Google Workspace Updates

New community features for Google Chat and an update on Currents

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Note: This blog post outlines upcoming changes to Google Currents for Workspace users. For information on the previous deprecation of Google+ for users with personal Google accounts, please see this post.

What's Changing

Last year, we announced plans to wind down Currents, to focus efforts on community experiences that are better integrated with the rest of Google Workspace. To help our customers manage this transition, we published detailed guidance for Workspace administrators and enabled customers to opt-in for automated migration of Currents data to spaces in Google Chat.

We are nearing the end of this transition. Beginning July 5, 2023, Currents will no longer be available. Workspace administrators can export Currents data using Takeout before August 8, 2023. Beginning August 8th, Currents data will no longer be available for download.

Although we are saying goodbye to Currents, we continue to invest in new features for Google Chat, so teams can connect and collaborate with a shared sense of belonging. Over the last year, we've delivered features designed to support community engagement at scale, and will continue to deliver more. Here is a summary of the features with additional details below:

This month, we’re enabling new ways for organizations to share information across the enterprise with announcements in Google Chat. This gives admin controls to limit permissions for posting in a space, while enabling all members to read and react, helping ensure that important updates stay visible and relevant. Later this year, we plan to simplify membership management by integrating Google Groups with spaces in Chat, enable post-level metrics for announcements, and provide tools for Workspace administrators to manage spaces across their domain.

New announcements feature in Google Chat on mobile device

Announcements in Google Chat

Adding a Google Group during space creation in Google Chat.

Managing space membership with Google Groups

We’ve already rolled out new ways to make conversations more expressive and engaging such as in-line threading to enable rich exploration of a specific topic without overtaking the main conversation and custom emojis to enable fun, personal expression.

In-line threaded conversations

Creating a custom emoji in Google Chat on a mobile device.

Discover and join communities with up to 8,000 members

We’ve also made it easier for individuals to discover and join communities of shared interest. By searching in Gmail, users can explore a directory of available spaces covering topics of personal or professional interest such as gardening, pets, career development, fitness, cultural identity, and more, with the ability to invite others to join via link. Last year, we increased the size of communities supported by spaces in Chat to 8,000 members, and we are working to scale this in a meaningful way later this year.

A directory of spaces in Google Chat for users to join.

As communities grow, it’s essential to provide tools for content moderation and data management. Last year, we introduced space managers, a community lead with abilities to moderate conversation and manage membership, and last year at NEXT, we rolled out data loss prevention (DLP) for Chat. We will continue to enhance community health and data security for Google Chat.

Our partner community is extending the power of Chat through integrations with essential third-party apps such as Jira, GitHub, Asana, PagerDuty, Zendesk and Salesforce. Many organizations have built custom workflow apps using low-code and no-code tools, and we anticipate that this number will continue to grow with the GA releases of the Chat API and AppSheet’s Chat app building capabilities later this year.

For teams to thrive in this rapidly changing era of hybrid work, it’s essential to build authentic personal connections and a strong sense of belonging, no matter when or where individuals work. We will continue to make Google Chat the best option for Workspace customers seeking to build a community and culture for hybrid teams, with much more to come later this year.

Who's impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s important

The transition from Currents to spaces in Google Chat removes a separate, siloed destination and provides organizations with a modern, enterprise-grade experience that reflects how the world is working today. Google Workspace customers use Google Chat to communicate about projects, share organizational updates, and build community.

Recommended action

Admins:

Review the Change Management Guide.
Use Takeout to explore your organization’s Currents data before August 8, 2023.

End users: Read more about how to get started using spaces in Google Chat.

Availability

Spaces in Google Chat are available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts.

Resources

Google Admin Help: Transition from Google Currents to Google Chat
Google Admin Help: Export your organization’s Google Currents data
1 Space manager role (Feb 22)
2 Invite others to join via link (Mar 22)
3 Create & manage spaces via API (May 2022)
4 Larger spaces (July 22)
5 Discoverable spaces (Aug 22)
6 In-line threaded conversations (Oct 22)
7 Custom emojis (Oct 22)
8 Data loss prevention (DLP) (Oct 22)
9 Create low-code/no-code Chat apps (Dec 2022)
10 Improved membership management (Jan 23)
11 New capabilities for space managers (Mar 23)
12 Admin installation of Chat apps (Mar 2023)
13 Announcements (Apr 2023)

Streamlined file organization with the new Google Drive location picker

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

What’s changingWe’re introducing improvements to the web Google Drive location picker that enable you to quickly and efficiently select a location to organize files and folders. The updates include a new visual experience and helpful suggestions when moving files and folders or adding shortcuts to items in Drive. Specifically you’ll notice:

“Suggested”, “Starred”, and “All locations” tabs. Upon navigating into a folder location, the tabs are replaced by a back button and the name of the location
Details for the selected folder paths, an option to create a new folder, and an image notification if you’re moving something into an empty folder
Suggested locations and the option to reject the suggestion, which immediately removes it from the list
Streamlined navigation that adds an inline button to complete the action of moving a file in one click
A label if a folder is “view only” and explanations for why you might face an error when moving a file, such as not being the owner of a file

Who’s impacted End users

Why it’s important This update improves upon the current Drive picker experience, allowing you to organize files, folders, and shortcuts in Drive in a more effective manner.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to use Google Drive.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 12, 2023
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 26, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: How to use Google Drive

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Practice sets in Google Classroom are now generally available

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

What’s changingLast year, we announced a beta for a new tool in Google Classroom called practice sets. Educators can transform new and existing content into engaging and interactive assignments. With autograding built in, teachers can receive performance insights and snapshots into student progress.

Students get real-time feedback as they complete practice sets, so they know whether they’re on the right track. If they get stuck and need support, they can see automated hints and video suggestions, which are selected based on a learning skill added by the teacher.

We’re excited to announce that practice sets are now generally available in English in Google Classroom to Google Workspace for Education Plus and Google Workspace for Education Teaching and Learning customers.
Who’s impactedAdmins and end users
Why you’d use it While every student learns in their own way, practice and specific feedback can help them learn more effectively. Assignments can be completed with a variety of tools for input, such as a mouse, stylus, touchpad, or math keyboard depending on how a student works best. With practice sets, educators can more easily get insight into which concepts need more instruction time and when to move on, giving them performance trends and insights to shape future lesson plans.

Visit the Teacher Center to learn more about practice sets via our online course.

Additional details A key part of teacher workflows is sharing their content. Now, teachers can share practice sets with verified teachers in their Google Workspace, and leverage one another's curriculum with their own students. Speak to your admin to become a verified teacher.
Getting started

Admins: Practice sets are enabled by default, but admins need to add teachers to the verified teacher group in order for them to receive a shared practice set from other teachers in their Google Workspace.
End users: To access practice sets, go to Google Classroom > Practice sets > Create (or practicesets.classroom.google.com). Visit the Help Center to learn more about Practice sets.

Rollout pace

This feature is now available.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace for Education Plus and Google Workspace for Education Teaching and Learning Upgrade
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Introducing new collaboration and flexibility features for Google Sites

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

What’s changingLast year, we made numerous improvements to Google Sites, including the addition of a spacer option, a density theme setting, and stylized social media links. Today, we’re announcing even more enhancements that improve upon collaboration within Sites and give you even more control over the layout of your Site’s content. New collaborators’ cursors will appear when Site editors are typing within a text tile. This will help you and others know who is working on what while in edit mode of a Site.

Normal (Default): Designed for more spread out Sites with less content
Full: Designed for dense, content-heavy Sites
Wide: Designed for Sites that fall between normal and full

Set a Site width:

Enable page frames:

Lastly, we’re adding alignment options to buttons, allowing you to align buttons left, center, or right within a group. Aligned buttons shrink to fit their text, allowing a button to be narrower than the group containing it.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users:

Collaborators’ cursors will appear automatically in Site edit mode.
To adjust the width of a Site or add a page frame, navigate to Themes > Custom > Edit > Spacing > Width > and/or Show page frame. Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating a custom theme.
To align a button, navigate to the Insert menu and insert a button. Drag and drop a button to the appropriate section in the Site and choose the alignment option that best works for your Site.

Rollout pace Collaborators’ cursors:

Page frame and customizable site width:

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 11, 2023
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 25, 2023

Button alignment:

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to users with personal Google accounts

Resources

Google Help: Change how your site looks

Fine tune access to data with additional options for Access Approvals

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

What’s changing In 2022, we introduced Access Approvals, which enables customers to control when Google support personnel can access specific data during support and general maintenance. Beginning today, we’re introducing additional options that provide customers even more control over these data interactions:

Specify: Google support personnel can indicate which specific product data they need access to - for example: Gmail data only, instead of all Workspace Data.
Access duration: Specify a time limit wherein data can be accessed.
Control: Revoke previously granted access if no longer applicable.
Context: Denote the reason an access request was approved or denied, or why a previously approved request was revoked, to streamline the process for future requests.

Who’s impacted

Admins

Why it’s important

We know it’s essential that our customers have visibility and control over their systems and data and how they’re accessed by any third party, including Google. Introducing additional controls for our customers helps ensure that their data is accessed in an explicitly consensual manner that best suits the needs of their business.

Read more about Sovereign Controls for Google Workspace, Client-side encryption, data regions, and Access Management capabilities, for more information on how we provide our customers solutions to reach their digital sovereignty goals.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Access Approvals, Access Management and Access Transparency.