Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – March 3, 2023

3 New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), 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), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.

Improving Filters in Google Sheets

Filters and filter views help you analyze a set of data in a spreadsheet, and to improve upon this widely used feature, we’re introducing two updates. First, there will be a summary of the rows remaining after a filter is applied in Sheets. You will now see the number of rows that are displayed in the bottom right margin, helping you know immediately whether you are looking at the entire data set or just a subset of it. Second, with the new option to directly apply filters from the right-click menu, filters are now more accessible and discoverable. Simply right-click and apply filters directly to your data, remove them, or filter by the current cell value from the same menu. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for March 15th, 2023 | Learn more.

Programmatically manage and apply Google Drive label taxonomy changes

In 2022, we announced a highly requested update that allows admins and developers to programmatically manage labels at scale through Google Drive APIs. As a follow up, the Drive Labels API now supports taxonomy management, enabling admins and developers to programmatically add, modify, delete, and publish label taxonomy changes. | This is now available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Education Standard, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.

Expanding noise cancellation to phone participants

For select Google Workspace editions, participants who dial in by phone will have background noise removed from their audio. This helps ensure phone participants are easier to hear and understand during meetings, while removing any potential disturbing sound from the meeting. | This is now available to Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Frontline customers only. | Learn more.

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.

Save time with suggested work locations in Google Calendar

We added an update that helps you easily define your work location much quicker with suggested working locations based on your recent locations. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, Teaching & Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Business customers only. | Learn more.

All newly created spaces in Google Chat will be in-line threaded beginning March 13, 2023

As previously announced, we’re streamlining the way you organize conversations in Google Chat. Starting March 13, 2023, all newly created spaces in Google Chat will be in-line threaded. Users will no longer have the option to organize them by conversation topic, where related messages and replies were grouped together in the main conversation window. Existing spaces organized by conversation topic will continue to function as they do today. | Learn more.

Expanding noise cancellation in Google Meet to more devices

Beginning today, noise cancellation is available for users with personal Google Accounts on a wider variety of Android mobile devices, and for Google Workspace Business Starter, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard customers. It is also enabled by default for third-party devices that connect to Meet using Pexip. | Learn more.

Client-side encryption for Gmail is now generally available

Beginning today, client-side encryption for Gmail is now generally available for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers. For customers currently enrolled in the beta, your experience will not change. | Learn more.

Google Keep notes now available on home screen of Android devices

In addition to dual pane view, drag out, and a number of other features supporting the mission to provide a top-class user experience on Android devices when using Google Keep, we’re introducing the Keep single note widget. With this new feature, you can “pin” a note or list to your home screen and edit them in the Keep app with a single tap. | Learn more.