This release of Contacts brings all of the improvements that were previously available to consumer users.

The following business-specific features have also been added to help you and your colleagues get in touch with contacts more easily. You can now:
- Add new contact information that will default to “Work” instead of “Home” field types.
- View domain directory contact details interwoven inline with any contact details you’ve added yourself.
- Add contacts from the domain directory to your “My Contacts” list in a single click.
- Manage groups more easily by quickly adding email addresses to groups, and picking from a contact’s multiple email addresses to use on a group-by-group basis.
- Revert changes to your Contacts for up to 30 days in case you need to restore deleted or merged contacts, or undo an import.

Note: These improvements do not affect the standalone version of Contacts outside of Gmail but we hope to make them available soon.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
Administrator Control Panel: US English Only (Next Generation)
Gmail: All languages supported by Gmail

How to access what's new:
- To see the new Contacts interface, admins must opt-in in the administrator control panel to enable the new Contacts features.
- In the administrator control panel, go to ‘Services’, then ‘Contacts' and select the checkbox ‘Preview the new contact manager in Gmail’.

Note: In order to see the opt-in checkbox, the control panel must be set to the ‘next generation’ version which is US English only.

For more information:
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/02/get-in-touch-faster-with-new-gmail.html


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

The following feature is now available for domains with 'enable pre-release features' checkbox enabled in the Administrator Control Panel:

The highly requested feature to hide gridlines in spreadsheets is now available

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Spreadsheets

How to access what's new:
When editing a spreadsheet, under the ‘View’ menu, click on ‘Hide gridlines’ for each sheet, leaving only the borders that have been put there.

For more information:
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/02/this-week-in-docs-now-you-see-them-now.html

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

The following features are now available for domains with 'enable pre-release features' checkbox enabled in the Administrator Control Panel:

The “Hide read labels” and “Hide Labels from Subjects” labs to help people manage their ever-growing lists of labels have graduated from Gmail Labs.
Some improvements to how they work have also been made. Instead of simply hiding all labels from subject lines, you can now choose which labels to show or hide. We also revamped the Labels tab in Settings as well as the dropdown menus for each label in the label list.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Gmail

How to access what's new:
- Modify label visibility in the Labels tab in ‘Settings’ or by clicking on the dropdown arrow menu on each label.

For more information:
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/dealing-with-label-overload.html

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

Version 3.1 of the Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server is now available with the following improvements:

- Automatic PST Compaction
- Reduced disk load
- New admin utilities and various improvements

Editions included:
Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
English Only

How to access what's new:
Download Page

For more information:
Release Notes
Help Center Overview

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

A new top navigation bar is currently rolling out for all Google users, including Google Apps domains that have already transitioned to the new account infrastructure for Google Apps accounts. This change does not affect any domains that have not yet transitioned to that infrastructure.

The new visual update helps provide a more consistent way for your users to navigate to Google services. For users with multi-login enabled, the new interface makes it clearer which account users are currently signed into, and makes it easier for them to switch to a different account, such as a personal account.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business and Education

Languages included:
English only

How to access what's new:
- The gradual roll-out is happening automatically across all services so there is no action for you to take.
- For administrator accounts only: Please note that the ‘manage this domain’ link which appears in Gmail for administrator accounts only, is no longer on the same line as your username and has moved to a lower position on the right side below the navigation bar.

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

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office is now available to download for all Google Apps domains. With this plugin, you can now share, backup and simultaneously edit Microsoft Word, PowerPoint®, and Excel® documents with co-workers without the need for sending attachments back and forth.

Features:
- Simultaneous editing for Word, PowerPoint and Excel files when using Microsoft Office.
- Google Docs sharing URLs for each Microsoft Office file.
- Revision history for Microsoft Office files, stored in Google Docs.
- Offline editing with smart synchronization of offline changes.
- No Microsoft Office upgrade or SharePoint® deployment required.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
English only but the plugin will work with whatever language is installed on the user’s system

How to access what's new:
- Make sure your system meets the system requirements for the plugin. Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office supports Microsoft Office 2003, Office 2007, or Office 2010.
- Ensure that Google Docs is an activated service in your Google Apps control panel.
- Allow users to install the plugin themselves or distribute it on your network using an .msi file.
Download page
Deploy Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office

Note: Google Cloud Connect is not available for Macs. Unfortunately due to the lack of support for open APIs on Microsoft Office for Mac, we are unable to make Google Cloud Connect available on Macs at this time. We look forward to when that time comes so we can provide this feature to our Mac customers as well.

For more information:
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/02/teach-your-old-docs-new-tricks-with.html
Admin Help Center and supported features.
End User Help Center

Join us for a live webinar on March 3rd, 2011 at 10am PST / 1pm EST / 6pm GMT to learn more about Google Cloud Connect. Register to attend the live event.


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

Google Docs Viewer allows users to quickly view PDFs, Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint presentations online by viewing them in the browser without downloading them locally.

New files supported:
Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 / 2010 (.PPTX)
Apple Pages (.PAGES)
Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)
Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)
Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)
PostScript (.EPS, .PS)
TrueType (.TTF)
XML Paper Specification (.XPS)

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

How to access what's new:
In Gmail, these types of attachments will now show a ‘View’ link, and clicking on this link will bring up the Google Docs Viewer.

For more information:
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/12-new-file-formats-in-google-docs.html

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

For Domains with ‘enable pre-release features’ checkbox disabled in the Administrator Control Panel:

The following features are intended for release to these domains on February 22:

- Visible Bcc: Gmail will now provide email recipients an indicator when they are added via Bcc on an email. We will add a visible Bcc header only to messages sent from another Gmail user, not from external sources. Each Bcc recipient will only see themselves on the Bcc list.

- PDF attachments showing the ‘View’ link open with Chrome’s native PDF viewer if available.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Gmail

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

You can now use Google Apps Scripts in your site to trigger events, such as sending an email or creating a Google Calendar invitation. These scripts – which are written in a JavaScript cloud scripting language – provide an easy way to automate tasks across Google products and third party services.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

How to access what's new:
When editing a site, select the ‘More actions’ drop-down menu and then ‘Manage site.’ Select the ‘Apps Scripts’ tab. Select ‘Launch Editor’ to add a new script or click on the name of the Apps Script you would like to edit.

For more information:
Help Center: Using Apps Scripts in your site

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

A new setup wizard in the administrator control panel is now available for new and existing Google Apps domains. The interactive guide can walk you through all the key configuration options, from creating user accounts to activating email, migrating your existing data to Google Apps and configuring mobile devices. The wizard includes progress indicators so that you can easily come back to the setup tab to continue where you left off.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
US English Only (Next Generation Control Panel)

How to access what's new:
In the administrator control panel, select the new ‘Setup’ tab to see the new setup wizard.

Note: The control panel must be set to the ‘next generation’ version which is US English only but we hope make the wizard available in more languages very soon.

For more information:
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/02/go-google-in-record-speed.html

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

The following features are now available for domains with 'enable pre-release features' checkbox enabled in the Administrator Control Panel:

Visible Bcc: Gmail will now provide email recipients an indicator when they are added via Bcc on an email. We will add a visible Bcc header only to messages sent from another Gmail user, not from external sources.

Tasks for right-to-left languages: Tasks is now available in more languages such as Arabic, Hebrew or Urdu.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Gmail

For more information:
Help Center: Changing Gmail language interface for right-to-left

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

2-step verification is now available for Google Apps (free) edition. When enabled by an administrator, it requires two means of identification to sign in to a Google Apps account. A mobile phone is the main requirement to use the second form of identification. It doesn’t require any special tokens or devices. After entering a password, a verification code is sent to the user’s mobile phone via SMS, voice calls, or generated on an application they can install on their Android, BlackBerry or iPhone device.

This makes it much more likely that it is the user accessing the data: even if someone has stolen the password, they'll need more than that to access the account. Users can also indicate when they're using a computer they trust and don't want to be asked for a verification code from that machine in the future.

Editions included:
Google Apps (free)

Languages included:
US English Only (Next Generation Control Panel)

How to access what's new:
- Google Apps Administrators can enable this option in the control panel in the ‘Advanced Tools’ section by checking the box ‘Allow users to turn on two-factor authentication’. Users still have to opt-in to use this feature and it is not possible to make this mandatory for all users. To see this new option, your control panel must be using the ‘Next generation’ version.
- Once your users manually enroll in 2-step verification, they may need to use access codes in addition to their verification codes. For installed applications that don’t have a 2-step verification field, your users will need to enter an application-specific password once per device or application in place of their regular password to access their Google Account.
Common devices and applications that require application-specific-passwords are: Gmail and Google Calendar on Android-based phones, ActiveSync for Windows Mobile and iPhone, and IMAP clients such as Thunderbird.
- At any time, administrators can un-enroll users from 2-step verification in the control panel in the user’s settings.
- If your domain still has to migrate over to the new accounts infrastructure, the enrollment process for users may be slightly different.

Note: This feature is being rolled out over the next several days so will not appear in your control panel immediately.

For more information:
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/advanced-sign-in-security-for-your.html
Help Center Overview and Setup Information

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

For Domains with ‘enable pre-release features’ checkbox disabled in the Administrator Control Panel:

The following new feature is now available to these domains:

Gmail: Desktop notifications for email and chat. These are HTML5 desktop notifications which display pop-ups whenever a chat message or new email arrives.

The following new feature is intended for release to these domains on February 15:

Google Docs: Refreshed Documents list.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Gmail
All languages supported by Google Docs

For more information:
Desktop notifications: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=1075549
Documents list: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/01/refresh-to-documents-list.html
Documents list getting started guide

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

If you have set up Priority Inbox on your desktop version of Gmail, you will now see the same sections in your Google Apps mail account. You’ll also see importance markers in your inbox, so you can quickly identify which messages are important.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Gmail for mobile

How to access what's new:
- On your phone’s browser, sign in to your Google Apps email account and click on the ‘Menu’ screen to see the ‘Important and unread’ section.
- This feature is available for most mobile browsers that support HTML5, such as devices running Android 1.5+ and iOS 3+.

For more information:
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/priority-inbox-in-gmail-for-mobile.html

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

For Domains with ‘enable pre-release features’ checkbox disabled in the Administrator Control Panel:

The following new feature is intended for release to these domains on February 8:

Desktop notifications for email and chat. These are HTML5 desktop notifications which display pop-ups whenever a chat message or new email arrives.

Note: This functionality is currently only available for people using Google Chrome, but we’re working to make notifications part of the standard Web platform.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Gmail

For more information:
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=1075549

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