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.
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.)