall grade. | Learn more about excusing assignments. 

    Introducing interactive questions for YouTube videos in Google Classroom 
    Educators can now turn any YouTube video into an interactive lesson by adding questions for their students to answer throughout the video. | Available to Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade only. | Learn more about interactive videos. 

    Introducing the Bitbucket app for Google Chat 
    We’re adding Bitbucket for Google Chat. Bitbucket is a Git-based code and CI/CD tool optimized for teams using Atlassian’s Jira. | Learn more about Bitbucket app for Google Chat. 

    Use “Profile Discovery” to display basic information only in search results, available in open beta 
    Google Workspace admins can now turn on “Profile discovery” for their users. When turned on, users can customize how they appear across Google products to people who search for them by their phone number or email. Specifically, you can choose how you want your name to be displayed and how your profile picture will be displayed. | Learn more about Profile Discovery.


    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: 
    Scheduled Release Domains: 
    Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 

    For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

    Create, modify, and insert email templates within Groups messages

    What’s changing 

    When you’re using Groups to send messages, you can save a composed message as a template to reuse in the future. 

    Directly in Groups, you can create and save messages as a template. Templates can also be deleted.


    Who’s impacted 

    End users 


    Why you’d use it 

    We know users rely heavily on sending messages from Groups, and often these messages closely resemble one another with only specific information requiring updates. Now, instead of typing the same message from scratch, you can compose and save your reply as a template, saving you time and accelerating your workflows. Some examples include: 
    • Saving time on a new lead introduction by filling in only critical details, such as the recipient name and one sentence pitch.
    • As a teacher, create a template to quickly share daily homework assignments day after day.
    • When sending project updates, use a template to avoid the trouble of creating status reports from scratch.

    Getting started 

    • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
    • End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using email templates in Groups. Note that templates are specific to individual users and are not shared across other Group owners, managers, or members. 

    Rollout pace 


    Availability 

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

    Resources

    New membership limits for Google Groups

    What’s changing

    As a security measure, the Google Groups for Business service has limits for message activity, group size, invitations, and membership. Starting today, we’re increasing the limits for the number of direct and indirect group memberships for which a user can have:

    • Direct: 3,000 memberships (increasing from 2,000)
    • Combined direct and indirect: 7,500 memberships (increasing from 5,000)

    If you're the owner or manager of a group, it counts as two memberships—one as a group member and one as the owner or manager. A user is an indirect member of a group if they belong to a different group that's nested in the group. Visit the Help Center to learn more.

    Increasing these membership limits gives our customers more flexibility to scale and manage their use of Groups, especially those with complex group structures.

    Getting started


    Rollout pace


    Availability

    • Available to all Google Workspace customers

    Resources


    Assign admin roles to specific groups

    What’s changing 

    Scale and secure your role-based access controls (RBAC) practice on Workspace by leveraging a new capability for role assignments to groups. You can now assign admin roles to groups in addition to or instead of individual users. For example, you can assign the service admin role to an existing group that contains all of the IT admins in your organization. 

    Currently, there is a limit of 500 role assignments— since groups can contain unlimited members, this gives you more flexibility to manage roles as needed. This is particularly helpful for larger organizations, allowing them to pare down their role assignments without exceeding the limits. 

    Also, roles assigned to groups will automatically reflect changes in underlying membership of the group. This allows admins to manage role assignments at a higher-entity level vs adding/removing end-users one at a time to maintain updated privileges.




    Getting started


    Rollout pace


    Availability

    • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
    • Available to Google Cloud Identity Premium customers

    Resources


    Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – August 12, 2022

    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. 


    Delegate access to a shared inbox using a group address 
    You can now give an entire Google Group access to your Gmail account through mail delegation. With this feature, delegated users can read, send, and delete messages on the account owner's behalf. We hope this will enable teams to more effectively process incoming requests and tasks via a single shared email address. | Available to Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, Nonprofits, and legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers only. | Learn more. 


    Granular controls for app allowlisting in the Google Workspace Marketplace 
    Admins can now choose which Google Workspace Marketplace apps are available to be installed by users in a particular department (OU) or group by managing Marketplace apps on their allowlist. Previously, admins could only manage the allowlist for an entire domain. Additionally, the Marketplace apps access settings, Allow all apps, Allow selected apps, and Block all apps, can now be set for your entire organization or for an OU or group. This new functionality provides a solution when only a subset of domain users need permissions to install certain Marketplace apps. Examples include Chat apps required for your Engineering organization and IT security group or Classroom add-ons required for high-school teachers. | Available to Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, Nonprofits, and legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers only. | Learn more. 


    Seamlessly delete subsets of Sites 
    Site editors can now delete a page with subpages and delete pages that were copied into another site during a partial site copy. | Roll out to Rapid Release began August 8, 2022; launch to Scheduled Release planned for August 29, 2022. | Learn more. 



    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.


    Office Building support for Working Locations 
    We’ve added the ability to select a specific office building as your working location. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Nonprofits, and legacy G Suite Business customers only. | Learn more. 


    Improving data privacy with Client-side encryption for Google Meet 
    We’ve added Workspace Client-side encryption to Google Meet, giving customers increased control over their data. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers hosting client-side encrypted calls only. | Learn more. 


    Stronger protection for sensitive Google Workspace account actions 
    There are now stronger safeguards for sensitive actions taken in your Google Workspace account. These apply to actions that, when done by hijackers, can have far reaching consequences for the account owner or the organization it belongs to. | Learn more. 


    The Google Meet and Google Duo app icons are changing, additional information for Google Workspace users 
    As part of the announcement that we are upgrading the Duo experience to include all Google Meet features, users will now begin to see their app name and icon update to Google Meet. | Learn more. 


    Better location context for events and RSVPs in Calendar 
    We’ve made it even easier to use RSVPs in Google Calendar and let others know how you’re planning to join a meeting. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, Teaching & Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, and legacy G Suite Business customers only. | Learn more. 


    Improved notifications when editing Microsoft Office files in Docs, Sheets, and Slides 
    We’ve rolled out a series of improvements to the notifications you see when editing a Microsoft Office-formatted file with Office editing mode. | Learn more. 


    Unified experience for Gmail logs in BigQuery, configure your existing Gmail logs to route to Workspace logs 
    In the coming months, we will move the location of the existing Gmail logs in BigQuery to Google Workspace logs and reports in BigQuery. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Education Standard customers only. | Learn more. 


    Google Meet call control for USB peripheral devices
    We've introduced additional call control for Google Meet which will allow you to toggle between mute and unmute using headsets, speaker microphones, and other USB peripheral devices. | Learn more. 


    Control visibility of admin alerts with admin role privileges
    There is a new control that allows super admins to create a custom rule which ensures only admins with the DLP privilege can see DLP alerts. | Learn more.


    For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).