Posts

Making Google prompt the primary choice for 2-Step Verification

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In July, we began inviting users to try Google prompt as their 2-Step Verification (2SV) method, instead of SMS text messages. Google prompt is an easier and more secure method of authenticating an account, and it respects mobile policies enforced on employee devices.

Sign In- Google Prompt

With that in mind, we’re now making Google prompt the first choice when users turn on 2SV (previously, SMS was the primary choice). Once 2SV is enabled, users will still have the option to set up SMS, the Google Authenticator app, backup codes, or Security Keys as their alternative second step.

My Account

This will only impact users who have not yet set up 2SV. Current 2SV users’ settings will be unaffected. In addition, if a user attempts to set up 2SV but doesn’t have a compatible mobile device, he or she will be prompted to use SMS as their authentication method instead.

Users can set up 2SV from their My Account page.

A few things to note:

  • A data connection is required to use Google prompt.
  • Users with iOS devices will need to install the Google app in order to use Google prompt.
  • G Suite Enterprise domains can choose to enforce Security Keys to meet more advanced security requirements.
Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Time for a refresh: meet the new Google Calendar for web

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Check your schedule. Starting today, a fresh look and new features are coming to Google Calendar on the web to help you manage your time more efficiently and get more done.

We’re taking a lot of what you know and love from Calendar’s mobile application, like the modern color palette and sleek design, and bringing it to the web with a responsive layout that auto-adjusts to your screen size. We’ve also added more features for enterprises to help teams schedule and prepare for meetings.

EventDetails-05 (1)

Over the years, you’ve shared valuable feedback on how we can enhance Calendar to better fit your needs and we’re excited to bring new improvements. Now, it’s even easier to manage your schedule at your desk. In the new Calendar for web, you can:

  • See conference room details when booking a room. G Suite admins can now enter detailed information about their organization’s meeting rooms—so employees know where a conference room is located, how large it is, and whether it has audio/video equipment or is wheelchair accessible. Employees can simply hover over the room name in Calendar when they want to book a space, and a hovercard will pop up with details about the conference location and resources.
    CalendarSRI-blog (2)
  • Add rich formatting and hyperlinks to your Calendar invites. Link to relevant spreadsheets, documents or presentations in your Calendar invite and open them directly from the new “Event Detail” view. This can help you create more detailed agendas and ensure all materials are in one place before your meeting starts.
    MeetingDetails
  • Manage multiple calendars side by side in “Day” view. Now you can view and manage calendars in separate columns. This makes it easier for employees who manage multiple calendars, like administrative assistants, to schedule meetings on behalf of their teams. Click “Day” view and select the calendars you want to compare.
    DayView
  • There are a number of other changes in Calendar, too. Now you can see contact information of meeting participants when you hover over their names in a Calendar invite. There’s also a new way to view and restore deleted items in one place in case you accidentally delete a meeting invite. Additionally, “Day,” “Week,” and “Month” views are now more accessible, featuring better compatibility with screen readers. For more detail on changes, check out this post.Additional information for G Suite admins

    To help you and your users transition to the new Calendar web UI, we’re offering two rollout options to choose from (see the Help Centerfor more information):

    • Automatic—Automatic is the default option. Starting Nov. 14, 2017, for Rapid Release domains and Nov. 28, 2017, for Scheduled Release domains, we will gradually transition your users to the new UI. The transition will take about 8 weeks (including opt-in and opt-out stages). No action is required on your part for the Automatic option.
    • Manual—Alternatively, you can choose to manually control when to move your users to the new UI in the Google Admin console. For example, though we’ve worked with the developers of the most popular Calendar Chrome extensions to prepare for the new UI, you might have users who depend on an extension that hasn’t been updated yet. Or you might like to check out the new UI in your test domain or organizational unit (OU).

    To choose the Manual option, go to Apps > G Suite > Calendar > New Calendar. Here, you can set by organizational unit when you’d like your users to access the new version of the Calendar UI. If you choose the Manual rollout option, please plan to transition all your users to the new UI before Feb. 28, 2018. Any users who are still accessing the old Calendar UI on Feb. 28, 2018, will be transitioned to the new UI, with no ability to opt out.

    We recommend sharing this guide, as well as the resources below, with your users to help them understand the new layout changes.

    For more information on how to add structured data to your rooms and resources, check out the Help Center. Note that this feature will work with both the classic Calendar UI and the new Calendar UI.

     
    Launch Details
    New Calendar web UI, rich formatting for invites, side-by-side “Day” view
    • Automatic rollout option (recommended) to start on Nov. 14, 2017 for Rapid Release and Nov. 28, 2017 for Scheduled Release
    • Manual rollout option available starting today for admins on both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

    Structured room and resource data

    • Rolling out gradually over the coming weeks for admins on both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release to start uploading

    Editions:
    Available to all G Suite editions

    Rollout pace:
    Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

    Impact:
    Admins and end users

    Action:
    Admin action suggested/FYI

Reference by Google.com

Google Drive reporting will show activity-based metrics in the Admin console

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As a G Suite admin, it’s important that you have a clear, reliable understanding of the actions taking place within your domain. Today, we are making changes to reporting in the Admin console to better reflect the Google Drive activity happening in your domain. First, we are shifting the definition of the metrics shown to reflect the change in file activity, such as “Google Documents added,” instead of absolute counts, such as total “Google Documents owned.” This change affects any dashboard or metric in the Admin console that reports on Drive files.

 

Aggregate Reports

We are also adding sharing visibility metrics to Admin console reporting. File sharing reports will now highlight which files have been shared outside of your domain vs. internally.

File Sharing Activity

These metrics were introduced earlier this year, but were only available through the Admin SDK Reports API; they’re now available from within the Admin console. This new presentation of metrics provides the most reliable and recent information available, directly in the Admin console.

Find more information on the changes to individual reports in the Help Center.

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

 

Reference by Google.com

 

Turning down the in-app passcode feature in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides on iOS

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In the past, we’ve heard feedback that customers want more security for the files on their iOS devices, which led us to enable an in-app passcode feature specifically for the Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides iOS apps. Over time, however, we’ve come to learn that it’s not just the content within Google Drive that’s valuable to you. Your contacts, calendars, and emails—it’s important that all of this is secure as well.

As a result, we began putting particular emphasis on supporting mobile device management (MDM) on iOS. For example, recent launches give G Suite admins greater visibility and control over enterprise-deployed iOS devices. In fact, with MDM, admins can enforce a passcode on all iOS devices that access corporate data, and they can wipe account data on a device if it’s compromised.

Owing to this increased investment in security on iOS devices, we’re ending support for the in-app passcode feature in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides on iOS devices signed in with G Suite accounts. Support will end on December 4th, 2017, and we’ll remove the feature entirely no earlier than January 8th, 2018.

We highly recommend that administrators use MDM to deploy passcode requirements at the system level on all of their iOS devices by following these instructions. This will provide better security than the in-app passcode feature in two key ways:

  • These passcode policies protect all of the content on your managed devices, including photos, contacts, and other content besides Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides content.
  • These passcode policies give you more control over passcode type, strength, expiration, and failure cases. See this Help Center article for more details.

Beginning on December 4th, 2017, any user signed in with a G Suite account who has this feature will see a message asking them to either acknowledge and turn off the functionality or to ignore the message temporarily. Beginning on January 8th, 2018, all new versions of the Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides iOS apps will no longer contain in-app passcode functionality.

 

Reference by Google.com

Use Google Drive and the Files app to organize content on your iOS 11 device

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With Google Drive, you can access and edit your files across the many devices and platforms you work on. The new Files app for iOS 11 brings together files and documents stored on your iOS device and in the cloud across various apps and services. Today, we’re announcing full integration of the Drive application with the Files app on devices running iOS 11.

 

DriveFiles11

With the latest version of the Drive app installed, you can easily access and manage documents and photos stored in Drive just by opening up the Files app on your iOS device. If you have Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides apps installed as well, tapping on any Google document, spreadsheet, or presentation in the Files app will open the app of the associated Google editor. You can also take advantage of new iOS 11 features like dragging and dropping files between apps and folders in the Files App.

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

 

Reference by Google.com

Present a jam to a meeting from your mobile phone

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As we continue to add new features to the overall Jamboard experience, we’ve been working to make the Jamboard app more functional and easier to use on your mobile phone. The latest jamboard release allows you to present your jams to a meeting directly from your phone, so you can share ideas with remote colleagues even if you don’t have a board nearby.

To present a jam to a meeting from your phone, simply tap the overflow menu in the upper right corner when viewing your jams, and select “Present to meeting.” Enter the meeting ID, tap “Join,” and then “Present”:

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While presenting, tap the laser pointer icon in the header and use your finger to highlight key areas of your jam:

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Swipe left or right to present different jams to the meeting:

Present_to_meeting_blog_feature_part_03

We’ve also made jams easier to create and share on the go, enhanced the experience to join a live jam session on a nearby board, and improved the overall mobile UI.

For a full list of new features and improvements from this month’s release, check out the What’s New in Jamboard page in the Help Center.

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite Basic, Business, Enterprise, and Education* customers

 

Reference by Google.com

Search more intuitively using natural language processing in Google Cloud Search

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Earlier this year, we launched Google Cloud Search, a new G Suite tool that uses machine learning to help organizations find and access information quickly.

Just like in Google Search, which lets you search queries in a natural, intuitive way, we want to make it easy for you to find information in the workplace using everyday language. According to Gartner research, by 2018, 30 percent or more of enterprise search queries will start with a “what,” “who,” “how” or “when.”*

Today, we’re making it possible to use natural language processing (NLP) technology in Cloud Search so you can track down information—like documents, presentations or meeting details—fast.

Find information fast with Cloud Search

If you’re looking for a Google Doc, you’re more likely to remember who shared it with you than the exact name of a file. Now, you can use NLP technology, an intuitive way to search, to find information quickly in Cloud Search.

Type queries into Cloud Search using natural, everyday language. Ask questions like “Docs shared by Mary,” “Who’s Bob’s manager?” or “What docs need my attention?” and Cloud Search will show you answer cards with relevant information.

NLQA-Blog

In addition to natural language processing, Cloud Search users will now see content from the new Google Sites in their Cloud Search results.

Having access to information quicker can help you make better and faster decisions in the workplace. If your organization runs on G Suite Business or Enterprise edition, start using Cloud Search now. If you’re new to Cloud Search, learn more on our website or check out this video to see it in action.

For more information on using Cloud Search, visit the Help Center.

*Gartner, ‘Insight Engines’ Will Power Enterprise Search That is Natural, Total and Proactive, 09 December 2015, refreshed 05 April 2017

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

Editions:
Available to G Suite Business and Enterprise editions only

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

 

 

Reference by Google.com

 

Drive File Stream launching to all G Suite customers

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Launched to early adopters in March, Drive File Stream is a new desktop application that allows you to quickly access all of your Google Drive files on demand, directly from your computer, meaning you use almost none of your hard drive space and spend less time waiting for files to sync.

Starting today, you’ll see settings in the Admin console for Drive File Stream (located at Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs > Data Access). Note—these settings won’t go into effect for your users until Tuesday, September 26th, when Drive File Stream becomes generally available.

 

Drive File Stream

As of today, Drive File Stream will be turned ON for all customers, but we’ll only show download links in the Drive interface if you currently show them for Backup and Sync / Google Drive for Mac/PC. For more information on how to turn Drive File Stream on or off in your domain, check out the Help Center.

With this launch, Google Drive for Mac/PC is officially deprecated. It will no longer be supported starting on December 11th, 2017, and it will shut down completely on March 12th, 2018. We encourage you to use Drive File Stream. As an alternative to or in addition to installing Drive File Stream, you can upgrade to the new version of Drive for Mac/PC, called Backup and Sync.

A few important things to note:

  • In October, Drive for Mac/PC users may start seeing messages in the product notifying them that Drive for Mac/PC is going away.
  • If a user is running both Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync on the same machine, they’ll be prompted to stop syncing My Drive with Backup and Sync in order to save disk space.
  • Team Drive editors won’t be able to edit their Team Drive files when they’re opened in Drive File Stream; they’ll only be able to view them. To edit these files, they’ll need to open them in Drive on the web.

Check out the Help Center for more information on Drive File Stream, including:

  • A side-by-side feature comparison with Backup and Sync.
  • Instructions for turning on Drive File Stream and deploying it to your organization.
  • Sample emails you can send to your users with more information.
  • FAQs.

Say goodbye to time-consuming file syncing and any concerns about disk space. With Drive File Stream, all your files are always ready for you and your colleagues.

Launch Details
Release track:

  • Drive File Stream Admin console settings launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release on September 6th, 2017; Drive File Stream launching to end users on both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release on September 26th, 2017
  • Support for Google Drive for Mac/PC ending on December 11th, 2017; Google Drive for Mac/PC to stop working on March 12, 2018


Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:

  • Admin console settings
    • Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)
  • Availability for end users
    • Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

 

Reference by Google.com

Google’s Contacts app (v2.1) now available for more Android devices

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Google’s Contacts app is now available for any device running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher, including Samsung, LG, Motorola, and others.

Android users in your organization can now download version 2.1 of the Contacts app from the Play Store. This version features:

  • A simple way to move contacts from a device’s storage into a Google Account, so the contacts are safely backed up and available on all devices.
  • Clear separation between work and personal contacts.
  • Suggestions for adding new contacts, cleaning up duplicates, and more.

For more information on using the Contacts app on Android devices, check out this Help Center article.

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

 

Reference by Google.com

Send and receive chat messages in Hangouts Meet

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Sharing written communication is a critical part of successful meetings. Meeting participants may want to share links, chime in when they can’t speak, or hold side conversations without interrupting. This chat functionality has been a top feature request in Meet since we launched earlier this year and that’s why, today, we’re bringing it to all G Suite users.

 

Going forward, meeting attendees will be able to send text and links, all in real time. The chat history will be available for the duration of the meeting.

This feature is available across Meet platforms: chat messages can be sent and received on web and mobile (versions 4.5 and above), and received on Chromebox for Meetings. All users can send and receive messages while in Meet, including those not signed in with Google accounts.

Google_Meet_Mobile_Blog

Google_Meet_TV_Blog copy

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in 2 weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

 

Reference by Google.com

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