This official feed from the Google Workspace team provides essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers.
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Quick summary 

Building upon the recently announced emoji reaction feature, you can now express yourself in a new way by searching for and inserting emojis directly inline with your text in Google Docs. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: To search for and add emojis directly inline with text in Docs, follow one or all of the options below: 
    • Type “@” followed by a descriptor, such as “@smile,” to search for a specific emoji amongst other menu items
    • Type “@:” or “:” to see a dropdown list of emojis and the option to navigate to the entire catalog of emojis 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 


Roadmap 

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What’s changing 

In December 2021, we announced the ability for admins to use their displays as digital signage when their Meet hardware devices are not in use. Today, we’re giving admins more options for customization by using their Appspace digital signage content. 



Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 



Why it’s important 

You can leverage the screensaver on your Google Meet hardware devices to display corporate signage or customized content across your hardware fleet. 


We know many of our customers use Appspace for general digital signage needs within their organizations. This update makes it easier for you to use Appspace as a source for content to display on your Google Meet hardware devices. 


Please note that screen savers are not interactive—tapping your touch controller or using the remote will cause the screen saver to be dismissed, and the device will return to displaying the agenda on the homepage. 


Additional details 

We highly recommend you use Appspace’s advanced registration flow to make it easier to pre-register all of your Google Meet hardware at once. Note that Appspace is a paid service and there may be additional costs associated with registering your devices on their platform. 


In some cases, this feature can conflict with the power-saving feature on your Meet hardware devices. To ensure that your custom screen saver is visible, be sure to set displays as active during working hours in the organizational unit you’re targeting. 


Getting started 


To use Appspace content on Meet Hardware, you need to: 

Register your devices on Appspace. Every hardware device now has an integration ID for use in Appspace’s pre-registration flow. You can find the integration ID on the Device detail page in the Admin console under Devices > Google Meet hardware > Devices or in the new “integrationId” column in your fleet data export file. 


You’ll need to add the integration IDs from your hardware devices in the Appspace console ahead of time before configuring your custom screensavers using the Appspace PWA. 


Once these steps are complete, navigate to Devices > Google Meet hardware > Settings > Device Settings > Screen saver. 



Select the “Custom” option and then choose Appspace as your Digital Signage Provider. Input the appropriate Appspace PWA URL in the URL field, depending on whether you use Appspace’s Public Cloud or Private Cloud: 

    • Public Cloud: https://cloud.appspace.com/app/?registrationmode=passive
    • Private Cloud: https://<customer>.cloud.appspace.com/app/pwa/?registrationmode=passive

If you do not pre-register your devices with Appspace before changing the screen saver, the screen saver will prompt you to manually pair each device using a code displayed in the room.


For more information on how to configure your content to display on Appspace, please refer to their help article. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available for all supported Google Meet hardware devices that have not yet reached their auto-update expiration date 

Resources

Read More

What’s changing 

We’re adding support for a dark home page theme for Google Meet hardware devices. When using Dark Canvas, devices will now feature dark user interface elements on the home screen when not in an active call. Dark Canvas mode can be applied to any Google Meet hardware device in your fleet. 






We’re also adding a new batch of Canvas wallpapers, which are specially designed by various artists to look great on Google Meet hardware devices. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 


Why it’s important 

We know it’s important that your devices look their best when they’re not in use, so we’ve extended our collaboration with the Canvas Project to deliver a fresh new group of wallpapers from top artists. 


Additionally, with the upcoming launch of the Series One Desk 27”, we know many users may be sitting closer to their devices than before. Dark Canvas mode is a great way to reduce the brightness of your display while keeping them looking great. 


Additional details

The existing “Wallpaper” setting in the Admin console has now been renamed “Home screen” and the Canvas option has been split into two options: “Canvas - light” and “Canvas - dark”. Each option will have a unique selection of wallpapers specially chosen that pair well with the selected home screen theme. 


Note that custom wallpapers will continue to use light mode. 


Getting started 

  • End users: There is no action required. 
  • Admins: This is an opt-in feature and is managed at the OU level. No changes will be made to previous selections and no custom wallpapers will be affected.

    The Home screen policy can be managed at Devices > Google Meet hardware > Settings > Device Settings > Home screen. 




Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available for all supported Google Meet hardware devices that have not yet reached their auto-update expiration date. 

Resources

Read More

New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time (if not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers. 


To unmute yourself, press and hold the spacebar. To mute again, release the spacebar. 
To quickly unmute yourself during a meeting, you can now hold down the spacebar to be unmuted, then release the spacebar to return to a muted state. We hope this makes it even easier for you to participate in your meetings by quickly unmuting to say something. This feature will also help in situations where you forget to mute again after unmuting yourself. This feature is OFF by default and can be enabled in the Google Meet settings. | Roll out to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains begins September 9, 2022 at a Gradual pace (up to 15 days for feature visibility). | Available to all Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts on all web browsers. | Learn more. 


Previous announcements 

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.


Updated “Hey Google” voice control behavior for Google Meet hardware devices 
We’ve changed how the “Hey Google” voice control works for Google Meet hardware devices. With this update, the Google assistant will only be active when a device is not in a meeting and within 10 minutes of an upcoming meeting. | Available for all supported Google Meet hardware devices that have not yet reached their auto-update expiration date. | Learn more. 

Upgrade to OAuth 2.0 to continue using Calendar Interop by October 1, 2022 
On October 1, 2022, Microsoft will begin to remove the ability to use Basic authentication in Exchange Online for Exchange Web Services. To continue using Calendar Interop, upgrade to OAuth 2.0 authentication before October 1, 2022. | Impacting Workspace customers using Calendar Interop with Basic authentication on Microsoft Office 365. | Learn more. 

Adding more flexibility to functions in Sheets 
We’ve introduced named functions, a new feature that allows you to create high-performance custom functions that support built-in Sheets formula constructs. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more. 

More ways to collaborate using visitor sharing in Google Drive 
You can now use visitor sharing to allow non-Google users to upload content or create files within shared drives owned by organizations and users on Google Workspace. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Plus, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus customers only. | Learn more. 

Easily search for Chat spaces in Gmail 
We’ve introduced the ability to find and join spaces through Gmail search on web. | Learn more. 


For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

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What’s changing

In the continuing effort to build community and connection in hybrid work, we’re introducing the ability to find and join spaces through Gmail search on web. 


When entering queries previously in the Gmail search box, you could see applicable emails or Chat and space conversations by selecting the “Mail” or “Messages” buttons.  


Starting today, Spaces in your domain with names or descriptions that match your query will appear when you click the newly added Spaces option. The directory will not only include spaces you’ve joined, but also discoverable spaces and restricted spaces you’ve been invited to, but have yet to join. Users also have an opportunity to preview the space contents before deciding to join by clicking on the “Preview” button next to each unjoined space.


Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

As the number of spaces within your organization continues to grow, we’re offering a better way for you to discover and find the exact space you're looking for, while also providing a path to join spaces for specific teams, projects, shared interests, and more. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: To search for a Space, type a query into the Gmail Search Box > hit enter > navigate to the Spaces results list. Spaces that you are not in, but can join will have “Preview” and “Join” buttons next to the search result. Visit the Help Center to learn more about searching for spaces by name on Gmail. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Read More

Useful Links

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