Google Workspace Changes

General availability of limited access folders in My Drive and shared drives.

Google Drive now allows shared drive managers and My Drive owners to restrict folder access to specific users, ensuring sensitive information is only accessible to the right team members. This feature allows for better organization of files by project within a single shared drive. By 2026, Google will further simplify and align restricted access principles across both My Drive and shared drives, moving toward a consistent 'limited access folder' setting.

Admins to transfer OneDrive data to Google Drive

You can migrate the files of up to 100 users at a time, including the files corresponding access permissions with shared members.

Expanding Google AI to more of Google Workspace

Summarize multiple documents, generate insights on a specific topic, help you find files, and more.

Local files now sync to Google Drive faster

Drive for desktop will now upload only the parts of the file that changed

Local files now sync to Google Drive faster via differential uploads

Google Drive for desktop now supports differential uploads, meaning that when large files are edited, only the modified portions of the file are uploaded rather than the entire file. This update significantly increases the speed of Drive syncs for all Google Workspace customers, Individual Subscribers, and personal account users.

Enhanced IRM for Google Drive DLP now applies to all users, including file writers and owners.

Google is expanding its Information Rights Management (IRM) capabilities within Google Drive's Data Loss Prevention (DLP) rules. Previously, IRM restrictions—which prevent downloading, printing, and copying—only applied to users with viewer or commenter roles. Now, administrators can apply these restrictions to all users, including file writers and owners, ensuring sensitive content is protected from data exfiltration regardless of the user's role. When applied to editors or owners, they can still copy and paste content, but only within the same document.

Mobile scans are now crisper and clearer with auto enhancements in the Google Drive scanner

Drive’s document scanner will digitize paper documents into higher quality images much faster

Introducing instant video playback after uploads in Google Drive

Google Drive now allows users to watch videos immediately after uploading them to the web version, eliminating the previous wait time for processing while still ensuring the video is fully processed in the background.

Mobile scans are now crisper and clearer with auto enhancements in the Google Drive scanner

The Google Drive document scanner on Android devices now includes auto enhancement to digitize paper documents into higher quality images more quickly. This feature performs actions such as white balance correction, shadow removal, contrast enrichment, auto sharpening, and light improvement.

you can now focus your Gemini conversations in Drive to a specific Drive folder using the side panel.

you can now focus your Gemini conversations in Drive to a specific Drive folder using the side panel. For example, after indicating a specific folder via an @-mention, you can ask Gemini to find files in the folder or write a summary of the folder’s content.

Gemini in the Google Drive side panel now supports focusing conversations on specific folders.

Users can now focus their Gemini conversations in the Google Drive side panel on a specific folder to find files or summarize content. This can be achieved by @-mentioning a folder, dragging and dropping a folder into the side panel, or using the 'Summarize this folder' and 'Ask Gemini' options from the context menu or selection toolbar. Gemini supports analyzing text documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, and presentations within these folders.

Request electronic signatures on PDF files stored in Google Drive.

Google Drive now supports requesting electronic signatures on PDF files, allowing users to capture signatures and custom fields—such as phone number, job title, and company—directly within the Workspace environment. This expands the existing eSignature capabilities previously available in Google Docs to include PDF files stored in Drive.

beta support for Drive for desktop on Windows 11 devices powered by Snapdragon processors

Compiled natively for ARM64, this release enables users to easily sync and store files online from Windows PCs powered by Snapdragon.

Beta support for Google Drive for desktop on Arm-compatible Windows 11 PCs powered by Snapdragon processors.

Google has introduced a beta version of Drive for desktop natively compiled for ARM64, allowing users on Windows 11 devices powered by Snapdragon processors to sync and store files online. This beta is available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts, though it is recommended for use with non-production data.

Policy visualization is now generally available across Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Vids, and Drive.

Google has announced the general availability of policy visualization across Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Vids, and Drive. Users interacting with content protected by data loss prevention (DLP) rules or trust rules will now see a shield icon and a side panel that informs them of specific restricted actions. This update provides transparency to end users regarding which data protection controls are active on a file and why certain actions are disabled.