Google Workspace Updates Monthly Recap – April 2022

Learn about all new features releases and improvements in Google Workspace
Google Workspace updates
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Easily manage storage related activity and policies through new storage management tools in the Admin console – already available

Google Workspace is rolling out new storage management tools to give its customers additional visibility, control, and insights into storage usage across users, groups, and their entire organisation. 

In the Admin console, storage related activities can now be accessed and managed from a single source. Using these new storage management tools, admins can quickly and easily: 

  • View a storage usage summary for their entire organisation 
  • View storage used by specific products like Drive or Gmail 
  • View the top users of storage in their organisation 
  • View shared drives with the most storage used in your organisation 
  • Manage and delete shared drives based on storage use, including the ability to sort and delete individual or multiple shared drives 
  • View storage limit warnings Access detailed reports on storage usage Apply storage limits for users

Additional co-host controls in Google Meet – General availability in mid May

Set up host controls and assign co-hosts ahead of meetings in Google Calendar

In addition to setting up Google Meet breakout rooms in advance in Google Calendar, meeting organisers can also: 

  • Turn meeting safety features on or off, such as chat lock, present lock, and more. 
  • Designate co-hosts before the meeting. 

By allowing meeting hosts to pre-configure additional settings and assign co-hosts, meetings can flow more smoothly.

In-meeting reactions Google Meet – General availability in the coming months

Coming next is, in-meeting reactions. Google Meet will let attendees visually express themselves with 👍 ❤️ 😆 and more, bringing energy into the meeting and giving immediate feedback to speakers and other attendees. These reactions will appear in a participant’s video tile, or overflow alongside their name if their video tile isn’t visible.

in-meeting reactions Google Meet

Meet directly in Docs,Sheets and Slides – already available

Being able to see and hear each other during hybrid collaboration is essential. To address this, Google workspace is bringing Meet directly to Docs, Sheets, and Slides in the coming weeks. Users will be able to quickly start a meeting and bring it to a document, spreadsheet, or presentation, and they can present this content to all the meeting attendees. This enables everyone in the meeting to collaborate in real-time while having a conversation—all from the same tab.

Picture in Picture – already available

To help presenters and multitaskers see their audience while navigating different tabs and windows, Workspace is bringing picture-in-picture to Meet running on Chrome browsers. Next month, you’ll be able to see up to four video tiles of meeting attendees in a floating window on top of other applications as you share content or send a message in Gmail. Clicking on picture-in-picture quickly takes you back to the full Meet session.

Live Stream directly to YouTube – General availability in the coming months

Later this year Google Workspace will enable meeting hosts to do just that by streaming meetings directly to YouTube from the Meet activities tab. Our integration with YouTube means a Google account can be used for authentication, simplifying the livestreaming process.

Inline threading in Google Chat

Google is improving how conversations are displayed in Spaces with inline threading, a top request from all customers. With inline threading, members of a space will be able to respond to specific comments and create side conversations, while keeping the dialogue organised and contextual. Every teammate can easily browse a space and catch up on topics that are important to them, at a time that works for their schedule.

Inline threading
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