The new integrated view is now the standard experience for Gmail
At the beginning of 2022,Google announced a new integrated view for Gmail, bringing critical applications like Gmail, Chat, and Meet in one unified location. By August 5th, users who have not opted-in will begin seeing the new experience by default, but can revert to classic Gmail via settings. Within the next two months, this will become the default experience with no option to revert back.
New integrated email marketing tools for Gmail
For select Google Workspace editions, Google is adding two new features in Gmail which you can use to easily send professional-looking emails to large audiences:
Layouts: You can select from a predefined set of email templates, which feature images, text elements, and buttons. You can further customize these templates with your own color schemes, logos, images, footer text, and links.
Multi-send: This feature allows you to send mass emails without the need to BCC all recipients. By default, multi-send emails include an unsubscribe link unique to each recipient — anyone who unsubscribes is automatically excluded from future multi-send emails from you.
Additionally, Google is introducing an Admin setting to control whether these features are on or off for your users. The admin settings are rolling out now, allowing time to configure availability for their end users in advance.
These features are only available for Gmail on the web at this time
Migrate unmanaged accounts to your domain using new “User Invitation” API functionality
When employees create a Google account using one of your organization’s domains to access Google services, this is known as an unmanaged account. Unmanaged accounts are not ideal for managing users and keeping their work data secure.
Additionally, should an admin try to create a managed account with the same name, this conflict will prevent a managed account from being created. Using the UserInvitation API functionality, you can send a request to convert their personal account to a Google Workspace account.
While the same action can be manually performed with the Transfer Tool, the API allows unmanaged accounts to be identified and remediated programmatically, using logic that best suits your needs
Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise
Building larger spaces in Google Chat
Earlier this year Google announced how it is going to boost communication and collaboration for teams of all sizes in Google Workspace. In support of that effort, they have increased the amount of members you can add to a space in Google Chat from 400 to 8,000.
This update will increase connectivity and create broader communities for your organizations.
Rollout pace
This feature is available now & available to all Google Workspace customers
Stay on top of changes to document content with edit notifications
In Google Docs, you can now choose to receive email notifications for document changes on a per file basis. Edit notification emails detail what changes were made, when the changes were made, and who made them.
You can configure these notifications in multiple places:
- Gmail
- In Docs via the Notification settings dropdown (bell icon) or Tools > Notification settings.
Staying on top of relevant changes and comments across multiple documents can be difficult. By giving you the option to specify which comments and changes to be notified about, you can more easily stay on top of what needs your attention.
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 17, 2022
Available to all Google Workspace customers.
Allow Google Meet participants to ask questions or respond to polls anonymously
In Google Meet, meeting participants will now have the option to ask questions or participate in polls anonymously.
- Anonymous questions will be allowed by default and can be disallowed by meeting hosts and co-hosts by going to Meeting Activities > Allow Questions in Q&A > Allow Anonymous questions.
- Anonymous polls will be OFF by default and can be turned on by hosts and co-hosts when sharing a poll.
Note: These settings do not carry over from meeting to meeting.
The ability to ask questions and answer polls anonymously, particularly on large calls, has been a top request from Google Workspace users. These features can encourage greater participation from meeting attendees who would prefer to not be identified by name.
Additional details
When a user responds to a Poll anonymously or posts a question anonymously, the details are kept anonymous to other participants, the meeting hosts, and your Google Workspace Admin.
Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 19, 2022
Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus,
Delete Chat spaces and their content, now generally available
With this capability, a space manager can delete a space, which completely removes all owned contents of the space, space tasks, and files and attachments not saved elsewhere.
Live stream Google Meet events via YouTube
Once enabled by an Admin, Google Workspace users can live stream meetings publicly via YouTube.
You can initiate a live stream in Meet by navigating to the Activities panel > Live Streaming and selecting your channel from the list.
Live streaming is useful in situations where you want to present information to large audiences outside of your organization, giving them the opportunity to pause and replay as needed, or view the presentation at a later time.
Additional Details
To initiate a YouTube live stream through Meet you should have your YouTube channel approved for live streaming in advance. Note that it can take up to 24 hours to get your channel approved for live streaming — Visit the Help Center to learn more about live streaming Google Meet events.
Availability
Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus,
Easily access your most used emojis in Google Chat
In the Google Chat emoji picker, your most frequently used emojis can be found under the new “Frequently Used” section. Google hopes this improvement makes it easier for you to find and insert your favorite emojis when writing or reacting to messages, or setting a custom status.
This update is available now on the web and Android devices. Availability for iOS is anticipated in the coming weeks.
