Google Workspace Updates: 2 new posts

Launching a new online community for Google Workspace admins

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 09:01 AM PDT

What's changing

We're launching a new community for Google Workspace admins. The new Google Cloud Community will replace the old Cloud Connect Community (CCC). Alongside all the communities you used on the CCC, you'll also be able to use it to participate in:

Workspace Discussion Forums: Join peer-to-peer discussions with other Workspace experts
Ideation and UX Research: Help drive product enhancements by contributing feature ideas and finding research participation opportunities
Community Events: Virtual and in-person meetups and events which will enable you to engage directly with Product Managers and experts
Community Blogs: Read and react to thought leadership and technical content from Google Cloud teams and customers.

See below for instructions on how to migrate your existing profile, and set up notifications for the communities you want to follow.

Who's impacted

Admins

Why it's important

Specifically compared to the old Cloud Connect Community, we hope you'll notice

Improved navigation and user experience which makes it easier to find and consume content
Improved communities, including feature ideas, which makes it easier to contribute to the discussion
More content, including community blogs & events
Rich user profiles to learn more about fellow Google Workspace admins

Getting started

Admins: To sign up for a new Google Cloud Community account, go to googlecloudcommunity.com and click on Workspace for Admins Community link. You can use Single Sign-On (SSO) with your Google Workspace credentials.

As part of the transition process, you can migrate your user profile, access to private areas (like Feature Ideas) and your feature ideas posted after July 15, 2020 from the original Community to the new site. To migrate your profile:

Go googlecloudcommunity.com and click Login to Ask A Question. Follow the instructions on the next page.
Add no-reply@googlecloudcommunity.com to your list of approved senders
If you have trouble claiming your migrated account, please contact gc-customer-community@google.com

End Users: No end user impact

Additional details

Set up notifications in the new CCC Note that notifications are not on by default in the new CCC, even if you had them on in the old platform. To re-establish community notifications, after you migrate your profile:

Go to the area of the community you want to get notifications from.
Optionally, you can also filter for a specific label such as 'Drive' or 'Google Meet' (depending on which area of the community you're in)
Click Topic Options at the top right on the page, then click Subscribe.
You'll then get email notifications when there's new activity in the topic or label

Resources

The new Google Cloud Community at googlecloudcommunity.com
Use the Community Knowledge Base under Getting Started to find detailed instructions for new and existing Community members.

Update to some Google Drive file links, admin decision recommended before July 23, 2021

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 09:00 AM PDT

What's changing

We're releasing a security update which will apply to some Drive files. This will make Google Drive files more secure by updating their links and may lead to some new file access requests. While we recommend that you apply the update, Google Workspace admins can choose how this update is applied in your organization.

Who's impacted

Admins and end users

Why it's important

This security update is being applied to some files in Google Drive to make sharing links more secure. The update will add a resource key to sharing links. Once the update has been applied to a file, users who haven't viewed the file before will have to use a URL containing the resource key to gain access, and those who have viewed the file before or have direct access will not need the resource key to access the file. Learn more about resource keys and how they might impact your files.

Getting started

Admins: You can use the Alert Center to see how many users, folders, shared drives, and files are affected in your organization. Look for an alert with the subject "Security update for Drive." Before July 23, 2021, Admins should choose how the security update is applied for their organization. Use our Help Center to learn more about this update and how to manage it for your organization.

End users: Unless the admin chooses to opt their organization out of the security update, end users who own or manage impacted files will receive an email notification starting July 26, 2021 with their impacted files. End users will have until September 13 to determine how the update is applied to their files, if permitted by their admin. Use our Help Center to learn more about how this update will impact end users.

Users with personal accounts: Users who are not part of a Google Workspace domain will receive a notification from Google Drive to inform them of their impacted files starting July 26, 2021 and will have the option to remove the security update. These users will have until September 13, 2021 to determine how the update is applied to their files. Use our Help Center to learn more about how this update will impact end users.

Developers: Items that have a Drive API permission with type=domain or type=anyone, where withLink=true (v2) or allowFileDiscovery=false (v3), will be affected. In addition to the item ID, your application may now also need a resource key to access these items. Use our Developer resource to learn more about how this update will impact your projects.

Admins will see how many users, folders, shared drives, and files are affected in their organization in the Alert center

Admins can choose how the security update is applied for their organization at Admin Console Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Sharing settings > Security update for links.

End users who own or manage impacted files will receive an email notification starting July 26, 2021 with their impacted files. Depending on the settings chosen by their admin, they may have the option to remove the security update from their impacted files.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains:

Before July 23, 2021: Admins can choose how the update is applied in their organization.

For non-education customers, by default the update will be applied and impacted end users will be notified, with the option to exclude their files from the update.
For education customers, by default the update will be applied and impacted end users will be notified, without the option to exclude their files from the update.

Starting July 26, 2021: Depending on admin settings, impacted end users will get notified about impacted files and the choices they can make.
Starting September 13, 2021: Enforcement of the admin and user options will be made to selected files if settings have not been changed in advance.

Applicability

Applicable to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers. Also applicable to users with personal Google accounts.

Resources

Google is rolling out a security update to YouTube and Drive. More details on YouTube update here.

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2021/06/23