U-M Google Updates

U-M Google January Monthly Summary

2/6/2020

The monthly U-M Google Summaries inform the university community of Google releases for Core Apps as well as the Non-Core Apps (those that are not part of the G Suite for Education agreement). We communicate important information on Core Apps throughout the month. Core and Non-Core Apps are listed on the G Suite website.

Core Apps:

When you open a Google Calendar invite in Gmail, you’ll see a new More Options drop-down list, allowing you to propose a new time for the meeting or add a note to your RSVP. Selecting either option will open the respective event section in Google Calendar, where you can make those updates directly. This feature is only available for Gmail in a web browser.

You can now “pull out” and highlight a slice from a pie or donut chart in Google Sheets. This feature gives you more ways to control the look of your charts and better display the most important data in Sheets. For more information on using this feature, check out the G Suite Help Center article.

GIF showing Google Sheets new feature where you can pull out a piece of a graph to highlight.

When creating a copy of an existing Google Slides presentation, you will now be able to:

  • Select specific slides to copy instead of the whole deck. 
  • Remove the speaker notes from the copy. 

This feature makes it easier to parse out and share the most relevant content with your collaborators.

To remove speaker notes from a whole deck copy, navigate to File, select Make a Copy, then select Entire Deck, and finally check the box for “Remove all speaker notes.” To copy only certain slides, navigate to File, select Make a Copy, and finally select Selected Slides. There, you’ll have the option to remove all speaker notes from the selected slides, if desired.

Previously Communicated:

REMINDER: Google Sheets API v3 to Shut Down

2/3/2020

This message is intended for developers and those who use Google APIs to pull information into other apps and systems. You may disregard this message if you do not use the Google Sheets API or other Google APIs.

This is a reminder that as part of the migration to the Sheets v4 API, Google will retire the Sheets v3 API on March 3, 2020. 

Make sure that projects originally built on the v3 API continue working long after it is gone. This migration guide provides tips on how to transition your apps, including a mapping of older commands to operations in v4 and some ideas for using the new functionality to your advantage. Additional documentation is available to help get started on a new project or leverage the content and appearance controls not available in previous versions. 
If you’re new to using the Sheets API, be sure to check out the sample resources and videos on the developer site.

Send emails as attachments in Gmail

1/22/2020

You can now attach emails to other emails in Gmail without first needing to download them to your device. Sending emails as attachments allows you to write a summary email message to your recipients, and attach the set of supporting emails. 

To insert emails in a new message thread, drag and drop them into the email compose window.

GIF of how to add an email to an email in Gmail

Another way to insert emails is to select the emails from your Inbox or other label and then select "Forward as attachment" from the three-dot More menu.

Screenshot of how to add email to an email via "Forward as Attachment" feature in Gmail

To reply to an existing message thread, you can pop-out the compose window and then drag and drop emails to it. 

Screenshot of how to pop out a reply in Gmail.

Tips: When emails are sent as an attachment: 

  • The attached email becomes a .eml file.
  • You can attach as many emails as you like.
  • When you click on a .eml email attachment, it will open in a new window.

For more information on sending emails as attachments in Gmail, visit the G Suite Help Center.

According to Google, this feature should begin showing up in U-M Google on January 13 and could take 15 days or longer to become fully visible. You'll know this feature is available to you when you see the "Forward as attachment" option in the three-dot More menu.

Google Sheets API v3 to Shut Down

1/14/2020

This message is intended for developers and those who use Google APIs to pull information into other apps and systems. You may disregard this message if you do not use the Google Sheets API or other Google APIs.

As part of the migration to the Sheets v4 API, Google will retire the Sheets v3 API on March 3, 2020. 

Make sure that projects originally built on the v3 API continue working long after it is gone. This migration guide provides tips on how to transition your apps, including a mapping of older commands to operations in v4 and some ideas for using the new functionality to your advantage. Additional documentation is available to help get started on a new project or leverage the content and appearance controls not available in previous versions. 

Three years ago Google introduced the Sheets v4 API, which offered custom development with programmatic access to critical features like filters, conditional formatting, charts, and pivot tables. V4 API also enables batch methods for better performance, provides an easier-to-use interface, and operates on an individual file basis, which, when used with the drive.file scope gives better control over which files to share with apps. Since its launch, Google has improved version 4 by supporting new Sheets features and introducing developer metadata. 

If you’re new to using the Sheets API, be sure to check out the sample resources and videos on the developer site.

Google Cloud Print Ending

1/13/2020

You may disregard this message if you do not use Google Cloud Print.

As of December 31, 2020 Google will no longer support Cloud Print, Google’s beta, cloud-based printing solution. Beginning January 1, 2021, devices across all operating systems will not be able to print using Cloud Print. We recommend that you find an alternative print solution and migrate your print services by the end of 2020. 

One alternative, MPrint, is U-M's printing service that allows campus community members to print from their computer or mobile device to many printers on campus. For devices running Chrome OS, Google recommends native printing (CUPS). For other devices or multi-OS scenarios, Google recommends the respective platform’s native-printing infrastructure or working with a print-solutions provider.