Collaboration Services News and Updates

Google Updates Recap: March 2025

Google Calendar & Tasks

Know who an event is shared with when using shared Google Calendars

In Google Calendar, if you are shared on a calendar with a role of “Make changes to events,” you will now be able to see who else the calendar is shared with. Previously, you had to have the “Make changes to sharing and events” role to see who is shared on a calendar.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Google Chat

Create and vote on polls directly in Google Chat

You can now create and vote in polls in Google Chat without a third-party app using the new Polls app from Google.

Creating the poll

To get started, first add the “Poll” app to your desired group chat or Space, then run the /poll command to start creating your poll. When creating the poll, you’ll be able to: 

• Enter the question and at least 2 answers (up to 10)
• Choose whether to allow respondents to select multiple options
• Allow respondents to be anonymous
• Choose a language for the poll.

Viewing poll results

Some polls with keywords will show an emoji before the question.

For more information about Polls in Chat, visit: Create polls in Google Chat

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Create names for group direct messages in Google Chat

Group chats in Google Chat can now be given a title to make them more easily identifiable. This is especially useful when a group direct message is preferred over a Space.

For more information about naming a group chat, visit: Name a group direct message or convert it into a space – Google Chat Help.

Feature Availability:

• Chat on the Web (chat.google.com): This feature is now available.
• iOS: Anticipated availability on or before March 19, 2025.
• Android: Anticipated availability on or before March 14, 2025.

Google Docs

Improving the cover images experience in Google Docs

Cover images can now be added from the following sources, in addition to the existing “Choose from stock images” and “Upload from computer” options:

• Searching the web 
• Uploading from Drive 
• Importing from Google Photos 
• Pasting a URL

New cover image insertion options

Additionally, more than 100 new stock images have been added to the stock image gallery. The stock image gallery will also include filtering options for categories like art, food, and abstract.

New stock image options for cover images

When clicking the “Cover image” chip at the top of your Doc, a placeholder image will appear, followed by the menu with options to create with Gemini or insert a different image via the options outlined previously.

When clicking the “Cover image” chip, a placeholder image will appear while you choose a source to insert from.

Reminder: Cover images in Google Docs require the page setup format of Pageless. To switch your Google Doc to Pageless format, go to File → Page setup → Pageless or Format → Switch to Pageless format.

For more information about cover images in Docs, visit: https://support.google.com/docs?p=insert_cover_image.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Google Drive & Docs Editors

Updating the access experience in Google Drive

We discussed this feature in our “Upcoming Changes to Restricting Sharing in Folders in Google Drive” post. We encourage you to read through this post as it grants new features and granularity for controlling sharing in Shared Drives.

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

Google Meet

Updated design for Google Meet meeting controls on Android and iOS

The Google Meet apps for Android and iOS are getting refreshed design updates. These updates largely do not change the functionality of the apps but do provide an updated experience to the location of some controls. Changes to the locations of some controls will depend on the size of the screen (e.g. phone vs. tablet).

1. Emoji reactions are moving from the triple-dot overflow menu to the bottom bar. Simply tap the Emoji toggle to access or hide the reaction picker.

Before	After

2. The hand raise feature is moving from the bottom bar to the triple-dot overflow menu. This change applies to mobile devices only – if you’re using a larger screen device, such as a tablet, you’ll continue to see the Hand Raise icon in the main call controls menu.

Before	After

3. Host management controls will move from the overflow menu to the settings menu, under the “General” section.

Before	After

4. The option to report a problem is now in one location, in the Settings menu.

Before	After

5. (iOS only) The end call button is moving from the left side to the right side of the primary controls, bringing the experience inline with Android.

Before	After

To get started, make sure you have the minimum following versions of the Gmail or Meet app listed below:

• Android:
  • Meet: 291.0.722438190.duo.android_20250202.14
  • Gmail: 2025.02.02.722438226
• iOS:
  • Meet: 294.0
  • Gmail: 6.0.250209

Feature Availability: 

• These changes are now available on both iOS and Android.

Google Sheets

Additional improvements to everyday actions in Google Sheets

Google Sheets is receiving several improvements for setting up filter conditions, and pasting & loading data:

• Pasting data is now up to 50% faster when you’re pasting from one spreadsheet to another
• Filter conditions can now be set up to 50% faster than before 
• Spreadsheets now load existing data up to 30% faster

Feature Availability: These improvements are now available.

Easily convert data to people chips and update chip format in Google Sheets (People Chip Formats)

Google Sheets will show a “Convert to people chips” suggestion when you click into your data range containing a list of email addresses. When hovering the button, it will show a preview of the converted data.

Additionally, you can also change the format of the people chips to display in different ways from the Format → Smart chips menu:

• Default
• Last name, First name 
• Email address

Feature Availability: This feature is now available.

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