Google Workspace Changes

Hover over the Share button in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides to see warnings if sharing settings are invalid.

Starting August 24, 2015, users with permission to edit a file's sharing settings in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides will see a warning when hovering over the Share button if sharing settings are invalid. This warning appears if sharing outside the employee's domain is disabled, if sharing into the recipient's domain is disabled, or if 'anyone' sharing options are restricted, providing increased visibility into file sharing restrictions.

Ability to attach Google Forms to posts and assignments.

Teachers and students will soon be able to attach Google Forms from Google Drive directly to posts and assignments, providing a streamlined way to distribute tests, quizzes, or surveys and view answers.

Optional due dates for assignments.

Teachers now have the option to create assignments without due dates, which is useful for long-term projects or student-driven assignments.

Option to bump posts to the top of the stream.

Teachers can now move any older post to the top of the class stream to ensure that important items are easily visible to students.

Automatic Google Calendar integration for classes.

Google Classroom will automatically create a calendar for each class. All assignments with due dates will be automatically added and updated on these calendars, which can be viewed within Classroom or via Google Calendar.

Ability to reuse posts across classes.

Teachers can now reuse assignments, announcements, or questions from any of their current or previous classes, including co-taught classes. They can modify the content before posting or assigning it to a new class.

Introduction of question-driven discussions in Google Classroom.

Teachers can now post questions to their class stream and allow students to engage in collaborative discussions by responding to each other's answers, with settings to control whether student-to-student interaction is permitted.

More intuitive keyboard functionality in Google Sheets for Android

The Google Sheets Android app now automatically launches the alphabetic keyboard when a cell contains text and the numeric keyboard when a cell contains numbers or symbols, while also offering an easy way to shift between the two options.

Autofill in Google Sheets for Android

The autofill feature, which allows users to repeat information or complete a pattern in a spreadsheet, is now available in the Google Sheets app for Android.

Print Layout view in Google Docs for Android and iOS

Users can now select Print Layout from the overflow menu in the Google Docs app on Android and iOS to view a fully paginated, read-only version of their document. This feature is currently in beta, with editing capabilities planned for future rollouts.

Improvements to the holds system in Google Vault, including OU-based holds and UI enhancements.

Google Vault is introducing several improvements to its holds system to help organizations better meet legal and preservation obligations. Key updates include the ability to create and manage holds for specific organizational units (OUs), a change in logic so that holds with no specified users apply to no one (rather than everyone), and an updated user interface for a more intuitive experience.

Launch desktop applications from Google Drive Preview in Chrome

Google Drive has extended the ability to open files in compatible desktop applications to the Drive viewer. Users with the Drive app for Mac or PC (version 1.23+) can now launch apps such as advanced image/video editors, accounting software, or 3D design tools directly from preview mode in the Chrome browser using the 'Open with' menu, with changes syncing back to Drive across devices.

Ability to accept or reject external guest requests on Hangouts Android app

External participants to a Hangouts video call can now be accepted or rejected directly within the Hangouts Android app, matching the functionality already available on iOS and web platforms.

Custom status messages added to Hangouts Android app

Users of the Hangouts Android app can now add custom status messages and view the status messages of others in the Contacts view, bringing feature parity with the web and iOS versions of the app.

New owners of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files now receive all comment notifications.

When ownership of a document, spreadsheet, or presentation is transferred to a new owner, the new owner will now receive all email notifications for any comments added to the file. Previously, the 'all notifications' setting remained with the original owner. Following this change, previous owners will only receive notifications if they are explicitly mentioned in a comment, similar to other collaborators.