U-M Google Updates

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.

Map your site to a custom URL in the new Google Sites

8/30/2017

We announced, back in January that new Google Sites did not support URL mapping for custom URLs. We heard that this is a very important feature for many of you and provided feedback to Google.

Thank you for your patience! Google listened to our feedback and recently announced that custom URL mapping has been added to the new Google Sites. Now you can have a friendlier, easier-to-remember, URL for your new Google sites.

New Service Sites and Learning Resources for U-M Box and U-M Google!

8/21/2017

The Collaboration Services team has had a busy summer! We were hard at work redesigning our websites and developing new ways to help campus learn about Box and Google.

Take a look at the new U-M Box and U-M Google service sites!
We built new websites based upon device independence, consumable information, usability, findability, and accessibility all to provide a seamless user experience. We chose only the important stuff to put on the sites, leaving out what you just pass over. This reduces the time it takes you to find what you are looking for.

Check out the Learning Resources tool for U-M Box and U-M Google!
With the service sites, we launched a new resource for learning how to get the most out of Box and Google. We scoured campus to survey and interview faculty and staff on what they want to learn and how they want to learn. We developed the tool based on our findings and took it back out to campus for testing. This led to several updates and re-testing until we felt we got it right. The Learning Resources tool is a collection of documentation, videos, events, and recordings from Box, Google, and U-M. Content can be filtered by topic, format, and source. It can also be searched by keyword.

We are also developing a new instructor-led training program.
We continue to hear that campus needs in-person training. So, we used our findings from our campus survey and interviews to begin developing courses on Box and the G Suite (Google) apps. We will have introductory and more advanced courses scheduled throughout the year and held all around the Ann Arbor campus. We’ll announce when the program is ready to go. Join the U-M Collaboration Forum to receive all our announcements on U-M Box and U-M Google.

The Collaboration Services Team