From G Suite to Google Workspace - 2020 updates

Apart from the obvious update (G Suite to Google Workspace rebrand), Google has blown us away with the large volume of updates this year.

"I'm just going to Zoom my team"

It all started when Zoom very quickly became a verb and the go-to buzzword earlier this year. Google had some catching up to do to stay relevant when it came to business communication (Chat also still being behind competitors at the time).

So, what's changed? Here are our favourite Google Workspace updates this year...

Updates to Google Meet

- Q&A

- Polls

- Hand raising

- Breakout rooms

- Whiteboard (Jamboard integration)

- 49-person grid view

- Google announce Meet integration with other apps such as Gmail and Docs, so you can overlay your meeting in other apps using picture-in-picture (not sure when this is being released, but pretty cool)

Updates to Gmail & Chat

- Chat replaces Hangouts in Gmail (can access via the Gmail mobile app too)

- Rooms for team communication & collaboration

- Team Tasks in Rooms (Big game-changer with the Tasks app integration)

- Pin conversations

- Schedule a meeting via Chat

- Set your status as 'Away' in Chat

- Gmail becomes your hub for communication where you can access Mail, Chat, Rooms & Meet all in one place

Updates to Google Drive

- Securely share Drive files and folders with people who don't have a Google account (our favourite by far)

- Folder sharing in Shared Drives

- Better PDF to Docs conversion

- Open Office files directly into Docs, Sheets & Slides

- Smart fill to automate data entry in Google Sheets

General Google Workspace update (didn't know where to categorise this one)

.new shortcuts... if you open a new tab in your browser and search docs.new it will take you straight to a new document. They also have... sheets.new, slides.new, forms.new, meet.new, keep.new and probably a few more now.

It's an exciting time for people on Google Workspace. We're pretty sure most these updates wouldn't have happened (yet), if we'd all had a normal year... So getting all these amazing features in one year is a huge positive to take away from 2020!

Let us know if we missed your favourite.

Have a lovely Christmas all and stay safe.