What's new in Google Workspace? July / August
In constant pursuit of improving productivity and user experience, Google Workspace is pleased to introduce a number of innovative advancements and features.
These new features are designed to provide greater efficiency in the digital work environment. Throughout this new feature, we will explore in detail the latest updates that Google Workspace has implemented to enrich online collaboration and communication.
Reading Confirmation in Google Chat Groups
Amid recent improvements to Google Chat, a long-awaited feature has been introduced: read confirmations in group direct messages.
With this feature, users can now instantly identify whether other members of a group have had a chance to read their most recent message in a Chat conversation. This addition represents an important advancement for users who rely on Chat to communicate immediately with their colleagues. In a world where digital communication is constant and often overwhelming, knowing who has read your message can be crucial for setting response expectations and ensuring high visibility of important topics in group conversations.
And as an added benefit, a similar feature has been introduced for Chat spaces. To get a more detailed view of how members interact with content in these spaces, simply hover over the message, select the three-dot menu and click on "View message views".
Availability
- Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts
Organizer identification in Google Calendar for Microsoft Outlook users
Previously, when a Microsoft Outlook user extended a meeting invitation to a Google Calendar user, the Outlook organizer's name was not reflected in the list of attendees in Google Calendar. Google released an update that allows the Outlook organizer to be clearly presented as the meeting organizer in Google Calendar.
Availability
- This feature is also available to all Google Workspace customers and users, including personal Google Accounts.
Workday Application Integration with Google Chat
An exciting new development is the inclusion of the Workday app in Google Chat. This innovative app allows users to expeditiously perform a number of actions in Workday, such as requesting permissions, submitting expense reports, and searching for information about colleagues, all without leaving the Google Chat platform.
How to configure it?
Administrators:
- Administrators have the ability to define whether users can install the Workday for Google Chat application from the Google Workspace Marketplace, and also have the option to install it on behalf of users within their domain.
End users:
- If allowed by the administrators, users have the possibility to install Google Chat applications via the "New chat" button in Google Chat. The installed applications will be reflected in the Chat conversation list.
Availability
- This feature is available to all Google Workspace customers and users, including personal Google Accounts.
Client-Side Encryption in Gmail
Google has implemented two new client-side encryption features in Gmail to help users quickly identify incompatible recipients and blocked attachments.
Durante la redacción de un correo electrónico en Gmail utilizando el cifrado del lado del cliente, se resaltará con un distintivo en color rojo cualquier destinatario que no pueda recibir mensajes cifrados. El envío del correo electrónico no se permitirá hasta que se eliminen estos destinatarios.
Gmail bloqueará de forma automática los archivos adjuntos que puedan contener virus, como mensajes con archivos ejecutables o secuencias de comandos. En caso de que un mensaje cifrado del lado del cliente en Gmail incluya archivos bloqueados, se mostrará un mensaje de advertencia que impedirá la descarga del archivo.
Availability
- These features are available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus and Education Standard customers.
Integration of Google Sheets with Mail Merge in Gmail
Last year, Google simplified the process of sending personalized emails to multiple recipients with the introduction of multi-sending in Gmail and the ability to personalize them using mail merge labels like @firstname and @lastname. Today, we're excited to announce a significant improvement: the full integration of Mail Merge with Google Sheets in the web version of Gmail.
Esta integración brinda la posibilidad de enviar correos electrónicos altamente personalizados y atractivos a grandes audiencias directamente desde la plataforma web de Gmail. Es una herramienta valiosa para quienes desean comunicarse de manera efectiva y personalizada con sus contactos.
What else should you keep in mind?
With this update, Mail Merge will completely replace multiple sending in Gmail. In addition, the icon has been moved from the main compose toolbar at the bottom of the email draft to the top right corner of the compose window. Still, users can use built-in merge tags such as @firstname, @lastname, @fullname and @email, even without linking a Google Sheets sheet.
As with multi-sending, emails generated through Mail Merge include a unique unsubscribe link for each recipient by default. Those who choose to unsubscribe will be automatically excluded from future emails generated through Mail Merge.
How to start this functionality?
To link your Google Sheets sheet to a draft in Gmail, activate Mail Merge using the icon in the upper right corner of a new drafting tab. Then, select which sheet you are going to use for the recipient's data. Make sure that the sheet contains at least one column of email addresses and one column with recipient names.
It is important to mention that users are limited to 1500 recipients or Mail Merge messages per day, and it is not possible to use CC or BCC when adding recipients from a Google Sheets sheet.
To complete the spreadsheet linking, simply choose the columns containing the email addresses and names of the recipients. In addition, you can insert combined labels in your draft by typing "@" to display a list of available labels.
Availability
- This feature is available to Google Workspace customers, including Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and non-profit organizations. Facilitating effective and personalized communication for all Google Workspace users.
