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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.


All new appointments need to be booked through appointment schedules in Google Calendar 
Earlier this year, we announced that the appointment slots feature will be replaced by appointment schedules in Google Calendar. Starting this week, only appointment schedules can be created. In a couple of weeks, the appointment slots booking pages will no longer be available. At that time, all new appointments will need to be booked through appointment schedules. | Appointment schedules are available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, Google Workspace Individual customers and Google One Premium users. | Visit the Help Center for detailed information about appointment schedules. 

Available in beta: migrate sensitive files to Google Drive with client-side encryption 
We are making it easier to programmatically import sensitive files to Google Drive with client-side encryption by providing code samples on Github. Eligible admins can apply for beta access to this Drive API feature using this form. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus; Education Standard and Education Plus.


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 Classroom now supports exporting grades and importing rosters and grade settings with PowerSchool SIS 
Google Classroom teachers can now export and import select information via the new integration with PowerSchool SIS. | Learn more about the integration with Classroom and PowerSchool SIS. 

Teachers will soon be able to create a new class in Google Classroom using Student Information System (SIS) data 
In the coming weeks, we will be introducing a new feature that allows teachers to set up a Google Classroom class using information directly imported from an SIS, including co-teachers, student rosters and class lists, grading categories and grading periods. Please note this feature is only available with our current SIS partners. | Learn more about creating new classes in Classroom using SIS data. 

Google Workspace extensions for Gmail, Google Drive and Google Docs are now available in open beta for Gemini (gemini.google.com) 
We’re pleased to announce Google Workspace extensions for Gmail, Google Drive and Google Docs are available for Gemini (gemini.google.com). When enabled, Gemini will be able to cross reference these apps as data sources to better inform its responses. | Learn more about the beta for Gemini (gemini.google.com). 

Import and export Markdown in Google Docs 
We’re introducing highly-requested features that enhance Docs' interoperability with other Markdown supporting tools. | Learn more about markdown in Docs. 

Clearer re-enrollment for Google Meet hardware devices 
We're updating the way Google Meet hardware devices are re-enrolled to provide a more intuitive experience for administrators. | Learn more about re-enrollment for Meet hardware devices. 

Available in beta: Policy Visualization across Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive 
Users who are interacting with policy-protected content, such as those with data loss prevention (DLP) rules or trust rules, will now be proactively informed about what actions are prevented by those policies. | Learn more about policy visualization.

Enable guardians to preview assigned classwork within Google Classroom
Guardian email summaries will now include links that let guardians preview their student's Classwork pages, including assigned work and attachments provided by the teacher. | Learn more about guardians and Classroom.

Completed rollouts

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

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What’s changing
Following our recent announcement of the appointment slots feature in Google Calendar being replaced by appointment schedules in July 2024, we’re updating appointment schedules by adding new features to enhance the overall experience. 

First, we’re adding the option to designate a custom weekly recurrence when creating an appointment schedule in Calendar. This will allow users to make the schedule repeat on more flexible recurrences, such as bi-weekly. 

option to designate a custom weekly recurrence when creating an appointment schedule in Calendar

Second, bookers (and co-hosts) can now add other guests or rooms to booked events. This feature is only available if the user creating the appointment schedule selects the “Guests can invite others” option during setup or edit of the schedule. 

bookers (and co-hosts) can now add other guests or rooms to booked events.
Lastly, the appointment schedule creator can now add Google Groups as co-hosts during the setup process so users can more easily host appointments with others. 

the appointment schedule creator can now add Google Groups as co-hosts during the setup
Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 
The custom recurrence option & allowing guests to invite others on Appointment Schedules are available for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Starter, Standard, Plus 
  • Enterprise Standard, Plus 
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade 
  • Nonprofits 
  • Workspace Individual Subscribers 
  • Google One Premium users 
  • Users with personal Google accounts 

Adding groups as co-hosts on Appointment Schedules is available for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Standard, Plus 
  • Enterprise Standard, Plus 
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade 
  • Nonprofits 
Resources 
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What’s changing
We’re pleased to introduce an improved email notification experience for those who are using third-party calendar services—like Outlook—to collaborate with Google Calendar users. Specifically, this update improves the accuracy of Google Calendar event syncing across calendar services, while helping cut down on the amount of email noise caused by calendar sync notifications. 

  • Email notifications that are purely intended to sync information will now be marked as such in the body of the email and sent from a distinct, identifiable email address. The body of the email includes instructions for end users on how to implement inbox filters to avoid this type of email cluttering their inbox. 
  • At scale, Outlook system administrators can use Microsoft’s Powershell to implement an email filter rule for these messages for all users. 
Google Workspace customers can use this form to sign-up for the beta.
Improved syncing experience between Google Calendar and third-party calendars



Who’s impacted 
Admins and end users 


Why it matters
We’ve heard from our customers that the syncing experience from Google Calendar to third-party calendars was not consistently reliable. Additionally, users lacked an effective way to filter out Calendar emails which cluttered their inbox. This update will help improve the overall experience for users collaborating with Google Calendar users. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 
  • Beta sign-ups are available now using this form until July 10, 2024. We will be accepting beta applications and allowlisting customers over the next several weeks. 

Availability 
  • Sign-up for this beta is available for all Google Workspace customers 

Resources 
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What’s changing

Starting May 30, 2024, the Calendar API will distinguish events created from Gmail. New and existing events from Gmail that are scheduled for a future date will:

  • Appear with a new event Type “fromGmail” instead of “default”.
  • Include the email recipient as the organizer instead of “unknownorganizer@calendar.google.com”.
  • New “fromGmail” filters for both Events.list and Events.watch will be available.
In Google Calendar clients events from email may be rendered slightly differently to regular events and show a link back to the original email:



Google Calendar limits edits for events from email:



Additional details
If you’re using the Calendar API, we recommend the following to help avoid any disruptions in your applications:
  • Ensure that your code does not apply restricted updates to events with the type “fromGmail”.
    • Temporarily, updates on events with the type “fromGmail” are restricted to the properties reminders, colorId, visibility, status, and extendedProperties. Stay tuned to the Workspace updates blog for more information.
    • Review your code if it filters by eventType for Events.list or Events.watch. Filtering by eventType “default” will no longer return events extracted from emails.
Getting started

Rollout pace

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What’s changing 
You can currently filter, sort, and display your Google Meet hardware devices by whether they are online, offline, or experiencing an application load-failure. Today, we’re expanding these parameters to include whether the Calendar and Jamboard services are turned OFF. 


The connection between your Meet hardware devices and these two Google products are critical for connecting and collaborating. Allowing admins to filter for devices that match this criteria will help them identify potential gaps in hardware devices and product configurations, which they can quickly rectify. 


For example, if Calendar is turned off on a Google Meet hardware device, it will no longer show the upcoming meeting list when booked for a meeting. Having the Jamboard* service turned off means that the Desk 27 and Board 65 devices will no longer be able to launch Jamboard directly on the device. These services may have been previously turned off in error, and this new capability allows admins to correct it, making the services available again to their users. Note that Jamboard 55-inch devices are not impacted.

You can filter your devices by going to Menu > Devices > Google Meet hardware > Devices > “Device status” and then select the criteria to filter by.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices

Resources
*Jamboard will no longer be on these devices starting October 1, 2024. Learn more about whiteboarding in Workspace here.


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What’s changing
Currently, we offer two tools with similar functionality for users in Google Calendar: appointment slots and appointment schedules. In the last several years, appointment schedules have become the more advanced tool, offering a smoother booking experience and more powerful features. 


To create a cohesive user experience in Calendar, as of July 18, 2024, the appointment slots feature will be replaced by appointment schedules. 


Between now and July 18, 2024, we encourage users to explore and familiarize themselves with appointment schedules. All existing appointment slots will remain active until August 8, 2024, however we recommend creating new appointments using appointment schedules moving forward. Starting on August 8, 2024, the appointment slots booking pages will no longer be available, and all new appointments will need to be booked through appointment schedules. Visit this comprehensive Help Center resource for detailed information about appointment schedules. 

Who’s impacted 
Admins and end users 


Why it matters ​​
The current appointment slots feature in Google Calendar will be replaced by appointment schedules, a feature-rich appointment booking system that offers a smoother booking experience and more powerful features. 


Additional details
In conjunction with this transition, Google Workspace Business Starter customers now have access to appointment scheduling, allowing each user to create one booking page. 


The ability to create multiple schedules, and use additional premium features are available to the following editions: Google Workspace Individual, Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits and Google One Premium. 



Getting started 
  • Admins: 
    • We have shared the current usage of appointment slots for each organization with admins. Refer to this Help Center resource to ensure that your admin email address is set correctly to receive notifications.
      • Communication was sent to admins of domains where users have used appointment slots over the last 90 days.
      • If you do not receive a reminder by April 29, 2024, it means users in your domain aren’t actively using appointment slots.
    • We strongly encourage you to review the usage in your organization and help users transition to appointment schedules. Existing appointment slots will not be automatically migrated, so users need to recreate their setup with appointment schedules.
  • End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating an appointment schedule and customizing your appointment availability. Users that are organizers or editors of appointment slots will soon see in-product banners guiding them to transition to use appointment schedules. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 
  • Appointment schedules are available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, Google Workspace Individual customers and Google One Premium users 

Resources 
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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.


Hovercards for group messages and spaces are now available in Google Chat 
When hovering over a space or group chat within the left navigation in Google Chat, you will now see a hovercard that displays an abridged list of members and their avatars. This is especially useful when you need to distinguish one chat from another. In addition, you can include space hovercards across Chat apps using the shared hovercard library. | Available now to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. 
hovercards in Chat


New Google Calendar lock screen widgets on iOS mobile devices 
We’re excited to announce the launch of Google Calendar lock screen widgets on iOS mobile devices (iOS16+) and iPads (iOS17). These will surface an upcoming event or task, giving you a quick glance right from your lock screen. 
| Available now to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about how to add widgets to your Lock Screen. 

widgets


Remove the background from your images in Google Slides 
You can now easily remove the background from images added to your Google Slides presentations. To do so, simply select an image on your slide > right-click and select "Remove background" or select the “Remove background” button in the toolbar. | Available now to Gemini Enterprise and Gemini Business add-ons, and to users on personal accounts through Google One AI Premium. | Learn more about removing an image background.
Remove the background from your images in Google Slides



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.



Smooth scrolling in Google Sheets now available on desktop 
With smooth scrolling, you can scroll to a specific part of a row or column and stop wherever you’d like within the spreadsheet. | Learn more about scrolling in Sheets. 


New enhancements in the Space Management Tool For admins: add multiple members or groups, review settings and details 
We’re introducing several updates for the Space Management Tool in the Admin console, including an improved user interface and additional management capabilities. | Learn more about Space Management Tool For admins. 


Migrate email data from one Google Workspace account to another, available in open beta 
Beginning today, a new data migration experience is available: you can migrate your users’ email data from one Google Workspace account to another in a more reliable and efficient manner. You can configure your data migration for up to 100 users at a time and also run delta migrations, which smartly brings over any newly generated data from the source without duplicating previously migrated content. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, and Business Plus; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus; Essentials Starter, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more about migrating email data. 


Set up dropdown chips more easily in Google Sheets 
Instead of manually creating values for your dropdown chips, you can now insert preset dropdown chips that are configured for common use cases like priority or review statuses. | Learn more about preset dropdown chips. 


Google Meet co-host support added for client-side encrypted meetings 
Client-side encrypted meetings are now getting support for using the co-hosts feature. This means that an organizer can plan and book client-side encrypted video meetings on behalf of other users and assign those as co-hosts to allow them to join and open the meetings independently from the organizer. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers only. | Learn more about client-side encrypted meetings. 


User enrollment for managed iOS devices is now generally available 
In late 2023, we introduced user enrollment in beta, an additional option for iOS mobile management. User enrollment separates work and personal data on iOS devices, giving admins control over Workspace data on the device while users retain privacy over their personal data. Beginning today, user enrollment is now generally available. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Frontline Standard, Frontline Starter, Business Plus, Cloud Identity Premium, Education Standard, Education Plus and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more about user enrollment.


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).  

 


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What’s changing 
Admins can now set client-side encryption (CSE) to be on by default on Android and iOS for: 
  • Newly drafted Gmail messages and replies 
  • Newly created Google Calendar events 
  • Newly uploaded Google Drive files

Client-side encryption in Gmail


Admins can now set client-side encryption as the default mode for users on both web and mobile that regularly handle sensitive data. This allows organizations the flexibility to meet their compliance and regulatory requirements and reduce the burden on change management programs. Each new email, event and uploaded file on mobile is automatically client-side encrypted with customer managed keys meaning the user is compliant with their org’s policy from the outset. For organizations with strict regulatory or sovereignty requirements, this can help them close compliance gaps by defaulting users to the preferred mode for handling sensitive data while on the go. 

For more information, check out our original announcement.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability
  • Google Workspace Assured Controls is available as an add-on to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. For more information, contact your Google account representative.

Resources

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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.


New ways to work with filters in Connected Sheets for Looker and Connected Sheets for BigQuery 
  • With Looker: Connected Sheets for Looker users will now be able to see whether Looker-defined filters, always_filters and conditionally_filters, are applied in their Google Sheets. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains now. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about always_filter and conditionally_filter in Looker. 
  • With BigQuery: Connected Sheets for BigQuery users can now right-click any value in the Connected Sheets preview and filter rows in the preview on that specific value. As a result, a new query will be sent to BigQuery to re-fetch the preview. This new option provides an additional way to easily explore data in the Connected Sheets preview for BigQuery. | This is now available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about sorting & filtering BigQuery data in Google Sheets.

Latest improvement for page setup in Google Docs 
We’re introducing a new menu item within the Format option that enables you to easily switch between pageless and pages mode in Google Docs. | Rollout to Rapid Release domains is complete; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for February 5, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about changing a document’s page setup. 
Latest improvement for page setup in Google Docs


Developers can now choose which calendar events to be notified about 
Developers using the Calendar API can now subscribe to specific changes in users’ calendars — this includes event types such as working location, out-of-office, or focus time. This update reduces the amount of notifications down to those that are most relevant to the developer. | Use our Developer Documentation for more information about subscribing to alerts for specific calendar event changes. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains. | The Calendar API is available to all Google Workspace customers, however Calendar features may vary across Google Workspace editions.



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.


For Google Meet Hardware, ‘Auto-Update Expiration (AUE)’ will now be referred to as 'end of Meet support' 
We’re making changes to the terminology that refers to when a Meet hardware device is no longer supported. | This update impacts all Google Workspace customers with Meet hardware devices. | Learn more about 'end of Meet support'.

Local data storage exports your organization's Workspace data into the geographic location of your choice, launching in beta 
We’re introducing Google Workspace’s new feature, local data storage. This feature allows admins to export their organization’s Workspace data into the geographic location or locations of their choice. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers with Assured Controls add-on only. | Learn more about the local data storage exports beta.

Improving the Google Calendar appointment scheduling experience with new features 
We’re improving upon the current appointment scheduling experience with four new features. | Co-hosts, secondary calendars and delegate access features are available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits only. Check Calendars for availability feature is available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts only. | Learn more about the appointment scheduling features. 

Shareable class templates and classwork in Google Classroom are now generally available 
Last year, we announced a Google Classroom beta that simplifies lesson planning with shareable class templates and classwork. We’re excited to announce that this is now globally available for Google Workspace for Education Plus customers in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese. | Available to Education Plus only. | Learn more about shareable class materials. 

Pin chat messages in Google Meet 
You can now pin messages to the top of the meeting chat. Pinned messages will appear for all users, even if they join the meeting after the message was initially sent. | Learn more about messaging pinning.


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).  

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What’s changing
Last year, we introduced new appointment scheduling features to help you set more relevant meeting durations and tailor your calendar view to match your preferences. In our effort to further improve upon the current appointment scheduling experience, we’re adding the options to: 
  • Add up to 20 co-hosts to your appointment schedule during the setup process so you can host appointments with others. 
Add up to 20 co-hosts to your appointment schedule
  • Create appointment schedules on secondary calendars. Prior to this update, you could only create appointment schedules on your own primary calendar. Now, you can create the schedule and receive booked events on secondary calendars as well. This can be particularly useful when multiple users, such as a team, need access to the same set of office hours. Everyone with permission to use the secondary calendar can make changes to the schedule and view incoming bookings. The appointment schedule can check the secondary calendar for availability, but cannot check the availability of all users with access to the secondary calendar. 
Create appointment schedules on secondary calendars

  • Expand the delegate access functionality to appointment scheduling. Currently, delegate access enables you to let someone else, such as an administrative assistant, access your Google Workspace account to send mail or manage calendar invitations and events on your behalf. Now, the person with delegate access can edit or delete your appointment schedules on your primary calendar. 
  • Select “Check calendars for availability”, which enables you to decide whether or not you want to check the availability of calendars added to the appointment schedule. Unchecking this setting means even if there is a conflict on one of the calendars, users will still be able to book that time. This may be useful if you want to prioritize incoming bookings over existing meetings. 
Select “Check calendars for availability”, which enables you to decide whether or not you want to check the availability of calendars added to the appointment schedule.
Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • You cannot add groups or users outside of your domain as a co-host.
    • Co-hosts are not able to see appointment schedule details or make changes. However, if the schedule was created on a shared calendar, the co-host will have access to see details or make changes.
    • Bookings will be visible on the host and any additional co-hosts’ primary calendars.
    • The “Check calendars for availability” feature will be ON by default and can be disabled by unselecting the “Check calendars for availability” box in the appointment schedule editor. 
      • Co-hosts calendars are not automatically checked for availability. You can select your co-host's calendar in the "Check calendars for availability" section to have their availability considered (as long as you are subscribed to that calendar).
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating an appointment schedule and customizing your appointment availability.
Rollout pace 
Availability
Co-hosts, secondary calendars and delegate access: 
  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits 
Check Calendars for availability: 
  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 
Resources 

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What’s changing

Admins can now set client-side encryption (CSE) to be on by default for:

  • Newly created Gmail messages, Google Calendar events. 
  • Newly created Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files.
  • Newly uploaded Google Drive files.

Admins can set client-side encryption as default on for users in Organizational Units (OUs) that regularly handle sensitive data requiring additional encryption. This allows organizations the flexibility to meet their compliance and regulatory requirements and reduce the burden on change management programs. Users are prompted to create a CSE object natively in each app meaning their emails, events and files are encrypted by default with customer-managed keys and are private from Google. For organizations with strict regulatory or sovereignty needs, this can help them close compliance gaps by defaulting users to the preferred mode for handling sensitive data.  

Drive:


Gmail:

This is available on the web initially, with support coming for mobile apps in the future. 

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users


Why it matters

This feature is important for Google Workspace admins as it improves users compliance behavior without sacrificing productivity and increases control for admins implementing data control policies. It also includes improved audit logs, providing more detail for admins compiling regulatory compliance reports.

Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt data by default, at rest and in transit between our facilities. Client-side encryption goes beyond this, giving organizations authoritative control and privacy as the sole owner of private encryption keys and the identity provider of the encryption keys. It gives organizations higher confidence that any third party, including Google and foreign governments, cannot access their confidential data. Users can continue to collaborate across their preferred apps in Workspace while IT and compliance teams can ensure that sensitive data stays compliant with regulations. 


Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability
  • Google Workspace Assured Controls is available as an add-on to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. For more information, contact your Google account representative.

Resources

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What’s changing 
Google Vault now supports Calendar, which means customers can take the following actions around Calendar data: 
  • Manage retention with default and custom rules. 
  • Search and preview events with a number of filters, such as keyword search across description, title, guests, locations and invite response status which can be used to quickly refine your search. 
  • Search for historical versions of events, which allows Vault Admins to search and export events as they appeared on a specific date. 
  • Export data in multiple formats, including ICS, PST (MSFT format) and CSE-decryptable formats. 
  • Apply holds to prevent purging of data which must be retained for legal purposes.


Selecting Calendar as a service from the Vault user interface

Who’s impacted
Admins


Why it matters
Vault is an information governance and eDiscovery tool for Google Workspace. Now customers’ Calendar events can be retained, held, searched, and exported. This integration makes it easier for customers to comply with regional and legal mandates surrounding Calendar data, all from a central tool. 


Vault’s integration with Calendar rounds out support for critical Workspace apps such as Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat and Meet, providing customers with a consistent experience across all products that are managed within Vault.


Getting started

Rollout pace

  • Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 29, 2023.
  • Updates for the API rollout will immediately follow the Vault user interface updates.

Availability
  • Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus customers or customers with the Vault add-on license.

Resources

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What’s changing 
In addition to reading and writing working location data, we’re expanding the Calendar API functionality to encompass out of office and focus time data. Developers can use the API to read and write this information and synchronize users’ availability with external systems. For example, you can use the API in conjunction with HR systems to automatically add OOO entries to a user’s calendar when they submit vacation time. Or the API can be used to automatically block focus time on a user’s calendar to complete training courses. 

  • Reading and writing out of office and focus time is helpful in a variety of situations such as: 
  • Creating and updating OOO and Focus Time events (Events.Insert, Events.Update, Events.Patch). 
  • Specifying OOO and Focus Time specific features, such as auto-declining meetings, and setting do-not-disturb statuses. 
  • Selecting any combination of event types to read from a calendar (Events.List). 

Further, reading and writing this information eliminates the need for users to enter the same information into multiple systems, helping to cut down on manual churn.


Who’s impacted
Developers


Why you’d use it
Out of office and focus time event support joins support for working location, which was announced earlier this year, to round out API functionality for calendar events. Each specific event type can be synced throughout your organization's IT ecosystem, creating seamless user journeys and helping to connect users with resources and each other. This includes things such as:


  • Mapping working location data to better adapt on-site resources and update other third-party surfaces, such as hot desk booking tools. 
  • Automatically blocking OOO based on vacation or PTO requests.
  • Blocking off focus time events to give users time to go through onboarding or other company training programs.


Additional details
Prior to this update, if you requested to read a user’s calendar via API v3, out of office and focus time events were returned with unknownorganizer@calendar.google.com in the organizer field, and without their specific features. With this update, these events will return with all their properties and the specific user as organizer. Please check your code to ensure it does not make implicit assumptions about the previous API return values, and use the eventType parameter to perform different operations with regular, OOO, Focus Time, or Working Location events 


Getting started

Rollout pace
Availability
  • The Calendar API is available to all. 

  • Out of Office events are available to Google Workspace Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Frontline, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Nonprofits, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers.

  • Focus Time events are available to Google Workspace Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Nonprofits, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers.
Resources

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What’s changing 
We recently completed the migration of Reminders from Google Calendar and Google Assistant to Google Tasks in order to provide an easy way to view and manage all your to-dos in one place. To build upon this, we’re providing you with a full screen desktop experience to view all tasks together. Starting today, you will be able to see all your tasks and task lists in a single full screen view on Calendar web.
View full screen tasks lists on Google Calendar


Who’s impacted 
End users 


Why it matters 
In addition to an optimized desktop layout, this update makes it easier for you to stay on top of and organize your tasks. 


Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: To view full screen tasks on Calendar web, go to Calendar.google.com > click on the task icon in the top bar. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Tasks. 

Rollout pace 

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

Resources 
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What’s changing 
We’re making several changes which will make scheduling large scale meetings (up to 100k guests per event) easier and guide schedulers through the process with more context. Once you’ve created and saved a Calendar event which contains a large group of attendees, you can open the event to check on the invitation progress. As groups are successfully added, they will appear in the guest list and you will see an “invitation in progress” message as invitations are being sent.

Note the “invitation in progress” message as invitations are being sent.

As groups are successfully added, they will appear in the guest list



You’ll see these updates when using Calendar on the web and as such we recommend using Calendar on the web to schedule larger events.




Who’s impacted
End users



Why it’s important
Coordinating events with a large number of attendees can be complex — including ensuring that all attendees have been successfully invited. We've introduced these updates to help you more confidently schedule large group events. Specifically, you will now have clarity whether the event was successfully saved and invitations sent to all participants, or still in progress. If the scheduling fails, you’ll be informed of the exact status including who has been invited and who has not, to make it easy for you to fix the issue. We hope this improved experience helps you confidently schedule larger meetings, like all-hands meetings or town halls. 



Additional details
If there’s a problem inviting guests, you’ll see an error message when you open the Calendar event, as well as a notification via email. In both cases, we’ll share more context regarding the error and how to fix it. For example, we’ll let you know if you’ve exceeded the Calendar event limit of 100k guests and recommend that you add smaller groups or duplicate the event to accommodate more attendees.



Getting started
  • Admins: There is no admin impact or action required for this update.
  • End users: You’ll notice these improvements automatically. Visit the Help Center to learn more about inviting groups to calendar events.

Rollout pace
Availability
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers

Resources


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What’s changing 
We’re updating the way meeting attendees names are displayed in Calendar invites and invite updates sent via email. Currently, you may notice only email addresses or in some cases, a mix of email addresses and names within a calendar invite. Going forward, you’ll see more names included in the calendar invite, including the names of those in your organization, and those guests whom you have interacted with previously.

Before

After




Getting started

Rollout pace

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

Resources




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