U-M Google Updates

New accessibility settings for Docs, Sheets, and Slides!

4/1/2019

In Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, it is now easier to find the accessibility features like screen reader support, braille support, and screen magnifier support.

Although these accessibility features were already available, they required additional steps to access the accessibility menu. This change makes these settings more readily available by placing them in the Tools menu.

Access the Accessibility menu by selecting Tools, then Accessibility settings...

Google accessibility settings new access from Tools menu

Google accessibility settings dropdown access  Google accessibility settings popup menu selection

If Turn on screen reader support is selected, an Accessibility menu will be displayed at the top of Docs, Sheets, and Slides for easy access.

Google accessibility new header placement

 

Interested in our latest updates about Google G Suite at U-M? Check out the Google Service Updates page.

Recurring Calendar meetings migrate to Hangouts Meet

3/26/2019

In 2018, Google announced they would begin slowly releasing their new video conferencing service, Hangouts Meet. As part of moving video calls away from Classic Hangouts and over to Hangouts Meet, Google will begin migrating video conferencing links for recurring Calendar events from Classic Hangouts to Hangouts Meet.

According to Google, this migration is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 25 and could take 15 days or more to reach all accounts at U-M.

This change will take place gradually as users join affected meetings. They will see a migration banner notifying them that “Future occurrences of this meeting will use the new Hangouts Meet”. After the end of the call, all participants will get updated event information with the new meeting details. Single instance (non-recurring) Calendar events will remain unchanged.

Google Hangouts Meet migration from Hangouts classic screengrab with the new "migration" alert banner

For more information on the migration, visit Google’s product announcement page. Additionally, see how Classic Hangouts compares to Hangouts Meet on Google’s Help Center.

 

Interested in our latest updates about Google G Suite at U-M? Check out the Google Service Updates page.

Reminder: Inbox by Gmail Ending

3/21/2019

 

Inbox by Gmail (a separate email interface) has been a place where Google experimented with new ideas like snoozing emails and trying their latest AI-powered experiences like Smart Reply, Nudges and high-priority notifications.

Four years after launching Inbox by Gmail in 2014, Google has taken several popular Inbox experiences and added them into their main Gmail interface. Google is now planning to focus solely on Gmail and will discontinue Inbox by Gmail beginning April 2, 2019.

Google introduced the new Gmail interface in April 2018, incorporating many of the same features found in Inbox and newer features like Smart Compose. To learn more about these new features, check out Google’s blog post.

Many on campus fell in love with Inbox by Gmail, so to make this a bit easier, Google created a transition guide to help switch from Inbox by Gmail to the new Gmail. There's also no need to worry about losing your emails - Google already stores them in Gmail.

Create Your Own Team Drives in U-M Google!

3/18/2019

Google Team Drives are a great place to store files for teams and projects. Previously, you could request a Team Drive be created by ITS. Now, any U-M Google account can create a Team Drive! This new ability is gradually rolling out on the UMICH domain.  

The files and folders in a Team Drive are all owned by U-M and not tied to an individual U-M Google account. That means as individuals come and go, all the files remain available in the Team Drive. They don’t follow the individual or get deleted.
 

Select Team Drives, under My Drive, and click New to get started. We recommend that each Google Team Drive be named with your department's Active Directory prefix or generally recognized prefix. (Example: ITS | Service Center) You can move files from My Drive to a Team Drive, but folders cannot currently be moved.

Watch a recording of the training webinar on Team Drives, review our Team Drives documentation and learn more at the G Suite Learning Center.

ACTION NEEDED: Save Your Google+ Communities and Download Affected Content

3/14/2019

As we first communicated on March 4, Google will delete some content in U-M Google+ on April 2, 2019. The ITS Collaboration Services team consulted with Google+ Product Managers to develop a recommended action plan. Please note this information is what we currently understand, according to Google. See the most up to date information directly from Google.

COMMUNITIES

  • Communities owned by at least one U-M G Suite account will remain.
  • Communities not owned by a U-M G Suite account will be deleted
  • Community posts made by non-G Suite accounts, even in Communities with a U-M G Suite owner, will be deleted.

Actions Needed:

  • Act now to make sure at least one person with a U-M G Suite account is an Owner on your Community.
    • Add a G Suite account as a Moderator to Communities
    • Two weeks later, convert that Moderator to an Owner
      (The account must be a Moderator for two weeks before it can be made an Owner. March 18 is the last day to take action.) 
  • Archive your Google+ Community to capture contributions from everyone, before content is deleted.

PAGES 
All Google+ Pages, like the U-M Google page, will be deleted. 
Action Needed: Download and archive your page content with the Google Takeout tool.