U-M Google Updates

Changes to “multiple inboxes” feature in Gmail

2/27/2020

Google will be making changes in Gmail to their “multiple inboxes” feature. The multiple inboxes feature is helpful for people who have multiple email accounts or who want to prioritize certain daily tasks or individuals. Multiple inboxes help you separate emails, like important tasks or those from specific people, and make them visible alongside your main inbox in Gmail.

Screenshot of the multiple inboxes feature in Gmail

Google will be making the following changes to the multiple inboxes feature:

  • Support for independent scrolling of each inbox
  • A unified action toolbar instead of separate toolbars for each inbox
  • New location in Settings (from “Advanced” to “Inbox”)
  • Adjustable width and collapsible right-side configurations
  • Removal of support for three-pane layouts with the preview pane (renamed “reading pane”)

If you currently have multiple inboxes in an unsupported configuration, you will see a notification in Gmail informing you of this upcoming change. The notification will appear in the lower right corner of your Inbox in Gmail. Once these changes begin to roll out to the U-M Google domain, the preview pane will turn OFF if you use multiple inboxes. If you want to continue using preview pane (i.e., reading pane), you will need to use an inbox type other than “multiple inboxes”. You can change this setting and inbox type by following Google’s steps in their G Suite Learning Center.

Screenshot of the preview pane change notification in Gmail

According to Google, this feature should begin showing up in U-M Google on March 5, 2020 and could take 15 days or longer to become fully visible.

To learn more about the upcoming changes to multiple inboxes, visit Google’s G Suite blog post. To learn more about setting up and using multiple inboxes in Gmail, visit Google’s G Suite Learning Center.

A Friendly Reminder: Check Your SPAM Label Periodically

2/25/2020

When was the last time you checked your spam label in Gmail? Once in a while, a legitimate email can be marked as spam instead of appearing in your Inbox. We recommend you check your spam label periodically for legitimate emails that may appear there by mistake. If you do find a message that has been accidentally marked as spam, you can select it and click Not Spam in the top toolbar to help ensure that future messages from this sender are not flagged as spam. Additionally, adding colleagues to your Google Contacts can help with mail delivery.

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.