U-M Google Updates

Notice: Changes to video and phone calling in classic Google Hangouts

11/9/2020

Google has announced they will soon be making changes to how phone calls and video calls work in classic Google Hangouts.

The changes will happen in two steps:

  • In early November 2020, group video calls in classic Hangouts will be moved to Google Meet. When inviting a group to a video call in classic Hangouts, you will now need to click on a Meet link to join the call.
  • At the start of 2021, all phone calls in classic Hangouts will no longer be available or supported by Google.
Important: The University of Michigan is unable to offer Google Voice within our domain, and therefore, cannot provide support. Because of this, classic Hangouts phone calling will no longer be available at U-M.

Phone calling
According to Google, after mid-October 2020, if you are using the phone calling feature in classic Hangouts, you will begin to see an alert in Hangouts informing you that this functionality will be going away. The alert will direct you to more information about why the feature is going away.

Video calling
According to Google, after early November 2020, you will be able to share Google Meet links to start and join video calls from classic Hangouts. As part of this, you will see the following changes:

  • Clicking on the video call button (Classic Google Hangouts video call icon (video camera).) in a group classic Hangouts conversation will send a Meet video call link instead of ringing all participants.
  • Clicking on the video or audio call options in a one-to-one classic Hangouts conversation will continue to call or “ring” the other participant until some time in early 2021.

As Google continues to phase out classic Hangouts, we recommend checking out our resources on Google Chat and Meet to learn more about the services that will be replacing Hangouts.

New Google Groups to replace classic Groups on Nov. 16

11/4/2020

In May 2020, Google announced new Google Groups to provide an updated experience that matches Gmail and other Google services. In September 2020, Google made new Groups the default experience for all users, but they gave users the option to use classic Groups instead of the new interface. 

According to Google, starting on November 16, 2020, classic Groups will be turned off for everyone. This means that after November 16, there will be no option to change back to classic Groups. If you have already been using new Groups, you will not notice a change, but if you have chosen to keep using classic Groups, all remaining classic Groups will be automatically transitioned to the new interface.

White background. On left is a minimalist overview of the classic Google Groups dashboard. On right is a minimalist overview of the new Google Groups dashboard. Text under each is "Classic Groups" and "New Groups", respectively.

A few features are not yet available in new Groups, including welcome messages, global settings, and custom group roles. There is currently no timeline on when they will be available.

In addition, several features will be going away, such as the ability to edit your posts. To see more features that are going away with classic Groups and new features available in new Groups, see Google’s What's new in Groups. 

Reminder: Check your spam label periodically

10/27/2020

When was the last time you checked your spam label in Gmail? Once in a while, Google will mark a legitimate email as spam instead of sending it to your inbox. We recommend you check your spam label periodically for legitimate emails that may appear there by mistake. If you find a message that has been accidentally marked as spam, you can select it and click Not Spam in the top toolbar to help ensure that future messages from this sender are not flagged as spam. Adding colleagues to your Google Contacts and creating filters for specific email addresses (with “Never send it to Spam” marked) can also help with mail delivery.

Coming Soon: Google Workspace

10/21/2020

Google has announced they will be rebranding G Suite to Google Workspace. Google Workspace will keep all of the apps that you use from G Suite, and will better integrate them with a new look and feel of the icons and interfaces.

Google Workspace logo

Old G Suite logos on top of new Google Workspace logos

According to Google, G Suite for Education domains will begin the full transition around January 2021. However, you may start to see Workspace branding in Google support documentation and in the apps themselves, including the mobile apps. So, be on the lookout for new user interfaces, naming, icons, and connections between Gmail, Meet, Calendar, Drive, and more.

To learn more about Google Workspace, see Google’s:

As we receive more information from Google regarding this change, we will communicate it to the university community in a timely manner.

Collaborate with users in Drive and Sites who don’t have a Google account

10/19/2020

Google has announced visitor sharing: a new, secure way to share and collaborate in Google Drive with people who do not have a Google account. With this, you can share items with non-Google accounts, enabling them to view, comment on, or edit content in Google Drive and Sites using a secure PIN code. File owners can view detailed activity on their files and revoke access from the Drive sharing dialog at any time.

Note: Visitors can edit, comment on, or view your files for seven days after they verify their email address. After seven days, they will need to reverify using the original shared link in their email invite.

In browser, basic, unidentifiable email client design shows someone received an email with a PIN code. They then take that code and enter it into a Google verification page to access the Google Doc.

You can share the following types of files in My Drive and shared drives with non-Google users:

  • Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites
  • Images
  • PDFs
  • Microsoft Office 365 files
  • Videos
  • Folders
Note: You will be asked to confirm you want to share with a non-Google account after clicking Send.

Visitors cannot do the following actions:

  • Upload or create content.
  • Access the root folder of a shared drive.
  • Be added to a Google Group.
  • Edit Sites, but they can be Published Viewers of a Site.

If a visitor would like to upgrade from a visitor session to a Google account with the same email address, they will need to first delete their visitor session and then create a Google account. Visitors can see Google’s Delete your visitor session for more information.

To learn more about visitor sharing, see Google’s Share documents with visitors.
To learn more about Google Drive sharing at U-M, see Best Practices for Sharing in Google Drive.

According to Google, this feature should be available now in U-M Google.