Google Workspace Changes

Google Meet adds new admin and end‑user settings to enable automatic note‑taking only for meetings with three or more participants, rolling out September 29, 2026.

The update introduces a third admin option that enables automatic note‑taking for meetings with three or more people, with default ON for Business Standard and Plus and OFF for Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline Plus, and Google AI Pro for Education. End users gain a matching setting to enable note‑taking only for meetings they host with 3+ guests. Both settings take effect September 29, 2026, with an extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days) for Rapid and Scheduled Release domains.

Introduces Quick notes, a high‑level summary tab in Take notes for me that fits on one page with key action items, outcomes, and talking points.

Quick notes provides a concise, single‑page overview of meeting takeaways, highlighting the most important action items, outcomes, and talking points for fast consumption. It becomes the default tab in the Take notes for me Doc and the default summary in related emails, while a Full notes tab retains the detailed record for those who need deeper insight. No admin or end‑user settings are required; the feature rolls out immediately to Rapid and Scheduled Release domains for Business Standard/Plus, Enterprise Standard/Plus, Frontline Plus, Education Add‑ons (Google AI Pro for Education), and Consumer (Google AI Pro and Ultra).

Study notebooks in Gemini are now available for Google Workspace accounts, offering personalized adaptive learning with quizzes, progress tracking, and curriculum‑aligned lessons.

Study notebooks in Gemini provide a dedicated, interactive learning space that turns Gemini into an adaptive platform. Users can create a notebook from the left sidebar, specify their study topic, upload class materials, request progress‑check quizzes to identify knowledge gaps, follow bite‑sized lessons with inline practice quizzes, and track mastery via a dynamic dashboard that categorizes topics into strengths and focus areas. The feature is available to Google Workspace and Workspace Individual customers outside the EEA (with EEA rollout coming soon) when the Gemini app and Gemini Notebook are enabled by admins, who can control access via groups or OUs. Rollout began on September 17, 2026 for Rapid Release domains, reaching full visibility within up to 15 days.

New Confluence integration for Google Chat enables rich link previews, personal notifications, and shared page updates via the Atlassian add-on.

Google Workspace customers can now install the Atlassian add-on to bring Confluence pages directly into Google Chat conversations. The integration provides rich link previews showing page titles, summaries, and author names, personal notifications for @mentions, comment replies, or page changes, and automated updates when shared Confluence pages are modified. This allows teams to collaborate in Chat while keeping Confluence as the system of record for knowledge.

New Workday for Google Sheets add-on brings AI-powered Adaptive Planning data directly into Sheets and Slides.

Workday for Google Sheets is a new add-on available in the Google Workspace Marketplace that connects Workday Adaptive Planning directly to Google Sheets and Slides. Integrated with the AI-powered “Ask Workday” feature, it enables natural language summaries, variance analysis, automated anomaly detection, smart visualizations, and dynamic ad‑hoc reporting without manual CSV downloads, allowing financial analysts to build live reports and surface insights faster.

New manual calculation setting in Google Sheets lets users pause automatic recalculation and trigger updates on demand.

Google Sheets introduces a manual calculation mode that enables editors of complex or data-dense spreadsheets to suspend automatic formula recalculation, batch edits, and initiate a sheet-wide update when ready. This supports uninterrupted high-volume updates, structured scenario modeling, and stabilizing volatile simulations. The feature is off by default and can be enabled via File > Settings > Calculation Settings, with no admin controls. Rollout begins September 21, 2026 for both Rapid and Scheduled Release domains, completing within up to 15 days.

Create and share short video overviews in 80+ languages to simplify complex concepts with narrated animations.

Gemini Notebook now lets users produce Short Video Overviews—approximately 60-second videos that blend narrative explanations with educational animations—in over 80 languages. These shareable videos break down intricate formulas, diagrams, and scientific ideas into digestible content for easier learning.

Exam prep tools in Gemini Notebook gain new quiz formats, performance chat, and customizable quizzes/flashcards.

Gemini Notebook's exam preparation features have been expanded to include short answer, multiple choice, and fill-in-the-blank quiz formats. Users can now converse with their notebook about their latest quiz and flashcard performance to identify focus areas, and they can customize quizzes and flashcards by adding or editing questions to suit their study needs.

Interactive learning overviews in Reports combine summaries with quizzes, flashcards, and mind maps to aid focus.

Gemini Notebook now offers interactive learning overviews accessible under the Reports section. These overviews integrate summaries with studio-generated outputs such as quizzes, flashcards, and mind maps, helping users stay focused during study sessions by providing varied, engaging review formats.

Real-time conversational AI in Gemini Notebook mobile app lets users 18+ interact with their notebooks in nearly 100 languages.

Users aged 18 and over can engage in real-time voice conversations with their Gemini Notebook via the mobile app on Android and iOS, available in almost 100 languages. Responses are grounded in the user's own sources, providing step-by-step guidance, answering questions, and allowing interruptions at any point.

New audio recorder in Gemini Notebook mobile app lets users capture lectures and thoughts, saving notes alongside sources.

The Gemini Notebook mobile app now includes an audio recorder available on Android and iOS, enabling users to record lectures or personal thoughts while studying. Recordings are saved as notes directly alongside the relevant source material, facilitating easy citation and continued editing.

Workspace Studio introduces custom starters, custom steps, third‑party integrations, and webhook actions to enable advanced workflow automation.

The update adds four new capabilities to Workspace Studio flows: custom starters that trigger flows from external applications, custom steps built with Apps Script for tailored logic, beta third‑party integrations with services such as Asana, Confluence, HubSpot, Jira, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, Salesforce, and Slack, and webhook steps to send HTTP requests to external endpoints. All features are backed by granular enterprise security controls and are rolling out to Rapid and Scheduled Release domains starting in September 2026.

Notebooks in Gemini now available for schools and organizations to organize course, curriculum, and project materials in a dedicated AI-powered workspace.

Notebooks in Gemini, initially announced in April as a dedicated workspace for individual users to organize projects and conversations, is now available to students, educators, and professionals within schools and organizations. Users can upload course materials, curriculum standards, assignment rubrics, lesson templates, product information, project details, research reports, and strategy notes into a notebook to generate personalized study guides, aligned coursework, differentiated learning materials, targeted feedback, and synthesized insights. The feature integrates the Gemini app and Gemini Notebook, enabling workflows such as creating Cinematic Video Overviews from class notes and then generating study guides in the Gemini app. Administrators can control access via Gemini App and Gemini Notebook settings, and the rollout began on September 14, 2026 with a gradual rollout of up to 15 days for both Rapid and Scheduled Release domains.

Expert Intelligence adds trusted book content from Google Play Books to Gemini Notebook, enabling Q&A, infographics, audio overviews, quizzes, and more.

Expert Intelligence integrates over 100,000 books from major publishers into Gemini Notebook, allowing users to add purchased ebooks from Google Play Books as sources. Users can ask questions about the book, generate infographics, audio overviews, quizzes, and combine the book's content with their own notes or syllabi. Admins need to enable Gemini Notebook, Google Play, and Google Books for the OU, and eligible books show a Gemini Notebook badge in Google Play Books. The feature is rolling out now to Rapid and Scheduled Release domains for all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and personal Google accounts with the required services enabled.

Google Meet homepage now shows conference room and meeting location details, with intelligent room prioritization, wayfinding, and Google Maps integration.

Starting September 14, 2026, the Google Meet homepage on the web displays conference room and physical meeting location details directly on upcoming meeting cards. For meetings with multiple rooms, the system prioritizes the room in the user's working location (set in Google Calendar) and highlights it. Clicking a room opens wayfinding or campus maps, while offsite addresses open Google Maps for turn‑by‑turn directions. Location details are prominently shown for meetings happening now or starting soon (<10 minutes) and appear on hover for later meetings, with an overflow button for multiple locations. No admin or end‑user settings are required; the feature uses existing building and room resources from the Admin console. Rollout is gradual over up to 15 days, beginning September 14 for Rapid Release domains and September 28 for Scheduled Release domains, and is available to all Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual subscribers.