Google Updates Recap: November 2024

Google Vids is the newest addition to Google Drive, alongside Docs, Sheets, Slides, and others. Vids. Vids uses the power of Gemini, Google’s AI solution, combined with a newly built storyboard video editor which can be fully modified. Google Vids can also generate videos and segments from preselected styles.

Google Vids is rolling out, with expected availability by November 22, 2024.
To learn more about how to use Google Vids, visit: What you can do with Google Vids – Google Workspace Learning Center

Last Call: 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 with necessary steps to take before October 1, 2024.

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

Google Sites is no longer available

The ability to create and edit Google Sites is no longer available. The Google Sites service will be fully decommissioned as of December 2024.

New university-related sites and course-related sites should be created in the appropriate university systems. Personal sites should be created on non-university hosted platforms. Visit our Web Services page for some great recommendations on tools for personal sites. If the Google Site is being used as an official University website, please submit a IT Support ticket at https://go.vcu.edu/itsupport to Web Services requesting assistance moving your site to Terminalfour (T4).

For more information, please visit: https://collaborate.vcu.edu/apps/sites/.

Google Calendar

New design and accessibility improvements for embedded Google Calendars

Google Calendars embedded into websites are getting a refreshed design consistent with Google’s Material Design 3 and improved accessibility, including:

Enhanced accessibility features, such as the ability to use an embedded calendar with a screen reader and keyboard shortcuts to navigate more easily.
Improved spacing to make text easier to read.
A responsive layout that adapts to different screen sizes seamlessly.

Old design:

New design:

Feature Availability: Available on or before December 18, 2024.

Google Chat

Transcriptions now available for voice messages in Google Chat

Previously, voice messages were added to Google Chat to provide a new way to send a message.

Now, transcripts are automatically generated for voice messages to provide a way to see what was said in a voice message if you’re for some reason unable to or simply do not wish to listen to the voice message.

To review the voice messages transcription, click “View transcript” underneath the voice message. You can close the voice transcription by clicking “Hide transcript”. For screen reader users, voice transcripts are treated as readable texts. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google Chat with a screen reader. Transcriptions adhere to the language set for your Google account.

For more information about voice messages in Google Chat, visit: Send a voice message in Google Chat.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Note: To enable voice messages in Google Chat, you must allow the website where you use Google Chat (chat.google.com or mail.google.com) permission to use your microphone.

Send video messages in Google Chat

In addition to voice messages in Google Chat, you can now also send video messages. Video messages can be useful in a number of ways such as:

Sales or customer support team members sending video updates about new features or account changes.
Executives sharing department-wide announcements or strategic updates, fostering transparency and engagement across the organization.
Team members sending a video with outstanding updates in lieu of attending a live meeting.

Currently, video messages do not support ChromeOS, Linux, or the Firefox web browser, and cannot yet be recorded and sent on mobile devices. Transcriptions for video messages are planned for a future release.

To get started:

To record a video message, select the record button in the Chat compose box and click “video message.” Then simply record your message and press send.
You can preview or re-record your video before sending your video message.
You can send video messages in 1:1 DMs, group DMs, and spaces, and they can be interacted with (quoted, reacted to, replied to in thread, etc) just like any other Chat message.
Video messages will be stored in the Media section of the Shared tab.
You can send video messages on web and receive them on all platforms. The ability to record and send video messages on mobile is not available at this time.

For more information about sending video messages in Google Chat, visit: Send a video message in Google Chat.

Feature Availability: This feature is currently rolling out and is anticipated to be available by November 23, 2024.

Google Docs

New document tabs in Google Docs provide a better way to organize your documents

Google Docs now supports Tabs, a new way to organize and structure documents, is now available. Tabs can be used to give focus to specific sections of content. Some ways that Tabs can be used include:

A marketing manager can build a campaign brief using different, focused tabs for budget, goals, and creative ideas.
A sales leader creating pitch templates can now have dedicated tabs for each industry or territory.
A customer service representative can create tabs for each solution to address common customer service issues.
A project manager can create a tab for budget, roles and responsibilities, goals, and key dates so that their working team can stay on track.
A team manager can keep a record of routine documentation, such as recurring meeting notes, agendas, performance reviews, and quarterly planning updates.

Within each tab, you can also create subtabs to add even more structure to your document. For instance, a budget tab could include subtabs for travel expenses and agency fees, or a team makeup tab could include subtabs explaining each team’s roles and responsibilities.

Notes:

For documents containing 2 or more tabs and new documents, the left panel will open by default to let users navigate and manage tabs easily. When the left panel is closed, users can open it at all times by clicking on the Tabs & outline icon in the top left corner.
You can also share links to specific tabs rather than sharing the link to an entire document by clicking on the three dots menu for a given tab > Copy link.

For more information about using Tabs in Google Docs: Use document tabs in Google Docs.

Google Drive & Docs Editors

Access filter chips more easily in Google Drive search

When you begin to type in the search bar in Google Drive, the search bar will now recommend search chips based on what you’re typing. For example, by typing “Doc,” the search bar will recommend the “Documents” chip to filter on document type files (Microsoft Word, Google Docs), and then you can begin to type in a person’s name to get a search chip to filter on items involving that person.

Feature Availability: This feature is anticipated to be available on or before: December 7, 2024.

Google Forms

Ask responders for a rating in Google Forms

A new question type for ratings has now been added in Google Forms.

This new question type enables you to customize rating questions by setting a rating scale level and include rating icons, such as stars or hearts, to offer a more intuitive way to gather opinions from an audience.

With this update, you’ll be able to analyze responses to these questions (e.g. average rating of responses and visual distributions of ratings) using the summary tab of the responses section.

For more information about rating questions, visit: Choose a type of question for your form – Google Docs Editors Help.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Google Meet

Pronouns are now displayed in Google Meet

If you have set your pronouns from your Google Accounts settings (https://myaccount.google.com/profile/pronouns) and set the visibility to ‘Anyone’, they will now be displayed on your personal video tile during meetings.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Google Sheets

Google Sheets tables are now integrated with conditional notifications

Tables in Google Sheets was announced earlier this year as a new way to easily format and organize data in a spreadsheet. Conditional notifications were also greatly improved this year with improved workflows and notifications. Now, Tables supports conditional notifications with several new features:

Conditional notification rules can now be directly applied to tables and will recognize table column names.
All tables now come with a new, easy entry point to conditional notifications in the controls header.
Common conditional notifications will now be built-in to pre-built tables by default and can be enabled with a single click.

Notes:

If you own or have edit-access to a Sheet, you can add or view conditional notifications on your table by clicking on the lightning bolt icon on the table header. From here, you can view and choose to enable, disable, delete, or edit any existing rules.
Up to 10 rules can be added to a spreadsheet.
The rules are assigned default names automatically. However, you can update the name of the rule by utilizing the text editor.
Notifications are grouped for a better experience and they may take up to 30 minutes to send.

To learn more about these features:

Tables in Google Sheets: Use tables in Google Sheets
Conditional Notifications in Sheets: Use conditional notifications

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Third-party smart chips now available in Google Sheets

Google Sheets now supports third-party smart chips for linking to content in apps outside of Google Workspace. Multiple apps already support, including: Asana, Jira & Confluence, Canva, Lucid, Loom, Whimsical, and Zoho Projects.

For more information about third-party smart chips in Sheets, visit: Insert third-party smart chips from other applications – Google Docs Editors Help.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Google Slides

Adding multi-monitor support to Google Slides

Google Slides now supports using multiple monitors for having slide controls on one monitor to control the slideshow on another. Multi-monitor support enables presenters to see Presentation View components, such as speaker notes and the timer, on one display, while displaying the slides presentation on an external monitor.

You can enable this feature by using “Presentation display options”.

For more information presenting slides with other monitors, visit: Present slides in Google Slides.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Categories Gmail, Google Calendar, Tasks, and Keep, Google Chat, Google Docs, Google Drive & Docs Editors, Google Feature Updates and Changes, Google Forms, Google Meet, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Workspace News, Important Changes, Other Google Feature News

Collaboration Services News and Updates

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