Google Workspace Changes

G Suite adds auto-provisioning support for eight new third-party applications.

G Suite is expanding its auto-provisioning capabilities to include eight additional third-party applications: Amazon Web Services, DocuSign, Evernote, GoToMeeting, Office 365, SAP Cloud Platform Identity Authentication, Sugar, and Zendesk. This feature allows admins to automatically add, edit, or delete users in these apps when changes are made in G Suite, reducing management overhead. Availability varies by edition, with Basic, Government, and Nonprofit customers limited to three applications, while Education, Business, and Enterprise customers have access to all supported apps.

Easily turn G Suite apps on or off for domains and organizational units in the Admin console.

Google is updating the apps settings list page in the Admin console to provide a cleaner look and feel. Admins can now use a new left-hand panel to toggle between domain and organizational unit (OU) level management. For OUs, admins can choose to either override the parent setting to turn an app off or inherit the setting from the parent organization. Additionally, a new page layout has been introduced for managing apps that are 'On for some organizations'.

Update Google Calendar resources using the Calendar Resource, Buildings, and Features APIs.

Google has updated the existing Calendar Resources API and introduced two new APIs—Buildings and Features—to make it easier for G Suite admins to add and edit structured data about buildings and resources, ensuring synchronization with other facility management systems.

Eleven third-party applications added to the G Suite pre-integrated SAML apps catalog

We’re now adding SAML integration for 11 additional applications: &frankly, Bonusly, HelloSign, Salsify, Sequr, Small Improvements, SpaceIQ, StatusHub, Symantec Web Security Service (WSS), ThousandEyes, and PurelyHR.

Eleven new third-party applications added to the G Suite pre-integrated SAML apps catalog.

Google has expanded its pre-integrated SAML apps catalog by adding 11 new third-party applications: &frankly, Bonusly, HelloSign, Salsify, Sequr, Small Improvements, SpaceIQ, StatusHub, Symantec Web Security Service (WSS), ThousandEyes, and PurelyHR. This integration allows users to access these enterprise cloud applications via Single-Sign-On (SSO), providing a simpler installation process for administrators compared to setting up custom SAML applications.

Prevent corporate data syncing on jailbroken iOS devices.

Google Mobile Management now allows G Suite admins to protect organization data by preventing users from syncing corporate data on jailbroken iOS devices. This feature can be enabled in the Admin console under Device Management > Advanced Settings > Security, provided that Advanced Mobile Management for iOS is enabled and users have the Google Device Policy app installed to regularly check the device status.

Improvements to menus and toolbars in Google Docs and Slides for better consistency and discoverability.

Google is updating the menus and toolbars in Google Docs and Slides on the web to make items easier to find and increase consistency. Key changes include renaming 'Lists' to 'Bullets and numbering', moving and renaming 'Show spelling suggestions' to 'Spelling' in the Tools menu, moving 'Document outline' to the View menu in Docs, and removing 'Import slides' from the Insert menu in Slides.

Existing templates now available in additional languages

Existing templates in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on the web are now available in several additional languages, including Hindi (hi), German (de), Indonesian (in), Japanese (ja), Dutch (nl), and Chinese (zh-CN).

New template categories for Project Management, Sales, HR, and Freelancer Engagement

Google has introduced four new template categories developed in partnership with experts: Project Management in Sheets (with Smartsheet), Sales in Docs (with PandaDoc), Human Resources in Docs (with Zenefits), and Freelancer Engagement in Docs (with Upwork). These templates are currently available in English on the web.

Google Apps Device Policy app disables non-critical apps on non-compliant Android devices.

The Google Apps Device Policy app will now disable access to non-critical apps on any work profile or company-owned Android device that is determined to be non-compliant with the organization's security policies. Users will be notified of the violation, and the apps will be re-enabled once the device complies with all security policies.

New Google+ Communities report for G Suite administrators in the Admin console.

G Suite administrators can now view a report of all communities owned by organization members via the Admin console (Reports > Apps > Google+ > Communities report). The report allows admins to sort communities by metrics such as total members, active members, and recent posts, and indicates whether a community's visibility is restricted to the domain.

New membership and engagement insights for Google+ community owners and moderators.

Google+ community owners and moderators can now access a new 'Insights' tab by clicking the 'Manage' button. This tab provides membership and engagement statistics, with additional context available by mousing over specific metrics to help interpret the data.

Google introduces regular release notes for Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync.

Google is now publishing regular release notes for Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync on the Help Center. This allows users to keep track of additions and improvements made to each new version of these products, while major changes will continue to be announced on the G Suite Updates Blog.

Classic Google Calendar Interop tool will be shut down on February 28, 2018.

Google is shutting down the classic version of the Calendar Interop tool on February 28, 2018. Organizations that have previously configured the classic version must migrate to the new version of Calendar Interop by this date to ensure continued availability lookup functionality between G Suite and Microsoft Exchange or Office 365 environments.

Google Sheets introduces intelligent pivot table suggestions, formula suggestions, and enhanced data analysis tools.

Google Sheets is adding several AI-powered and analytical features to help users uncover insights. This includes intelligent pivot table suggestions via the Explore panel and natural language processing, machine-learning-based formula suggestions, a refreshed pivot table UI with customizable headings, new pivot table calculation options (such as showing values as a percentage of totals), the addition of waterfall charts, and improved importing of fixed-width formatted data files.