Google Workspace Changes

Generate podcast-style audio lessons in Google Classroom using Gemini

Educators can now use Gemini in Google Classroom to generate and share customized podcast-style audio lessons to support various learning modalities. The feature allows educators to specify the target grade, topic, and learning objectives, as well as customize the audio discussion by choosing the number of speakers and the conversation style, such as an interview or conversational format.

New Data Migration service now generally available to migrate files from Dropbox to Google Drive.

The New Data Migration service, which previously had an open beta, is now generally available. This service allows administrators to migrate data, including files, folders, and associated permissions, from Dropbox business accounts to Google Drive. This helps organizations efficiently transition to Google Workspace by simplifying data consolidation.

Migrate files from Dropbox to Google Drive is now generally available.

The New Data Migration service now allows admins to migrate data from Dropbox business accounts, including files, folders, and associated permissions, to Google Drive. The tool supports migrating up to 150 users or team folders at a time to MyDrive or Google shared drives, provides comprehensive reporting on migration progress, and supports delta updates for newly added or updated files.

New admin control to disable Apple Intelligence Writing Tools in Google Workspace iOS apps.

Google Workspace is introducing a new administrative setting in the Google Admin console that allows administrators to disable Apple Intelligence Writing Tools (which include proofreading, rewriting, and summarizing text) within participating iOS and iPadOS apps, including Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and Chat. This control is intended to enhance security and mitigate risks by ensuring sensitive data is handled according to organization policies and data loss prevention (DLP) standards on managed devices.

New admin control to manage Apple Intelligence Writing Tools in Google Workspace iOS apps.

Google is launching a new administrative control for admins to disable Apple Intelligence Writing Tools within Google Workspace apps on iOS devices (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and Chat). This feature, part of Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1+, allows users to proofread, rewrite, or summarize text. The new setting in the Google Admin console, "Allow Writing Tools for work data," will be on by default. Disabling it prevents users from accessing these tools, enhancing data protection and mitigating conflicts with DLP policies.

Expanded Workspace audit logging datasets and in-depth filtering are now available via Admin SDK (Reports API).

To support more granular incident investigations, Google is expanding the Workspace audit logging datasets available on the Admin SDK (Reports API) to include additional datasets such as Admin data action logs, Contacts logs, Assignments logs, Directory Sync logs, Profile logs, Graduation logs, LDAP logs, Meet hardware logs, Takeout logs, Tasks logs, Cloud search logs, Access evaluation logs, and Data migration logs. Additionally, the Reports API now supports in-depth filtering on resource details, allowing users to filter by labels and resources from their audit logs for fetching more granular information. These granular audit logs are crucial for organizations to investigate cybersecurity incidents and understand their data usage, with these changes significantly expanding the depth of analysis possible.

Google Vids avatars now powered by Veo 3.1 for more realistic and faster creation.

Google Vids avatars are now powered by Veo 3.1, Google’s state-of-the-art video generation model. This upgrade provides heightened expression, smoother lip-syncing, and steadier framing, resulting in a professional look. Avatars are also faster to create at no additional cost, improving viewer watch time and engagement. Use cases include training videos, internal announcements, and custom support walkthroughs.

Introducing the new Feeds app for Google Chat to bring real-time external updates from Atom or RSS feeds directly into group conversations and spaces.

The new Feeds app for Google Chat allows teams to integrate real-time external updates, such as news, blog posts, and industry research from any Atom or RSS feed, directly into their Google Chat group conversations and spaces. This eliminates the need for context switching as new posts from subscribed feeds are automatically sent to a designated Chat space, keeping all team members informed within their ongoing project discussions. Key features include automatic content delivery, the ability to add and manage multiple subscriptions per-space, with management restricted to the user who created the subscription.

Accelerate validation of Google Meet eCDN configuration at scale with Silent Test Mode.

Google Meet introduces Silent Test Mode, a new feature allowing administrators to perform large-scale eCDN (Enterprise Content Delivery Network) tests. This mode enables validation of eCDN configurations across an entire network with real user profiles and devices in a full simulation, minimizing the risk of impacting the viewer experience. During the test, live stream clients collect real-world data and statistics on eCDN performance while users stream media directly from Google's servers, ensuring no disruption. Admins can also schedule workload scripts to run in the background for iterative testing without requiring live streams.

Google Chat is moving to a new web address, chat.google.com, for a faster and more reliable experience.

Google Chat is transitioning to a new web address, chat.google.com, from its previous location at mail.google.com/chat. This change aims to provide a faster and more reliable web experience without altering the user interface. Existing bookmarks and links will continue to function. Admins and developers should ensure extensions are compatible with the new address, and update URL blocklists or website-specific policies to include chat.google.com. Users may need to update Chrome extensions for Chat to ensure proper functionality. Blocking chat.google.com will break the ability to use Chat within Gmail and Google Meet.

Extending multi-party approvals (MPA) to Google Vault for sensitive actions like creating exports.

Google is extending multi-party approvals (MPA) to Google Vault to enhance security for sensitive actions. This feature requires a separate, authorized administrator to review and approve certain actions, such as creating exports, before they are executed. This helps prevent unauthorized or accidental changes, significantly reducing the risk of data exfiltration or unapproved data deletions.

Google Meet introduces automated compliance recording and transcripts for regulated users to meet strict regulatory archiving requirements.

Google Meet Compliance Recording is a new feature for administrators to automatically record meetings and capture transcripts for specific users or groups requiring regulatory monitoring. This helps financial firms comply with communication retention and supervision rules mandated by regulatory bodies like SEC, FINRA, and CFTC. The recordings and transcripts are stored in WORM compliant Google Cloud Storage, ensuring immutable records and allowing regulated entities to use collaboration features that were previously disabled due to compliance rules.

Google Voice introduces call queuing for ring groups.

Google Voice is introducing call queuing for ring groups. This feature allows administrators to customize aspects like music and announcements while callers are on hold, maximum callers in the queue, maximum wait time, and a wrap-up time for agents. This update aims to reduce unanswered calls, boost sales, and improve customer experience by providing a structured way to handle high call volumes.

Google Meet introduces new live streaming access controls, enabling external guests and targeted internal viewing.

Google Meet is introducing additional access controls for live streams, allowing hosts to decide who can view them. This update enables live streams to reach a wider audience for events like town halls and webinars, supporting mixed internal/external audiences and granular control for restricted internal broadcasts. Hosts can now invite external users to join live streams with their Google Account and can also limit in-domain access to specific users or groups. These new controls are accessible via an opt-in "Adaptive" meeting type setting.

Google Drive receives a modernized interface for viewing various file formats on the web, including PDFs, videos, images, and audio.

Google Drive is significantly improving the viewing experience for third-party file formats such as PDFs, videos, images, and audio files on the web. The modernized interface includes a new left rail for PDFs with a table of contents and thumbnails for easier navigation, a new file menu, a new toolbar and app bar, and an option to search by transcript for videos. This update aims to make it easier for Google Workspace users to navigate documents, especially large ones.