U-M Google Updates

U-M Google April & May Monthly Summary

6/17/2025

Updates

Google Chat

  • Real-time markdown styling and code formatting 

Markdown styling and code formatting will now be applied in real time while composing Chat messages. Previously, formatting would only be applied after the message was sent. Learn more about using markdown and code formatting in Chat.

Google Drive

  • Accessibility tags for tables, equations, and checkboxes in PDFs exported from Docs

Building upon Google’s structural and accessibility tagging additions in PDFs exported from Docs last year, they have now introduced accessibility tags for tables, equations, and checkboxes.

  • Advanced formatting for tables in Sheets

You can now toggle on/off gridlines, alternating colors, condense view, and the option to add a footer to tables in Sheets. Within a table, click the down arrow next to the table title and hover over Table formatting in the drop-down menu to find and adjust the new settings.

  • Add multiple people chips in one Sheets cell 

You can convert cells with multiple emails in one cell to people chips. Learn more about inserting smart chips in your Sheets.

Google has added a new right sidebar to Slides that allows you to explore and insert a variety of design elements quickly. These elements include:

  • Building blocks: A new library of pre-formatted pieces of content, such as agendas, quotes, or key statistics. These blocks, which function similarly to building blocks in Docs, are composed of native Slides elements and can be de-grouped and customized once inserted into your slide.
  • Stock images: Access millions of high-quality stock images in an expanded library of web images, stickers, and GIFs.
  • Templates: Modern, professionally-designed Slides templates.

User is using the new templates and building blocks sidebar in Google Slides

Learn more about using templates and building blocks in Slides.

Google has added even more Slides templates for you to use and customize.

Google Meet

Google added several new redesigns and features for customizing your Meet session with “dynamic layouts.”

  • “Portrait tiles” prioritize faces by cropping out excess background video
  • Optimized tile placement logic to enable much more efficient layouts that minimize unused space
  • Visual design refresh, including color-sampled tile theming for participants with their cameras off
  • Larger room tiles in the grid when ‘Dynamic tiles’ is not active
  • More flexibility around how tiles are cropped, including self-view
  • Increased video pin limit from three to six

These updates are currently only available for Meet sessions on the web. Learn more about dynamic layouts in Meet. (Note that U-M Google does not have access to the dynamic tiles and face match features listed in the article.)

Previously Communicated

Introducing Google Gemini and NotebookLM

5/9/2025

We’re excited to announce that Google’s generative AI services, Gemini and NotebookLM, are now available for use with your U-M Google account.

What are they?

  • Gemini: Generative AI chat app that can be used to create new content and images, help brainstorm ideas, draft or summarize writing, explore complex topics, and assist with research and creative work.
  • NotebookLM: AI-powered research and note-taking assistant using Google’s Gemini models. NotebookLM lets you upload your own sources, such as documents, PDFs, and Google Docs, and interact with them through summaries, questions, audio overviews, and AI-assisted exploration.
    • It’s especially helpful for synthesizing large amounts of information across uploaded materials.

How do I access them?

Both services are available to all active U-M faculty, staff, and students on the Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses, and Michigan Medicine.

Gemini

NotebookLM

Note: Google does not display the U-M logo beside your profile picture in Gemini or NotebookLM as they do in other Google services. Ensure you are logged into your U-M Google account when accessing them.

Privacy & security

  • Gemini and NotebookLM are considered Core Services and approved for use with the same types of sensitive data as your U-M Google account.
  • Your interactions, chats, uploaded files and sources, and generated content are not human-reviewed or used to train Google’s AI models, as long as you use your U-M Google account to access the apps. This information remains in U-M Google and is not shared externally with third parties.
  • Within NotebookLM specifically, chat responses and audio overviews only use data from the sources you upload.
    • When using audio overviews in interactive mode, your voice and transcribed interactions with the AI hosts will not be stored.
  • You can view your Gemini Apps Activity at any time. Your conversation history is retained for 18 months.

Refer to Using the Gemini App and Using NotebookLM for detailed information on each service and its available features/functionality. Refer to the ITS AI Services site for more general information on Google Gemini and NotebookLM at U-M.

Interested in learning more about Gemini and NotebookLM at U-M? Join ITS for an instructional support workshop - "From Idea to Insight: Exploring Gemini and NotebookLM for Education" - on May 22, 2025!

U-M Google March Monthly Summary

4/24/2025

Updates

Google Chat

When mentioning (“@”) an individual that is not already in a Chat group, direct message, or space, Google will prompt and ask if you’d like to add them to the group or space and send the message, or send the message without adding them. This will not work for one-to-one direct messages. Learn more about mentioning or adding someone to a conversation in Chat.

New Google Chat prompt asking if you'd like to add an individual to a group conversation or space

You can now create names for existing and new group direct messages in Chat. Group names are visible to all members of the group direct message. Named groups will continue to appear in the “Direct messages” section of your Chat sidebar. Learn more about naming a group direct message.

Similar to custom sections in Slack, you can now organize your Chat conversations (including DMs and spaces) into custom-named sections. You can also modify the height of each section, reorder them based on preference, toggle the Unread button on or off, and start a new DM or space message from the three-dot icon next to the Unread button. While this new experience is visible on mobile devices, you can only create and manage sections on Chat for the web or in Gmail.

To create a new custom section, hover over the three-dot icon beside the Direct Messages or Spaces section headers, select Create new section, and enter the name for the section. You can then either drag and drop conversations into the new section or hover over the conversation to find the three-dot icon menu and select Move conversation. Learn more about creating and organizing sections in Chat.

Within Google Chat, a user hovers over a conversation, clicks the three-dot icon, and moves a conversation to a new custom section.

Google has introduced a new “Board” tab in all one-to-one and group direct messages and Chat spaces. Selecting the board will open a right panel displaying it alongside the message stream. Boards feature sections for pinned messages and resources. This feature is similar to Slack canvases.

By default, all members in a conversation can pin, add resources, edit, and delete information from the board, with the exception of announcement spaces. Space Managers can also restrict who can update a board. Learn more about the Board tab in Chat.

Google Chat space displaying the new Board tab, opened on the right side with a red box around it

Google Drive

  • Instant playback after video file uploads 

You can now watch videos the moment you upload them to Drive on the web. This feature eliminates wait times between uploading and playback, while ensuring that your videos are still fully processed. Learn more about storing and playing videos in Drive.

Similar to the Sheets functionality that helps you convert data to drop-down chips in one click, you can now use bulk chip conversion for people chips. If you have a column of data that includes a variety of email addresses, Sheets will show a “Convert to people chips” suggestion when you click into your data range. By hovering over that indicator, you can preview the suggestion and then convert your data to people chips in one click. You can also change the format for these people chips from the default of “First Name Last Name” to “Last Name, First Name” or “Email address.” Learn more about inserting smart chips in your Sheets.

Within a Google Sheets spreadsheet, a user clicks into a data range, hovers over and clicks the new "Convert to people chips" option

You can now view and search transcripts for videos you’ve uploaded to Drive. The transcript appears in a sidebar next to the video player and highlights the currently spoken text. Your video must have captions enabled to access this feature (click the CC button in the lower right corner of the video player to enable it). To access the transcript, open a video with captions, click the gear icon in the lower right corner, and select Transcript from the drop-down menu. Learn more about turning on video transcripts in Drive.

Google Meet

Google has added several more options for how in-meeting reactions are experienced through screen readers. The following options have been added for in-meeting reactions: 

  • Don’t announce reactions: No announcements or sound when a reaction is received
  • Play a sound for all reactions: Play a sound when a reaction is received
  • Announce all reactions: Announce only the emoji when a reaction is received 
  • Announce all reactions and senders: Announce the emoji and who sent the received reaction

You can access and adjust the settings at any time during the meeting by pressing Shift+R. Settings will persist from meeting to meeting. Learn more about using Meet with a screen reader and Meet accessibility in general.

Previously, Meet live captions were displayed in real-time, but disappeared as the conversation continued. This update makes it possible to scroll back and review the last 30 minutes of captions during a meeting.

Previously Communicated

Update to “Make changes to events” permission on shared Google calendars

Introducing Grackle: New accessibility add-ons for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

3/10/2025

The ITS Digital Accessibility team is excited to introduce Grackle, a set of accessibility checker add-ons designed for use with your U-M Google account. Grackle can help you create accessible documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Grackle’s integration into Docs, Sheets, and Slides provides intuitive tools for spotting and resolving accessibility issues as you edit. Ensuring digital accessibility is not just a best practice; it's a vital component of the University of Michigan's commitment to equity and inclusivity. Grackle empowers you to create barrier-free content that everyone can access and enjoy, aligning with U-M policy and our compliance standards of WCAG 2.1 AA.

Benefits of using Grackle:

  • Check and fix accessibility issues directly within U-M Google to ensure your documents are user-friendly and inclusive.
  • By meeting accessibility standards, your content becomes more usable for a diverse audience.
  • Gain insights into accessibility best practices as you compose and edit, with guidance available as needed.

There are three separate add-ons you must install from the Google Workspace Marketplace to begin using the tools:

Refer to the ITS Digital Accessibility site for more information on installing and using each tool:

Join the university community in making strides toward a more inclusive digital landscape for all!

New “limited access” sharing experience in Google My Drive and shared drives

3/6/2025

As of February 18, 2025, Google allows shared drive Managers and My Drive folder owners to limit access to folders for specific individuals. Folders with limited access can only be opened by people who have been added to them directly. People with general access to the shared drive or parent My Drive shared folder can view the restricted folder’s name but cannot open it.

Previously, a version of this feature existed for files and folders in My Drive only. However, this update now applies to shared drives and streamlines the process in My Drive (with an eventual retirement of the “Update item only” sharing option and its related ability to limit access at the file level that existed before).

Sharing dialog is open for a folder in a Google shared drive and the individual is going to the settings and checking the "Limit access" box to restrict the folder

Google My Drive shared folder is open with a red box around a limited-access folder that is grayed out and inactive.

Key changes and feature information include:

  • The “limit access” feature is only available on folders and not files.
    • The workaround for files is to create a new subfolder with limited access and move the file into the subfolder.
  • Shared drive Managers can always access folders with limited access. You cannot remove a Manager’s access to a shared drive folder.
  • Folder owners can always access the folders they’ve limited access to in My Drive. You cannot remove an owner’s access to a folder they own.
  • The restricted folder (including its name) is always visible to people with general access to the shared drive or parent shared folder.
    • People who don’t have access to the folder can click Request access to send an email to the owner.
  • “Editors can change permissions and share” must be checked in the folder’s settings before Editors can manage limited access settings for the My Drive folder they’re shared on.
  • “Allow content managers to share folders” must be checked in the shared drive’s settings before Content Managers can manage limited access settings for subfolders they’re shared on in the drive.
  • Everyone who inherited access to a subfolder but then had their access limited on it will appear under the new “Access removed” tab in the sharing dialog for the folder owner/shared drive Manager(s) and Editors/Content Managers (if applicable) of the subfolder.

As part of their feature announcement, Google mentioned two changes coming later this year involving the “Editors can change permissions and share” setting and limited access for pre-existing files and folders (utilizing the old “Update item only” option). We will provide additional communications closer to when these changes occur and as we know more from Google.

Refer to the Google Help Center to learn more about limiting access to folders in My Drive and shared drives. Refer to Best Practices for Sharing in Google Drive for other tips on sharing at U-M.