Google Workspace Features Update: January 2022

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite)

Features Update Summary -January 2022

The summary of essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers in January 2022.

Product: Calendar

Set tasks to repeat in Google Calendar

Change the recurrence of a task in Calendar

Edition: Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Who’s impacted: All  end-users

You can now set tasks to repeat in Google Calendar and customize the recurrence schedules, similar to other entry types in Calendar. This means you can:

• Create tasks with recurrence rules
• Edit the recurrence rule of an existing task
• Set an "end condition" for a recurrence rule
• Read more.

Product: Classroom

Google Classroom now supports grade exporting to Follett Aspen, a third-party Student Information System

Edition: Available to Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus.

Who’s impacted: Admins and end-users

Google Classroom teachers can now export their grades to Follett Aspen, a third-party Student Information System (SIS). Grade export is a one-way information push that allows:

• Admins to establish a connection between their district SIS and Google Classroom, and configure export settings that apply to Google Classroom teachers.
• Teachers to manually link new or existing Google Classroom classes to their SIS, and push returned assignments and grades from Google Classroom.
• Read more.

Product: Chat

Improved editing experience in Google Chat on the web

Activating rich text editing from the compose bar

Rich text editing is open and applied

Edition: Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Who’s impacted: All  end-users

You now can add rich formatting to Chat messages, such as bold, italics, or underlines. Rich text can also be accessed using standard keyboard shortcuts, such as. Simply press the "A" icon in the chat compose bar to expand the formatting toolbar. Read more.

Product: Cloud Search

Use the Cloud Search Stats API to keep track of billable usage

Edition: Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus customers

Who’s impacted: Admins and end-users

Admins can now use the Cloud Search Stats API to surface and track billable usage reporting such as:

Billable documents, Indexed billable queries, Billable search applications.

We hope that by making this information easily accessible to Admins, they can keep track of their Cloud Search usage for more informed budget planning, cost management and forecasting. Read more.

Product: Drive

Warning banners in Google Drive alert users of suspicious files

Edition: Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Who’s impacted: All end users

At Google Cloud Next 2021, we announced additional protections to safeguard against abusive content. If a user opens a potentially suspicious or dangerous file in Google Drive, we will display a warning banner to help protect them and their organization from malware, phishing, and ransomware. These warnings are already available when opening Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings.

In the next few months, we will be announcing more anti-phishing protections including Mobile and Downloads to ensure a safe workplace. Read more.

Product: Editors

Add a page break before paragraphs in Google Docs in mobile

Page break before paragraph on mobile

Edition: Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Who’s impacted: All end users

Last year, we announced the ability to add page breaks before paragraphs on web. Now, this function is available on mobile.

You can mark a paragraph to always begin on a new page with the new “Add page break before” option in Google Docs. This is particularly useful if you want certain paragraph styles to always create a new page such as titles, subtitles, or headings.

This also means that you can import and export Microsoft Word and other third-party documents that have “Page break before” applied to paragraphs and Docs will retain that formatting. Read more.

Product: Editors

Create or import text watermarks in Google Docs

Edition: Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Who’s impacted: All end-users

You can now add a text watermark to your documents in Google Docs. Additionally, when working with Microsoft Word documents, text watermarks will be preserved when importing or exporting your files.

Text watermarks will repeat over every page on your document, making it useful for indicating files are “Confidential” or “Internal Only” before sharing more broadly, no matter the application you use. In addition to text watermarks, you can insert an image watermark or images above or behind text. Read more.

Product: Meet

Live translated captions in Google Meet are now generally available

Edition: Available to meetings organized by Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Teaching & Learning Upgrade customers.

Who’s impacted: All end-users

In 2021, we announced a beta for live translated captions in Google Meet. We’re now making live translated captions generally available for select Google Workspace editions. 

Meeting participants can translate English meetings to:

• French
• German
• Portuguese
• Spanish

Translated captions are available on Google Meet on the web and mobile devices. Read more.

Product: Meet

Use Companion mode with Google Meet hardware and Nest Hub Max to maximize collaboration during hybrid meetings

Companion mode is designed to be similar to a full video call on web, so that you can navigate the interface faster while avoiding audio feedback.

Edition: Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as Teaching & Learning upgrade, G Suite Basic and Business customers with Google Meet hardware devices

Who’s impacted: All end users

In 2021, we pre-announced Companion mode in Google Meet, which is designed to seamlessly connect those in the room with their remote teammates, giving everyone access to interactive features and controls, while leveraging the best of in-room audio and video conferencing capabilities.

Beginning today, you can use Companion mode on the web when joining a meeting using Google Meet hardware or the Nest Hub Max. Companion mode allows you to access interactive features and controls such as chat, screen sharing, hand raising, polls, host controls, and more.

You can join a meeting using Companion mode from the green room before your meeting or by using g.co/companion. To present to a meeting, you can share your screen using Companion mode by selecting “Present” in the green room before your meeting or by using g.co/present. Read more.

Source: https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com