U-M Google Updates

Google Docs Newest Features Help Team Collaboration

9/27/2017

Working collaboratively on Docs, Sheets, and Slides can be difficult sometimes. Keeping track of all the changes and suggestions that your teammates make can become overwhelming. That’s why Google has created powerful real-time editing tools to help you work together better.

New Ways To Track Changes:

  • Name versions of a Doc, Sheet, or Slide on the web.
    You can organize and track your team’s changes in one place under “Version history” (formerly known as “Revision history”) on the web. Select File > Version history > Name current version. For even quicker recall, there’s an option to select “Only show named versions” in Docs, Sheets, or Slides..
  • Preview “clean versions” of Docs on the web to see what your Doc looks like without comments or suggested edits.
    Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Preview accept all or Preview reject all.
  • Accept or reject all edit suggestions at once in your Doc so your team doesn’t have to review every single punctuation mark or formatting update.
    Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Accept all or Reject all.
  • Suggest changes in a Doc from an Android, iPhone, or iPad device.
    Click the menu in the top right of your Doc screen to suggest edits on the go. Turn on the “Suggest changes” toggle and start typing.

New Ways To Use Templates:

Google has introduced new templates with built-in add-ons and the ability to create your own, so templates not only look good—but they make sure the work gets done. You can find five examples of these new templates in the general template gallery. In addition, you can create your own template with built-in add-on customized to your needs.

Embed Websites into the New Google Sites

9/21/2017

Google continues to add features to the new Sites app. One that was available in Classic Sites is the ability to embed another website in a Google Site. Based on feedback, Google has now added the ability to embed an entire webpage as an iframe in a new Google Site. This allows you to pull in content from other websites and Google tools like Apps Script and Data Studio. Select Embed URL from the Insert menu.

Note: This only works if that webpage allows it to be embedded. Otherwise, only a link to the webpage is inserted.

Coming Soon! Google Drive File Stream

9/13/2017

Google Drive File Stream is an upcoming desktop application that allows you to access your Google Drive directly from your computer and uses almost none of your hard disk space. With this launch, the Google Drive for Mac/PC app is officially deprecated. It will no longer be supported starting on December 11, 2017, and it will shut down completely on March 12, 2018. Accessing Drive with a web browser is not affected.

With Google Drive File Stream, you stream your Google Drive files directly from the cloud to your Mac or PC, freeing up disk space and network bandwidth. Because the Drive files are stored in the cloud, any changes you or your collaborators make are automatically updated everywhere. You’ll always have the latest version.

You can also make Drive files available for offline access. These cached files sync back to the cloud when you're online, so the latest version is available on all your devices.

  • With Drive File Stream, you can:
  • See your Google Drive files in Mac OS Finder/Windows Explorer (including Team Drives).
  • Browse and organize Google Drive files without downloading them to your computer.
  • Choose which files or folders you'd like to make available offline.
  • Open files in common apps like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop.

After testing and evaluation by the ITS Collaboration team, Google Drive File Stream will be available in the settings drop-down menu and will gradually roll out to campus in early October.

A couple of important things to note:

  • In October, you may start seeing messages notifying you that the Drive for Mac/PC app is going away.
  • Team Drive editors won’t be able to edit their Team Drive files when they’re opened in Drive File Stream; they’ll only be able to view them. To edit these files, you will need to open them in Drive on the web.

Learn about Google Team Drives at 9/14 Webinar

9/6/2017

Google makes sharing and collaboration easy with Docs, Sheets, Slides and more. But individual ownership of files becomes problematic when a team member leaves U-M. The new Google Team Drives offers a model of team-based ownership of files. Join Jen Mruk and brian cors (ITS) to learn how Google Team Drives can solve sharing and collaboration issues, and how to get started using them in your department. IT4U77: Google Team Drives. Thursday, 9/14, 9-9:45 a.m. Register in My LINC.

IT4U is a regular series of 30- and 45-minute interactive webinars brought to you by Information & Technology Services. Learn and apply tips and techniques for working with ITS tools, products, and services. Visit the IT4U web page for a searchable list of recordings of previous webinars.

U-M Google August Summary

9/5/2017

The monthly U-M Google Summaries inform campus 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

Non-Core Apps

Previously Communicated

Note: Keep in mind that even when non-core apps are found in a core app (like Google Drive), they are not covered by the G Suite for Education agreement.