Google Workspace is packed with helpful features that support small to enterprise-level businesses. One of the best features that Google Workspace has to offer its customers is its regular updates.The Cloud Office team has gathered a list of recent Google Workspace updates (January and February 2022), which businesses can greatly benefit from.
Live translated captions in Google Meet
If you’re working with globally distributed teams, you will greatly benefit from this new feature. In 2021, Google announced that the live translated captions in Google Meet. As of January 2022, they made live translated captions generally available for the following Google Workspace editions:
- Business Plus
- Enterprise Standard
- Enterprise Plus
- The Teaching and Learning Upgrade
- Education Plus
The translated captions are available on both web and mobile devices. As for the meeting participants, they will be able to use the new live translated captions if the meeting is organised or initiated by a user using an eligible Google Workspace edition. Мeeting participants can translate English meetings to the following languages:
- French
- German
- Portuguese
- Spanish
Improved search experience in Google Chat on Web
Google has improved the search experience in Google Chat, making it easier and more intuitive for you to surface and navigate to relevant conversations and spaces.
Some improvements you’ll notice are:
- People suggestions based on your chat activity when you click into the search bar.
- Intelligent suggestions for people, spaces and group messages when you begin typing in the search bar.
*This update will be available only on Google Chat on the web (chat.google.com).
Format text in Google Chat
You can now add different text formats such as classic bold, italic and underline.
- For bold text, add asterisks * before and after the message you want to be bolded, a combination of Ctrl + B will also bold the text
- For italic text, add underscores _ before and after the message you want to be italic, Ctrl + I will also add an effect to the text
- To add the underline, add tildes ~ before and after the message, Ctrl + U will also underline the text
See when messages are deleted in Google Chat
Messages that are deleted in an unthreaded Google Chat space will now show a message and timestamp indicating the said deletion.
- Deleting a message or a reply in Google Chat is as easy as just clicking the “three dots” menu and clicking ‘Delete’.
Text watermarks in Google Docs
All Google Workspace users can now add text watermarks to their documents in Google Docs. Additionally, this update also allows users to import documents with text watermarks. The watermarks from the imported Microsoft Word documents will be preserved when editing, importing, or exporting.
The watermarks will repeat on every page of the document. This is very useful for indicating file status such as “Confidential” or “Draft”, adding a significant amount of security in reminding the users regarding the file that they are currently working on.
- To add a text watermark to your Google Docs file, click Insert > Watermark > Text.
Warning banners will alert users of suspicious files in Google Drive
Google Drive now displays a warning banner to warn users and protect their organisation against malware, phishing, and ransomware. These warning banners are also available when opening Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and even Drawings.
Automated classification with Google Workspace DLP and Google Drive Labels
The ability to categorise content and enhance content protection at scale is now available. These features were a part of beta last year but they are now generally available for the following Google Workspace editions:
- Business Standard
- Business Plus
- Enterprise Essentials
- Enterprise Standard
- Enterprise Plus
With the new Admin console setting, admins can now apply up to 5 labels to new files that users create. The automated classification helps organisations apply Drive labels to new files and content. This ensures that every file abides by Google Data Loss Protection and admin-defined DLP rules and restrictions, greatly reducing the odds of users accidentally sending confidential files to external users.
