A new look for the Google Apps Admin console

material design

At Google I/O last June, google introduced material design, a single underlying design system that allows for a beautiful unified experience across platforms and device sizes.These design principles applied to many of Google’s products recently, and today google announcing that the Admin console is next in line.

The Admin console has been redesigned to better meet the needs of Google Apps admins, putting your most important controls front and center and making the most common tasks easier than ever to complete.

To help you get acquainted with the new design, google prepared a design change guide, featuring screenshots of the new navigational elements and guidance on how to change settings, manage and add users, apply filters and access other frequently used features in the new UI. We also pulled together before and after screenshots for context on how things will be changing. google suggest spending some time reviewing these guides to ensure you can hit the ground running with the new design.

reference by:www.google.com


Protected sheets and ranges improvements in Google Sheets

We’re launching several improvements to the protected sheets and ranges functionality in Google Sheets, providing faster and more granular control when locking down sections of content in spreadsheets.

Key changes include:

  • Ability to lock down all content in a sheet except a particular cell or range
  • Faster set up with the ability to re-use the same permissions you previously chose on a different set of cells
  • Ability to quickly lock down a sheet or range to only a single person, a small number of people or a domain

 

protected-1 google update

Release track:

Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

reference by:www.google.com


A Classroom mobile app and new desktop options for teachers

Today we’re launching a native Classroom mobile app for both Android and iOS to help teachers and students be more collaborative in the classroom and save even more paper and time.classroom_android

New with the mobile app, students and teachers can:

  • Snap a photo: Right from the assignment page in the mobile app, students can snap a photo and attach it to their assignment.
  • Share from other apps: Students can also easily attach images, PDFs and web pages from other apps to their assignments.
  • Offline caching: Class streams and assignment information are automatically cached every time you open the app with an Internet connection, so that you can see them when you don’t have a connection.

We’re also launching two new desktop features to help teachers stay organized as they head into the second half of the year:

  • Teacher Assignments Page: On Classroom for desktop, we’re launching a teacher assignments page, where teachers will be able to get quick access to any assignment, see how many students are done and mark assignments as reviewed.
  • Archive Classes: We also know that classes don’t go on forever —that’s why today we’re launching the ability to archive classes. Archiving a class will remove it from the home page and make it read-only — teachers and class members can still view valuable information in archived classes, but can’t make any changes or turn in assignments.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

Reference by:www.google.com


New status menu, bandwidth control for Google Drive for Mac/PC

Google Drive for Mac/PC syncs any or all of your files to Google Drive on the web, making them available anywhere, at any time, on any device. It also provides secure cloud-based storage for your files.

A new version of Google Drive for Mac/PC is rolling out this week, featuring a new, more visually rich status menu. The menu allows people using Google Drive for Mac/PC to more clearly follow their sync status, including guidance on already synced files, files currently syncing and files yet to be synced. When you hover over a recently synced file, you’ll see an icon that saves you steps by letting you share it right from the menu.

status menu

You can also now choose to limit how much bandwidth Drive consumes while syncing your files for those times when you need extra bandwidth for something else. You can do that in the Advanced section of the Preferences menu.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release (gradual rollout)

For more information:
Sync files and folders with Google Drive for Mac/PC
Install Google Drive for Mac/PC

reference by: www.google.com


Docs, Sheets, and Slides added to the App Launcher

As announced last month, the Docs editors―Docs, Sheets, and Slides―have now been added to the App Launcher. The editors icons are on the first screen of the App Launcher, along with your other Google Apps products

Docs, Sheets, and Slides added to the App Launcher

Groups and Contacts were moved to the ‘More’ screen to make room.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

 reference by:www.google.com


Last seen indication in Hangouts

Last seen indication in Hangouts :- To make it easier to know when people using Hangouts are available to chat, we’ve added timestamps as part of status (e.g. ‘last seen 2h ago’), indicating when one was last using Hangouts

Comprompt_Hangout_last_seen

Individuals can control whether this info is shared from Hangouts chat settings.

This feature is now available on Hangouts in Gmail (gradual rollout), as well as on the latest versions of the Hangouts Android and iOS apps.

As launched recently for Hangouts in Gmail, the latest version of the Google Hangouts iOS app now includes the ability to add custom status messages and see the status messages of others in the Contacts view. Status messages can be added via the settings menu.

Note: status messages shared on one device will also apply to other devices on which one is signed in with their Hangouts account.
This feature is coming soon for the Hangouts Android app.Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:

Hangouts in Gmail (to be updated upon rollout completion)
Hangouts Android app
Hangouts iOS app
reference by: www.google.com

Easier guest access to Hangouts video calls on iOS

Last year, Google announced a new feature for Hangouts on the web allowing Google Apps customers to share links to Hangouts video calls so that external meeting guests may request to join if not explicitly invited. This feature helps external guests avoid errors when joining with alternate Google accounts.

The latest release of the Hangouts iOS app now has the same functionality, allowing external guests using the app to join Hangouts video calls from their mobile device with a meeting link provided by the organizer.
Notes:

  • Anyone in the same domain as the Hangout can make a video call externally accessible with the link
  • Video calls that are shared with the link require someone in the Apps domain of the Hangout video call to accept those requesting access on the web

This feature will be coming soon to the Hangouts Android app.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
Help Center
Get the Hangouts iOS app in the App Store

 

Reference by  www.google.com


Manage revisions for non-Google files in the new Google Drive

As available with the classic version of Google Drive, we’ve now incorporated the option to view and manage versions for non-Google file formats in the new Google Drive.

Simply right-click on a non-Google file (or click on it and use the ‘More Actions’ menu in the toolbar), and select ‘Manage versions.’

Release track:

Rapid release and Scheduled release

 

For more information:

Help Center

Reference by  www.google.com