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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.


Find files more easily with the Drive Android file picker
In 2023, we introduced a streamlined file organization with the new Google Drive location picker on web. Now, we’re rolling out similar improvements to the Drive app on Android devices. This update will make it easier to find recently viewed Drive items and clearly see what other storage locations besides "My Drive" are available to you, such as items you have access to within shared drives. | Rollout to Rapid Release domains is complete; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for December 2, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to use Google Drive. 
Drive files on Android

View tasks lists on the Google Calendar Android app 
Last year, we introduced full screen tasks lists for Google Calendar on web, enabling users to see all their tasks and task lists in a single full screen view. This week, we’re excited to announce that this same functionality is now available on Android devices. This update makes it easier for users to stay on top of and organize their tasks, especially while on-the-go. | Rolling out to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains now. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Tasks.
tasks lists on the Google Calendar Android app


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.


Easily respond to comments and access requests without leaving Google Chat with the auto-installed Google Drive Chat app 
Starting this week, the previously introduced Google Drive Chat app will be automatically installed and send you notifications about recent activity in Google Drive documents, such as new comments and share requests. | Learn more about the auto-installed Google Drive Chat app.

Table reference improvements in Google Sheets
This week, we introduced updates to table references that enhance discoverability and usability. | Learn more about table references in Sheets.

Educators can now request access to third-party apps for their students 
We’ve introduced a new workflow that allows educators to request access to unconfigured third-party apps on behalf of their students. | Learn more about requesting access to third-party apps for students.

Automatic framing is now available to everyone in Google Meet video calls, plus an improved experience when using virtual backgrounds 
We’re expanding automatic framing to all users, as well as introducing an improved experience while using a virtual background. | Learn more about automatic framing in Meet.

Add multiple multimedia files to a single message in Google Chat 
Users can now upload and send up to 20 multimedia files (photos and videos) in one Chat message. | Learn more about sending multimedia files in Chat.

More ways to get started quickly with building blocks in Google Docs 
This week, we introduced a new collection of building blocks designed to help you manage important business workflows in Docs, including team task management, project tracking, hiring, and more. | Learn more about new building blocks in Google Docs.

New file picker method for pre-selecting Google Drive files coming soon 
Today, Google Drive developers rely on the drive.file scope and the Google Picker API to optimize user experience and safety when creating their applications. To make it faster and easier for users to provide applications access to specific Drive files, the Google Picker API will introduce a new method to the Class view called setFileIds(fileIds) in January 2025. | Learn more about the new file picker method for pre-selecting Google Drive files.

Easily find and navigate your Google Chat conversations by organizing them into custom sections
As we continue to enhance the user experience in Google Chat over the last year, we’re excited to announce that users can now organize Chat conversations into custom sections. | Learn more about custom sections in Chat.

New Asus hardware kits for Google Meet
Asus is launching new hardware room kits certified for Google Meet that now offer daisy chain capabilities. Developed with AVer, this refreshed room kit portfolio will work in video conferencing rooms and spaces of just about any size. | Learn more about Asus hardware kits for Google Meet.



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: 


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    What’s changing

    Asus is launching new hardware room kits certified for Google Meet that now offer daisy chain capabilities. Developed with AVer, this refreshed room kit portfolio will work in video conferencing rooms and spaces of just about any size. After initial setup, admins can easily enroll, manage, and monitor these devices using the Google Workspace admin console. 



    The kits are composed of the following components:

    • Compute: We’re refreshing existing ASUS kits with a new ASUS Google Meet compute system. This new Meet compute system is slimmer and easier to deploy than previous versions, offering a longer device lifespan until September 2030. 
    • Controller: Mimo Myst controller
    • Audio: AVer Fone 540 speakermic (with expansion mics available for larger rooms)
    • Camera:
      • AVer Cam340+ for small and medium rooms
      • AVer Cam 520 Pro3 for large rooms
        • This device also features built-in third-party room framing, which helps ensure the room is optimally framed. You can turn on this framing from the device by selecting Control camera > Framing by Aver.

    Getting started
    • Admins: Asus room kits for Google Meet require Google Meet hardware licenses. The updated Asus Google Meet hardware kits for Google Meet are available today – contact your reseller to learn more. This device should be rebooted after installation and runs on M126 – visit the Help Center to check the latest status on M126.
    • End users: Once an Asus room kit has been successfully enrolled, you can join Google Meet meetings normally and take advantage of our embedded interoperability to join Zoom and Webex calls.
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    What’s changing
    As we continue to enhance the user experience in Google Chat over the last year, we’re excited to announce that users can now organize Chat conversations into custom sections. A highly requested feature, custom sections are useful for scenarios in which users want similar conversations about a topic or project to be in the same location in the left-hand menu of Chat. 

    To make a custom section, go to the direct messages or spaces section in Chat > hover over the three dot menu > select Create new section > name the custom section > hit enter. You can add conversations from a direct message or space to a custom section by: 
    • Dragging and dropping it in from another section 
    • Hovering over a conversation > clicking the three dot menu > selecting Move conversation > Move to [Name of the custom section] 
    making a custom section in google chat

    Previously the direct messages and spaces sections in the left-hand menu were independent, individually-scrollable lists. With this update, users can navigate specific sections of their conversations by scrolling across all of their sections as one unified conversation list, view top conversations across each section, and find older conversations within each section by expanding via “Show all.” 

    find older conversations within each section by expanding via “Show all.”

    For each section, users can also: 
    • Modify the size (height) of each section 
    • Reorder a section in the left-hand menu based on preference by moving it up or down 
    • Toggle an unread button ON (or OFF) to instantly find new messages within each section that need their attention 
    • Start a new direct message or space message from the three dot menu next to the unread toggle 
    Toggling to show unreads on web

    In addition, users will now be able to find their Chat apps more quickly with a new dedicated Apps section. 

    dedicated Apps section
    Who’s impacted 
    End users 

    Why you’d use it 
    This complete revamp of the left navigation experience on Chat will help users find messages more easily based on their own organizational preferences. 

    Getting started 
    • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
    • End users: 
      • By default, the conversation list is organized by direct messages, spaces, and apps, with each section set to show active conversations only. 
      • While the new Chat experience is visible on mobile, users can only create and manage sections on the desktop version of chat.google.com or Chat in Gmail. 
      • Visit the Help Center to learn how to use Google Chat. 
    Rollout pace 
    • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 21, 2024, with expected completion in early January 2025 
    • Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 6, 2025 
    Availability 
    • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 
    Resources 
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    What’s changing 
    Today, Google Drive developers rely on the drive.file scope and the Google Picker API to optimize user experience and safety when creating their applications. 

    To make it faster and easier for users to provide applications access to specific Drive files, the Google Picker API will introduce a new method to the Class view called setFileIds(fileIds). This method lets application developers present users with a picker that is pre-navigated to the specified file IDs the application is seeking access to, allowing faster consent for your users and a more continuous experience for your application. 

    Getting started 
    • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
    • Developers: If you have a user interaction such as a chat interface where a user already provided the FileId that they want to open using your application, you can now provide that FileId via the View class and Google will prompt the user to grant you OAuth access directly to that file or files. 
    • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. 

    Rollout pace

    Availability 
    • Available to all Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual Subscribers 

    Resources 
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    What’s changing 
    For the last few years, users have added building blocks, including custom blocks, to their Google Docs to quickly spin up email drafts, meeting notes, reusable templates and more. 

    Today, we’re excited to introduce a new collection of building blocks designed to help you manage important business workflows in Docs, including team task management, project tracking, hiring, and more. 

    • Task trackers quickly add and track tasks at a glance with titles, assignees, due dates, and status, in a cleanly organized format. Additionally, users can add their own columns for more personalization, and new tasks with an assignee and title can be synced with Google Tasks individually or by syncing the whole table at once: 

    task tracker building block
    • Use a Contact list to organize contact information for applicants, sales contacts, team members, project assignments and more. Contact lists offer a structured table format that breaks out critical contact information into glanceable columns that are clear and easier to read: 
    contact list building block
    • Decision logs centralize open questions, aid in decision-making, and organize final decisions in an easily-digestible table. With decision logs, teams can quickly align around a single source of truth with clear owners: 
    decision log building block

    Get started with building blocks by clicking the buttons at the top of a newly created document or via Insert > Building blocks. In addition, a new Docs sidebar, accessible by going to Insert > Building blocks > View more or by clicking “More” at the top of a new document, makes it easier to browse, find, and preview building blocks in context: 

    browse, find, and preview building blocks in docs sidebar
    Lastly, we’re improving table building blocks by adding table title rows, a formatted, full-width row with heading styling. Table title rows allow you to clearly call out a visually appealing table name and saves you time from formatting manually. The new column types will set a data type (dates, dropdown chips, files or people) and provide friendly warnings when table content does not match, ensuring your table data is accurate and organized. 


    Getting started 

    Rollout pace 
    • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 19, 2024, with expected completion by December 5, 2024 
    • Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 12, 2024 

    Availability 
    • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 
      • Note: the Task Tracker building block is available to Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual Subscribers only. 
    Resources 
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    What’s changing
    Users can currently send & share files such as images, PDFs and videos in Google Chat messages and use the Shared tab to access all conversation-related artifacts including files, links and media. However, only one image can be uploaded in a single Chat message on web at a time. 


    To improve upon this functionality, provide a highly-requested feature, and match the mobile experience, we’re excited to announce that users can now upload and send up to 20 multimedia files (photos and videos) in one Chat message. Dragging and dropping multimedia files into the compose bar from your desktop is also supported. 

    Adding multiple multimedia files to a single message


    Getting started 
    • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
    • End users: An error message will show if a user exceeds size limits or uploads unsupported file combinations. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending & sharing files in Google Chat messages. 
    Rollout pace
    • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 19, 2024, with expected completion by December 3, 2024
    • Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on December 12, 2024 

    Availability 
    • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts
    Resources 
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    Quick summary 
    In 2022, we introduced automatic framing for select Google Workspace editions. Beginning today, we’re pleased to announce that we’re expanding this functionality to all users, as well as introducing an improved experience while using a virtual background. This feature will be on by default. 


    Depending on their camera placement, some meeting participants might be less visible than others. With automatic framing, Google Meet will automatically center your video before joining a meeting to help ensure equal visibility for all participants. The automatic framing happens only once, so there are no motion distractions that can divert attention from the content of the meeting. Additionally, Meet will now continuously keep you centered when using a virtual background, ensuring your background is fixed and not constantly reframing which can be distracting.

    Meet frames you in the center of the screen to improve your visibility

    Getting started
    • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
    • End users: This feature will be ON by default and can be turned off by the user. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning video framing on or off for your account. Note when no virtual background is used, you can manually reframe the video at any time by hovering over your video tile and clicking reframe.
    Rollout pace

    Availability
    • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

    Resources

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    What’s changing

    We’re introducing a new workflow that allows educators to request access to unconfigured third-party apps on behalf of their students.

    Admins can allow educators and users who are over 18 years of age to request access to apps for themselves or on behalf of others (proxy requests). For example, admins may create a group of trusted users who are responsible for vetting third party apps and allow them to make proxy requests on behalf of students.




    Educators can view a list of apps they have recently accessed with their Google Workspace account and request access for their students.




    Admins can review and take action on these requests in the Admin console by going to Security > API Controls > App Access Control. Requests will be denoted with a “Proxy”  label when the request is made on behalf of another user. 




    Once admins have configured access, they can opt to notify users and/or users who made proxy requests via email about the outcome of their request.




    Who’s impacted
    Admins and end users

    Why it’s important
    Administrators can now allow a group of trusted users to vet and request third party app access on behalf of other users. This allows admins to better control who requests access and create a more streamlined process for app approvals.

    Rollout pace

    Availability
    • Available for Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

    Resources

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    What’s changing
    Since introducing tables in Google Sheets, we’ve made numerous improvements to ensure users are equipped with the tools they need to accelerate spreadsheet building. Table references, a way to refer to a table or parts of a table in a formula, are just one example of how tables reduce time spent manually formatting data. 

    Today, we’re excited to announce updates to table references that enhance discoverability and usability. Specifically, users will now see: 
    • Improved table reference availability, which allows users to reference the items below across both single (e.g., =Table2[[#ALL],[Column 1]]) and multiple columns (e.g., =Table2[[#ALL],[Column 1]:[Column 2]] ): 
      • Full table columns, including column headers, data, and footers (#ALL) 
      • Table headers (#HEADERS) 
      • Table footers (#TOTALS) 
      • Table data, excluding headers and footers (#DATA) 
        Improved table reference availability
    • Formula suggestions, which help you identify formulas that could be more robust. For example, if a user types a working formula that overlaps with a table range, a table reference suggestion will show. 
    Formula suggestions
    • Formula corrections for table references, which show a formula correction with a proper table reference when a formula is written incorrectly. 
    Formula corrections

    Getting started 
    Rollout pace 
    Availability
    • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts
    Resources 
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    What’s changing
    Starting this week, the previously introduced Google Drive Chat app will be automatically installed and send you notifications about recent activity in Google Drive documents, such as new comments and share requests. Directly in Chat, you can now: 
    • Reply to or resolve comments in Docs, Sheets and Slides, which includes the ability to mention your colleagues easily while replying. 
    • Choose the appropriate access level (e.g. viewer, commenter, editor) for share requests. 
    • See when you’ve been mentioned in Docs, Sheets or Slides using Chat’s “Mentions” shortcut. 
    • Easily block a sender or report abuse from the Drive Chat app’s notifications when they come from a user outside of your organization. 
    While this new app will be automatically installed, you can easily manage notifications, mute or uninstall the app at any time by going to the three dot overflow menu. 
    responding to a comment using Drive Chat app


    Getting started 

    Rollout pace 

    Availability 
    • Available to all Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual Subscribers 

    Resources 
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