Google Workspace Changes

Adding a card onto the New Tab Page in your Chrome browser that will surface relevant files from your Google Drive.

End users will be able to access their highest priority Drive files straight from the Chrome Desktop new tab page.

Added a card onto the New Tab Page in your Chrome browser that will surface relevant files from your Google Drive.

Added a card onto the New Tab Page in your Chrome browser that will surface relevant files from your Google Drive, making it easier and more efficient to find the files you need.

Quickly access Google Drive files in Chrome browser

We’re adding a card onto the New Tab Page in your Chrome browser that will surface relevant files from your Google Drive, making it easier and more efficient to find the files you need.

View Alert Center notifications directly from the Admin console toolbar.

Administrators can now quickly access Alert Center alerts from anywhere in the Admin console via a new bell icon in the top toolbar. Selecting this icon surfaces the ten most recent alerts along with brief descriptions, allowing admins to click a specific alert to open it or select 'View all' to navigate to the full Alert Center.

Video backgrounds are now available in Google Meet on Android.

Google Meet users on Android can now replace their backgrounds with video instead of just static images. Initially, six Google-made video backgrounds, including scenes like a classroom, a party, and a beach, are available to help users express their personality or maintain privacy during video calls.

Live translated captions are now available in beta for Google Meet.

Google Meet has introduced live translated captions in beta, which allow video call participants to translate spoken language into captions in another language. Initially, the feature supports English meetings translated into Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German. It is available for meetings organized by users with Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Teaching & Learning Upgrade licenses.

Live translated captions in Google Meet available in beta

Live translated captions help video call participants communicate better by translating a spoken language to captions in another language. Live translated captions will initially be available in beta and will support English meetings translated to Spanish, French, Portuguese and German.

Comment size increasing in Google Docs

Increased the comment width to a maximum of 50 characters, a +43% increase in width. Comment width will intelligently scale based on your browser window to maximize the use of available screen space.

Add image watermarks directly into Google Docs.

Google Docs now allows users to insert image watermarks that repeat behind the text on every page of a document, which is ideal for company logos and branding. These watermarks are also preserved when importing or exporting documents from Microsoft Word.

Renaming 'whitelisted domains' to 'allowlisted domains' in the Admin console.

Google is updating the terminology in the Admin console, replacing instances of 'whitelisted' with 'allowlisted'. This change is intended to use more inclusive language and more accurately describe the action of allowing specific domains.

Ability to mute all Google Meet participants at once is rolling out to mobile platforms.

Meeting hosts and co-hosts can now mute all participants at once in Google Meet on mobile platforms to prevent or stop disruptions. This feature is rolling out on iOS immediately, with Android availability expected later in 2021. While hosts can mute everyone, they cannot unmute them; participants must unmute themselves. Note that users joining via Pexip devices will not be muted.

Easily create group chats with meeting participants directly from Google Calendar events.

Google is adding a Chat icon next to the guest list within Google Calendar events on both web and mobile. This allows users to quickly create a group chat containing all internal organization participants of a meeting, making it simpler to communicate before, during, or after the event without relying solely on email.

New detailed metrics over time added to the Meet Quality Tool for admins.

Google has introduced detailed metrics over time for endpoints within the Meet Quality Tool to help admins perform more advanced troubleshooting. Admins can now view charts for average CPU usage, connection delay, microphone audio level, received audio level, and both sent and received video packet loss. For meetings currently in progress, these metrics can be refreshed to provide near-real-time values.

Enhanced search chips in Gmail on web for refined email searches.

Gmail on the web now features enhanced search chips that provide richer drop-down lists with more options to apply additional filters. For example, when using the 'From' chip, users can quickly type a name, choose from suggested senders, or search for emails from multiple senders, making it easier to find specific emails or information.

Google Meet on the web now automatically enhances brightness for underexposed users.

Google Meet on the web now automatically detects when a user appears underexposed, such as when there is too much light behind them, and enhances the brightness to improve their visibility.