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Google Workspace Updates - (fka) G Suite

Get official updates from the Google Workspace team about feature additions and enhancements for Google Workspace services like Google Meet, Google Chat, and Google Calendar.

1.
Introducing Frontline Plus: Enhanced Security and AI features for Frontline Workers
April 23, 2025  17:59:58

What’s changing

We’re expanding Google Workspace Frontline to include a new edition: Frontline Plus. Building on the core Frontline offering, Frontline Plus includes our most advanced data protection and compliance controls, inline with features available in our Enterprise Plus plan. Further, Frontline Plus users will gain access to helpful Google AI capabilities including Gemini in Gmail, Google Chat, and Google Meet, AI classification in Drive, the Gemini app, and NotebookLM. 


Keep reading for more information on specific features. To learn more about Google Workspace Frontline, visit the Help Center or contact our Sales team. In line with the other Frontline editions, Frontline Plus is not available for self-service purchase. 


Who’s impacted

Admins and end users 


Why it matters 

Today, our Frontline offerings open up communication and collaboration channels between frontline workers and corporate teams in a way that’s safe and secure. Frontline Plus layers on our comprehensive suite of security and admin controls, as well as providing frontline workers with useful AI features, including:

Security

AI classification in Drive

IT teams can automatically and continuously identify, classify, and label sensitive files according to the specific needs of your organization. Classified files can then be protected with existing data loss prevention (DLP) controls. 

Hosted S/MIME

Enable the S/MIME standard to encrypt incoming and outgoing mail messages.

Work insights

Get access to detailed metrics on your organization's Google Workspace usage.

Enterprise data regions

You can choose to store your covered data in a specific geographic location (the United States or Europe). Data regions cover data at rest (including backups) and data processing for customer-supplied data in several Google Workspace core services.

Client-side encryption

Client-side encryption adds another layer to the default encryption that Google Workspace provides. CSE helps to keep your organization's data private with end-to-end encryption that Google servers and third parties can't decrypt, giving your organization greater control over access to its data. 

Security Sandbox

You can use Gmail Security Sandbox to protect your organization against malware. It works by scanning incoming email attachments in a secure, isolated environment called a “Security Sandbox” to identify malware in the attachments without risking any harm to your organization.

Access Transparency

You can use Access Transparency to review logs of actions taken by Google staff when accessing user content.

Gmail

Help me write

Effortlessly write and improve your new emails and replies – from polishing your tone with a single click to generating new drafts from scratch.

Side panel

Draft email responses, query your emails (“Catch me up on Project Clover emails”), and summarize emails and email threads.

Contextual smart replies

Gemini can analyze the context of an email and suggest relevant responses with Contextual Smart Reply.

Meet

Take notes for me

Automatically capture meeting notes, organize them in Google Docs, and share them with your team. Those joining late can catch up during the meeting with “Summary so far”.

Adaptive audio

Adaptive audio lets teams join meetings from multiple nearby laptops without echo or feedback, which is useful when conference rooms or meeting equipment is scarce.

Studio sound, studio look, and studio lighting

Studio look uses artificial intelligence to fix issues caused by low light or low quality webcams, while Studio lighting can be used to simulate studio-quality lighting. Studio sound will automatically improve poor audio quality from typical bluetooth headsets and dial-in participants by using AI to recreate higher audio frequencies.

Translated captions

Meet will automatically detect and translate over 65 languages to a user’s preferred language.

Generate a background

With Gemini in Meet, you can generate unique and bespoke meeting backgrounds. Meeting backgrounds can help obscure your surroundings during a meeting or they can enhance the meeting itself.

Chat

Side panel

Summarize a space or conversation (“What are the key takeaways in this conversation?”), generate a list of action items (“Are there any action items for me in this conversation?”), or ask specific questions (“What is the decision on the project discussed in this conversation?”).

Automatic translation

Chat will automatically detect and translate over 120 languages to a user’s preferred language while keeping the original message available for review.

As well as access to:

Gemini app

Kickstart learning, creating, and planning. Or use Gems to build a team of AI experts to tackle complex projects, including coding, research, and data analysis.

NotebookLM

Accelerate team knowledge sharing by uploading your sources to get instant insights and podcast-like Audio Overviews. 

*Visit the Help Center to learn more about specific feature availability.



Getting started

  • Admins: 
  • End users: 
    • To get the most out of the AI features included with your Frontline Plus license: 

Availability

Resources


2.
Data classifications labels for Gmail are now generally available
April 23, 2025  20:12:41

What’s changing 

In 2024 we introduced data classification labels for email in open beta, and since then we’ve introduced several feature enhancements including: 

Beginning today, we are pleased to announce that data classification labels are generally available, giving admins yet another way to enhance their security posture.



Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it matters 

Data breaches are increasingly common and costly across all organizations, including enterprises, public sectors, and government institutions. By extending data classification labels to Gmail, Google Workspace offers admins a more comprehensive and integrated system for protecting sensitive information. 


Admins can create custom labels or leverage existing Drive labels within Gmail, enabling classification of emails based on department, document type, sensitivity, and more. This allows for the creation of targeted data protection rules, such as blocking the sending of internal-labeled emails to external recipients or automatically applying a confidential label to messages containing sensitive financial data. 


The instant application of auto-classification and DLP rules in Gmail provides immediate feedback to users, educating them on data protection policies and allowing them to rectify issues before emails are sent, ultimately minimizing data breaches and improving overall data security. 


Finally,availability on mobile devices provides a comprehensive experience, ensuring data is protected and labeled across all user devices, whether users are sharing and accessing information from desktop devices or from mobile devices on-the-go.


Additional details

To further enhance the data classification labels experience, instant application of DLP rules and actions triggered by classification labels will soon be generally available on mobile devices. We anticipate that this functionality will be available in May – we’ll share an update once we have more information.


Getting started

  • Admins: 
    • If you've been using classification labels since the open beta period, there are no changes to your experience.
    • If you’re new to Gmail classification labels, they can be enabled at the domain, group level, or individual user level. You also have the option to enable existing classification labels used in Drive for use in Gmail. The Label Manager tool can be accessed by going to Security > Access and data control or admin.google.com/ac/dc/labels in the Admin console.  Visit the Help Center to learn more about getting started with classification labels, Gmail DLP & automatic classification labels, and preventing data leaks in email and attachments.

The Label Manager tool can be accessed in the Admin console  by going to Security > Access and data control



  • End users: Depending on the data loss prevention rules configured by your admin, you may see a dialog letting you know that your message cannot be shared and how to fix your message so it can safely be shared. Visit the Help Center to learn more about classification labels in Gmail.



Users can apply classification labels to a message, according to the organization’s data governance policies


Classification labels on mobile when composing a message and reading a message



Rollout pace


Availability

The Label Manager and manual classification is available to Google Workspace:
  • Frontline Starter and Standard
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Education Standard and Education Plus
  • Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus


Data loss prevention rules with labels as a condition or labels as an action are available to:
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade
  • Frontline Standard
  • Cloud Identity Premium (in combination with a Workspace Edition that includes Gmail)

Resources


3.
Introducing even more high-quality Google Slides templates to elevate your presentations
April 22, 2025  20:39:13

What’s changing 

Last year, we released a collection of modern, professionally designed templates in Google Slides to help make it easier for users to build presentations. Today, we’re excited to introduce a second wave of templates that cater to a wide range of use cases such as business proposals, product pitches, marketing plans, quarterly reviews, team intros or celebrations, and more. These make it easier for you to get started building impactful presentations for collaborative teams, businesses, educational users, and more. 
high-quality Google Slides templates to elevate your presentations



Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

Slides templates enable users to jumpstart their presentation creation, maintain a consistent look and feel, and focus on what matters most—your content. More specifically, they help users overcome the blank canvas and spend less time on design and instead, dive straight into crafting a compelling narrative that is visually cohesive and professional. 


Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be ON by default for domains that do not have default templates & themes turned ON. Domains that have default templates & themes turned ON, will continue to see their company specific template. Visit the Help Center to learn more about default templates & themes. 
  • End users: 
    • You can access templates via the new sidebar or by going to Insert > Templates. Once clicked, you can browse the collection, select a template that aligns with your vision and style, and choose to insert all slides or just the ones you need before personalizing the template with your own content. 
    • Note: This feature is only available for users using the "English (United States)" language setting. Visit the Help Center to learn more about updating your language. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about templates in Google Slides. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts (using the "English (United States)" language setting) 

Resources 

4.
Adding new capabilities to student groups in Google Classroom
April 22, 2025  18:00:26

What’s changing

Last year, we introduced student groups in Google Classroom, a feature that enables teachers to create groups of students to make assigning differentiated content easier. As a result of this update, teachers can differentiate content across sub-sections of their class based on their students' needs. For example, teachers can create groups based on different reading levels and as their class adapts, they can edit members of a group or delete groups within their class. 


Today, we’re excited to announce improvements to student groups that enable teachers to: 
  • Email groups, which is especially useful when educators want to communicate with a sub-section of their class. 
  • Sort by groups when grading on the Student work page. This makes it easier to grade more efficiently and understand student performance based on groups. 
  • Edit student groups when creating an assignment so that educators can quickly adapt instruction without having to go to the People page. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning add-on 

Resources

5.
Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 18, 2025
April 19, 2025  03:55:37

1 New update

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.


Create custom chart groupings in Connected Sheets
We’re excited to announce that Connected Sheets users can now create custom groupings for numeric values in a chart. More specifically, users can control the minimum and maximum value of the buckets and the interval size of the bucket. We hope this improves upon the experience of using Connected Sheets to visualize a large amount of data.  | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about analyzing & refreshing BigQuery data in Google Sheets using Connected Sheets, Google Sheets limitations, and getting started with BigQuery data in Google Sheets.

Create custom chart groupings in Connected Sheets




Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.


Use Gemini in Google Classroom to generate questions or a quiz based on specific text 
We're adding a text-dependent question generation tool to further our efforts for AI to help educators save time, create captivating learning experiences, and inspire creativity. | Learn more about text-dependent questions in Classroom. 

Google Docs code blocks now available in additional programming languages 
We’re adding support for additional code languages to give even more users the ability to easily visualize code, making more code readable and collaboration much easier. | Learn more about new programming languages for code blocks in Docs. 

Google Classroom is expanding to 7 additional languages 
Last month, we announced the ability to use the Google Classroom mobile app in additional languages, and today we’re excited to announce the same languages are also now available with the web experience: Afrikaans, Assamese, Estonian, French Canadian, Icelandic, Kazakh and Swahili. | Learn more about new languages in Classroom. 

Introducing silent reading mode in Google Classroom’s Read Along 
We’re introducing a new feature that allows students to read a book in silent reading mode. | Learn more about silent reading mode. 

Control Workspace Business and Enterprise users’ access to new Google Workspace with Gemini features before general availability
In the coming weeks, Google Workspace Business and Enterprise admins will be able to turn on access to Workspace with Gemini alpha features for their users. Turning this on gives your users a head start on leveraging our latest AI features and the opportunity to provide Google with helpful feedback as we develop new features. | Learn more about access to new Gemini features before general availability.

Introducing the ability to grade and assign grading labels in bulk in Google Classroom
To further improve grading options for teachers using grading systems in Google Classroom, we recently introduced the ability to perform bulk grading via ‘grade all’. | Learn more about bulk grading in Classroom.

Updates for configuring your preferred language for “Take notes for me”, recorded captions, and meeting transcripts
You can now set your preferred language from the Calendar invite and during the meeting when using Google Meet on Android and iOS devices. | Learn more about preferred languages in Meet.

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog posts for additional details.


Rapid Release Domains: 
Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 
For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

6.
Updates for configuring your preferred language for “Take notes for me”, recorded captions, and meeting transcripts
April 17, 2025  16:41:10

What’s changing

We recently announced additional language support for “Take notes for me”, recorded captions, and meeting transcripts. You can now set your preferred language for these features: 
  • From the Calendar invite. Your preferred language will apply to every meeting in a series.
  • During the meeting when using Google Meet on Android and iOS devices.
Choosing your preferred language from the Calendar invite

Choosing your preferred language during the meeting on a mobile device




Additional details

Available on iOS for:
  • Gmail: 6.0.250305.1795546
  • Meet: 298.0.72766

Available on Android for:
  • Gmail: 2025.04.06.744527406
  • Meet: 301.0.744527189

Getting started


Rollout pace

Mobile availability:

Calendar availability:


Availability

“Take notes for me” is available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Also available with the Gemini Education Premium add-on
  • Anyone who previously purchased the Gemini Enterprise* and AI Meetings & Messaging* add-ons will also receive this feature.
*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Transcripts are available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Add-on
  • Workspace Individual Subscribers

Captions included in a meeting recording are available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Plus and Standard
  • Education Plus for users with a "Staff" or "Student" license, and the Teaching & Learning add-on
  • Enterprise Essentials
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Workspace Individual Subscribers
  • Google One subscribers with 2 TB or more storage space

Resources


7.
Introducing the ability to grade and assign grading labels in bulk in Google Classroom
April 16, 2025  19:11:30

What’s changing

To further improve grading options for teachers using grading systems in Google Classroom, we recently introduced the ability to perform bulk grading via ‘grade all’. With this new feature, teachers can quickly and efficiently grade all students' work on the Gradebook page by selecting ‘grade all’. They can also choose to override existing grades and automatically return them to students after grading. 


Today, we’re excited to announce that teachers can now take bulk grading action on the Student work page in addition to the Gradebook. This update enables teachers to grade and assign grading labels in bulk, ultimately making grading more efficient and saving teachers time. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • Once a teacher has set up grading, they can follow these steps to grade all: 
      • Go to Google Classroom > Student Work Page > select multiple students > click the bulk actions menu and select the desired option 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about grading & returning an assignment. 

Rollout pace

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 

Resources 

8.
Control Workspace Business and Enterprise users’ access to new Google Workspace with Gemini features before general availability
April 15, 2025  22:58:21

What’s changing

In the coming weeks, Google Workspace Business and Enterprise admins will be able to turn on access to Workspace with Gemini alpha features for their users. Turning this on gives your users a head start on leveraging our latest AI features and the opportunity to provide Google with helpful feedback as we develop new features. More information can be found below which can help you decide whether early access is right for your users. We first introduced this option last year for Google Workspace customers who previously purchased a Gemini Enterprise, Gemini Business and AI Meetings & Messaging add-on. 


Access to Gemini alpha features can be turned on for all users or a subset of users in specific Organizational Units (OUs) or Groups.

Admin console > Generative AI > Gemini for Workspace > Alpha features




Additional details

  • Alpha features get the same robust data protection standards that come with all Google Workspace services.
  • Alpha features are experimental and may not always get things right. We’re looking forward to customers’ feedback to help us improve these features before they’re rolled out to general availability. However, please keep in mind that Alpha features may be changed, suspended or discontinued at any time without prior notice.

Getting started

  • Admins: 
    • This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the domain, OU, or group level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning access to Gemini in Workspace apps Alpha on or off. 
    • Please consider the following before configuring Gemini alpha access for your users:
      • With this launch, Gemini add-on licenses will no longer be required for your users to access Gemini in Workspace apps alpha features. Please ensure the alpha setting is turned ON only for your desired groups or OUs.   
      • Once the Gemini in Workspace apps alpha setting is enabled, users may be granted access to new alpha features at any time — it is not possible to enable a subset of features or opt-out of specific features. We strongly recommend that admins and end users sign up for the Google Workspace alpha community page. Here, you can find the latest Gemini in Workspace apps alpha features, ask questions and provide feedback about the features on this page.
      • Features may be added to, modified, and removed from alpha at any time — there is no advanced notice of these features appearing for users.
      • Some alpha features may not roll out to all your selected alpha users. 
      • As these features are not yet generally available, we will not offer full support for these features.
      • You can also help us improve Gemini in Workspace apps by allowing users at your organization to provide feedback via research studies and surveys. 

Rollout pace

Admin setting 

Availability

This update impacts Google Workspace:
  • Business Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus


Resources


9.
Introducing silent reading mode in Google Classroom’s Read Along
April 15, 2025  18:14:52

What’s changing 

In addition to the recent announcement of educators being able to upload content to Read Along in Google Classroom, we’re excited to introduce a new feature that allows students to read a book in silent reading mode. 


Prior to today, students could only read aloud and unlike the default reading mode, silent reading mode will allow students to read a book silently without having to draw attention to themselves or disturbing their classmates. In addition to giving teachers more flexibility in how they use Read Along, this new reading mode is particularly useful in scenarios where multiple students might be working on a reading assignment in the same space. With less noise and fewer distractions, students can still build independent reading skills and will continue to: 
  • Receive assistance from the AI reading buddy when needed by clicking on any unknown words 
  • Be presented with questions to help with their reading comprehension 
  • Receive stars when they read with few errors or assistance and answer questions correctly 

Additional details 

When using silent reading mode, teachers will not be provided with a student's reading performance related to accuracy, words per minute, or phonics. The teacher will receive reading performance insights related to comprehension. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning add-on 

Resources

10.
Google Classroom is expanding to 7 additional languages
April 15, 2025  15:29:28

What’s changing

Last month, we announced the ability to use the Google Classroom mobile app in additional languages, and today we’re excited to announce the same languages are also now available with the web experience: 
  • Afrikaans
  • Assamese 
  • Estonian 
  • French Canadian 
  • Icelandic 
  • Kazakh 
  • Swahili 

Additional details 

Certain Google Classroom features might not be accessible in all languages, including Read Along in Classroom, Practice sets, Originality reports and Gemini in Classroom 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching and Learning add-on, Endpoint Education add-on 
  • Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on 

Resources 

11.
Google Docs code blocks now available in additional programming languages
April 23, 2025  21:19:49

What’s changing

In 2022, we introduced a smart canvas feature that enables you to format and display code in Google Docs with code blocks. 

We’re adding support for additional code languages to give even more users the ability to easily visualize code, making more code readable and collaboration much easier. Starting today, users can now format code blocks in the following additional programming languages: 
  • C# 
  • Go 
  • Kotlin 
  • PHP 
  • Rust 
  • TypeScript 
  • HTML 
  • CSS 
  • XML 
  • JSON 
  • Protobuf 
  • Textproto 
  • SQL 
  • Bash/Shell 
additional Docs code blocks programming languages


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: To format and display code in a Doc, select Insert > Building blocks > Code blocks > choose your programming language or search @ > Code blocks > choose your programming language. Visit the Help Center to learn more about inserting smart chips & building blocks in your Google Doc. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Essentials Plus 
  • Education Standard and Plus 

Resources 

12.
Use Gemini in Google Classroom to generate questions or a quiz based on specific text
April 14, 2025  13:47:59

What’s changing 

Earlier this year, we introduced the ability to generate vocabulary lists with the help of Gemini in Google Classroom. Today, we’re adding a text-dependent question generation tool to further our efforts for AI to help educators save time, create captivating learning experiences, and inspire creativity. 

Educators can select a Google Drive file or manually input text, select which skills they want students to demonstrate, then generate questions to assess grade-specific comprehension and critical reasoning skills of students. Once generated, educators can then export the questions to a Google Form or Google Doc to assign to students. This new option can be particularly useful in a variety of scenarios, such as creating an exit ticket or a quiz to check students’ understanding.

Getting started 

Rollout pace

Availability

Available for Google Workspace for Education customers with these add-ons: 
  • Gemini Education and Gemini Education Premium 

Resources 

13.
Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 11, 2025
April 11, 2025  20:06:38

1 New update

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.


Deep Research is now available on Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental
Google Workspace users with access to the Gemini app can now use Deep Research with Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental, the world’s most capable AI model according to industry reasoning benchmarks and Chatbot Arena. Gemini Deep Research is your personal AI research assistant, and with our most intelligent model, it’s even better at every step of the research process. Try it now by selecting Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) from the drop down and tapping “Deep Research” in the prompt bar. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Available to all Google Workspace users with access to the Gemini app. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Gemini for in-depth research.


Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.


Help me write in Google Docs now available in four additional languages 
In Google Docs, Help me write is now available in four additional languages: Japanese, Italian, French and German. | Learn more about language availability for Help me write in Docs. 

Help me write in Gmail now available in Japanese and Korean 
Building upon our recent language availability announcement for Italian, French and German, we’re excited to introduce Help me write in Gmail across web and mobile devices in two additional languages: Japanese and Korean. | Learn more about language availability for Help me write in Gmail. 

Educators can now upload content to Read Along in Google Classroom 
Educators now have the ability to upload their own content into Read Along as part of the assignment creation process. | Learn more about uploading your content to Read Along. 

Create and manage grading periods using the Google Classroom API 
Last year, we introduced the availability of grading periods endpoints as part of the Google Classroom API through the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program. This week, we’re excited to announce the general availability of this feature. | Learn more about the Classroom API. 

Reference your Google Calendar using Gemini in the side panel of Gmail in additional languages 
You can now reference your Google Calendar using Gemini in the side panel of Gmail in 20+ additional languages. | Learn more about language availability for referring to your Google Calendar using Gemini in Gmail. 

Preview summaries in the Google Chat home view now available in three additional languages 
Summaries in the home view are now available in three additional languages: Spanish, Portuguese and German. | Learn more about language availability for summaries in Chat home.

Save time making changes or updates to AI voiceovers in Google Vids 
In continuing our efforts to enhance AI voiceover features, you can now make updates to your scripts and apply changes to your AI voiceovers with one click for every scene in your Vid, whether doing this manually or using Help me create. | Learn more about AI voiceovers in Google Vids.

The Gemini app, as well as Gemini features in Google Workspace, are now BSI C5 certified
This week at Google Cloud Next 2025, we announced that the Gemini in Google Workspace apps and the Gemini App have achieved the German BSI C5 attestations – the first AI productivity assistant to achieve this certification. | Learn more about BSI C5.


Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog posts for additional details.


Rapid Release Domains: 
Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 
For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

14.
The Gemini app, as well as Gemini features in Google Workspace, are now BSI C5 certified
April 10, 2025  18:36:41

What’s changing 

Today at Google Cloud Next 2025, we announced that the Gemini in Google Workspace apps and the Gemini App have achieved the German BSI C5 attestations – the first AI productivity assistant to achieve this certification. For our customers operating in the EU, this means they can confidently adopt and integrate AI into their work with assurances that stringent third-party auditors have determined that Gemini’s architecture meets a high bar of security and privacy. 

This latest certification continues to build on Gemini’s existing, comprehensive set of safety, privacy, and security standards, including: SOC 1/2/3, ISO 27017/18, and ISO 42001 (the first international standard for AI Management Systems), as well as HIPAA compliance and as the first generative AI assistant to achieve US FedRAMP High attestations. 

Getting started 


Availability 

  • This update impacts all Google Workspace users accessing the Gemini in Google Workspace and the Gemini app. 

Resources 

15.
Save time making changes or updates to AI voiceovers in Google Vids
April 24, 2025  19:29:06

What’s changing 

We recently announced an update that adds AI voiceovers automatically when using Help me create in Google Vids. In continuing our efforts to enhance AI voiceover features, you can now make updates to your scripts and apply changes to your AI voiceovers with one click for every scene in your Vid, whether doing this manually or using Help me create. 


Existing AI voiceovers will be automatically replaced and scenes will automatically extend to match the voiceover length. In addition, users are now able to see previews of their end to end scripts in the script panel, making it easier to make edits and apply changes using the 'Generate all voiceovers' button. 

ai voiceovers in Vids


Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

This feature grants you easy access to generate voiceovers for multiple scenes at once to provide you with professional narration across a video. In addition, it saves time replacing existing voiceover generations and extends scenes in your video to match voiceover lengths. 


Additional details 

Scenes are only extended to match voiceovers, they are not automatically shortened to avoid unintentional removal/cropping of scene content. Only AI Voiceovers generated in Vids will be automatically replaced when generating new voiceovers, existing non-generated audio objects will not be deleted. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. Vids will be ON by default and can be disabled at the organizational level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Vids. 
  • End users: 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating scripts & voiceovers in Google Vids. 
    • Currently, Vids is available in the user’s local language, but the AI features (e.g. Help me create, read-along teleprompter) are only available in English at this time. 
    • Note: View and collaborate access is available to anyone with a Google Workspace account, while create and copy access is available for select editions of Google Workspace customers. 

Rollout pace

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus 
  • Essentials, Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus 
  • Customers with a Gemini Business*, Gemini Enterprise*, Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on 

*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Resources 

16.
Preview summaries in the Google Chat home view now available in three additional languages
April 9, 2025  20:51:55

What’s changing

Last year, we announced that Gemini in Google Chat can now help you catch up on unread conversations in the Chat home view with summaries. Recently, we extended this ability to direct messages and read conversations. 

Upon navigating to a conversation in home, click the “Summarize” button to see a quick, bulleted synopsis of the message content. This enables you to quickly review recent activity across all active conversations to determine where best to focus your time and attention. 

Today, we’re excited to announce that summaries in the home view are now available in three additional languages: 
  • Spanish 
  • Portuguese 
  • German 

Who’s impacted

End users 


Why it matters 

Since introducing a more streamlined user experience in Chat to help you find what you need much faster, we’re adding more ways to help you prioritize the most important conversations. This new summaries in home feature does just that by helping you catch up more quickly. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus 
  • Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on 
Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive this feature: 
  • Gemini Business* 
  • Gemini Enterprise* 
  • AI Meetings and Messages* 
*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Resources 

17.
Reference your Google Calendar using Gemini in the side panel of Gmail in additional languages
April 9, 2025  16:52:44

What’s changing

Last year, we added Google Calendar to the list of apps that Gemini in Gmail connects with. As a result, users can ask Gemini in Gmail to perform select calendar related actions or answer questions about their calendars such as: 
  • When is my [first event] next week? 
  • Create a [30 min] calendar event for my weekly [yoga class] every [Monday and Wednesday] at [9 AM]. 
  • Create a [1h] event for [lunch] [tomorrow] at [noon]. 
Today, we’re excited to announce this feature is available in more than 20 additional languages: 
  • Arabic 
  • Catalan 
  • Chinese 
  • Czech 
  • Danish 
  • Dutch 
  • Finnish 
  • French 
  • German 
  • Greek 
  • Hebrew 
  • Hungarian 
  • Indonesian 
  • Italian 
  • Japanese 
  • Korean 
  • Malay 
  • Norwegian 
  • Polish 
  • Portuguese 
  • Romanian 
  • Russian 
  • Spanish 
  • Swedish 
  • Thai 
  • Turkish 
  • Ukrainian 
  • Vietnamese 
Check out our original announcements for using Gemini in the side panel of Gmail to reference your Google Calendar for even more information. 


Why you’d use it 

Gemini in Gmail can help you: 
  • Create calendar events. 
  • Learn additional details about the existing events in your Calendar. 

Additional details 

At this time, Gemini in Gmail cannot: 
  • Add or remove guests from events. 
  • Pull up attachments or RSVPs related to a meeting. 
  • Find the best time to meet with other people or find time slots when you’re available to meet. 
  • Create tasks, an out of office, focus times or set working locations. 
  • Add or manage meeting rooms. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Starter, Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard and Plus 
  • Google One AI Premium 
  • Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on 
Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive this feature: 
  • Gemini Business* 
  • Gemini Enterprise* 
*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Resources 

18.
Create and manage grading periods using the Google Classroom API
April 9, 2025  14:18:10

What’s changing 

Last year, we introduced the availability of grading periods endpoints as part of the Google Classroom API through the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program. Today, we’re excited to announce the general availability of this feature, which will enable developers to: 
  • Create, modify, and delete grading periods in courses 
  • Read grading periods in courses 
  • Reference and set grading periods on CourseWork resources 
  • Apply grading period settings to existing CourseWork items 

Who’s impacted 

Developers 


Why you’d use it 

The new grading periods endpoints allow developers to create, modify, and read grading periods in Classroom on behalf of administrators and teachers. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: The Classroom API provides a RESTful interface for you to manage courses and rosters in Google Classroom. Learn more about the Classroom API overview. 
  • Developers: 
    • Application developers can use the Classroom API to integrate their apps with Classroom. These apps need to use OAuth 2.0 to request permission to view classes and rosters from teachers. Admins can restrict whether teachers and students in their domain can authorize apps to access their Google Classroom data. 
    • All API and Classroom share button integrations should follow the Classroom brand guidelines. 

Rollout pace 

  • This feature is available now. 

Availability 

  • A Google Workspace for Education Plus license is required to access this feature for both education leaders and educators. Learn more about licensing requirements. 

Resources 

19.
Educators can now upload content to Read Along in Google Classroom
April 9, 2025  13:59:19

What’s changing

In addition to the recent Read Along in Google Classroom feature that provides educators with more visibility into student performance, we’re excited to give them the ability to upload their own content into Read Along as part of the assignment creation process. 

Whether there’s a desire to include location-specific content that's rich in local history and culture or provide materials aligned with geo-specific curriculum, this highly-requested feature expands Read Along’s current library by empowering educators to add content that addresses learners' needs. 

uploading content to read along

Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning add-on 

Resources 

20.
Help me write in Gmail now available in Japanese and Korean
April 7, 2025  19:34:36

What’s changing 

Help me write is an AI-powered writing feature in Gmail that helps draft new email content or refine existing text. Upon selecting the Help me write button in Gmail, you can choose between the following options: 
  • Write your draft: Use your own words to describe the message you’d like to draft. Help me write also understands the context from previous messages in an email thread to craft reply drafts that are relevant to the conversation. 
  • Formalize your draft: Change the tone of your draft to be more formal. 
  • Elaborate on your draft: Add further detail to your email message to build on the draft. Shorten your draft: Decrease the length of your email draft. 

Building upon our recent language availability announcement for Italian, French and German, we’re excited to introduce Help me write across web and mobile devices in two additional languages: 
  • Japanese 
  • Korean 

Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

Whether you’re setting up a meeting with a prospective client or reworking an intro email for a new team member, Help me write in Gmail saves you the time drafting emails and provides the right tone and style for any message occasion. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Web, Android & iOS:

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Starter, Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard and Plus 
  • Google One AI Premium 
  • Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on 

Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive this feature: 
  • Gemini Business* 
  • Gemini Enterprise* 
*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Resources 

21.
Help me write in Google Docs now available in four additional languages
April 7, 2025  19:00:47

What’s changing

In 2023, we introduced Help me write, an AI-powered writing feature that helps get you started by writing something new in Google Docs or quickly refining existing text. Last May, we rolled out the ability to use Help me write in Spanish and Portuguese and today, we’re excited to announce that Help me write is now available in four additional languages: 
  • Japanese 
  • Italian 
  • French 
  • German 
Using Help me write in Docs, you can: 
  • Simply type a few words describing a topic you’d like to write about and a draft will be instantly generated for you. You then have a few options to adjust the results’ length, tone, or format. 
  • Select specific text and refine it to catch typos, polish word choice, and ensure a smooth, natural flow. Plus you can adjust the text’s length, tone, or even use your own prompt to modify it. 

Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why you’d use it 

Whether you’re a recruiter drafting a customized job description or an account executive drafting a sales pitch, Help me write saves you the time and effort of writing the first version of a document by enabling you to focus on bringing your ideas to life instead of conquering a blank page. Now, you can use Help me write in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, French, and German. 

Getting started


 Rollout pace 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus 
  • Google One AI Premium 
  • Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on 
  • Customers with the Gemini Business or Gemini Enterprise add-on* 
*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Resources 

22.
Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 4, 2025
April 4, 2025  19:56:37

4 New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.

Improving the email signature experience for the Gmail app on Android devices 
Starting this week, if no mobile signature is set in the Gmail app on your Android device, your web signature will be inserted when drafting an email. This signature will include support for images, logos, and text formatting just as it appears when sending from web Gmail. If you prefer not to use the web signature on your Android device, you can set a non-empty mobile signature (such as your name). | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now on Android devices; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for April 21, 2025 on Android devices. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete on iOS devices. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating a Gmail signature.
mobile signature in Gmail on Android devices
Set default colors and fonts for new scenes and objects in Google Vids 
We’re excited to announce that users can now set default colors and fonts for newly inserted scenes and objects like shapes and textboxes in Google Vids. To do so, in the toolbar, click Customize Styles > click New objects and scenes at the bottom right of the “Styles” panel. From there you can set colors and fonts for individual object types. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus and Education Plus. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Vids.
Set default colors and fonts for new scenes and objects in Google Vids


Group by view aggregation now available for tables in Google Sheets 
Last year we announced that when using tables in Google Sheets, you’ll have access to our new type of view, group by, where you can aggregate your data into groups based on a selected column. This week, we’re excited to introduce the ability to apply column-level aggregations when in a group by view. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for April 21, 2025. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using tables in Google Sheets. 
Group by view aggregation now available for tables in Google Sheets

Google Workspace apps are now available for the Gemini mobile app 
Workspace apps (formerly known as Workspace Extensions) for the Gemini app are now available on Android and iOS devices in open beta. When enabled, Gemini can connect across your apps, like Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and Drive, to provide more context to your prompts without the need to switch between multiple apps. We expect general availability to begin rolling out by the end of April 2025. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Available to all Google Workspace users with access to the Gemini app as a core service. | Admins can visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Google Workspace apps on or off in Gemini. | End users can Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google Workspace apps in Gemini.


Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.


New sidebar with design elements in Google Slides makes building presentations easier 
To help you find the features you need when creating, building and presenting Google Slides faster, users will now be able to access templates, image generation, new design components and more in a new sidebar on the right side of your canvas. | Learn more about the new sidebar in Slides. 

Introducing Audio Overviews, now available in the Gemini app 
Leveraging the same technology that powers NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews, Gemini app users can now generate podcast-style conversations based on documents, slides, and Deep Research reports. | Learn more about Audio Overviews in the Gemini app. 

Help me create in Google Docs now available in seven additional languages 
Help me create in Docs is now available in seven additional languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Italian, French, and German. | Learn more about language availability for Help me create.

Support for continuous framing on select Logitech Google Meet on ChromeOS 
If you’re joining a meeting from a Logitech Rally Bar, Rally Bar Mini, and Rally Bar Huddle device, you can now take advantage of the devices built-in continuous framing. | Learn more about framing on select Logitech Google Meet on ChromeOS. 

Pre-configure the Google Workspace apps admin setting for the Gemini app ahead of general availability 
Workspace apps (formerly known as Workspace Extensions) for the Gemini app will soon transition from open beta to general availability. As part of this transition, we will turn the Workspace apps admin setting ON by default. We expect general availability to begin rolling out by the end of April 2025. | Learn more about the admin setting. 

Introducing updates to sources for NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus 
We’re introducing additional updates that improve upon the NotebookLM user experience as it relates to sources. | Learn more about new NotebookLM updates. 

NotebookLM and the Gemini app are now Core Services with enterprise-grade data protection for all education customers 
The Gemini app is now a Core Service for all education customers, NotebookLM is now a Core Service for all education customers and NotebookLM Plus, the premium version of NotebookLM, is now a Core Service for customers with Gemini Education and Gemini Education Premium add-ons. | Learn more about NotebookLM and the Gemini App.

More options for exporting your Google Workspace data are available in open beta
Beginning today, Admins can choose from several options when exporting their organization’s data (also known as ‘takeout’). | Learn more about exporting your Google Workspace data are available in open beta.


Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog posts for additional details.


Rapid Release Domains: 
Scheduled Release Domains: 
Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 

    For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).
    23.
    More options for exporting your Google Workspace data are available in open beta
    April 4, 2025  15:25:59

    What’s changing

    Beginning today, Admins can choose from several options when exporting their organization’s data (also known as ‘takeout’). Specifically, they will be able to:

    • Export data from all or multiple services, such as Gmail, Chat, or Drive.
    • Export Drive data based on existing Drive labels
    • Export data from within a specific date range
    • Export data from selected shared drives


    Exporting data for specific services

    Exporting data based on specific Shared Drives

    Exporting data based on specific or custom date range

    Exporting data based on specific Drive labels







    This update is available in open beta, which means no additional sign-up is required.


    Who’s impacted

    Admins

    Why it’s important

    In 2022, we introduced the ability for admins to export user generated content by organizational unit (OU) or group, and prior to that update, data export was limited to a customer’s full set of user generated content. With this update, we continue to give our customers more flexibility and specificity over the data they export, which is important as business and compliance needs evolve.

    Getting started


    Rollout pace


    Availability

    Resources


    24.
    NotebookLM and the Gemini app are now Core Services with enterprise-grade data protection for all education customers
    April 4, 2025  19:45:34

    What’s changing 

    Last year, we launched enterprise-grade data protection in the Gemini app for Education Standard and Education Plus customers. As a core service with enterprise-grade data protection, the Gemini app: 
    Today, we’re expanding these protections to help more education institutions provide AI tools to their communities with the confidence that their data is private, safe and secure through the following updates: 
    NotebookLM and the Gemini app are now Core Services with enterprise-grade data protection for all education customers

    Who’s impacted 

    Why you’d use it 

    Gemini is an AI assistant for education that allows educators to chat with the Gemini app to brainstorm ideas, answer questions quickly, summarize content and more. In addition, students can use the Gemini app to learn more confidently with in-the-moment assistance, practice materials, and real-time feedback. 

    NotebookLM is an AI-powered thinking partner that helps you understand anything. It accelerates learning and knowledge sharing, with AI grounded on the documents that matters most to you. Educators and students 18+ can add their lesson plans, education standards, lecture notes and/or course readings to get real-time summaries, guided lesson plans, discussion questions, quizzes and more. They can also generate audio overviews to take learning on the go and make content more accessible, digestible and engaging. 

    With NotebookLM Plus, you can allow users to chat with your Notebooks without access to see or edit sources, customize the style and tone of notebook responses, create shared notebooks with usage analytics, and you get 5x more Audio Overviews, queries, notebooks, and sources per notebook. 

    Additional details 

    Workspace for Education users already had added data protection in the Gemini app and NotebookLM, meaning their data is not human reviewed or used to train AI models. These enterprise-grade data protections build on that to give school administrators peace of mind. 

    The Gemini app is available in more than 40 languages and over 230 countries and territories. Teen users get a unique Gemini app experience, which we created after consulting with child development and learning science experts. This included conducting learning focused red teaming, an industry standard testing process to find vulnerabilities in generative AI, and testing with youth advisory panels to ensure we’re bringing this technology to students responsibly. Admins with all Workspace for Education editions can use Vault to search Gemini app conversations and create an export of your search results.

    NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus are available in 180+ regions where Gemini API is available and currently supports 35+ languages. For Audio Overviews, while you can upload sources from all supported languages, the spoken audio is currently only available in English. Users can only upload sources from Workspace that they have permission to access. Furthermore, they can control who has access to their notebooks and set more granular permissions within each. Notebooks can only be shared within your organization. 

    Getting started 

    • Admins: 
      • New customers: Access to the Gemini app and NotebookLM is OFF by default for Primary and Secondary (K12) customers, and ON by default for Higher Education customers. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning the Gemini app on or off for users.
      • Existing customers: Your existing settings for the Gemini app and NotebookLM (on or off) will not change as part of this launch. Learn more about the available admin controls and our commitment to you in the Privacy Hub. 
    • End users: 

    Rollout pace 

    Availability 

    This update impacts: 
    • Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus
    • Customers with a Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on 

    Resources

    25.
    Introducing updates to sources for NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus
    April 2, 2025  20:59:28

    What’s changing 

    In addition to the new NotebookLM features announced a few weeks ago, we’re excited to introduce additional updates that improve upon the NotebookLM user experience as it relates to sources. Starting today, you can: 
    • Use the new “Discover sources” functionality to find related sources from the web based on the topic you’re interested in. You can then add these sources to your notebooks, expanding your research and building more comprehensive notebooks. 
    • Use multimodal PDFs as sources with NotebookLM’s enhanced capability to understand all the content within PDFs, which includes text, images and graphs. 

    Who’s impacted 

    Admins and end users (18+) 

    Additional details 

    NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus are available in 180+ regions where Gemini API is available and currently supports 35+ languages. For Audio Overviews, while you can upload sources from all supported languages, the spoken audio is currently only available in English. 

    Your uploads, queries and the model's responses are not used to train models and are not reviewed by human reviewers or otherwise used for product improvement without permission. Your data remains your data and any files uploaded, queries and responses are not shared outside your organization’s trust boundary. 

    Users can only upload sources from Workspace that they have permission to access. Furthermore, they can control who has access to their notebooks and set more granular permissions within each. 

    Getting started 

    Rollout pace 

    Availability 

    These features are available to NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus users. 

    NotebookLM is available as a core service for Google Workspace: 

    • Business Starter 
    • Frontline Starter and Standard 
    • Essentials Starter, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus 
    • Nonprofits 
    • Education Fundamentals, Standard and Plus 

    NotebookLM Plus is available as a core service for Google Workspace: 
    • Business Standard and Plus 
    • Enterprise Standard and Plus 

    NotebookLM Plus is available as a core service for Google Workspace for Education customers with these add-ons: 
    • Gemini Education 
    • Gemini Education Premium 

    Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive NotebookLM Plus as a core service: 
    • Gemini Business* 
    • Gemini Enterprise* 
    *As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.


    Resources