Google Workspace Changes

Google Calendar introduces Time Insights to help users analyze how their time is spent in meetings.

Time Insights in Google Calendar provides a personalized, analytical experience on the web that allows users to see a breakdown of their time spent in meetings, identify meeting-heavy days, and see which collaborators they spend the most time with. This data is private to the user and helps in better planning and priority assessment.

Users can now indicate their working location directly on their Google Calendar.

Starting August 30, 2021, Google Calendar users can set a weekly working location routine (such as working from home or the office) to help colleagues plan in-person collaboration in hybrid workplaces. Anyone with free/busy access to the user's calendar can view these locations, and the feature can be managed by admins at the domain or organizational unit level.

Update Calendar Interop authentication with OAuth 2.0 to continue interoperation with Microsoft 365.

We’re enabling OAuth 2.0 authentication support for Google Calendar Interop with Microsoft Exchange Online (Microsoft 365). Calendar Interop is a feature that lets you sync events and availability between Google Calendar and Exchange Online.

Change to the format of secondary Calendar and resource IDs

Starting June 3, 2020, the calendar IDs associated with newly created secondary calendars and resources will no longer include the G Suite account’s domain name. While this is a cosmetic change and does not affect Google Calendar functionality, users who maintain scripts that parse or extract domain names from these IDs will need to update their scripts to ensure continued operation.

Coverage of user indices for Calendar in data regions

Gmail and Calendar construct user indices based on information in their accounts, similar to an index in a library, which lists information about all the books the library has available. This index is used to serve user search queries in Gmail and Calendar. These indices will now be covered by data regions.

Rooms and resources in Google Calendar events are now listed in the guest list instead of the location field.

Google Calendar has updated where booked rooms and resources are displayed within an event. This information will now appear in the guest list and will no longer be duplicated in the location field. This change allows users to use the location field exclusively for the geographic address of the event, providing guests with a clearer understanding of where to go.

Turning off less secure app access to G Suite accounts - Impact to Calendar

Limiting the ability for less secure apps (LSAs) to access G Suite account data. If you use CalDAV to give an app or device access to your calendar, switch to a method that supports OAuth. We recommend the Google Calendar app [Web/iOS/Android] as the most secure app to use with your G Suite account. If your G Suite account is linked to the calendar app in iOS or MacOS and uses only a password to login, you’ll need to remove and re-add your account to your device. When you add it back, select “sign in with Google” to automatically use OAuth.

New Admin console setting to control whether Working Hours is enabled for users.

Google is adding a setting in the Admin console that allows administrators to control whether the Working Hours feature is enabled for users in their domain. This setting can be managed by navigating to Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Settings for Calendar > Sharing Settings, where a new checkbox 'Allow users to set working hours' has been added. The setting is enabled by default and can be configured at the organizational unit level.

Recurring Calendar events will migrate their video conferencing from classic Hangouts to Meet.

Migrating the video conferencing for recurring Calendar events from classic Hangouts to Meet. Previously, new events scheduled in Calendar used Meet. Now this change updates previously scheduled events in Calendar as well.

Google Calendar now indicates when all guests have declined a meeting.

Google Calendar now provides a visual indication when all guests have declined a meeting, allowing users to identify events with no attendance without checking event details or RSVP emails. From this indication, users can choose to cancel the meeting, reschedule it, or dismiss the notification.

Ability to book Microsoft Exchange resources directly in Google Calendar.

G Suite users will soon be able to view and book resources, such as meeting rooms and equipment, that are stored in Microsoft Exchange and Office 365 directly within Google Calendar.

Google Calendar introduces native support for third-party conferencing add-ons.

Google Calendar is adding support for third-party conferencing add-ons, allowing providers such as Cisco Webex, GoToMeeting, and RingCentral to enable users to create, view, and join video conferences directly from a Calendar event on web or mobile without requiring downloads or plug-ins.

Automatically generated meeting join instructions for third-party calendar clients.

Google Calendar now automatically adds text to event descriptions for users utilizing G Suite Sync for Microsoft Outlook, Google Sync, or third-party Android clients that rely on Calendar Provider. This text provides clear instructions on how to join meetings via Meet or Hangouts, allowing users of clients that do not natively display meeting instructions (such as Samsung S Planner) to join meetings without needing to access Google Calendar on the web.

Include a message when changing or deleting meeting details in Google Calendar.

Google Calendar now allows users to enter a custom message in a dialog box when editing or deleting an existing meeting. This message is then included in the email notification sent to other guests, facilitating better communication regarding meeting changes.

Calendar Interop now uses a restricted set of known IPs for Exchange server communication.

To enhance security for coexistence setups, Google Calendar Interop now utilizes a restricted set of known IPv4 and IPv6 addresses when communicating with Microsoft Exchange servers. This allows G Suite customers to block all incoming traffic to their on-premise Exchange servers via firewalls, except for requests originating from Calendar Interop.