U-M Google Updates

Google has announced that after March 7, notifications for Google web products—Google+, Google Photos, and Hangouts Chat—will no longer be accessible from the navigation bar under the notification icon:

Interested in our latest updates about Google G Suite at U-M? Check out the Google Service Updates page.

Google is adding more options to the right-click context menu in Gmail.

Using these new options, you can get more things done with a simple right-click on an email.

Some of these options include:

• Reply to, or forward, an email in one click from the main page
• Search for all emails from a sender
• Search for all emails with the same subject
• Open multiple emails in multiple new windows at the same time
• Easily add a label or move an email

Google has announced this feature will start to roll out on February 22 and may take up to 3 days to reach all users.

Interested in our latest updates about Google G Suite at U-M? Check out the Google Service Updates page.

What’s changing 

In May 2019, Google will make changes to some settings in Google Groups. In response to feedback, Google is updating the settings to manage and configure groups. Specifically, they will remove those settings that are rarely used and combine those that are similar. These changes will affect Groups at groups.google.com (including U-M Discussion Groups) and the APIs used to manage groups.

Note: Even when using a UMICH email account, it is possible to have a Group on the consumer domain. To determine a Group’s domain, check the URL: 

• groups.google.com is the consumer domain
• groups.google.com/a/discussions.umich.edu is U-M Discussion Groups in the UMICH domain

These updates may change how groups can be accessed and used. Use this Help Center article to see details of these changes and how you can prepare for the update. According to Google, the changes will start to roll out on May 6 and may take up to 15 days to reach all groups.

Why you’d take action 

Some who are not group owners or group managers but who currently have access to specific group management features may lose that access. 

When the new settings take effect:

• Existing group settings will be updated. 
• Group owners will still be able to change the settings. 
• New groups will have the updated settings. 

Additional details

In the next few days, you may see an in-product message about the upcoming changes when you use Groups. The message will direct you to the Google Help Center for an overview of the changes and change timeline.
 

In 2017, Google announced Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet for team communication. Later this year, Google will transition classic Hangouts to Chat and Meet on the UMICH domain. As a first step, some changes are coming on April 16, 2019.

Key dates to note:

• Starting April 16, 2019 – Chat will become available to U-M Google accounts on the web and via mobile apps. You can continue using classic Hangouts in Gmail, mobile, web, and the Chrome extension. See Chat and classic Hangout interoperability.
• Between April and September 2019 – Features from classic Hangouts will come to Chat, such as:
  • Integration with Gmail
  • Chatting with external users
  • An improved video calling experience
  • Making calls with Google Voice
• October 2019 – Google will start retiring classic Hangouts. To prepare for the transition from classic Hangouts to Chat, review Google’s documentation.

We will keep you updated as new features are brought to Chat.
 

In December, we communicated about New Google Contacts. Beginning today, Google will implement the third and final stage in the transition from classic Contacts to new Contacts. The classic version of Google Contacts will gradually be turned off and, eventually, everyone in the UMICH domain will be on the new Google Contacts. To get more familiar with new Google Contacts, visit the G Suite Learning Center.