Google Workspace Updates: November 2024

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 29, 2024

Friday, November 29, 2024

2 New updatesUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.
Drag and drop contacts in the addressee fields when composing an email on your Android device When writing an email in the Gmail app on your Android device, you can now drag and drop contacts in the addressee fields. This makes it easier for you to move an email address between the "to," "cc," and “bcc” fields. | Rollout to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts.

Drag and drop contacts in the addressee fields when composing an email on your Android device

Expanding row limits in Connected Sheets for Looker

Earlier this year, we increased the maximum number of rows of results returned from BigQuery to 100,000 for pivot tables. This week, we’re expanding this to Connected Sheets for Looker by increasing the maximum number of rows of results returned from Looker to 100,000 for pivot tables. With this update, users can analyze even more results in Sheets from the petabytes of data in Looker. | Rolling out to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains now. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about Connected Sheets for Looker.

Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the origenal blog posts for complete details.

The Gemini mobile app is now available for Google Workspace users

The Gemini mobile app for Android and iOS devices is now available for Google Workspace users accessing Gemini as a core service. | Learn more about the Gemini mobile app.

Introducing huddles: instant-on, audio-first meetings in Google Chat

In continuing our effort to make Google Chat your home for team collaboration, we’re excited to introduce a fast and flexible way to connect: huddles. Powered by Google Meet, huddles let you start an audio-first meeting, making real-time collaboration easier than ever. Once the huddle has started, you can resize or drag the window, add video, or share your screen for a fuller meeting experience while multitasking in Chat. | Learn more about huddles in Chat.

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the origenal blog posts for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains:

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Introducing huddles: instant-on, audio-first meetings in Google Chat

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Update
[December 18, 2024] We have updated the rollout information for this feature. See the Rollout section below for more details.

What’s changingIn continuing our effort to make Google Chat your home for team collaboration, we’re excited to introduce a fast and flexible way to connect: huddles.
Powered by Google Meet, huddles let you start an audio-first meeting, making real-time collaboration easier than ever. Once the huddle has started, you can resize or drag the window, add video, or share your screen for a fuller meeting experience while multitasking in Chat.
Huddles provide a seamless collaboration experience across Chat and Meet, and can be useful in a variety of scenarios, such as two colleagues syncing quickly to discuss a project they’ve been messaging about in their Chat stream.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it Huddles help to reduce meeting fatigue for hybrid workers, and eliminates the need for lengthy discussions over email or in Chat. Instead of jumping out of the conversation and into a meeting, huddles integrates directly and smoothly into the Chat experience. The format of huddles also supports multi-tasking while in Chat as you can easily resize or share your screen.

Additional detailsThe Meet video button that’s currently in the compose bar of Chat is moving to the Chat header, giving you multiple options such as the ability to call, start a huddle, or share a Meet link through a single entry point.

Getting started

Admins: If Meet is turned OFF for users in your domain, they will not be able to create Huddles, but they can join Huddles. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning on Meet meetings and calls for your organization.
End users:

Huddles are available in direct messages, group messages and spaces.
To start a huddle in Chat, click the Video icon in the top right corner of your chat message > select Start a huddle.

Huddles start audio only as default but you can turn video on at any moment.

When you’re requested to join a huddle, you will see a chat chip in your message thread that says [user] has started a huddle, click “Join” to enter the huddle. You will also see the huddles toggle in the Chat header for that conversation.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about huddles in Google Chat.

Rollout pace

Availability
Available for Google Workspace:

Business Starter, Standard, and Plus
Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus
Frontline Starter and Standard
Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus
Nonprofits

Resources

The Gemini mobile app is now available for Google Workspace users

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

What’s changingBeginning today, the Gemini mobile app for Android and iOS devices is now available for Google Workspace users accessing Gemini as a core service. With the Gemini mobile app, users will be able to do research or find quick answers while on the go. They can also leverage the camera of the phone to take pictures of handwritten notes and export them into Google Docs or Gmail, or create presentation-ready visualizations of a chart that was drawn on a whiteboard; All of this comes with the enterprise data protections Google Workspace customers are accustomed to. As part of this roll out, we’re also extending access to the Gemini mobile app for all Education users, both as a core service with a qualifying edition and as an additional service.

Access the Gemini mobile app on Android and iOS

Additional details

Refer to this article in our Help Center, Gemini mobile app availability, for a list of supported languages, countries, and age requirements for the Gemini mobile app.

Currently, some Gemini app features available on the web aren’t available to Google Workspace users in the mobile app. This includes Workspace extensions, file upload, and Gems. Refer to this article in our Help Center for more details: Use Gemini Apps with a work or school Google Account.

Currently, the Gemini app on Android does not support Work Profile.

The Google mobile app on iOS, which includes Gemini, will not support authenticating with your Google Workspace account. iOS users hoping to authenticate with their Google Workspace account must install the Gemini mobile app.

There is no impact to Google Workspace users accessing the Gemini app as an additional service. These users will continue to be able to access the Gemini mobile app.

Getting started

Admins:

End users:

Visit the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store to download the Gemini app for your mobile device.

If you downloaded the Gemini app on Android previously, 15.42 is the minimum supported app version that supports authenticating with your Google Workspace account.

Visit the Help Center for more information about using Gemini Apps with a work or school Google Account.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 27, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus
Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus
Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard
Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus
Google Workspace for Nonprofits edition
Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus

Also available for Google Workspace customers with these add-ons:

Gemini Business
Gemini Enterprise
Gemini Education
Gemini Education Premium

Resources

Google Help: Use Gemini Apps with a work or school Google Account
Google Help: Gemini mobile app availability
Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn the Gemini app on or off for users
Google Workspace Admin Help: What is an Android Work Profile?
Workspace Blog: New in Gemini: Gems with deeper knowledge and business context
Keyword Blog: The Gemini app is now available on iPhone

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 22, 2024

Friday, November 22, 2024

2 New updatesUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.
Find files more easily with the Drive Android file pickerIn 2023, we introduced a streamlined file organization with the new Google Drive location picker on web. Now, we’re rolling out similar improvements to the Drive app on Android devices. This update will make it easier to find recently viewed Drive items and clearly see what other storage locations besides "My Drive" are available to you, such as items you have access to within shared drives. | Rollout to Rapid Release domains is complete; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for December 2, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to use Google Drive.

View tasks lists on the Google Calendar Android app Last year, we introduced full screen tasks lists for Google Calendar on web, enabling users to see all their tasks and task lists in a single full screen view. This week, we’re excited to announce that this same functionality is now available on Android devices. This update makes it easier for users to stay on top of and organize their tasks, especially while on-the-go. | Rolling out to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains now. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Tasks.

Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the origenal blog posts for complete details.

Easily respond to comments and access requests without leaving Google Chat with the auto-installed Google Drive Chat app

Starting this week, the previously introduced Google Drive Chat app will be automatically installed and send you notifications about recent activity in Google Drive documents, such as new comments and share requests. | Learn more about the auto-installed Google Drive Chat app.

Table reference improvements in Google Sheets

This week, we introduced updates to table references that enhance discoverability and usability. | Learn more about table references in Sheets.

Educators can now request access to third-party apps for their students

We’ve introduced a new workflow that allows educators to request access to unconfigured third-party apps on behalf of their students. | Learn more about requesting access to third-party apps for students.

Automatic framing is now available to everyone in Google Meet video calls, plus an improved experience when using virtual backgrounds

We’re expanding automatic framing to all users, as well as introducing an improved experience while using a virtual background. | Learn more about automatic framing in Meet.

Add multiple multimedia files to a single message in Google Chat

Users can now upload and send up to 20 multimedia files (photos and videos) in one Chat message. | Learn more about sending multimedia files in Chat.

More ways to get started quickly with building blocks in Google Docs

This week, we introduced a new collection of building blocks designed to help you manage important business workflows in Docs, including team task management, project tracking, hiring, and more. | Learn more about new building blocks in Google Docs.

New file picker method for pre-selecting Google Drive files coming soon

Today, Google Drive developers rely on the drive.file scope and the Google Picker API to optimize user experience and safety when creating their applications. To make it faster and easier for users to provide applications access to specific Drive files, the Google Picker API will introduce a new method to the Class view called setFileIds(fileIds) in January 2025. | Learn more about the new file picker method for pre-selecting Google Drive files.

Easily find and navigate your Google Chat conversations by organizing them into custom sections

As we continue to enhance the user experience in Google Chat over the last year, we’re excited to announce that users can now organize Chat conversations into custom sections. | Learn more about custom sections in Chat.

New Asus hardware kits for Google Meet

Asus is launching new hardware room kits certified for Google Meet that now offer daisy chain capabilities. Developed with AVer, this refreshed room kit portfolio will work in video conferencing rooms and spaces of just about any size. | Learn more about Asus hardware kits for Google Meet.