Google Cloud Next Feature Announcements
Table of contents
- Speaker spotlight in Slides for Google Meet
- Meeting room check-in for Google Meet
- Automatic video framing in Meet
- Companion mode mobile as a second screen in Meet
- Controlling Slides directly within Meet
- Inline threaded conversations in Google Chat
- Broadcast-only spaces in Google Chat
- Custom building blocks in Google Docs
- Variables in Google Docs
- Smart chips and a new timeline view in Google Sheets
- Smart chip data extraction
- Smart chips for 3rd-party applications
Speaker spotlight in Slides for Google Meet
The speaker spotlight will put the video bubble of the speaker into their content, creating a deeper sense of immersion.
Meeting room check-in for Google Meet
Soon you’ll be able to check into a meeting when joining from a meeting room. In a Google Meet, the room(s) attending the call will be able to display the individuals in that room. This new feature will further bring a sense of togetherness in meetings in an already hybrid environment.
Anticipated availability: Early 2023
Automatic video framing in Meet
Google Meet’s new automatic video framing will intelligently place you in the center of your video feed, putting more focus on you and less on your surroundings.
Anticipated availability: This feature is currently rolling out and will be included in our next monthly feature update blog post.
Companion mode mobile as a second screen in Meet
In addition to meeting room check-in, companion mode for Meet is also getting an update to allow you to participate using in-meeting tools and activities such as Chat, Q/A, and hand-raising from a mobile device while using the meeting room’s video and audio.
Anticipated availability: Early 2023
Controlling Slides directly within Meet
Presenters in a Google Meet using Google Slides will be able to control their slideshow directly from within the Google Meet, making it easier to see others and communicate in the meeting and see your presentation at the same time and reducing the need to switch tabs or windows.
Anticipated availability: This feature is currently rolling out and was included in our last blog post linked here: Google Updates Recap for August 22 to October 21, 2022
Inline threaded conversations in Google Chat
Inline threading is a new type of threading for Google Chat that organizes conversations so that replies to a message aren’t disruptive to the main conversation.
Anticipated availability: This feature is currently rolling out and was included in our last blog post linked here: Google Updates Recap for August 22 to October 21, 2022
Broadcast-only spaces in Google Chat
Soon, Spaces will be able to be designated as “broadcast-only,” allowing for leaders to make broad announcements to large groups of people.
Anticipated availability: Early 2023
Custom building blocks in Google Docs
Building blocks, a smart-canvas template feature released in Google Docs, will soon allow for custom building blocks to be created. This will allow for easier and faster creation of documents with common elements and allow collaboration to begin more quickly.
Anticipated availability: Later this year
Variables in Google Docs
Variables in Google Docs will allow you to enter a piece of frequently used information once and allow you to reuse that information by inserting the variable instead of retyping the information.
Anticipated availability: Early 2023
Smart chips and a new timeline view in Google Sheets
Google Sheets has previously supported contacts as a type of “smart chip,” a smart-canvas feature. Now in addition to email addresses, smart chips will support files and calendar events similarly to Google Docs.
Additionally, timeline view for Sheets, a feature previously announced, was announced to begin rollout. This timeline view will provide a new way to display information and is great to use for projects and tasks.
Anticipated availability: These features are currently rolling out and will be included in our next monthly feature update blog post.
Smart chip data extraction
The new data extraction feature in Google Sheets allows you to extract the information from chips in a Sheet into another Sheet. This information goes beyond the displayed name and associated email address, and can pull other useful information.
Anticipated availability: Later this year
Smart chips for 3rd-party applications
Smart chips will also soon gain compatibility with third-party applications for additional embedding of files that live within other services. Some examples of applications include: AODocs, Asana, Atlassian, Figma, LumApps, Miro, Tableau, and ZenDesk, with more expected to come.
Anticipated availability: 2023
Categories Google Chat, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Feature Updates and Changes, Google Meet, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Workspace News