U-M Google Updates

U-M Google June & July Monthly Summary

8/29/2024

Updates

Google Calendar

Google has added three new features to Calendar appointment schedules:

  • The option to designate a custom weekly recurrence. This will allow you to repeat the schedule on more flexible recurrences, such as bi-weekly.
  • Bookers (and co-hosts) can add other guests or rooms to booked events. This feature is only available if the user creating the appointment schedule selects the “Guests can invite others” option during the setup or editing of the schedule.
  • Schedule creators can now add MCommunity groups as co-hosts during the setup process.

Learn about appointment schedules in Calendar.

Google Drive

  • Updates to Google shared drive folder/file limits 

Previously in shared drives, a folder could only have up to 20 levels of nested folders and contain a maximum of 400,000 items. Google has increased the nested folder limit to 100 levels and the maximum number of items to 500,000. Learn more about shared drive folder/file limits in Drive.

When you upload a video to Google Drive, captions for the video are now automatically generated in English (with plans to expand to other languages in the future). Videos uploaded before this feature release may require you to manually generate captions by right-clicking the video in your Drive, hovering over File information, selecting Manage caption tracks, and clicking Generate automatic captions. Learn more about adding caption tracks to your videos in Drive.

When you place your cursor over a file icon in Google Drive on the web, a hovercard will appear with a thumbnail of your file and other relevant information, such as file type, file owner, who recently modified the file, and when they last modified it. Previously, you had to open each file manually or right-click on a file and click Open with > Preview from the drop-down menu to review files. Learn more about viewing and reordering your files in Drive.

  • View recent shares in the Google Drive Activity page 

Drive’s Activity page shows pending access requests and recent comments. You can now also view recent file shares, which include who shared a file and when the file was shared, under the “Shared with me” header.

If you haven’t been active on Google Drive for seven days and have multiple unviewed shared files from collaborators, Google will send you a reminder email summarizing the files. The digest email will include information about the unviewed files that were shared with you and a link to “See more activity” on the Drive Activity page. Learn more about automatic digest emails in Drive.

Google has expanded support for voice typing and automatic captioning features to additional browsers: Microsoft Edge and Apple Safari. Previously, these features were only available in the Google Chrome browser. When a user turns on voice typing or captions, the web browser controls the speech-to-text service, determines how speech is processed, and then sends text data to Docs and Slides. Learn more about typing with your voice and presenting Slides with captions.

Google has expanded support for composing with Markdown in Docs on the web. These include the ability to: 

  • Convert Markdown to Docs content on paste 
  • Copy Docs content as Markdown 
  • Export a Doc as Markdown (from File > Download) 
  • Import Markdown as a Doc (from File > Open or "Open with Google Docs" from Drive) 

The import and export options are on by default. The “Copy as Markdown” and “Paste from Markdown” options are off by default and can be enabled in Docs by going to Tools > Preferences > Enable Markdown. Learn more about using Markdown in Docs, Slides, and Drawings.

Google has announced tables in Sheets. With tables, you can simplify spreadsheet building by bringing format and structure to unorganized ranges. By selecting your data range and clicking Format > Convert to table, Sheets will now organize data for you, including column types, filters, color coding, drop-down menus, and more. When using tables, you’ll also have access to a new type of view, “group by,” where you can aggregate your data into groups based on a selected column. Learn more about using tables in Sheets.

In Google Sheets, user selects the data range and converts it to a table format

Google has stated that they have doubled the speed of calculation in Sheets on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers.

  • Switch between edit, view, and comment modes in Slides 

Google has made it easier for you to switch between different modes in Slides. For example, if you’d like to hide comments within a presentation or avoid accidental edits, you can switch to view mode. To change your mode, navigate to the View > Mode > select a mode. Learn more about switching view mode on Slides. 

Google Chat

The options within Chat space notification settings are being updated to “All,” “Main conversations,” “For you,” and “None” so that you can better tailor your notifications preferences for in-line threaded spaces. Learn more about customizing notifications for a space with in-line threading.

You can now add up to 500,000 members to Chat spaces.

Google Meet

  • Scroll and zoom while presenting in Meet 

When presenting in Google Meet, you can now scroll and zoom in or out on your content directly from Meet. Learn more about presenting during a meeting.

Google has added 11 new languages for closed captions in Meet, including Czech, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian.

Previously Communicated

Google Calendar appointment schedules will replace appointment slots on July 18

Google Jamboard service will retire beginning October 1, 2024

8/1/2024

Between 2017 and 2018, Google released a digital whiteboard service integrated with Google Drive called “Jamboard.” It was announced last year that they will be retiring the Jamboard service and their physical devices in 2024. According to Google, the Jamboard retirement processes will begin on October 1, and the service will be officially shut down on December 31, 2024.

On October 1:

  • The Jamboard service will become view-only.
    • You can no longer create new Jamboard files (“Jams”) or edit existing ones on any platform, including the web, iPhone, iPad, Android, and Jamboard devices.
    • Google will begin automatically converting existing Jams to PDFs. The PDFs will be saved in the same Drive location as the Jam.
      • Google informed us that PDF conversions are done on a “best-effort basis.” If you would like to ensure your Jams are converted before the service is shut down on December 31, we recommend exporting your Jams (as PDFs or PNGs) manually as soon as possible.
      • The PDF will have the same created and last modified dates as the original Jam.
      • The PDF will be shared with the same collaborators as the original Jam.
      • Once a PDF has been created via conversion, any changes to the original Jam file, such as file location, will not be carried over to the PDF.
      • If ownership of the Jam was transferred to a new individual, but the new owner has not accepted it, the original owner will receive the PDF in Drive.
      • After your Jams are converted to PDFs, the original Jam files will remain in Drive until December 31.
  • Jamboard devices will go into “offline mode.” Jams can no longer be opened/edited, and Google will stop releasing security updates and new features for the device. If you own a Jamboard device on campus, ITS has contacted all owners via targeted email with more information.

On December 31, the Jamboard service will become unavailable on every platform, and existing Jam files will be permanently deleted.

ITS doesn’t offer an alternative solution to replace the Google Jamboard whiteboarding service or device. If you are interested in another whiteboarding service or device, you should explore other third-party solutions within your unit.

Final Reminder: Google Calendar appointment schedules will replace appointment slots on July 18

7/11/2024

As a final reminder, Google will be replacing the appointment slots feature in U-M Google Calendar with the appointment schedules feature on July 18, 2024. This change means that you will no longer be able to use appointment slots, and Google will permanently delete any existing, unbooked slots you have created beginning July 18. (Only the appointment slot blocks used for scheduling will be deleted. If an appointment slot is booked prior to July 18, that specific event will not be deleted.)

Because Google will not automatically transfer your slots to schedules, you will need to create a new appointment schedule and recreate your existing slots in this format manually. You should do this before July 18 to ensure your appointments aren’t lost. (If you do not use appointment slots, you can disregard this message.)

ITS has also created a list of tips and differences between features to assist you with moving your appointment slots to appointment schedules.

U-M Google April & May Monthly Summary

6/27/2024

Updates:

You can now set your Drive on the web to dark mode. Learn more about using Dark Mode in Drive.

  • New banner alerts for Google Drive item capacity limits in shared drives

Google has added new banner alerts in shared drives that appear when a drive approaches the item capacity limit (400,000). These banners will be visible when less than 20% capacity is left and will appear only for users who have edit access to add content to the specific shared drive. Learn more about other shared drive limits.

You now have the option to hide non-video tiles during Meet calls to focus on video-enabled participants. Users with their videos off can be shown on screen if/when they speak. This feature is only specific to your meeting view and does not impact what other participants see or set for their layouts during the meeting. Learn more about adjusting the tile view in Meet.

You can now transfer between devices while on a Meet call without hanging up and rejoining. For example, if you are taking a Meet call on your mobile device, you can switch to your laptop without issue. There is a new “Switch here” option when joining a meeting on your laptop, which will switch the call from your mobile device to the laptop. Learn more about transferring a meeting between devices in Meet.

You can now quickly convert ranges of data in Sheets into bulk drop-down chips. If you have a column of data that includes a variety of values (e.g., different project statuses), Sheets will show a “Convert to dropdown chips” suggestion when you click into your data range. By hovering over that indicator, you can preview the suggestion and then convert the values to drop-down chips in one click. To turn this feature off, click Tools > Suggestion controls > and uncheck the Enable dropdown chip suggestions box. Learn more about inserting smart chips in Sheets.

User clicks the new "Convert to dropdown chips" suggestion after selecting a range of data in a Google Sheets spreadsheet

Google has added a feature that improves control over your scrolling experience in Sheets. With smooth scrolling, you can scroll to a specific part of a row or column and stop wherever you’d like within the spreadsheet. This update works with all Sheets features, like frozen rows, hidden columns, charts, buttons, comments, and when you use scrollbars (instead of a mouse/trackpad). 

User demonstrating smooth scrolling in a Google Sheets spreadsheet

  • Address access permissions for embedded files in Google Sites

When adding embedded content from Google Drive into a Google Site, such as a PDF, document, or presentation, site editors will now be prompted to address potential access permission issues. The notification will also appear when site editors are publishing the site or sharing it with other site collaborators and viewers. This will ensure other site collaborators or viewers have permission to edit or view embedded Drive content when collaborating on a site. Learn more about adding Google files, videos, and more to Sites.

Google has updated the name of the Files tab in Google Chat spaces to “Shared.” The updated tab will improve upon the file management experience and create a central place to manage all conversation-related artifacts. You will also notice a refreshed user interface and features like a sort drop-down menu and support for shared links and media files.

  • Improved filtering for merged cells in Google Sheets 

You can now filter ranges with merged cells in Sheets.

  • For ranges with vertical merges, you can create a filter and apply various filter types (condition, values, and color). 
  • For ranges with horizontal merges, you can create a filter, apply various filter types (condition, values, and color), and sort by values or color. 

Learn more about sorting and filtering your data in Sheets.

  • Search for files directly using new search bar in Google Drive

You’ll notice an expanded search bar and enhanced search chip capabilities in the Google Drive Home view that enable you to filter files across your entire Drive.

Previously Communicated:

Less secure apps access is going away beginning June 15, 2024

Google Calendar appointment schedules will replace appointment slots on July 18

6/6/2024

Google will be replacing the appointment slots feature in U-M Google Calendar with the appointment schedules feature on July 18, 2024. This change means that you will no longer be able to use appointment slots, and Google will permanently delete any existing slots you have created or scheduled beginning July 18.

Because Google will not automatically transfer your slots to schedules, you will need to create a new appointment schedule and recreate your existing slots in this format manually. You should do this before July 18 to ensure your appointments aren’t lost. (If you do not use appointment slots, you can disregard this message.)

ITS has also created a list of tips and differences between features to assist you with moving your appointment slots to appointment schedules.