GoogleApps

Virtual Meetings on Chromebooks

by

Google has identified an issue with Chrome OS 85 and virtual meetings (Zoom, Google Meet, Bluejeans, WebEx, etc). This issue causes freezing, audio degradation, video degradation and connectivity issues.

Cause:

Google has confirmed that OS Version 85 enabled security mitigation patches that caused an approximate 30% increase in CPU utilization causing Virtual Meeting issues.

Resolution:

Google will roll back the security mitigation patches within OS 85. This update will be pushed to users

Resolution Timeline:
OS Build: Due EOD Friday, 9/25
Testing: 9/25 thru 9/28
Phased Rollout: Starting Monday, 9/28
100% roll out anticipated by Mid-week or 10/1.

Room booking Change

by

A change to Google Calendar has taken place. This moves booked rooms from the location field to the Guest area.

In the example above, which is heavily redacted, the room being booked is at ASC. Notice that the location field is empty, but ASC-1-Room 8 (30) shows up under the Guests.

Scheduled Sending

by

This is exciting. You can now schedule emails to be sent at a later date/time. This can be extremely useful to have your emails delivered when action can be taken.

Simply click on the arrow next to the “Send” button. Follow the prompts.

Upcoming Google Changes

by

The web is an ever-changing landscape. Here are some upcoming changes in Google Applications:

Calendar Event Creators

You will soon be able to tell who booked a room on the Room Resource. In Find a Time, simply hover over the event and you will see who Created (thus booked the room) the event. This can be extremely useful when you need to see if someone can “swap” a room with you.

Available: Now

Priority page in Drive

You can access the Priority page from the left-hand navigation panel in Drive. Some features you’ll see on the Priority page include:

  • Priority:
    • Here you’ll see the documents we think are most relevant to you right now. These machine-learning-powered suggestions are based on various signals from your activity. On each suggested document, you can also take actions in line, without navigating to the doc in question, like replying to a comment or reviewing recent edits.
  • Workspaces:
    • In Workspaces, you’ll be able to see intelligent suggestions of related content to group together for easier access— like multiple files related to the same project.
    • You can also create your own personalized Workspaces collecting any files you have access to, including content stored in your My Drive and various Team Drives.
      • Right-click on any file and select Add to Workspace to dynamically group files as you work.

Availability: Rolling out throughout April

Tasks – Start Times, Repeating Tasks & Import Reminders

Google is adding three highly-requested features to Tasks. You can now:

  • Set a date and time for your tasks and receive notifications
  • Create repeating tasks
  • Import reminders into Tasks

Availability: Now

Images in Google Sheets

Google has made it simpler to add images inside of cells in Google Sheets.

On Desktop:

  • Via the menu bar at the top of a Sheet: Insert > Image > Image in cell

On Mobile:

  • Tap once on a cell to select
  • Tap again to bring up menu: Insert > Tap the “+” at the top of the screen > Image > Image in cell 
You can have multiple cells containing an image in a Sheet, but note that only one image per cell is possible at the moment.
Images inside cells will be associated with a row and move along with the data—so, if you move rows, filter or sort them, the images will move with the content in the row, unlike previously when images would sit on top of the grid.
Using the formatting and alignment tools, you can pin the image to a specific corner of the cell or set the alignment how you’d like. By default, images will align to the bottom left corner of the cell.

Availability: Rolling by April 15th

Change in Google Drive Search Bar

by

Google has updated the Search bar in Google Drive. Now when you search, you will see four sections under the search box:

  1. Recent search terms
  2. People who have shared documents with you
  3. Document Types (and a short cut to recently edited documents)
  4. Advanced Search button

This new display makes these tools much more discoverable. (These have always been available via the “Ninja” button, but this change makes them easier to find and use). You can still use the Advanced Search box (via the “Ninja” button or Advanced Search link) to quickly find documents. This new presentation makes it a bit easier.

You can also use these together. For example, if you know that you are looking for a spreadsheet, you could click on the spreadsheet button in this panel. Then, in the Search box, you could type some words that are in the title or in the spreadsheet (you will see “type:spreadsheet” already in the search box, just add the words after that).

Gmail Interface

by

According to the latest schedule, as of October 16th, 2018, any users who’ve opted out of the new Gmail will be automatically migrated to the new experience.

They won’t be able to opt out after that date. Users who’ve already transitioned to the new Gmail will lose the ability to opt out as well.

I’m reminded of the adage that the only one who likes change is a wet baby.

So, why is Gmail changing?

  1. Increased security
  2. Updated code
  3. Better integration with other tools

Personally, I like the new interface. It provides some good tools to increase efficiency. However, I understand that not everyone feels the same way. Increasing security is an extremely important consideration at this point of the Internet development. You can choose to switch back and forth between the versions until October 16th. Then, the decision on which to use will be easy smile.png.

Bookmarking in Google Chrome

by

One of the basic computer skills that everyone should have is the ability to “bookmark” sites. This can be especially handy for forms that are needed to be completed. Forms such as the Response to Bullying Behavior, lunch counts (for some schools), or intervention plans should be handy.

We’ve prepared a Bookmarking Help Sheet to assist.

Gmail Interface

by

Google has “helpfully” switched everyone over to the new Gmail interface. While we really, really like the new interface, we understand that some may prefer the older interface. At this point, you can still switch back by using the setting menu. According to the release calendar, as of October 16th, everyone will be switched to the new interface permanently.

Some of the features that we really like about the new interface:

  • access to Calendar on a side panel
  • access to Tasks on a side panel
  • Smart replies
  • cleaner interface
  • Display density (more control over how much space email takes up)
  • Follow up reminder

 

Follow this blog

Get every new post delivered right to your inbox.