Dial in with ease using the latest Google Calendar app for Android

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An update to the Google Calendar app for Android is coming to Google Play. When you dial in to your conference call, Google Calendar can now automatically add the passcode. Simply tap the call-in number from the calendar event and you’ll be prompted to select the relevant pass code for you ─ host or participant.
Tap to Call using google calender
Note: Google Calendar detects the passcode or meeting ID from the location or notes field in the calendar event. If this information is not found, dialing in will be the same as before, where the passcode or meeting ID is dialed manually.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI

Reference by Google.com

Contact importing now available in the new Google Contacts preview

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We recently announced that the new Google Contacts is available for preview from the Admin console. By enabling the preview, administrators can allow their users access to the new Google Contacts, along with the many benefits that come with it, like a new fresh look and improved contact merge features.

One popular request from Google Apps users was the ability to easily import their contacts into Google Contacts. We’re happy to announce that starting today, the ability to import contacts, powered by ShuttleCloud, is now available for Google Apps users.

Getting started for administrators

  • Administrators must first enable the “Contacts Preview” for their users via Apps > Google Apps > Settings for Contacts > Advanced Settings
    Enable Google Contacts Preview
  • Administrators must also enable “User email uploads” in the Gmail User Settings by going to Apps > Google Apps > Settings for Gmail > Advanced Settings
    Enable User Email Uploads

Getting started for users

  • Users can now import contacts from a wide variety of supported mail and contact sources.
  • From the new Google Contacts preview, simply click More > Import > and choose the account that you’d like to migrate from.
  • You will be prompted for that account’s username and password, and your contacts will start transferring once you have successfully granted authorization.
    Import Contacts powered by ShuttleCloud
  • If you do need to import your contacts using a CSV file, click on CSV file in the above dialog box, and then click on Go to Old Contacts to be taken to Contacts Manager.

Launch Details

Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI, OR
Change management suggested/FYI

 

Reference by Google.com

Enhanced support for images in the Google Sheets mobile apps

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Images—for instance, business logos—can make or break a spreadsheet. With that in mind, we’re launching improved image and drawing functionality in the Google Sheets mobile apps. Starting today, you can:

  • View images and drawings in in the Sheets app on your iPhone or iPad.

google sheets for ios

  • View images and drawings—even in frozen sections!—in the Sheets app on your Android device (previously these images would not render in frozen cells on Android).

google sheets for android
Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Reference by Google.com

Accept questions from your audience when presenting in Google Slides

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Any skilled presenter knows that an interactive presentation is often an effective presentation. Starting today, you can better engage your audience by allowing them to submit questions and vote on them during Google Slides presentations.

To see the feature in action, check out this video in which Google Science Fair winner Shree Bose fields questions from a group of 200 middle school students.

Q&A google slides

A few things to note:

  • The Slides Q&A feature works on desktop computers, Android mobile devices, and iOS mobile devices.
  • You can only use Slides Q&A if you have the edit or comment access to that Slides presentation.
  • By default, any user in your domain can submit a question. If your organization permits external sharing, you can allow external users to submit questions as well.

For more information on how to accept, submit, and view audience questions in Google Slides, check out the Help Center.

Bonus! Allowing your audience to ask questions isn’t the only way we’re improving the presentation experience on Slides today. We’re also making the following possible:

  • Use your mouse as a laser pointer in Slides on the web. Just choose the laser pointer option from the toolbar and move your mouse, and a red laser-like dot will appear in the same place on screen, helping your audience know where to look and when.
  • In the Slides iOS app, present to a new Hangout or to a Hangout selected from a meeting on your Google Calendar. For more information, check out the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release:

  • All mobile features
  • All audience features on mobile and desktop

Launching to Rapid release, with the Scheduled release coming in two weeks:

  • Ability for a presenter to enable Q&A on desktop

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Reference by Google.com

 

Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

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Smartphones have made productivity portable. You no longer have to be at your desk to catch up on meeting notes, dial into a conference call, or send an email. But scheduling meetings on the go is still difficult, as you have to open your laptop to check everyone’s calendar and find a time that works.

Starting today, if you use Google Apps for Work or Edu, you can schedule meetings from anywhere with “Find a time” in Google Calendar for Android.

With a single tap, “Find a time” helps you find meeting times that work for everyone—even if they’re in different time zones—based on their availability and the times they usually have meetings. If there are no times that work, Calendar will look at which conflicting meetings can most easily be rescheduled. Designed specifically for organizations where sharing your calendar with colleagues is the norm, here’s how it works:

 

Google Calendar for Android

“Find a time” makes suggestions, but you’re still in control. You can tap to see everyone’s schedule at a glance—perfect for making sure the timing works for all. And if you manage someone else’s calendar, you can use the feature to schedule meetings on their behalf as well.

Download Google Calendar for Android to get easy, on-the-go scheduling. And yes, we’re also working on bringing “Find a time” to iPhone, as well as easier ways to schedule on the web.

Launch Details
Release track:  
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release
Rollout pace: 
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)
Impact: 
All end users
Action:
Change management suggested/FYI
Reference by Google.com

Navigate documents quickly and easily with the outline tool in Google Docs

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It can be difficult, not to mention time-consuming, to navigate lengthy, complex documents. To make that process easier, today we’re launching an outline tool in Google Docs on the web and Android. Displayed in a pane to the left of the page, this outline features headers for each section of your document, making it simple to quickly jump from section to section. If you haven’t manually applied headers, no worries—we’ll do it for you, intelligently detecting the logical divisions within your work. You can then edit or remove these headers as necessary.

google docs

This launch will also allow you to move through documents on your Android phone or tablet at super speeds. When you begin scrolling on your mobile device, a small navigation handle will automatically appear. Touching that handle will display the entire document’s structure, allowing you quickly skip from section to section, instead of slowly swiping up and down.

google docs mobile version

To surface an outline in your document, simply click Tools > Document outline in Docs on your computer or select Document outline from the overflow menu on your Android device. Check out the Help Center article below for more details.

Launch Details
Release track:
Mobile features: Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release
Desktop features: Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Reference by Google.com

Important change in behavior of Google Calendar events with public visibility

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On May 16, 2016, the Google Calendar team will change the behavior of calendar events that users have intentionally marked as public to strictly follow a domain’s external sharing options setting for both primary and secondary calendars, set from the Admin console. This change gives domain administrators more control over how users are sharing their calendar events with people outside of the domain.

Note: If your domain external sharing setting is set to Share all information, then there’s no behavior change.

The change will take effect immediately on the web. Calendars and events synced on mobile may remain visible until the device re-syncs. All events created after May 16, 2016, will appear as free/busy on all platforms.

If users want to share calendar events with external users, but keep their primary work calendars private or free/busy, they can still create separate secondary calendars for that purpose.

We recommend the following actions:

  • If you want to continue sharing calendar events with external users but keep primary calendars private, set the access for primary calendars to Only free/busy information, while setting the access for secondary calendars to Share all information. Then, encourage your users to create public events on secondary calendars.
  • Confirm your current Google Calendar External sharing options in the Admin console (Apps > Google Apps > Calendar > Sharing settings). Learn more about how to Set calendar sharing options.

If you have additional questions or need assistance, contact Google Apps Support.

Reference by Google.com

Scroll quickly through Google Docs on your iPhone or iPad

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We introduced the ability to quickly and easily scroll through Google Docs files on your Android phone or tablet. We’re excited to announce that we’re now launching that same functionality for your iOS device. Starting today, when you begin scrolling in Google Docs on your iPhone or iPad, a small navigation handle will automatically appear on the side of the screen. Touching that handle will display any headers you’ve created or—if you haven’t manually applied them—headers that we’ve intelligently detected. This will allow you to quickly skip from section to section, instead of slowly swiping up and down.

scroll quick in ios

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

 

Reference by Google.com

Upload directly to a folder with inline uploads in Drive for Android

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A new version of the Google Drive for Android app is coming to Google Play. New features include:

  • Inline Uploads: Previously when uploading files to Google Drive, they would be sent to a folder called Uploads, instead of a destination folder. Now, when uploading files, you’ll see them appear within the destination folder to which you uploaded the file, along with a clear upload progress indicator.

Inline uploads in google drive
Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Reference by Google.com

Google Drive for Mac/PC just got better! Now sync only the subfolders you need.

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Google Drive for Mac/PC — the app that syncs your computer with Google Drive — is an easy way to make sure your files are safe and accessible from anywhere. Today, we are releasing new features that make your syncing and sharing experience better and faster, too.

  • Select which subfolders sync to your computer
    While syncing top-level folders is already possible, you can now choose which subfolders from My Drive to sync to your desktop.
    To do this, click Preferences > Sync Options > Only these folders… Here, you’ll be presented with a list of subfolders from Google Drive that you can check or uncheck to enable or disable syncing.

Selective Subfolder Google Drive Sync

  • Manage your local storage transparently
    While you get tons of storage with Google Drive, your local desktop may not have the same amount of free disk space. Now, Drive’s interface will show the size of your individual subfolders as well as the space remaining on your computer. It will also warn you if there is not enough space to sync.On top of that, during setup, if the default folders don’t fit, Drive will guide you to use selective sync to help you better manage your storage space from the start.
  • See warnings before deleting or moving shared files
    When you’re working with folders on your computer, moving and deleting things is simple. But, doing that with shared files or folders can cause others to lose access. Now, Drive warns you so you’ll know if someone might lose access.
    Warn Before Deleting Shared Files google drive.png
    Please note that Google Apps administrators must first choose whether their users are allowed to use the Google Drive sync client from the Admin console, before it can be used.
  • For steps on how to enable or disable this feature, visit this Help Center article.
  • If you manage MSI files to install programs on behalf of your Windows users, visit this Help Center article to obtain the latest Drive for PC .msi file.

The improved Google Drive sync client is available now on both Windows and Mac here.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

 

Reference by: Google.com