(Cross-posted from The Keyword)

Posted by: Reena Nadkarni, Product Manager, G Suite

Scale. Speed. Lower total cost of ownership. The cloud offers enterprises significant benefits and gives their teams a freedom that’s as big as their ambitions. G Suite supports such businesses around the world with our unified suite of intelligent apps. Today, more than 3 million paying businesses rely on G Suite to make working together easier, including Whirlpool, PWC, and Woolworths.

Having greater control and visibility when protecting sensitive assets, however, should also be a top concern in today’s world. That’s why starting today, we’re giving customers the critical control and visibility they expect (and their CTOs and regulators often require) in G Suite with:

• More powerful access control for administrators with Security Key enforcement 
• More data control with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Google Drive, DLP for Gmail, and S/MIME for Gmail 
• More analytics and insights by connecting BigQuery with Gmail 

Manage who can access your company’s devices and systems 

Security Key enforcement: In 2011, we introduced 2-step verification for added protection when users log into their Google accounts. With 2-step verification, admins can opt for their company to use Security Keys, which are both easier for users and more secure against common (phishing) attacks than other methods. Security Keys plug directly into a laptop or pair with a mobile device using Bluetooth or NFC, instead of receiving a code via text. Today, we’re adding the ability for admins to enforce this measure by restricting login solely to users with a Security Key. Admins will also be able to manage the deployment of Security Keys and view usage reports.


Control how data is shared beyond your company 

• Data loss prevention (DLP) for Google Drive: In 2015, we launched DLP for Gmail with easy-to-set-up rules, OCR image scan recognition and advanced customization. Today, we’re extending DLP to Google Drive, making it even easier for admins to secure sensitive data, control what content can be stored and protect users from accidentally sharing confidential information externally. G Suite’s DLP protection goes beyond standard DLP with easy-to-configure rules and OCR recognition of content stored in images so admins can easily enforce policies and control how data is shared.  

• S/MIME for Gmail: When it comes to Gmail security, there are dozens of security measures running behind the scenes to keep your emails safe, and we support industry-standard authentication to help combat email spoofing. Unfortunately, other email services that you exchange emails with might not take similar measures to protect your data. That’s why we’re offering additional protection by giving you the option to bring your own certificates for S/MIME encryption. Administrators will be able to enforce S/MIME usage and can set DLP rules based on specific organizational unit needs. 

Understand employee behavior and activity

• Gmail logs + BigQuery integration: Gmail logs contain valuable information that can help administrators diagnose issues or unlock insights. Today, we are making it easier to analyze Gmail logs with a preconfigured BigQuery integration so administrators can run sophisticated, high-performing custom queries, analyze their data and build custom dashboards. 

• Third-party email archiving: Google Vault helps you easily archive Gmail content while also complying with retention for legal holds and audit reporting. That said, some organizations use other third-party SMTP archiving solutions like HP Autonomy or Veritas. Today, we’re making it simple for you to integrate third-party archiving solutions of your choice with Gmail.

All of these features are part of our new G Suite Enterprise edition. While the features are designed to meet the demands of G Suite's large customers, organizations of any size can take advantage of these critical controls, seamless integrations, and intelligent apps. See if G Suite Enterprise edition is right for you.

Launch Details
Release track:
All features available to G Suite customers on both Rapid and Scheduled release who upgrade to G Suite Enterprise edition. Note that G Suite for Education customers are not eligible to upgrade to G Suite Enterprise. G Suite for Education customers interested in these new features should complete this form.

Editions:
All features available to G Suite Enterprise edition customers only

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Data loss prevention (DLP) for Drive: 
Scan and protect Drive files using data loss prevention rules

Data loss prevention (DLP) for Gmail: 
Scan your email traffic using data loss prevention

Security Key enforcement: 
2-step verification enforcement

Hosted S/MIME for Gmail: 
Enable hosted S/MIME for enhanced message security

Gmail logs + BigQuery integration: 
Enable email logs in BigQuery

Third-party archiving tools for Gmail: 
Integrate Gmail with a third-party archiving solution


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Since 2015, we’ve been making it easier to focus on your content—not your formatting—with templates in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. We’ve introduced templates for invoices, pitch decks, and cases studies, as well as templates designed by experts and developed specifically for your organization.

Today, we’re making it easier for users to create files from templates by granting access to templates directly from Drive. Instead of navigating to the Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms home pages, you can simply go to Drive > New > Google Docs/Sheets/Slides/Forms > From a template. From there, you’ll be directed to the applicable template gallery, where you can select the template of your choice.


For more details on templates, visit the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in three weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Create a file from a template


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Today’s updates to the Google Docs and Sheets mobile apps bring several new and useful features to your Android and iOS devices. Read on for more information.

On your Android phone or tablet, you can now:

• Insert and edit headers and footers in Docs
• Drag and drop text in Docs
• Resize, move, and rotate images in Docs, as well as change their text wrapping and border styles

On your iPhone or iPad, you can now:

• Insert headers and footers in Docs
• Insert page numbers in headers and footers in Docs
• Change a page’s size, orientation, and color in Docs
• Insert and edit solid, dashed, and dotted borders in Sheets

Download the latest versions of these apps from Google Play or the App Store.

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Add headers, footers & page numbers
Help Center: Crop and adjust images
Help Center: Print or change the page setup
Help Center: Edit and format a spreadsheet


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Gmail currently restricts certain file attachments (e.g. .exe, .msc, and .bat) for security reasons, and starting on February 13, 2017, we will not allow .js file attachments as well. Similar to other restricted file attachments, you will not be able to attach a .js file and an in-product warning will appear, explaining the reason why.

For inbound mail, senders will get a bounce message explaining why the email was blocked.

If you still need to send .js files for legitimate reasons, you can use Google Drive, Google Cloud Storage, or other storage solutions to share or send your files.



Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release on February 13, 2017, with Scheduled release coming 2 weeks afterward

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Gmail: Some file types are blocked

Last October, we announced a new administrator notification which lets you know when one of your users is abusing the SMTP relay service to send out spam or malicious emails. If you are a super administrator at your domain, then you already receive a list of the users affected, steps to identify why it’s occurring, and how to fix it. After February 6, if we still detect abuse after 24 hours, your user being flagged for abuse will be automatically suspended from sending messages in order to prevent further domain reputation damage. You will be able to re-enable these accounts from the Admin console, but you should first determine the source of the spam.

Your domain’s super administrators will receive an email that looks like this.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release on February 6, 2017

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center


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On April 3, 2017, we will shut down older versions of the following Android and iOS applications: 

• Google Drive for Android (prior to version 2.4.311)
• Google Docs for Android (prior to version 1.6.292)
• Google Sheets for Android (prior to version 1.6.292)
• Google Slides for Android (prior to version 1.6.292)

• Google Drive for iOS (prior to version 4.16)
• Google Docs for iOS (prior to version 1.2016.12204)
• Google Sheets for iOS (prior to version 1.2016.12208)
• Google Slides for iOS (prior to version 1.2016.12203)

This month, users of these legacy versions will begin seeing the below prompts to upgrade. Please note that after March 1, some users with very old versions will be forced to upgrade when they receive the prompt.


If you are using any of these unsupported versions, we encourage you to download and install the latest version of that mobile application. Note that corresponding web and desktop applications will not be affected by this change.

To check your app's version on an Android device:

1. Go to Settings > Apps.
2. Choose the app: Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides.

OR

1. Go to the app: Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides.
2. Go to Help and Feedback > Version info.

To check your app's version on an iOS device:

1. Open the app: Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides.
2. Go to Settings > About.

OR

1. Open the app: Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides.
2. Go to Navigation Drawer > Settings > About.
3. Scroll down.

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Last year, we made scheduling meetings smarter in Google Calendar for Androidand iPhoneby enabling them to find time for meetings and book rooms. Today, we're happy to announce that room suggestions and showing guests' time zones are coming to Google Calendar on the web.

Room suggestions
When you create meetings, Calendar will suggest rooms based on your and your guests' previously used rooms. You can continue to browse or search for rooms as you do today.



Guest time zones
Finding time to collaborate across time zones is now easier with Google Calendar. The "Find a time" tab shows the time of the meeting in the time zone of each guest – if they are different. You can can learn more about sharing calendars and time zones here.



We have more scheduling improvements planned for 2017 including better ways to help you manage calendar resources. Stay tuned!

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in 2 weeks
Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions
Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)
Impact: 
All end users
Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More information
Help Center: Add or remove a resource from an event
Help Center: About calendar resources (rooms, etc)

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We know that data in spreadsheets isn’t always neatly distributed across entire rows and columns; oftentimes, for instance, sheets contain multiple tables and regions of data that can’t be separated. With this launch, we’re making it easier to insert cells into these sheets without disturbing that content. Going forward, you can add a rectangular block of cells to any spreadsheet on the web, and it will simply shift the surrounding cells down or to the right. You can delete chunks of cells in the same way.



You can insert cells from Insert menu and delete cells from the Edit menu. Both features are also accessible when you right-click on a cell. For more information, check out the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming on March 6th, 2017

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Edit rows and columns in a spreadsheet


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Last year, we launched the ability to create and share short links to Hangouts group chats. This allows your team to opt-in to a chat, rather than having to invite people one by one. Today, we're streamlining how you create group chats to make it easier to create group chats for projects or teams. In the improved flow, you can now name your group chats more easily when you are creating a group chat. Once the group chat has a name, this allows you to create "placeholder" group chats which you can then share with a link.



These improvements will be in available all three Hangouts user interfaces on the web. In Hangouts in Gmail, a "+" button will be available next to your contacts list in Hangouts. In hangouts.google.com and in the Chrome extension, you'll see a "New conversation" option. By clicking "New group" or "New conversation" you can name the group, start adding members, or both.



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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI


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We are excited to announce a few upcoming changes to the Google Play Private Channel, a feature which allows G Suite admins to distribute private (custom) Android apps to their users via the Play Store app.

With this launch, private apps will be more discoverable and easier for your users to access. Customers using private apps will also be able to whitelist these apps for work profiles and company-owned devices in a more streamlined manner by using an Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) provider.

Making private apps more discoverable and easier for your users to access
Previously, private apps were located in your company’s Private Channel: in the Play Store Android app under the tab [your organization’s name], which is the last category within the Play app.
In order to make these apps easier for users to access, private apps will be relocated to the “Work Apps” tab within the Play app, the third category, which will also contain any managed applications if your organization is using an EMM provider, such as Google Mobile Management.
Making “Work Apps” richer with private apps and managed Google Play (formerly Play for Work) for new customers
Our vision for “Work Apps” within Google Play is for it to become the single destination for corporate users to find all of the applications they need. G Suite admins will be able to offer a curated set of both public and private applications specific to your enterprise for your employees.

You will also no longer need to manage different access controls for your employees; controls for both private and public applications within managed Play will be consolidated, simplifying the whitelisting process for mobile applications.

As part of this simplified whitelisting process, customers who currently are not using Google Play Private Channel, and want to deploy private apps for the first time, must enroll with an EMM, such as Google Mobile Management, and must enroll with managed Google Play. This will allow you to make private applications available in work profiles and on company-owned devices, as you currently can do with managed public applications. Customers currently using Google Play Private Channel are not required to use an EMM and can continue to use private applications as they do today.

We are expecting to launch these changes to Google Play Private Channel on January 31, 2017.

Launch Details 
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release on January 31, 2017

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Impact:
Admins and end users

Action:
Admin action suggested

More Information
Google Play Private Channel applications


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New versions of the Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps for Android are now available on Google Play, including the following new features to help you get more done on the move:

Page setup in Google Docs and image support improvements in Sheets
You can now change the orientation, paper size, and page color Docs on Android. In Sheets, you can use the IMAGE function to view images inside of cells.





EPUB and ODF support on Android
Docs now supports exporting your files in the EPUB (.epub) and OpenDocument Text (.odt) file formats. Additionally, you can now import OpenDocument Text (.odt) files from the Android app. Similarly, you will now be able to import and export OpenDocument Spreadsheets (.ods) in Sheets and OpenDocument Presentations (.odp) in Slides.

Please note: these features are only available when the device is online. When the device is offline, an error dialog will show saying "Data connection needed to open this file type".


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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI


More Information
Help Center: Page setup
How to use Google Slides
How to use Google Docs
How to use Google Sheets

Update:

• The option to convert existing Sending routing, Receiving routing, Catch-all address and Domain-level routing settings will return no earlier than April 17. The visibility of the convert option will take a number of weeks to roll out to all customers. In the meantime customers can manually convert to the unified Routing setting.
• The automatic conversion process will not occur earlier than June 5. We will follow up closer to the date and have updated the G Suite release calendar.

G Suite customers use Gmail because it's simple to use and reliable, and because it allows them to customize their enterprise-specific routing settings in the Admin console. However, as we expanded these features to cover more use-cases, it became clear that a consolidated view of all routing settings would make it easier to manage at a glance. That's why today, we're beginning to unify Gmail's routing settings in the Gmail Routing section of the Admin console that was launchedone year ago.





Beginning week of January 23, 2017, your existing Sending routing, Receiving routing, Catch-all address and Domain-level routingsettings will become read only. These settings are still active, but in order to make changes, you must click the CONVERT button, next to the existing rule. We've taken steps to make this process as simple as possible by converting the previous setting and mapping it to the new fields automatically. The converted setting is then placed in the unified Routing section, where all of your rules can be managed from one place. The old setting will no longer be visible in the old user interface, so you don't need to clean up old rules afterward.


Action Suggested

1. To make changes to an existing routing setting, click the CONVERT button next to the rule. Since the user interface has changed slightly, we suggest re-familiarizing yourself with the new look and feel.
   
   
   
2. To add new routing settings, use the Routing section from Gmail's advanced settings section. The previous way to create routing settings will soon be removed.
3. To migrate your existing rules to the new section ahead of time, you can use the CONVERT button for all of your rules. If you decide not to make any changes to your routing rules, then your rules will be automatically converted to the new Routing format and section on June 5, 2017.

Launch Details
Release track:
Settings converted to read only on both Rapid release and Scheduled release week of January 23, 2017.
Automatic routing settings conversion occurring after June 5, 2017.

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI


More Information
Set up routing for your domain or organization

Check out the latest "What's New in G Suite" newsletter [pdf] for a roundup of all G Suite launches from December 2016.

Newsletter Archive & Translated Versions (coming soon for December issue)

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