Important change in behavior of Google Calendar events with public visibility

On May 16, 2016, the Google Calendar team will change the behavior of calendar events that users have intentionally marked as public to strictly follow a domain’s external sharing options setting for both primary and secondary calendars, set from the Admin console. This change gives domain administrators more control over how users are sharing their calendar events with people outside of the domain.

Note: If your domain external sharing setting is set to Share all information, then there’s no behavior change.

The change will take effect immediately on the web. Calendars and events synced on mobile may remain visible until the device re-syncs. All events created after May 16, 2016, will appear as free/busy on all platforms.

If users want to share calendar events with external users, but keep their primary work calendars private or free/busy, they can still create separate secondary calendars for that purpose.

We recommend the following actions:

  • If you want to continue sharing calendar events with external users but keep primary calendars private, set the access for primary calendars to Only free/busy information, while setting the access for secondary calendars to Share all information. Then, encourage your users to create public events on secondary calendars.
  • Confirm your current Google Calendar External sharing options in the Admin console (Apps > Google Apps > Calendar > Sharing settings). Learn more about how to Set calendar sharing options.

If you have additional questions or need assistance, contact Google Apps Support.

Reference by Google.com

Scroll quickly through Google Docs on your iPhone or iPad

We introduced the ability to quickly and easily scroll through Google Docs files on your Android phone or tablet. We’re excited to announce that we’re now launching that same functionality for your iOS device. Starting today, when you begin scrolling in Google Docs on your iPhone or iPad, a small navigation handle will automatically appear on the side of the screen. Touching that handle will display any headers you’ve created or—if you haven’t manually applied them—headers that we’ve intelligently detected. This will allow you to quickly skip from section to section, instead of slowly swiping up and down.

scroll quick in ios

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

 

Reference by Google.com

Upload directly to a folder with inline uploads in Drive for Android

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

  • Inline Uploads: Previously when uploading files to Google Drive, they would be sent to a folder called Uploads, instead of a destination folder. Now, when uploading files, you’ll see them appear within the destination folder to which you uploaded the file, along with a clear upload progress indicator.

Inline uploads in google drive
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

Reference by Google.com

Google Drive for Mac/PC just got better! Now sync only the subfolders you need.

Google Drive for Mac/PC — the app that syncs your computer with Google Drive — is an easy way to make sure your files are safe and accessible from anywhere. Today, we are releasing new features that make your syncing and sharing experience better and faster, too.

  • Select which subfolders sync to your computer
    While syncing top-level folders is already possible, you can now choose which subfolders from My Drive to sync to your desktop.
    To do this, click Preferences > Sync Options > Only these folders… Here, you’ll be presented with a list of subfolders from Google Drive that you can check or uncheck to enable or disable syncing.

Selective Subfolder Google Drive Sync

  • Manage your local storage transparently
    While you get tons of storage with Google Drive, your local desktop may not have the same amount of free disk space. Now, Drive’s interface will show the size of your individual subfolders as well as the space remaining on your computer. It will also warn you if there is not enough space to sync.On top of that, during setup, if the default folders don’t fit, Drive will guide you to use selective sync to help you better manage your storage space from the start.
  • See warnings before deleting or moving shared files
    When you’re working with folders on your computer, moving and deleting things is simple. But, doing that with shared files or folders can cause others to lose access. Now, Drive warns you so you’ll know if someone might lose access.
    Warn Before Deleting Shared Files google drive.png
    Please note that Google Apps administrators must first choose whether their users are allowed to use the Google Drive sync client from the Admin console, before it can be used.
  • For steps on how to enable or disable this feature, visit this Help Center article.
  • If you manage MSI files to install programs on behalf of your Windows users, visit this Help Center article to obtain the latest Drive for PC .msi file.

The improved Google Drive sync client is available now on both Windows and Mac here.

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

 

Reference by: Google.com

Introducing Goals in Google Calendar on Android and iPhone

Calendars should help users make the most of their time. That’s why starting today, we’re introducing a new feature called Goals in Google Calendar on Android and iPhone to help users find time for personal activities. With Goals, users can add a goal and Calendar will help them find the time and stick to these goals.

Goals are easy to set up

To set a goal (like “Work out more”), a user must simply answer a few questions (like “How often?” and “Best time?”). From there Calendar will look at the user’s schedule and find the best windows to pencil in time for that goal. Goals created in Google Calendar will have the same privacy setting as the default calendar setting.

Goals in google calender on andriod and iphone

Goals adjust to your busy life

Goals aren’t easy—especially when the unexpected comes up—but Calendar can help adjust in a number of important ways. For example, Calendar will automatically reschedule if a user adds another event that’s a direct conflict with a goal.

 Goals reschedule

Users can also defer a goal at any time, and Calendar will make time for it later.

Goals defer

Finally, Calendar actually gets better at scheduling the more it is used—if a goal is deferred or edited then Calendar will choose even better times in the future.

 Goals complete

To get started, users can download the Google Calendar app on Android or iPhone, and set their first goal.

Please note: Currently, events created through Goals does not take into account secondary calendars or other personal calendars synced to the device.

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

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Reference by Google.com

Set expiration dates for access to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides files

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.

Expiring dates for Access google drive,docs,sheets and slides

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

Reference by Google.com