Google Apps Update Alerts

A new version of the Google Drive for Android app is available in Google Play. New features include:

• Reverse Sort: We’ve heard feedback that you want more flexibility in how files are sorted. We’re adding the popular request to allow reverse sorting. Simply tap the sort column at the top of Drive to swap the sort order.
• Instantly edit with your favorite apps: If you have an editor app installed on your device, you can now jump into the editor directly from the file preview in Google Drive. This is great if you want to make changes on the fly and have those changes saved back to Google Drive. Some common editor apps include Google Photos, Google Docs, and more.

Launch Details

Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Get the latest Google Drive Android app on Google Play

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Google Hangouts video calls make it easy to connect and interact to get things done. With today’s update, to make it easier to connect with more people, we’re raising the participant limit for Hangouts video calls from 15 to 25 for Google Apps customers.

To help ensure a high quality experience on a variety of computers, only the 10 most active video call participants will have their video feeds visible at the bottom of the screen at any given time.

No action is required to make use of this new participant limit. Check out the Help Center for more information on Hangouts video calls.

Launch Details
Release track: 
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information 
Help Center


Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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We know that businesses today don’t operate in isolation; employees work not only with one another, but with third-party vendors, clients, customers, and other businesses as well—and often on a temporary basis. To keep your organization’s information safe in these situations, we’re introducing the ability to set an “expiration date” for specific user access to files in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

For instance, imagine your business hires an outside contractor for a project lasting three months. To complete the job, that contractor needs to view a spreadsheet containing the contact information of your employees. Following this launch, you’ll be able to share your employee list in Sheets with the contractor, give them view access only, and set that access to expire when their contract does (in three months). If the contractor attempts to open the spreadsheet after the expiration date has passed, they’ll be denied access.

This functionality, coupled with the Information Rights Management (IRM) features we launched last July, should significantly increase the security of your organization’s documents and information.

Please note that you’ll only be able to set expiration dates for users with comment or view access; you will not be able to set expiration dates for file owners or users with edit access.

IMPORTANT: This feature will roll out gradually over the course of two to three months; please note that you may not see the feature in your domains until mid- to late Q2 2016.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (2–3 months for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Change your sharing settings in Google Drive
Help Center: Share Google Drive files and folders

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Millions of Google Apps for Work customers rely on Google to protect their employees’ login information for Google Apps services like Google Drive and Gmail. With this and previous launches, we’re extending that ease and security to additional applications that businesses rely on.

SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) 2.0 allows individuals to use their Google login credentials to sign in to various enterprise cloud applications. In October 2015, we launched support for SAML 2.0 for more than 15 popular SaaS providers, including Salesforce, Workday, and Dropbox. Today, we’re excited to announce that several additional apps are now pre-integrated with our systems, including Microsoft Office 365, Facebook at Work, Concur, Box, and Slack. This adds to the hundreds of apps we already support through the Google Apps Marketplace and OpenID Connect.

This launch not only makes the sign-in process easier for employees, it simplifies the management of end user IDs and passwords for Apps admins as well. For SAML set-up details and a full list of pre-integrated apps, please visit the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins and end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information 
Help Center: Using SAML to set up federated SSO
Google for Work Blog

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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New versions of the Google Slides and Docs apps for Android are now available on Google Play.

In the Slides Android app, you can now create and edit presentations that read from right to left, a necessity when presenting in languages such as Hebrew and Arabic.

In the Docs Android app, you can now select, copy, and comment on content in Print Layout view.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Edit and view text from right to left
Help Center: Print a document, spreadsheet, or presentation

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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An update to the Google Drive for iOS app is coming to the App Store. New features will include:

• Trash View: You’ll now have the ability to view, restore and delete items in your trash from within the iOS app.

• Folder Colors: You can now view and modify your Google Drive folder colors on the fly.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Organize your files in Google Drive
Delete and restore files in Google Drive 
Get the latest Google Drive iOS app in the App Store

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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It can be difficult, not to mention time-consuming, to navigate lengthy, complex documents. To make that process easier, today we’re launching an outline tool in Google Docs on the web and Android. Displayed in a pane to the left of the page, this outline features headers for each section of your document, making it simple to quickly jump from section to section. If you haven’t manually applied headers, no worries—we’ll do it for you, intelligently detecting the logical divisions within your work. You can then edit or remove these headers as necessary.

This launch will also allow you to move through documents on your Android phone or tablet at super speeds. When you begin scrolling on your mobile device, a small navigation handle will automatically appear. Touching that handle will display the entire document’s structure, allowing you quickly skip from section to section, instead of slowly swiping up and down.

To surface an outline in your document, simply click Tools > Document outline in Docs on your computer or select Document outline from the overflow menu on your Android device. Check out the Help Center article below for more details.

Launch Details
Release track: 
Mobile features: Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release
Desktop features: Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Posted by Saurabh Gupta, Product Manager, Google Apps Script 

(Cross-posted on Google Apps Developer Blog)

There are two ways to send email in Apps Script: MailApp's sendEmail and GmailApp's sendEmail method. One of the differences between these two methods is that the MailApp’s sendEmail method doesn’t require the developer to be a Gmail user. For example, a Google Apps customer who doesn’t use Gmail, but uses Apps Script instead, can send emails through MailApp but not GmailApp.  

Starting on September 13, 2016, users with free public Google Accounts (consumers) and Google Apps for Education and Google Apps Free edition users, will be required to have Gmail access to send messages through Apps Script’s Mail Service. Consumers can enable Gmail on their Google account after signing-in—note your Gmail will then become the primary address of your Google account. Administrators of Google Apps domains (Education and Free edition only) can use the Admin console to turn on Gmail for their domain.

This change does not require any updates to your code. You can continue to use MailApp as before; just make sure that you have signed up for Gmail. We realize that sometimes these changes are disruptive to our developers, but we can assure you that we put lot of care and deliberation into this process. 

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EPUB is the most widely supported file format for publishing accessible documents and digital books, allowing people to consume long-form content in their preferred apps on a diverse range of screen sizes and devices, including smartphones, tablets, and eReaders. To make it easier for authors, publishers, and academic institutions to create works that can be consumed digitally, today we’re launching the ability to export Google Docs files as EPUB publications. Simply go to the File menu > Download as > EPUB Publication (.epub).

Check out the Help Center for more information.

Launch Details
Release track: 
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Download a file

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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A new version (v4.2.0) of Google Apps Directory Sync (GADS) is now available:

What’s New 

• API update 
  • GADS now uses the latest version of the Admin SDK Calendar Resource API. 
• Replace primary domain name with secondary domain name 
  • Added new feature to enable administrators to replace the primary Google Apps domain name with a secondary domain name for all GADS operations. 

What's Fixed

• See the Help Center for a breakout of numerous bug fixes

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action required (download the latest version of GADS)

More Information 
GADS Overview
What’s New in GADS

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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We know that many of you work at large and organizationally complex companies, where different teams need different Google Apps products and services. This can make onboarding new employees a time-consuming and tedious process.

Today’s launch should make that process significantly easier, by allowing you to automatically assign licenses for Google Apps products and services at the organizational-unit (OU) level (until today, you could assign licenses at the OU level, but those licenses would not automatically apply to new users). This will be particularly useful if different employees in your organization need different Google Apps products, like Vault or Drive storage, or editions, like Google Apps for Work or Google Apps Unlimited. Note that you can still automatically assign licenses at the domain level.

Starting today, if you turn Auto-Licensing ON for a particular Google Apps product or service in a particular OU, all users currently in and subsequently added to that OU will receive that license. Users in child OUs will also inherit that license, unless you choose to override the setting. The Auto-Licensing setting can be found in the Admin console (Billing > Subscriptions); for more explicit instructions, check out the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Set automatic licensing options for an organization

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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(Cross-posted on the Google for Work Blog.)

We launched a collection of templates in Docs, Sheets, and Slides in September to give your documents, spreadsheets, and presentations the extra polish they deserve. Today, we’re adding to that collection with new templates designed by five experts in their fields. All templates are available on the web and on Android and iOS.

For your big ideas, at work and on the go
Intuit's QuickBooks software helps small business owners get more out of financial planning with tools like automated budgeting, tax time reports, and payroll. Use the new annual business budget template by QuickBooks in Sheets to easily manage your budget so you can focus on building your business.

GV provides venture capital funding to bold new companies. In the fields of life science, healthcare, artificial intelligence, robotics, transportation, cyber security, and agriculture, GV’s companies aim to improve lives and change industries.The new GV pitch template in Slides helps entrepreneurs share their vision, based on proven presentation tactics.

And, in the bestselling book, Made to Stick, brothers Chip and Dan Heath revealed that “sticky” messages of all kinds draw their power from the same main traits. In their big idea template in Slides, they use these principles to help you build and deliver your most memorable presentation yet.

For a head start, at school and beyond
Reading Rainbow, the third-longest-running children's TV series in US history and award-winning digital service, has been inspiring children to read for more than 30 years. Reading Rainbow created a lesson planand a book report template in Docs to help teachers and students get things done.

The Google Science Fair (GSF) is an annual online science and engineering competition open to teens globally. In the competition, young scientists have tackled issues like world hunger, life-threatening diseases and the energy crisis. Use GSF’s science fair template in Slides for a head start on your next project—or for this year’s GSF.

Jump-start your next project with these easy-to-use templates in Docs, Sheets, and Slides—available on the web and on your Android device or iPhone. Let us know what you create!

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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With this launch, an employee can quickly and easily see a list of the Google and third-party apps they have access to, like Gmail, Drive, SurveyMonkey, and more, at apps.google.com/user/hub. This page features links to all the apps currently turned on for that user, as well as a section dedicated to those apps that have been whitelisted by their admin but not yet installed. This should encourage employees to use their enabled apps more often and to finally check out those apps they haven’t yet tried (especially the mobile versions, which will be easier to access). New users will also be directed to apps.google.com/user/hub during the onboarding process.

Note that an individual must be signed in to their Apps for Work account to access apps.google.com/user/hub. Check out the Help Center for more information.

Launch Details 
Release track: 
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace: 
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact: 
Admins and end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Customize your User Hub interface

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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We know that copying data and pasting it into a spreadsheet can be a pain if the data does not separate neatly into columns. With that in mind, today we're launching a feature in Google Sheets that allows you to split delimited data (e.g. data separated by commas) from one column across multiple columns.

There are a few ways you can split delimited data across columns. For example, you can select the columns you want to split, and click Data > Split text to columns. A menu will then appear underneath the data, allowing you to split the data using commas, semicolons, periods, spaces, and even custom separators.

In addition to the “Split text to columns” option, you can also format cells containing delimited data using a contextual menu that appears immediately after you’ve pasted data, as shown in the animation below. You can choose a custom separator through this method also. See the Help Center to learn more.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks.

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action: Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Check out the latest "What's New in Google Apps" newsletter [pdf] for a roundup of all Apps launches from February 2016.

Newsletter Archive & Translated Versions (coming soon for February issue)

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Today, Google Apps administrators use custom fields in the domain directory to store information like Projects, Teams, Languages, and whatever else their organization needs. Showing these fields to users within the Google Contacts user interface has been a popular feature request for many domain administrators, because having this information accessible helps users connect more easily.

In the coming weeks, the Contact Manager at contacts.google.com will now show user custom fields from the domain directory. User custom fields will respect the permissions that the domain administrator has set.

Example:

• If you have user custom fields which you’ve set as only visible to administrators and users, this field will only be visible in the Contact Manager to the specified administrators and users.
•  If you have fields which are visible to anyone at the domain, then these fields will now be shown in the Contact Manager to users within the domain.

In the profile above, Profession, Active Projects, and Languages were stored in the "TeamInfo" schema.

If you’d like to start using user custom fields, the Directory API is already available in Python, Go, Java, Apps Script, PHP, and more, giving administrators flexibility over what fields to add for users. To control whether fields are shown to users or just administrators, use the readAccessType property.

If you’ve already added user custom fields, in the coming weeks, any user-visible custom fields that Google Apps administrators have added through APIs or Google Apps Directory Sync will now be visible to users as custom fields in the Contact Manager at contacts.google.com. To update the schema, use theDirectory API.

Limitations

• Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook users will not see custom fields in the Global Address List.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release on March 31, 2016.

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility).

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center


Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Last year we launched Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Gmail, providing Google Apps Unlimited customers with another layer of protection to prevent sensitive information from being revealed to those who shouldn’t have it. Gmail DLP automatically checks all outgoing emails according to policies set by the Apps admin and prompts the appropriate action.

Today we’re excited to announce several new features for Gmail DLP:

Optical character recognition (OCR) for better attachment scanning 
Sensitive information can reside not just in text documents, but in scanned copies and images as well. With the new OCR enhancement, DLP policies can now analyze common image types, and extract text for policy evaluation. Admins have the option to enable OCR in the Admin console at the organizational-unit (OU) level for both the Content compliance and Objectionable content rules.  

Additional predefined content detectors
Our Work customers span the globe, and we are committed to providing customers in all countries with plug-and-play DLP policies. Towards this goal, we are pleased to announce the introduction of new detectors which cover personally identifiable information (PII) in several additional countries, and provide better coverage for HIPAA data as well.

More control over content detection thresholds
Our largest Work customers desire fine-grained control over DLP policies to minimize false positives, and take action commensurate with the level of perceived risk. We are introducing two new detection parameters to address this:

• Count parameter - The count parameter allows customers to set up different DLP policies based on whether a message contains individual or bulk PII. For example, an email containing a single credit card number might be considered a low risk event, while one that contains 100 credit cards is clearly a high risk scenario. 
• Confidence parameter - The confidence parameter lets the customer tighten or loosen detection criteria for the most commonly used detectors as per their needs. 

Check out the Help Center links below for more information on Gmail DLP and these new features. Stay tuned as we bring DLP to Google Drive later this year.

Note: Gmail DLP is available for Google Apps for Work Unlimited customers only.  

Launch Details
Release track: 
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace: 
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action: 
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information 
Help Center: DLP for Gmail overview
Help Center: Optical character recognition
Help Center: New predefined detectors
Help Center: New detection parameters


Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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New versions of the Google Sheets and Slides apps for Android are now available on Google Play, making it even easier to work from your mobile phones and tablets. Read on for details.

We recognize that images can be the difference between a spreadsheet that’s difficult to interpret and one that effectively tells a story. To help you better convey your spreadsheet’s message on mobile, images will now render in the Google Sheets Android app. (Note that images in frozen rows and columns may not show properly.)

Similarly, themes allow you to quickly and easily craft engaging and effective presentations, so you need to be able to swap them in and out whether you’re working on your phone or your laptop. Starting today, as long as you’re online, you can change the theme of your presentation in the Google Slides Android app. There are 18 themes to choose from.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Customize a slide with layouts and themes

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Looking back at 2015, we can see that Google Apps Mobility Management has come a long way from an Android-only device management solution to a complete suite with native iOS support and app distribution across both the Android and iOS platforms. This has motivated many Apps admins to adopt our integrated solution, and we’re excited to help their employees be productive while keeping work data secure on their mobile devices.

As Mobile Management becomes increasingly important to admins, we want to make it even simpler to set up. With that in mind, today we’re making it easy for an admin to detect how many of their employees run the risk of accessing corporate data on unmanaged mobile devices and to establish a basic mobile security policy in the Admin console.

By simply clicking MANAGE NOW* on the Admin console landing page, admins can set up Mobile Management with a predefined set of security policies. Doing this will then allow those admins to take various actions, such as performing an account wipe of corporate data on mobile devices, viewing the inventory of all managed devices in a domain, and enforcing a basic password policy. To simplify the overall Mobile Management setup experience, we’ve also made it possible to set up Apple Push Certificates via the same wizard.

In addition, if an admin wants to use Google Mobile Management to set up Android for Work, we’ve made the process significantly simpler and quicker. Prior to this launch, admins needed to complete 15 different steps across four different sections of the Admin console to set up Android for Work. Starting today, they only need to complete one step to manage those devices in their domains. To get started, check out this Help Center article.

*Note that the option to MANAGE NOW will only show on the Admin console landing page if more than 80% of domain users are unmanaged.

Launch Details 
Release track: 
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace: 
Gradual rollout (please note that these changes may take several weeks to propagate)

Impact: 
Admins only

Action: 
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information 
Help Center: Android for Work setup overview

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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In Google Docs, you don’t need to type to put words on a page—you can simply talk. But as any good employee knows, crafting an effective document takes a whole lot more than simply adding text. The process may involve bolding and italicizing, copying and pasting, inserting bullet points and tables, undoing and redoing formatting, and more.

Until now, it was tough to take these types of actions using only your voice. With this launch, we’re changing that. Starting today, you can simply pause, issue a command, pause again, and resume dictating. To see a list of all commands, check out this Help Center article or say “voice commands help” when you’re voice typing. Please note that Voice commands work in English only.

As an added bonus, we’re also making it possible to dictate in Docs on the web in dozens of additional dialects and accents. Please note that these features are only available when you’re working in a Chrome browser on your computer.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release (voice commands)
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming on March 7th, 2016 (additional languages)

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Type with your voice
Video: Type, edit and format with your voice in Docs—no keyboard needed

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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An update to the Gmail for Android app is coming to Google Play. New features will include:

 

• Rich Text Formatting: Want to highlight important thoughts on the go? Now you can bold, italicize,underline, add text color, change text background, and remove formatting. To format text, simply long press to select it and tap the 'format' option, next to ‘copy’ and ‘paste’.

• Instant RSVPs: Accepting invitations on the go can be hard if you don't have access to your schedule. If you use Google Calendar or Microsoft Exchange, calendar invitations now include a one-tap option to show your schedule and respond.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (3 or more days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users on Android

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center
Gmail Blog
Google Play

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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As noted in our previous update, we are following the Chrome OS release cycle to provide regular updates to Google Apps customers who use Chromebox for meetings devices on new feature releases and improvements. With the recent release of Chrome OS 48 stable, the Chrome for Work team is excited to announce the following updates:

Instant reboot from the Admin console
We recently launched the ability for domain administrators to instantly restart Chromebox for meetings devices on their domain remotely. This policy is enabled at the device level and can be useful when supporting remote office locations when a device is experiencing issues.

Persistent system logs after a crash or reboot
Starting today, we have enabled logs to remain on a Chromebox for meetings device after a crash so that a problem can be more easily diagnosed. Until now it was difficult to troubleshoot issues that resulted in a system crash or reboot because Chromebox for meetings would not save the necessary logs needed to diagnose the root cause of the issue.

Improvements to Chrome
Chromebox for Meetings builds on Chrome, which frequently auto updates with new features and improvements. For Chrome 48, Chromebox for meetings devices and remote users will benefit from improved screen sharing performance on low bandwidth connections.

Launch Details 
Release track:
All features launched to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Impact:
Admins only for instant reboot and system logs features; all end users for screen sharing performance improvements

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center


Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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A new version of the Google Drive for Android app is coming to Google Play. New features include:

• A new menu icon next to a file or folder will pop-up a set of contextual actions you can take on the file or folder.

• You’ll now have the ability to view trash and delete or restore files from within your Android app

• When viewing the Shared With Me view, you’ll now see the avatars of the person who has shared with you.

Launch Details

Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Getting started with the Drive app for Android
Help Center: Trash
Help Center: Shared with me
Get the latest Google Drive Android app on Google Play


Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Google Drive users love to collaborate with each other, but if you've ever tried changing the sharing settings for a folder, you know that it’s not always easy to find out who the folder has been shared with or how to update the permissions.

In the coming weeks, we will be adding a new “people icon” to shared folders, which simplifies seeing who you’ve shared a folder with and gives you quick access to the sharing settings. With this change, we hope to reduce the amount of clutter for users and make sharing more transparent for folder owners.

Hover over the people icon for a snapshot of sharing details.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in 2 weeks

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

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Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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On February 9th, Safe Internet Day, we announced two new security features to Gmail that will roll out to Google Apps customers in the coming weeks.

First, users who receive a message from―or are composing a message to―someone whose email service doesn’t support an encrypted connection (TLS) will soon see an open lock icon in the message. Users won’t see this icon when sending mail from one Google-hosted domain to any other, including gmail.com, since those emails are always sent over an encrypted connection. Gmail will always send and receive messages over TLS, unless the connecting service doesn’t support it.

Second, users who receive messages that aren’t properly authenticated with either Sender Policy Framework (SPF) or DKIM will see a question mark in place of their profile photo, corporate logo or avatar.

Change Management
It is important to note that both of these features are warnings only. They will not affect email sending or delivery. Unauthenticated emails, as well as those sent over an unencrypted connection, have always existed (though on a steady decline). The only thing that has changed is that Gmail will now warn the user when the security of a particular email is less than standard.

The two Gmail Help Center articles below outline the expected behavior and can be used to help effectively communicate this change to users.

• Email encryption in transit (TLS)
• Email Authentication

To see what percentage of traffic is received or sent from your domain that is either encrypted with TLS or authenticated with DKIM, SPF, or DMARC, the following tools are available for domain administrators:

• Postmaster Tools provides both encryption and authentication dashboards for domains which receive a sizable daily volume of email traffic (up to the order of hundreds). Learn more in the Postmaster Tools Help Center.
• The Admin console contains aggregate reports for your domain, including Gmail Inbound Email: Encryption and Outbound Email: Encryption reporting. Learn more in the Admin console Help Center.

Limitations for senders using custom ‘From:’ to send mail
If your users use custom ‘From:’ to send mail through a different domain’s mail servers, Gmail will only indicate the encryption status for the receiving domain’s reputation. At this time, Gmail will not indicate the encryption status of the user’s custom ‘From:’ address.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release in the coming weeks, with Scheduled release coming 2 weeks later.
Please monitor the launch release calendar for details.

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management strongly suggested. The Help Center articles below outline the expected behavior, and can be used to help effectively communicate these changes to users.