Google Visible Changes Summary for 2023

Admin Collaboration Google workspace
Caitlin Qualkinbush
  • 7 min read

Here is a running summary of the visible changes to Google Workspace in 2023. We will continue to update this list every month so check back often. Contact us with any questions about the new features or how to enable them for your users.

July already launched Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) features:

View & compare script versions with Apps Script project history

  • Project history is being launched in Apps Script to allow developers to view previously deployed script versions and compare them to the current version.

Gradual Rollout | 7/31/23 | All

People chips in Google Sheets now available on mobile devices

  • Can now insert people chips in Google Sheets on iOS and Android devices.

Gradual Rollout | 7/21/23 | Rapid

Programmatically read and write sub-day working locations with the Calendar API

  • Can now programmatically write a user’s working location using the Calendar API to allow you to synchronize working location with third-party tools.

Available Immediately | 7/20/23 | All

Assign ring group manager role to specific Google Voice users

  • Admins can designate specific Voice users as managers of a ring group so that they are able to make changes to ring group members, call routing rules, ring duration settings, working hours, and more from Voice.google.com rather than the Admin console.

Available Immediately | 7/17/23 | All

Talk with target line before transferring

  • Voice users can now call and check with their transfer target before officially transferring call, which insures a successful transfer.

Gradual Rollout | 7/17/23 | All

Add emojis in Google Sheets

  • Can now insert an emoji into a Google Sheet by using the @ symbol or going to Insert > Emoji.

Gradual Rollout | 7/14/23 | Rapid

Add hyperlinks to text in Google Chat

  • Can now hyperlink text in Google Chat to help messages look cleaner and more compact.

Gradual Rollout | 7/5/23 | All

June already launched Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) features:

Disable submissions after a due date in Google Classroom

  • Teachers in Classroom now have the option to disable submissions after an assignment due date.

Gradual Rollout | 6/30/23 | All

See the names of in-room meeting participants with room check-in for Google Meet

  • Can use companion mode to “check in” to a conference room during a Meet call to allow on-call participants to see who is joining from each specific room.

Gradual Rollout | 6/21/23 | Rapid

Get more granular views of Google Slides with new zoom settings

  • Can now customize zoom views in Google Slides to input your desired zoom percentage.

Gradual Rollout | 6/16/23 | Rapid

Google Meet expands language support for closed captioning and translated captions

  • Closed captioning in Google Meet now includes French Canadian, Indonesian, Polish, Romanian, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Translation support is also now available to translate English into Dutch, Indonesian, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Available Immediately | 6/13/23 | All

Improved experience for admitting or denying join requests in Google Meet

  • Join requests on Google Meet will be moved to the People panel to allow users to review them without disrupting the meeting or blocking other functionality in the Meet.

Full Rollout | 6/7/23 | All

May already launched Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) features:

Scale large meetings to 1,000 attendees and better control the flow of meetings with Viewer mode

  • Now possible to increase attendees from 500 to 1000 by designating a portion of meeting attendees as Viewers – they will not have access to share audio or video. Attendees who need to share audio or video can be designated as Contributors. Only E+ can assign Viewers and Contributors in advance, all others can only pre-assign all attendees as Viewers by default.

Extended Rollout | 5/31/23 | Rapid

New Google Calendar appointment scheduling features

  • Improvements to Appointment Schedules include 5-10 min appointments and the ability to decide whether or not bookable times can be shown if a conflict is already present.

Gradual Rollout | 5/30/23 | Rapid

Additional refinements to email notifications sent from Google Classroom

  • Refreshed visual design and language, clearer focus on action items, and easy access to notification settings will now be included in Classroom email notifications.

Gradual Rollout | 5/26/23 | All

More call performance data in the Google Voice audit logs

  • Voice audit logs will now display round trip time, packet loss per 1000, and jitter to help identity and troubleshoot potential network issues across your organization

Gradual Rollout | 5/24/23 | All

AppSheet-powered no-code apps in Google Chat

  • Can now create Google Chat apps without code in AppSheet to build workflows or integrations that meet organizational needs.

Gradual Rollout | 5/19/23 | All

React to messages quickly in Google Chat

  • Quick reactions in Chat will display your three most used emojis, with the option to open the emoji picker, reply in a thread, quote a message in your reply or ‘More actions’

Gradual Rollout | 5/16/23 | Rapid

Improving Calendar Interoperability

  • Improvements made to Calendar interoperability that ensure events created in one calendar system are reflected/updated in another calendar system.

Available Immediately | 5/15/23 | All

April already launched Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) features:

Add context without breaking the flow of conversation in Google Chat

  • New feature in Chat allows you to quote a previous message when sending a reply.

Gradual Rollout | 4/24/23 | Rapid

Attach a Docs, Sheets, or Slides file to Google Calendar events

  • Attach a Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides file to a calendar event from the same button used to present files directly to Google Meet.

Gradual Rollout | 4/21/23 | All

Set a custom time period for messages to automatically be deleted in Google Chat

  • Admins can now define a time period (30 day minimum) after which users’ Chat messages will be automatically deleted. This applies to all 1:1, group, and Space conversations. This will be OFF by default.

Gradual Rollout | 4/17/23 | All

Streamlined file organization with the new Google Drive location picker

  • Improved location picker in Google Drive allow you to quickly and efficiently select a location when moving files and folders or adding shortcuts in Google Drive, including quick tabs for Suggested, Starred, All locations.

Gradual Rollout | 4/12/23 | Rapid

Enabling organizational communication with announcements in Google Chat

  • Space managers can configure Spaces for sharing organizational announcements with an Announcement-only configuration. This must be configured when the Space is set up, but any manager can give another user manager capabilities at any time.

Available Immediately | 4/10/23 | Rapid

Expanding language support for grammar suggestions

  • Grammar suggestions in Docs and Gmail are now available in the following languages: Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, and Swedish

Available Immediately | 4/7/23 | All

Add or remove client-side encryption from a Google Doc

  • Can now add client-side encryption to an existing document or remove it from one that is already encrypted.

Available Immediately | 4/6/23 | All

Improvements to content organization in Google Docs

  • Improved formatting and customization options for tables of contents in Google Docs to help refine titles and headings. Table properties sidebar options are also reorganized to be able to format cells more specifically.

Available Immediately | 4/3/23 | All

March already launched Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) features:

Set default label values for files in Google Drive

  • Admins can now set default field values as part of their data classification process – for example, can designate that all data within a particular shared drive is labeled as “confidential.”

Gradual Rollout | 3/30/23 | Rapid

Add emoji reactions to existing comments in Google Docs

  • Quickly and creatively express opinions about document content by emoji-reacting to existing comments.

Gradual Rollout | 3/24/23 | Rapid

Add or remove client-side encryption from a Google Doc

  • Can now add client-side encryption to an existing document or remove it from one that is already encrypted.

Gradual Rollout | 3/23/23 | All

Improving your security with shorter Session Length defaults

  • Changing default session length to 16 hours for Google Cloud customers. This applies to Google Cloud services, not regular Google services like Gmail. This helps ensure access to the Cloud Platform is finite in the case that bad actors gain access.

Gradual Rollout | 3/15/23 | All

Managed Android devices must upgrade to Android Device Policy during March 2023

  • Android Device Policy is replacing the legacy Google Apps Device Policy this month. Users must switch to the new policy to continue syncing work data.

Available Immediately | 3/15/23 | All

February already launched Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) features:

Save time with suggested work locations in Google Calendar

  • Easily define your work location much quicker with suggested working locations based on your routine.

Gradual Rollout | 2/27/23 | Rapid

Sales and customer service integrations now available in Google Chat

  • Third-party sales and customer service tools like Salesforce and Zendesk can now be integrated in Google Chat

Gradual Rollout | 2/24/23 | All

Google Meet now available on Poly Android-based devices

  • Google Meet now supported in Poly Studio X Android-based devices.

Gradual Rollout | 2/21/23 | All

New setting for content managers to modify shared drives now on by default

  • All content managers now have ability to share folders by default. Also introducing new Drie API method to update setting for content managers programmatically.

Gradual Rollout | 2/13/23 | All

January already launched Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) features:

Easily share access to presented content in Google Meet with all attendees

  • Share file you are presenting with all meeting attendees (including those on the guest list) directly from Meet via the floating action menu or the suggestion in the Meet chat.

Gradual Rollout | 1/25/23 | Rapid

Check availability across multiple calendars when using appointment schedules on Google Calendar

  • Now able to see a visual preview of multiple calendars when setting up appointment schedules. Your booking page will show you as unavailable based on the calendars you choose.

Gradual Rollout | 1/24/23 | Rapid

New in-meeting reactions for Google Meet

  • Use emojis to share in-meeting reactions in Google Meet. This is hopeful to be less disruptive than sending an in-meeting Chat with an emoji reaction.

Gradual Rollout | 1/23/23 | Rapid

Introducing simpler conversation creation in Google Chat

  • Button to “Start group conversation” is being removed, and a group chat can now be started simply by typing in all recipients names.

Gradual Rollout | 1/10/23 | Rapid

* Rollout pace:

  • Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)
  • Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)
  • Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

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