Google Workspace Changes

All G Suite customers can now create Hangouts Meet meetings with dial-in phone numbers.

Google has expanded dial-in capabilities for Hangouts Meet, allowing all G Suite users to include a US dial-in phone number in meetings created via Google Calendar. While all G Suite editions now have access to US dial-in, international dial-in numbers remain exclusive to G Suite Enterprise users. Administrators maintain the ability to disable the dial-in feature through the Admin console.

Comment on specific text within individual objects in Google Slides

Collaboration in Google Slides is improved by allowing users to comment on specific text within an object, such as a text box, rather than being limited to commenting on the entire object or the whole slide.

New guides and rulers for precision design in Google Slides

Google Slides has introduced guide lines for consistent placement and alignment across all slides, with objects snapping to these guides. Additionally, a new visual ruler provides fine-grained control over the alignment of text, lists, objects, and guides, including indentation markers for bullets and text.

Insert and link Google Slides into Google Docs

Users can now insert a slide from a Google Slides presentation directly into Google Docs. These slides can be linked to the source presentation, allowing users to sync any changes with a single click, ensuring document content remains up to date.

US dial-in feature for Hangouts Meet is now available to all business and education customers.

The US dial-in feature in Hangouts Meet, which allows users to join meetings via phone, is being made available to all business and education customers and will be rolled out in the coming months.

New security features are rolling out to the free version of G Suite for Education.

Google is introducing several new security tools to the free version of G Suite for Education over the next few months. These updates include Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Gmail and Drive to prevent the sharing of sensitive content, Hosted Gmail S/MIME for digital signatures and encryption, security key management and enforcement for 2-step verification, and the ability for administrators to control user session lengths for services like Gmail and Drive.

G Suite Enterprise for Education is now generally available in the United States.

G Suite Enterprise for Education is now generally available to educational institutions in the United States. This new edition offers enterprise-grade capabilities including the Security Center for better visibility and control over security, Advanced Mobile Device Management (MDM) for automated device tasks, Cloud Search for unified search across G Suite, Gmail logs in BigQuery for deep analysis, and enhanced Hangouts Meet capabilities supporting up to 50 participants and recordings saved to Google Drive.

Add custom links to the navigation bar in the new Google Sites

Google Sites now allows editors to add custom links to the navigation bar, enabling links to external URLs such as company social media profiles, HCM tools, other Google Sites, project trackers, or Drive folders, in addition to internal site content.

Group data by time frame in Google Sheets pivot tables.

When creating pivot tables in Google Sheets, users can now group their data by specific time frames, such as week, month, or year, to facilitate better temporal analysis of their data.

Ability to add checkboxes in cells in Google Sheets.

Google Sheets has added the ability to insert checkboxes directly into cells, making it easier for users to create checklists and track task completion within their spreadsheets.

Expanded options for row and column grouping in Google Sheets.

Google Sheets now provides more options for grouping rows and columns, enabling users to organize and manage their data more effectively.

Added printing page breaks and custom paper sizes to Google Sheets.

Google Sheets has introduced new printing capabilities, allowing users to add printing page breaks and define custom paper sizes to better control the layout of their printed documents.

Record macros in Google Sheets to automate repetitive tasks.

Google Sheets now allows users to record macros in the cloud to automate repetitive tasks without needing to write code. The macro recorder automatically converts actions into Apps Script, which can be edited directly for updates. Because these macros are cloud-based, teams can run them simultaneously without interrupting other collaborators working in the same sheet.

Dial-in phone numbers for Hangouts Meet expanded to six additional countries.

Google has expanded the availability of international Hangouts Meet dial-in phone numbers for G Suite Enterprise domains to six additional markets: Dominican Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, and Luxembourg.

G Suite admins can now create multiple directories with custom visibility rules for different organizational units.

G Suite admins can now cluster users into separate directories with custom visibility rules for each organizational unit (OU). Previously, only one directory per domain was allowed, meaning visibility was all-or-nothing for the entire domain. This update allows for more granular control, such as allowing full-time employees to see a global directory while restricting temporary staff to a limited custom directory.