U-M Google Updates

U-M Google March Monthly Summary

4/21/2021

The monthly U-M Google summaries inform the university community of Google releases. We communicate important information throughout the month.

Updates:

Google has expanded tile view layouts for Google Meet on iOS and Android to match the current experience on the web. With this update, you can now see up to 8 video feeds on phones and see up to 48 video feeds on some iPads.

Google has made it easier to find the original source file for Google Drive-stored video or audio files embedded in a Google Slides presentation. You can now click the “link to Drive” button on an embedded video or audio file to open the source file in Drive.

Screenshot of two example slides in Google Slides. Red circle around the "link to drive" icon on each slide.

To prevent unauthorized users from responding on your behalf to Google Calendar event invitations, you’ll now be required to be logged in to use any of the RSVP hyperlinks in Calendar invite emails. Previously, organizers or anyone with a specific invitee's invitation copy could respond on behalf of that invitee. Refer to the Google Help Center to learn more about responding to event invitations.

When using Jamboard on the web, you can now: 

  • See the version history, 
  • Create named versions, and 
  • Restore a previous version of a Jam file.

GIF, web interface for Jamboard, open on an example Jam showing different types of rulers. Cursor moves and clicks the three dots icon in top right corner and selects "See version history"

Google has introduced a new way to view and manage notifications in the Google Drive mobile app for Android. With this update you can: 

  • See all your notifications in one place, even without device notifications enabled.
  • Choose filters to control the types of notifications you get.
  • Delete and dismiss notifications you don’t want.
  • Take actions like sharing files directly from notifications.
  • Show more file information directly from the notification.

Open the Google Drive mobile app, navigate to “Priority” and find the “Notifications” tab on the top of the screen. Refer to the Google Help Center to learn more about Google Drive notifications.

You can now snooze Google Calendar desktop notifications directly from the notification itself. By default, snoozed notifications will reappear one minute before the scheduled meeting, but you can change this timing in your Calendar settings. You can also “re-snooze” a notification for an additional five minutes as many times as you’d like until the meeting ends. This feature will be on by default if you have desktop notifications enabled. You cannot remove the option to snooze notifications, but you can change the timing of snoozed notifications. Refer to the Google Help Center to learn more about changing and turning off Calendar notifications.

You'll now see an anchor icon in Google Sites when editing a section that includes a background image. When selected, you can choose what point to anchor the image on or if the image should be centered.

Google has updated how some search operators work in Google Drive. This includes adding new search operators and changing the behavior of some existing search operators. You’ll still be able to perform all the same searches, just the operators you’ll use for them may change. The specific changes are:

  • “from:” will now return files shared with you by the specified email address. Previously, it would have returned files owned by that email address.
  • “to:” will now return files that you have shared with the specified email address. Previously, it would have returned all files that the email address had permissions to view, comment, or edit.
  • “sharedwith:” is a new search operator which will return files that the specified email address owns or has permission to view, comment or edit.
  • “owner:” returns files owned by the specified email address. There is no change to this operator, but you can use it to return the results for which you would previously have used the “from:” operator.

Refer to the Google Help Center to learn more about advanced search features in Google Drive.

Google has updated the presenter toolbar in Google Slides When presenting, now you’ll see options for: 

  • Selecting the previous or next slide.
  • Selecting any slide from the picker.
  • The three-dot overflow menu, which will display options for opening speaker notes, autoplay, caption preferences, and more.

GIF, example Google Slides presentation, in presentation full-screen mode. Cursor clicks the change slide button in the lower left corner, then clicks the three dot icon in same location. Finally, it hovers over the nested menu to show nested sections.

Previously Communicated:

U-M Google February Monthly Summary

3/30/2021

The monthly U-M Google summaries inform the university community of Google releases. We communicate important information throughout the month.

Updates:

When you search for an email address in Gmail, you will now see all emails associated with that specific address and any aliases with which it’s associated. (These results will be pulled from the To, From, CC, and BCC fields and the content of emails.)

Google Meet now allows you to double-check that your external devices (i.e., webcams, microphones, etc.) are properly configured and connected and that your network connectivity is stable before joining a Google Meet session. When a problem is detected, you’ll see a warning and tips for troubleshooting common issues, like granting your browser permission to use the microphone or webcam. Visit the Google Workspace Help Center to learn more about previewing how you look and sound before a video call and troubleshooting performance in Google Meet.

Screenshot of the new Google Meet device check. "Camera is off" video screen on the left, under that is the text button "Check your audio and video" with a red box around it. On the right side is the meeting details with the "Join now" and "Present" buttons.

In Google Docs, you’ll now see out-of-office information when replying to or mentioning other users in a comment. This will appear on both single-person and multi-person comment threads. Visit the Google Workspace Help Center to learn more about setting your OOO status and sharing your calendar.

On the left is a comment thread in Google Docs, showing a half-written tagged comment and the new OOO notice about "Comment". It is the same on the right side, except this comment thread has multiple in it.

Meeting hosts can now mute everyone all at once in Google Meet. The meeting host is the only user in a Meet session who can use the “Mute all” feature. Once all participants are muted, the meeting host cannot unmute them; users will have to unmute themselves. According to Google, this feature will only be available for hosts who are joining from a desktop browser but will be launching on other platforms in the coming months. Visit the Google Workspace Help Center to learn more about muting participants in Google Meet.

 

Google Meet meeting hosts can now choose to keep others in the session or to end the session for everyone.

GIF showing a fake Google Meet session, a dialog box prompt asking if you'd like to end the call for all or leave it open. Ends with the usual Google Meet session quality rating.

  • More options for sharing your availability in Google Calendar

Google has added two new ways to customize your availability in Google Calendar. Specifically, you can: 

  • Create repeating out-of-office events. 
  • Split your working hours into multiple segments each day. 

At the moment, working hour segments will only be available on the web, and repeating out-of-office events will only be available on the web and Android devices. Visit the Google Workspace Help Center to learn more about splitting your working hours or creating repeating out-of-office entries in Google Calendar. 

Google has added two new ways to make finding comments and action items that require your attention in Google Docs on the web easier.

  • New comment activity since you last viewed a document will be “badged” with a blue dot. Additionally, when you hover over the blue dot, you’ll see a “New” banner appear.
  • In the Comments history, Google has added filtering options. You can now sort comments by “For you,” “All comments,” or “Resolved.” Visit the Google Workspace Help Center to learn more about using comments and action items.

 

  • New hyperlink experience in Google Docs

Google has changed the look and feel of the dialog box that appears when adding a hyperlink to text in Google Docs. You can now add links to bookmarks and headers within the document without needing to copy the link first by clicking “In this document.”

Screenshot in Google Docs, shows the new dialog box that appears when attaching a link to a word. It now lists recent Google Docs and links you visited.

Previously Communicated:

Note: We apologize for the delay in communicating the February summary this month - March has been busy!! - Madi :)

Notice: End of IE11 support for all Google Workspace apps

3/4/2021

Google has announced that they will be ending Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) support for all Google Workspace apps on March 15, 2021. To avoid any possible disruptions in service, such as degraded performance or security vulnerabilities, please switch to a supported browser (i.e., Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge) before that date. This change comes after the announcement in August 2020 that Microsoft will be ending IE11 support for all Microsoft 365 applications by August 2021.

If you are still accessing the Google Workspace apps via IE11, you should have already begun to notice a banner from Google informing you to upgrade your browser by March 15.

"Gmail won't be supported on Internet Explorer after March 15th, 2021" and then links to supported browsers.

Set custom backgrounds in Google Meet

2/9/2021

Google has announced that Google Workspace for Education domains can now allow users to replace their backgrounds with an image in Google Meet. You can either use Google’s pre-set images or upload your own image. Currently, custom backgrounds can only be set when in a Google Meet session within Google Chrome on Chrome OS, macOS, and Windows devices. Support on the Meet mobile apps will be coming soon.

intro text = "Replace backgrounds in Google Meet", then proceeds to show a Meet session with changing backgrounds for the participants.

Visit the Google Help Center to learn more about how to change your background in Google Meet.

This feature should have begun to show up in U-M Google on February 2, 2021, but it could take a day or two to become fully visible.

U-M Google January Monthly Summary

2/9/2021

The monthly U-M Google summaries inform the university community of Google releases. We communicate important information throughout the month, which is aggregated here for your convenience.

Updates:

To learn more about Smart Compose in Google Docs, visit the Google Help Center.

You can now turn the Google Meet Quick access setting on or off when creating/editing a Google Calendar event that includes a Google Meet session. (The Quick access setting helps you control if participants must ask to join the video meeting.) Previously, the setting could only be controlled via the Host controls menu during the meeting. 

Adding comments in Google Docs will now include the Smart Compose and autocorrect features. Smart Compose suggestions will appear in light grey when typing and, to accept a suggestion, press the TAB key. Misspelled words will automatically be corrected while typing and denoted with a grey, dashed underline. As you continue typing, this dashed line will disappear.

Google has added tools in Google Meet that make it easier for you to understand how your local desktop and network environments affect meeting quality. During a call, you can now go to the three-dot menu and select “Troubleshooting and Help” to see: 

  • CPU load and network stability over time.
  • Time segments highlighted when the local environment likely affects the call quality.
  • Suggested actions to help improve call performance.
  • Real-time feedback on the effect of any action taken on network and processing load.
  • Tips for performing common tasks, like presenting content and recording meetings.

Visit the Google Workspace Learning Center to learn more about troubleshooting issues in Google Meet.

Shows a mouse clicking through and hovering over various pieces of the new "Troubleshooting and help" menu for Google Meet.

You can now resize the Google Chat and Rooms sections in the left-side navigation of Gmail on the web.

Screenshot of the left navigation bar of Gmail on the web. There is a circle around a zoomed in view of the resize icon above Chat.

 

Google is in the process of changing the experience when you join or start a meeting from meet.google.com.
When you click “New meeting,” you’ll now see the following options:

  • Create a meeting for later: Generate joining information for a new meeting. You can save this information to use later.
  • Start an instant meeting: Join a meeting with one click. Once in the meeting, you can add others or copy the joining information to share. Note: Your camera and microphone will be on automatically if you select this option. You can turn them off once in the meeting.
  • Schedule in Google Calendar: Opens Google Calendar in a new tab to create an event with Meet conferencing details automatically populated.

Note: You may need to clear your browser’s cache before you see the change take effect over the next couple of weeks.

Now when you’re sharing your screen, Google Chrome will automatically hide the content of web pop-up notifications. This includes notifications from Google Chat, email notifications, and other third party websites. When you’re done sharing your screen, all muted notifications will be automatically displayed. (Note that notifications are already muted when sharing a tab in Google Meet.)

Shows top right corner of a macOS device with multiple hidden Chrome notifications popping up.

 

Google is adding a range name box in Google Sheets, located to the left of the formula bar, to improve navigation. Previously, active cells were only indicated by a blue outline and could be located by scrolling or using the arrow keys. Now, you can use the range name box to jump directly to coordinates and named ranges in a sheet. Additionally, this box provides a drop-down menu to easily access, manage, and create new named ranges in the sheet. Visit the Google Help Center for more information on using named ranges in Google Sheets. 

Previously Communicated: