Google Workspace Features Update: April 2021

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite)

Features Update Summary - April 2021

The summary of essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers in April 2021.

Product: Admin

Restrict third-party API access to Google Workspace data with new app access control

Edition: All

Who’s impacted: Admins and end-users

You can now block all third-party API access to Google Workspace data. This complements other available OAuth settings which help you control which third-party & internal apps access Google Workspace data. When selected, third-party apps are denied access to Workspace and end-user data, blocking all OAuth 2.0 scopes. Read more.

Product: Admin

New Rules homepage in the Admin console make security simpler

Edition: All

Who’s impacted: Admins only

We're making some updates to how you create, view, and manage rules in the Admin console. Read more.

Product: Admin

Apply context-aware access policies to mobile and desktop applications

Edition: Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers

Who’s impacted: Admins only

Admins can now assign existing or new context-aware access levels to Google desktop and mobile applications. Read more.

Product: Calendar

Use Google Maps in the quick access side panel

Edition: All

Who’s impacted: All end users

• See place details such as location, opening hours, and user reviews. 
• Make sure you’re adding the correct location to a calendar event
• See travel times and routes to get to an upcoming event location, and to add a travel time event to help arrive on time. Predicted traffic and transit at the time of the event is used for a better estimate of travel time.
• Read more.

Product: Editors

Automatically save your response progress in Google Forms: Beta available for Google Workspace for Education customers

Edition: Available to Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, and Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers

Who’s impacted: Admins and end-users

We’re launching draft responses for Google Forms in beta. When responding to a Google Form, Quiz or Quiz assignment in Classroom while signed into your Google Workspace account, your progress will automatically be saved as a draft for 30 days from your last edit or until the form is completed. Read more.

Product: Editors

More ways to work with and analyze BigQuery data using Connected Sheets

Edition: All

Who’s impacted: All end-users

We’re adding several new features that will give you more ways to work with, display, and organize your data when using Connected Sheets. Specifically, the new abilities and improvements are:

• Column stats
• Filter by value
• Calculated fields for pivot tables
• Pivot table grouping
• Slicers
• Read more.

Product: Meet

New Google Meet Hardware Admin Console Features: Peripheral Status, Default Volume, and Static URLs

Edition: All

Who’s impacted: Admins only

Product: Meet

Google Meet now gives you more space for content and control over layouts for a more flexible and simplified experience

Edition: All 

Who’s impacted: All end users

Now you have more control over your Google Meet layout, self-feed, and content, with a simplified, crafted experience that lets you present with confidence. Read more.

Product: Meet

Control your data usage and improve device performance with new data saver setting for Google Meet on mobile

Edition: All

Who’s impacted: All end users

You can now limit Google Meet data usage on Android and iOS mobile devices. When enabled, this will help to:

• • Limit data use, conserving data on your mobile plan
  • Conserve battery power
  • Lower the demand on your phone’s CPU
  • Read more.

Product: Voice

Admins will now be alerted when there is an issue with their Google Voice auto attendants or ring groups

Edition: Available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers with Google Voice standard and premier licenses

Who’s impacted: Admins only

Admins will now receive an alert in the Admin console’s Alert Center when an issue is detected with their auto-attendant or ring group configuration along with instructions on how to quickly resolve the issue. Read more.

Product: Vault

Changes to Google Drive search operators may alter your Google Vault search results

Edition: Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Business customers and customers with the Vault add-on license

Who’s impacted: Admins only

We’ve updated Google Drive Search operators to enable better results when searching for files in Google Vault. This includes changes to the behavior of the to: and from: operators, and a new sharedwith: operator. Starting April 27, 2021, to: and from: won't match files shared before March 2021, but will better reflect actual sharing actions compared to the current logic. Read more.

Product: Vault

Google Vault now supports Google Sites

Edition: Available to Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Nonprofits

Who’s impacted: Admins only

Google Vault now supports Google Sites.  You can use Google Vault to set retention policies for Google Sites, perform searches of Google Sites data, and export Google Sites content. Read more.

Product: Workspace

Changes to Google Workspace storage policies timeline

Edition: All

Who’s impacted: Admins and end-users

We’re extending the previously announced timeframe for upcoming changes to the Google Workspace storage policy. Read more.

Product: Task

Edit details in line with Google Tasks on the web

Edition: All

Who’s impacted: All end users

You can now add additional information to your personal tasks without opening the “Details” dialog box. We hope this change makes it faster and easier for you to add descriptions, assign dates and times, and organize your tasks. Read more.

Product: Site

Reminder: Website creation in classic Google Sites will no longer be available starting May 15, 2021

Edition: All

Who’s impacted: Admins and end-users

We’d like to remind you that starting May 15, 2021, users will no longer be able to create new websites in classic Google Sites. We recommend that you turn off-site creation in classic Sites for your domain before May 15, 2021. Admins should also review the remaining transition timeline and take any necessary action. Read more.

Source: https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com