What's new in Google Workspace? May/June
We never have no news about Google Workspace. As we always say, Google works every day to improve the tools it provides and allow us to work collaboratively and efficiently.Â
So, what's new? We have news for users and administrators. These are mainly aimed at removing obstacles while working collaboratively and facilitating the organization and operation of your console.Â
What are these updates?
Quickly access more features during your meetings on Google Meet
This update to Google Meet on the web will give you quick access to more features during your meetings. Now, by hovering over your own video feed, you'll be able to choose video effects such as wraparound backgrounds and fun filters to add a touch of fun and creativity to your virtual meetings. Plus, you'll have a reframing option to enhance your visibility in the meeting.
One outstanding feature is the ability to turn off the video stream of other participants through a quick action on your own video. This is useful in situations where you want to focus attention solely on the presenter or eliminate visual distractions that may disrupt the dynamics of the meeting.
These new features will allow you to customize and optimize your Google Meet meetings, giving you more control over your visual environment.
AvailabilityÂ
- The new quick action menu is available to all Google Workspace customers.
- Note: Restatement feature is only available for Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning upgrade and Workspace Individual customers. Also available to Google One subscribers with 2TB or more of storage space.
BONUS: Improved the experience for admitting or rejecting Google Meet login requests.
Currently, the admission dialog box interrupts access to other meeting functions:
For a better experience, join requests will be moved to the people panel. Here, users can take their time to review join requests without interrupting the overall meeting experience and without blocking the functionality of other meeting features.Â
Availability:
- Â Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts.
Attention administrators! Use Directory Sync to replace the domain name for synchronized users.
With the Directory Sync feature, administrators have the ability to automatically replace the domain name of users and groups that are synchronized in the Google cloud directory. This means that users and groups synchronized in Google can have a different domain name than the one used in the external directory after synchronization.
Within your Google Workspace account, you can check the domain names that can be used to replace user and group domain names. Administrators have the option to specify whether the domain change will apply to newly synchronized users and groups or also to previously synchronized users and groups.
Directory Synchronization is available as an open beta version, which means that you do not need to register to access it.Â
Availability
- Available for all Google Workspace customers.
Use the add-on mode to sign up for a Google Meet conference room
One challenge when joining a virtual meeting from a conference room is that people are identified by the name of the room rather than their individual identity. However, Google Meet has introduced a new feature called Companion Mode Check-in to solve this problem. Now, when joining a meeting from a conference room, you can use Companion Mode on your personal device to check in to that specific room. This way, all participants will be able to easily identify who is in the room, instead of just seeing the name of the room.
After joining the companion mode on your personal device, you will be prompted to register for the room. Registered participants will appear below the conference room in the people panel, making it easy to identify each individual present in the meeting.
Discover this functionality in detail:
Room registration will be enabled by default, butadministrators have the option to disable this feature for specific Meet hardware devices or individual users. This allows for greater flexibility in configuring the feature according to the needs of the organization.
The room registration feature is intended to ensure that all meeting participants can see each person's name and be aware of their presence, rather than simply identifying them by the conference room they are in. By activating your personal video tile during the presentation, your name will be displayed along with the conference room name, providing greater individual representation.
In addition, this experience also applies when using the raise hand feature during the meeting. If you have your personal video tile disabled, the raise hand icon will be displayed next to your name in the conference room view.
It should be noted that this feature is only available for Google Meet hardware devices and is not compatible with interoperability devices at this time.
AvailabilityÂ
- Available for all Google Workspace customers with Meet Hardware devices.Â
Currently, when users request access to a file, file owners receive an email with the option to share the file or decline the request.Â
Starting with this update, users can review and respond to requests from within the archive. There will be a notification point on the "Share" button when they have a pending access request and a new banner at the top of the sharing dialog box.Â
Clarification: Notifications by mail will continue to be sent.
AvailabilityÂ
- Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts.
Write messages faster and easier with intelligent message composing in Google Chat
We already know about smart writing in Gmail and Google Docs. As you type, this machine learning-driven feature suggests contextually relevant sentences. Thanks to it you can save time by reducing repetitive typing and also you will no longer have spelling and grammatical errors.Â
From now on, Smart Compose is available in Google Chat on the web. It will suggest short answers to messages. Why? To be able to respond faster and move forward in conversations or projects more efficiently.Â
Important: Intelligent Writing is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian.Â
AvailabilityÂ
- Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts.
Attention administrators! Monitor additional Google Meet hardware issues in the Admin Console
You now have the ability to detect and monitor additional Meet hardware issues through the management console. These issues include missing display, driver, default camera, default microphone, default speaker, and default whiteboard camera. These new issues will be displayed in the peripheral status on the device list page and in the issue timeline. In addition, you will receive email and SMS alerts to keep you informed.
The issue timeline in the Meet hardware management console has been updated to include additional rows for the display and driver. In addition, administrators now have the ability to remove previously set default peripherals from the peripheral tree on the device details page. Previously, this was only possible by setting a different peripheral as the new default.
With this update, administrators can also obtain information on other types of crucial peripherals, allowing them to monitor the health of their rooms more effectively.
Availability
- Available for all Google Workspace customers with Meet Hardware devices.
