U-M Google Updates

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:

• Live captions in Hangouts Meet now available on iOS

Google now supports live captions on the Hangouts Meet iOS app. Currently, live captions are only available in English. Additionally, captions will not appear in a recording of a meeting. Check out the Google Help Center to learn more about how to use captions in a video meeting.

• Learn how to organize and analyze data with Google Sheets on Coursera

You can learn how to organize information and analyze data using Google’s new Coursera course, “Getting Started with Google Sheets.” This course is ideal for users who are new to Sheets or are looking to sharpen their analytical skills. This course is free for all users with the option to pay an additional fee for access to additional content, projects, quizzes, and an official course certificate. Visit the Coursera website to access the Getting Started with Google Sheets course.

• Insert collapsible text boxes into new Google Sites

You can now insert collapsible text boxes into a new Google Site, which site viewers can then click to expand. Collapsible text boxes can help condense large blocks of text, like content on FAQ or Help Center pages, allowing viewers to quickly navigate to the most relevant information.

• Revamped My Devices page will help users find and manage their devices

Google has updated their My Devices page. You can go to the page to see the devices you’ve used to log in and then manage those devices. It includes detailed device information, an option to log out of the device, and an option to wipe the device. There is a new URL for the page - mydevices.google.com - and it now includes both mobile and desktop devices. 

• Add different page numbers to different sections in Google Docs

In Google Docs, you can now customize which sections to add page numbers to and which number to start counting from. To access this feature, go to Insert > Page Numbers > More options. Visit Google’s Help Center to learn more about page numbers in Google Docs. 

• Dynamic email in Gmail available on Android and iOS

Dynamic email is now rolling out within the Gmail app on Android and iOS devices. Dynamic email allows you to take action directly within a message, such as responding to a comment in Google Docs, RSVPing to an event in Google Calendar, and more. To learn more about dynamic email in Gmail, visit Google’s blog post. 

Note: If you previously turned off dynamic email within Gmail when it was turned on for the U-M Google domain, it should remain turned off for your individual account in the app. When you receive dynamic emails they will not appear as dynamic within the Gmail app. To find out how to disable dynamic email for your account, visit Google’s Help Center.

• Enhance presentations in Slides with audio

We previously communicated in April the ability to embed MP3 and WAV audio files from Google Drive into Google Slides presentations. Shortly after our communication, Google delayed the feature’s rollout. According to Google, the feature is finally rolling out to the U-M Google domain and should now be available. 

To insert an audio file into Slides:

• Insert > Audio and select from your audio files in Drive
• Hover over the icon to see playback controls

Once the audio file is inserted, you can find audio settings by selecting Format options in the toolbar. From there, you can set playback options, volume, and looping. You can also hide the audio icon or replace it with an image of your choice. The ability to add an audio file into Slides is currently only available on desktop, though audio will play on all platforms.

Previously Communicated:

• More Comprehensive Sent Gmail Retention

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:

• A new look for the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides Android apps
  Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides now have a new look on Android devices. While there are no functionality changes, users will notice visual improvements, including a restyled document list, highly-legible typefaces, consistent controls, and updated iconography. These changes are a continued part of Google’s larger Material redesign of their services.
• Customize text size and position for captions in Google Slides
  You can now personalize caption text size and position while presenting in Google Slides. These features can help make captions easier to read or you could make your text smaller to maximize the number of words on the screen at once.
• Directly click on chart elements to move and delete them in Google Sheets
  Google has added new features that give you more options to easily customize your charts in Google Sheets. Now you can click directly on data labels, chart titles, or legends and drag to reposition them. You can also easily delete these elements using the delete or backspace keys.

• Set profile picture for Gmail and all Google apps
  When you go to change your profile picture in Gmail you’ll be redirected to the About me section of your Google profile settings to set it. Currently, profile pictures set in Gmail are only displayed in Gmail. This means your profile picture in Gmail may be different than your Google account profile photo, which can make it difficult to know which picture will be displayed where. This change simplifies things by allowing you to set a single profile picture in one place and then displaying that single photo across all Google apps. If your Gmail and profile photos are currently different, you’ll see a pop-up when you visit your About me settings which will prompt you to select one of the images or choose an entirely new photo.

• Material Design for Hangouts Meet on the web
  Hangouts Meet will be getting a new look on the web interface. While there are no functionality changes, users will notice visual improvements, including updated fonts and highly-legible typefaces, consistent controls, and updated iconography and colors. These changes are a continued part of Google’s larger Material redesign of their services.
• Instantly create new docs, events, spreadsheets and more from your browser
  You can now quickly create new files directly from your browser with “.new” domains for several Google services. For example, you can type “Cal.new” into your browser to create a new Google Calendar event. The .new domains are Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, Cal, and Keep. 
• Gmail “Canned Responses” are now called “Templates”
  Google has recently renamed the “Canned Responses” feature in Gmail to “Templates” to more accurately describe the functionality of what this feature does. Now when you go to use a previously created Canned Response, you will notice the name changed to Templates. For more information on Gmail’s Templates, visit Google’s help center.