Collaboration Services News and Updates

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Google Updates Recap: July 2024

by Doctor Gee

Table of contents

Important Notices

Jamboard is winding down

Google has announced that Jamboard, their collaborative whiteboarding tool, is winding down. Jamboard files will become view-only beginning October 1, 2024, and after December 31, 2024, Jamboard will no longer be accessible and all Jamboard files will automatically be converted to a PDF format. 

Notice emails have been sent from [email protected] to Jamboard users beginning this week with steps to take before October 1, 2024.

For any questions, please email us at [email protected].

Google Chat

Request to join spaces in Google Chat

Individuals can now request to join a Google Chat space if they have the link to that space and are in the same Google domain (e.g. @vcu.edu).

Members of the Space can copy the link from the address bar or by going to the space header → dropdown menu → ‘Copy link to this space’.

Space managers will see a private message in the space to approve or deny the join request.

For more information about joining Chat spaces, visit: Join a space in Google Chat.

Feature Availability: This feature is currently rolling out on the web and is now available on mobile.

Google Drive & Docs Editors

Expanding voice typing and automatic captions to additional browsers

In the Google Docs Editors, previously if you want to use your voice to edit a Google Doc or insert text into speaker notes in Google Slides, or if you wanted to turn on automatic captions while presenting a Google Slides deck, it was required to use Google Chrome. 

Now, other browsers such as Safari and Microsoft Edge support these features. When a user turns on voice typing or captions, the web browser controls the speech-to-text service, determines how speech is processed, and then sends text data to Google Docs and Google Slides. 

When enabling this for the first time, you may be given a prompt: 

For more information, visit:

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Google Meet

Google Meet adds 11 more languages for closed captions

Google Meet now supports 11 new closed caption languages, which are currently in beta:

  • Azerbaijani 
  • Czech 
  • Greek 
  • Icelandic 
  • Kazakh 
  • Lao 
  • Lithuanian  
  • Malay 
  • Serbian 
  • Swahili 
  • Ukrainian 

For more information about captions in Google Meet, visit: Use translated captions in Google Meet.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Google Meet now supports high definition video for meeting recording and devices

Full HD video content is now available for recorded meetings. Google Meet already supports 1080p (Full HD) recordings for presented content in Meet, and now supports camera feeds as well.

Additionally, sending full HD video is now available on all computers with 1080p cameras. 

Note that 1080p is only sent when recording is enabled or when one or more users have pinned the 1080p-enabled user on a screen large enough to render the 1080p video feed. In those specific scenarios, additional bandwidth will be required to send 1080p video, and Meet will automatically adjust the resolution if the device is bandwidth constrained.

To enable 1080p video feed, go to Google Meet settings → Video → for “Send resolution (maximum)” choose “Full High Definition (1080p)”.

For more information, visit: Improve your video & audio experience – Google Meet Help.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Updated design for meeting controls in Google Meet

Google Meet is gradually improving and modernizing the in-call experience with the Material 3 Design System. This first improvement applies to the lower bar of in-call controls in Meet and can be seen when: 

In the future, Google will be releasing additional features to further enhance feature discovery and usability. 

Feature Availability: This visual change is now visible.

Google Sheets

New ways to quickly format and organize data with tables in Google Sheets

Tables, a feature announced at Google Cloud Next ‘24, is a new feature available in Google Sheets intended to make it easier to provide form and structure to an unorganized range of data.

By selecting your data range and going to Format → Convert to table, Sheets now does the heavy lifting to format and organize data with a polished design including column types, filters, color coding, dropdown menus and more.

Here’s how using tables reduces the time you would usually spend manually formatting data: 

  • Auto-applied formatting: When you convert your data to a table, Sheets automatically applies formatting to polish your data so that all inputs are properly aligned, reducing the need for manual changes. You can further customize your table by changing colors, readjusting the row height, and more. 
  • Column types: For each column, you can set the appropriate column type (e.g., date, currency, dropdown), and your table will make sure all entered data has the right formatting based on the column type. Data entered that does not align with a set column type will result in a warning. 
  • Unified menu: Above the table, you will see a menu option to manage table-level settings (e.g., adjust table range) and take action (e.g., create a filter view for your table). 
  • Table references: Table references are a special way to refer to a table or parts of a table in a formula. When you convert your data to a table, Sheets provides a name for the table and each column header. When you reference table elements by name, the references update whenever you add or remove data from the table. For example: Instead of explicit cell references: =COUNTIF(B2:B10, “P0”), you can use table references: =COUNTIF(Task_tracker[Priority], “P0”).

When you are using tables, you’ll also have access to a new type of view, group by, where you can aggregate your data into groups based on a selected column. For instance, you can decide to group all data at the same priority level in one place, as shown below.

Finally, you can start from scratch using a pre-built table by going to Insert → Tables and selecting one of the listed options:

For more information about Tables in Google Sheets, visit: Use tables in Google Sheets – Google Docs Editors Help.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Google Slides

Switch between edit, view and comment mode in Google Slides

You can now switch between view, comment, and edit mode in Google Slides, similarly to other Google Docs Editors.

For example, you may wish to switch to View mode if you are about to present the slidedeck and want to hide comments, or switch to Comment mode to prevent making accidental edits.

For more information about switching view modes in Google Slides, visit: Switch view mode on Google Slides – Google Docs Editors Help.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Categories Google Chat, Google Drive & Docs Editors, Google Feature Updates and Changes, Google Meet, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Workspace News

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