From Google Drive to Meet: Here’s what’s new with Workspace

Google has introduced a range of new features across its Google Workspace tools.

The tech giant has introduced new updates for tools including Google Drive, Meet and Slides.

The tech giant is introducing a new way to view and manage notifications in the Google Drive mobile app for Android.

The new update will let users view their most important tasks from within Drive. They will be able to choose filters to control the types of notifications that they get, delete and dismiss unwanted notifications, take actions like share files directly from notifications and show more file information directly from the notification, as per an official blog post.

Users can manage their notifications from the “Priority” section on the Google Drive app or “Home” for users who aren’t Google Workspace customers.

From there, they can find the “Notifications” tab on the top part of the screen. They will be able to see all the available notifications there. The feature will be available to all users with Google Drive Android v.2021.08 or newer.

On Google Meet, it is expanding tile view layouts on iOS and Android. Users can get an identical user experience on Google Meet in Gmail or the Meet standalone app.

With the expanded layout, users will be able to see up to 8 video feeds on phones and up to 48 video feeds on selected iPads.

The Gradual rollout is in progress now for iOS, with rollout to Android to begin around the end of March, Google said.

The tech giant is updating the presenter toolbar in Google Slides to feature required controls for presenting with a less intrusive experience for presenters and presentation viewers.

With the new toolbar, while presenting, users will see options for selecting the previous or next slide as well as for selecting any slide from the picker. They will also have access to the three-dot overflow menu, which will open options for opening speaker notes, autoplay, caption preferences, and more, as per the official blog post.

“Additionally, we’ve reduced the size of the trigger zone for the presenter bar in order to minimize distractions or obstruction of your content,” it said.

“We heard from our customers that the old presenter toolbar in Google Slides was getting in the way of content and creating a distraction for presenters and their audience. As a result, we have condensed the presenter toolbar down to the controls you need most so that now you can present with confidence,” it said.

Apart from this, it has also introduced a new update for Google chat.

Users will now see suggested one to one chat in Google Chat based on current meetings on their Google Calendar.

“You’ll see the suggested conversation shortcut at the top of the Chat section in Gmail on mobile and web and in Google Chat on mobile. Suggested chats will appear at the top of the Chat section in Gmail on mobile,” it said in a blog post.

“The chat will be visible ten minutes prior to the 1:1 meeting and ten minutes after the meeting ends,” it said.

The feature will be available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofits. It will not be available to Google Workspace Essentials customers or consumers with personal Google Accounts.

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