U-M Google Updates

Google has heard feedback that people want to use the same Gmail app whether they’re online or off. A new offline feature makes that possible, allowing you to search, write, delete, and archive up to 90 days of messages, even when you don’t have an internet connection.

This native capability is easier to use and performs better than the Gmail Offline Chrome app, so Google is removing it from the Chrome Web Store after December 3, 2018. This is part of Google’s ongoing effort to move Chrome apps to the web.

In preparation, we recommend the following to use Gmail offline:

1. Enable Gmail offline in the Gmail settings.
2. Uninstall the Gmail Offline Chrome app (instructions included in the link in step 1).

To access Gmail while offline, use a Chrome web browser (v61 or higher).
Note: Gmail offline is only available in the new Gmail.

You can now show automated closed captions in real-time when presenting in Google Slides. This feature uses your computer’s microphone to detect your spoken presentation, and then transcribes what you say as captions on the slides you’re presenting. This should make your presentations more effective in more environments to a wider audience.

Captions created automatically from your audio 
If you turn captions on, Google Slides will use the audio from your microphone to automatically create captions of what you say. These captions will display in real time at the bottom of your screen to all audience members watching the presentation. This will work for local presentations and for presentations over video conferencing software, where captions will show on the shared screen.

The feature works in U.S. English on Chrome browsers. Captions are created from the presenter’s computer and its microphone, so captions may not work consistently if there are multiple presenters using different computers. You may want to let the audience know that captions are from Google Slides, not the video conferencing software, and that only the speaker's voice is captioned.

Helps improve accessibility and in environments where it’s hard to hear 
This feature can help make your presentation more effective for:

• Audience members who are deaf or hard of hearing 
• Non-native speakers and/or audience members who prefer written content 
• In venues with poor audio or in noisy ambient environments

To find out how to turn on and use automated captions in Slides, visit the G Suite Help Center.

Google has announced that starting January 7, 2019, SMS notifications from Google Calendar will no longer be available. Calendar will still offer in-app notifications, regardless of your device or connection.

If you had previously been receiving Calendar notifications via SMS, they’ll be replaced with in-app and email notifications. You’ll see these notifications:

• As event notifications in a web browser that has Calendar open or a mobile device if you have the Google Calendar app for Android or iOS.
• In an email if you had set up SMS notifications for new events, changed events, canceled events, or event responses.

Google will also be making some changes to the Calendar API to support this change. Check out the Google Developers’ page to learn more.

A new “Content Manager” role is coming to Team Drives. Along with this new role, Google will also update the names of the existing Team Drives membership roles. New names for roles in Team Drives will start to appear on October 17, 2018. The new role will start to become active on October 22, 2018. 

Here’s what to look for and what to expect:

New Names for Existing Team Drives Roles

The existing roles for Team Drives members will get new names:

• “Full Access” will now be known as “Manager.” 
• There will also be a new role, “Content Manager.” See below for more details. 
• “Edit Access” will now be “Contributor.” 
• “Comment Access” will now be “Commenter.” 
• “View Access” will now be “Viewer.” 

See the Google Learning Center to learn more about roles and permissions in Team Drives.

Content Manager: A New Team Drives Role 

The Content Manager role will be able to edit, reorganize, and delete content in a Team Drive, but won’t be able to modify Team Drive membership or settings. The Content Manager role will replace “Full Access” as the default for new Team Drive members. Google Drive File Stream users may also make use of the Content Manager role, as it will make it easier to manage Team Drive files through the computer’s file system or the Google Drive web interface. 

Here is a breakdown of the roles in Team Drives and what they are able to do:

As first communicated on August 14, Google announced the new Gmail cutover dates. This is a reminder that according to Google, beginning today, Tuesday, October 16, everyone will start to be permanently migrated to new Gmail, and the “classic Gmail” interface will no longer be available. This should slowly roll out to the UMICH domain today, and over the next few weeks.

New features include:

• Smart replies (similar to the Gmail mobile version)
• The option to snooze emails (as with Google Inbox)
• A new tool panel on the right side of the interface for easy access to Tasks (also revamped) and Calendar