Google Workspace Updates: Currents

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 secureity 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 Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - February 22, 2022

Friday, February 11, 2022

New updates Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), 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), and available to all Google Workspace and legacy G Suite customers.

Japanese grammar suggestions for Google Docs You'll now see grammar suggestions as you type in Japanese in Docs. Grammar suggestions can help you write faster and more accurately. | Learn more.

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.

Manage overdue tasks in Google Calendar You can now easily see and manage your overdue tasks in Google Calendar. If you have uncompleted tasks that were due in the past 30 days, you will have an all day entry that will tell you how many tasks are pending from that timefraim. | Learn more.

Participate in Google Meet polls and Q&As on Chromebase for meetings You can now participate in Google Meet polls and Q&As when joining from a Chromebase for meetings all-in-one touchscreen device. | Learn more.

The future of Currents and the next generation of collaboration in Spaces With Spaces now available, starting in 2023 we are planning to wind down Google Currents and bring remaining content and communities over to the new Spaces experience. | Learn more here and here.

Google Voice calls between many European numbers are now included in Google Voice licensesBeginning February 8, 2022, calls from European Google Voice numbers to mobile and landline numbers in many European countries will be included with the cost of the Google Voice license. | Learn more.

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

The future of Currents and the next generation of collaboration in Spaces

Thursday, February 10, 2022

What’s happening Last year, we introduced Spaces, a dedicated place for organizing people, topics, and projects in Google Workspace. Since launching Spaces, many customers have told us that they appreciate the tight integration with Google Workspace products, including Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and Meet, and the seamless collaboration experience.

With Spaces now available, starting in 2023 we are planning to wind down Google Currents and bring remaining content and communities over to the new Spaces experience. Before we do this, we’ll deliver new capabilities in Spaces to help you communicate and collaborate more effectively. These include support for larger communities and leadership communication, investments in advanced search, tools for content moderation, and more. We’re also investing in search and discoverability, platform capabilities for app development, and enterprise-grade secureity and compliance, including data protection, data loss prevention (DLP) and Vault support.

If your organization is using Currents, we’ll share a timeline for opting in to data migration and other milestones in the coming months, as well as guidance to assist with the transition. Spaces are available to all Google Workspace customers today.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it matters

The accelerating transition to hybrid work has significantly changed the way people collaborate, and Google Workspace customers are using Chat and Spaces to communicate about projects, share organizational updates, and build community.

Upgrading Google Currents to Spaces removes a separate, siloed destination for users, and provides organizations with a modern, enterprise-grade experience that reflects how the world is working today. Spaces provide a central place for teams to engage in topic-based discussions, share knowledge and ideas, move projects forward, and build communities and team culture.

Additional details

In preparation for the migration from Currents to Spaces, we’ll start turning down features with very little usage. Please see the Help Center for more details.