https://googledata.org Everything Google: News, Products, Services, Content, Culture Wed, 18 Mar 2015 21:09:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.7.5 https://googledata.org/google-apps/changes-to-google-apps-for-businesses/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=changes-to-google-apps-for-businesses https://googledata.org/google-apps/changes-to-google-apps-for-businesses/#comments Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:03:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=7e0e9d0fd876438bbc53a36d618c9b03 Posted by Clay Bavor, Director of Product Management, Google Apps

Google Apps started with the simple idea that Gmail could help businesses and schools work better together without the hassles of managing software and servers. As we grew from a handful of customers to a few hundred, we expanded to offer a premium business version of Google Apps. Fast forward to today and Google Apps is used by millions of businesses. We’ve also added versions for governments, universities and schools.

When we launched the premium business version we kept our free, basic version as well. Both businesses and individuals signed up for this version, but time has shown that in practice, the experience isn't quite right for either group. Businesses quickly outgrow the basic version and want things like 24/7 customer support and larger inboxes. Similarly, consumers often have to wait to get new features while we make them business-ready.

With this in mind, we’ve decided to make things very straightforward. Starting today for all new customers:

• Individuals wishing to use Google’s web apps like Gmail and Google Drive should create a free personal Google Account, which provides a seamless experience across all of our web services on any device.
• For Businesses, instead of two versions, there will be one. Companies of all sizes will sign up for our premium version, Google Apps for Business, which includes 24/7 phone support for any issue, a 25GB inbox, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee with no scheduled downtime. Pricing is still $50 per user, per year.

Please note this change has no impact on our existing customers, including those using the free version. And as before, Google Apps for Education will be available as a free service for schools and universities. Also, as the first cloud productivity suite with FISMA certification, we’ll continue to offer Google Apps for Government for $50 per user, per year.

With focus we’ll be able to do even more for our business customers. We’re excited about the opportunity to push Google Apps further so our customers can do what matters most to them–whether that’s scooping ice cream, changing the face of healthcare or contributing to lifelong learning. ]]> https://googledata.org/google-apps/changes-to-google-apps-for-businesses/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-apps/a-new-way-to-distribute-your-internal-android-apps/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-new-way-to-distribute-your-internal-android-apps https://googledata.org/google-apps/a-new-way-to-distribute-your-internal-android-apps/#comments Tue, 04 Dec 2012 18:00:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=abf3b2a618c8b375067915696ba03167 Posted by Ellie Powers, Product Manager, Google Play

The Google Play Store is the place to find Android apps like the Google+ app, the Google Drive app and hundreds of thousands more. Today we’re expanding the Google Play Store for our Google Apps customers to help you distribute internal apps to your employees through the Google Play Private Channel.

Whether you’ve built a custom expense reporting app for employees or a conference room finder, the Google Play Private Channel is designed to make your organization’s internal apps quick and easy for employees to find. Once your company has loaded these internal apps using the Google Play Developer Console, users just need to log in with their company email address to browse the Private Channel and download apps.

These changes make it easier than ever to get the internal Android apps your company develops into employees’ hands. If you’re a Google Apps for Business, Education or Government customer you can learn more about how to create your organization’s own Google Play Private Channel in our Help Center.]]> https://googledata.org/google-apps/a-new-way-to-distribute-your-internal-android-apps/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-apps/launching-admin-features-to-all-supported-languages-at-the-same-time/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=launching-admin-features-to-all-supported-languages-at-the-same-time https://googledata.org/google-apps/launching-admin-features-to-all-supported-languages-at-the-same-time/#comments Tue, 27 Nov 2012 19:30:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=f3d30174deb28b892cf075ea85828ae4 Posted by Luis D. Maya, Google Apps Team

Today, we're improving the Google Apps administrator control panel for international and multi-lingual administrators. Now, the control panel will always be displayed in the user’s preferred language.

New administrator settings for Google+, displayed in Japanese
Previously, administrators had to choose between viewing the administrator control panel in English to receive the very latest features or wait until new features had been translated into their preferred language. Now, the administrator control panel makes new features available in all supported languages at the same time.

This change is rolling out to customers over the course of the day.]]> https://googledata.org/google-apps/launching-admin-features-to-all-supported-languages-at-the-same-time/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-enterprise/google-drive-updates-for-ios-and-android-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-drive-updates-for-ios-and-android-2 https://googledata.org/google-enterprise/google-drive-updates-for-ios-and-android-2/#comments Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:30:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=64ceed9fb337aa5a73125139f3941c04 Posted by Anil Sabharwal, Senior Product Manager, Google Drive Team

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog.)

Every day, more and more people are choosing to live online and get things done in the cloud. Helping to make this experience as seamless as possible, Google Drive is one place where you can create, share and keep all your stuff. Drive is available on the web, as well as Mac, Windows and Android and iOS.

Updates for iOS
Starting today, if you’re using the Drive app on your iOS device you can also edit Google documents, just as you can with the Android app. From your iPhone or iPad, you can create a new document, edit an existing one or format text. And just like on your computer, you’ll be able to see other people’s edits instantly as they’re made.

You’ll also notice other new improvements to the iOS Drive app. For example, you can now view Google presentations on your iPhone or iPad, including speaker notes, full-screen mode and the ability to swipe between slides. You can also create new folders, move files into folders and upload stuff (like photos and videos) from your device directly in the Drive app.

Updates for Android
We’re also updating the Drive app for Android phones and tablets today. You can now add comments, reply to existing comments and view tables in your Google documents. And you’ll have the same new abilities to view presentations and organize your stuff as your friends with iPhones do.

More to come...
Looking ahead, we have plenty more planned for the Drive mobile apps—including native editing and real-time collaboration for Google spreadsheets. Stay tuned.



Get Drive in the App Store for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and visit the Play Store to get the latest on your Android phone or tablet. To learn more about Google Drive, visit drive.google.com/start.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-enterprise/google-drive-updates-for-ios-and-android-2/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-apps/bringing-google-to-work/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bringing-google-to-work https://googledata.org/google-apps/bringing-google-to-work/#comments Wed, 29 Aug 2012 13:00:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=370c6b9f4a6f3bae1f404f7ebae6a4c3 Posted by Clay Bavor, Product Management Director, Google Apps

On the Google Apps team, we wake up every day excited to work on products that are powering a fundamental shift in business technologies. Whole companies are moving into the cloud, where they rely on the same web-based applications their employees use at home: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Drive. We call this trend “going Google.”

As part of this trend, we’re witnessing how web-based collaboration and social tools have dramatically changed the way people connect. Whether you’re across the street or across the world, you can hold face-to-face meetings, share updates with colleagues and friends and work on a presentation together in real time. Like Google Apps, we think Google+ can help colleagues collaborate more easily and get things done—and get to know each other along the way.

So today we’re launching an initial set of Google+ features designed specifically for businesses, and we’re excited to move into a full preview mode for Apps customers. During this preview period, organizations that have gone Google will be able to use the business features of Google+ for free through the end of 2013 while we continue to add more features and administrative controls designed for organizations.

For the past few months, pilot customers like Kaplan and Banshee Wines have been using Google+ to help employees engage and connect with each other. We’ve worked hard to incorporate early feedback from pilot customers into our plans, and we’re thrilled to begin offering Google+ features tailored to organizations.

Private sharing for your organization
Google Apps users now have more control over the content they post to Google+. When you create a post you can mark it as restricted. Restricted posts are private to your organization and can never be re-shared with anyone outside. At the same time, when you create a post, you have the flexibility to share it with specific partners or colleagues outside the organization as well if you choose.

Restricted posts cannot be shared outside the organization
Video meetings integrated with Gmail, Calendar and Docs
When you’re on Google Apps, holding a face-to-face meeting with colleagues or clients around the world doesn’t require coordinated travel schedules or expensive video conferencing technology. All you need is a device with a camera and an internet connection. Hangouts lets up to 10 people join a video meeting from their laptop, phone or tablet.

As we announced in July, people can now join a multi-way video chat, powered by Hangouts, directly from Gmail. They can also open a Google doc in a hangout meeting, making it easy for colleagues to write or edit a document together from anywhere. And starting today, users can also add a hangout to a Calendar event, allowing attendees to join the meeting directly from the invite or Calendar entry.

Add a hangout to a calendar event

Work on a doc face-to-face in a hangout
Administrative Controls
To help make sure users are sharing only with the people they intend, administrators can now set company-wide defaults for post restrictions. They can also enable restricted Hangouts to facilitate private meetings within the company.

Just the Beginning
These latest business features for Google+, which will be rolling out throughout the day, are just a start. We have a lot more planned for the coming months, including a mobile version of Google+ for enterprise users and more administrative controls.

Every day, more companies are going Google. We’re excited to help them take advantage of modern, web-based tools and give their employees new ways to connect and collaborate. If you’re a Google Apps customer, we encourage you to bring Google+ to work today.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-apps/bringing-google-to-work/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-apps/make-mobile-more-manageable/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=make-mobile-more-manageable https://googledata.org/google-apps/make-mobile-more-manageable/#comments Thu, 02 Aug 2012 20:00:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=c06c50840543d1f9d0cc88583e09f2e2 Posted by Hong Zhang, Google Apps Enterprise Mobile

People are using phones and tablets more than ever before to get work done from anywhere – in the field, at home or while traveling. Along with this increase in flexibility and productivity come new challenges for businesses managing all of these mobile devices. We launched tools to manage mobile devices across all mobile platforms for Google Apps last year, and since then we’ve been hard at work adding a number of new capabilities to help organizations better manage smartphones and tablets.

Some of our newest features are focused on helping administrators enforce tighter security using mobile settings in the Apps control panel to keep company data safe. We now offer administrators more ways to promote strong passwords on users’ phones and tablets and allow policies that enforce data encryption. New features also let administrators set policies to allow or block the use of the phone’s camera on Android 4.0+ devices and comply with organizational email retention policies. And now administrators can enforce these policies where available without disabling phones running older versions of Android that don’t support all the latest policies.

Through the Google Apps Device Policy app, administrators have the ability to remotely erase data from lost or stolen devices. Now we’re extending this capability so that IT admins can grant end users the ability to remotely delete data from their phone as soon as they notice it’s missing using the My Devices page.

As employees increasingly depend on their phones and tablets we’ll continue to work on making it easier and more secure for organizations to manage their fleet of devices. You can watch this video or visit our Help Center for a detailed look at how our enterprise mobile offerings can benefit your business.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-apps/make-mobile-more-manageable/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-apps/google-is-now-available-with-google-apps/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-is-now-available-with-google-apps https://googledata.org/google-apps/google-is-now-available-with-google-apps/#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:00:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=90ddcbefde4c6f1ed5c899811909b0b7 Posted by Ronald Ho, Product Manager

Google Apps fans, today we’re ready to add you to our circles. Google+ makes sharing on the web more like sharing in the real world, and now Google+ is available to people who use Google Apps at college, at work or at home.

Starting now you can manually turn on Google+ for your organization. Once Google+ is turned on, your users will just need to sign up at google.com/+ to get started. For customers who use Google Apps for Business or the free version of Google Apps and who have chosen to automatically enable new services, Google+ will automatically become available to all of your users over the next several days.*

Google Apps users will have access to the same set of features that are available to every Google+ user, and more. In addition to sharing publicly or with your circles, you’ll also have the option to share with everyone in your organization, even if you haven’t added all of those people to a circle.



Google+ at home, at work and at college
You use Google Apps in lots of different ways, and we expect the same for Google+. Apps users from artists to doctors to parents to students to teachers have told us that they are ready to join the 40 million people already sharing on Google+.

Circles is a great way to share relevant content with the right people. With Circles, your photography crew doesn’t have to get an update about your morning workout, your triathlon team doesn’t have to see all your thoughts on the latest camera gear, and your project teams can be kept separate from all of this.



Hangouts with extras, which combines multi-person video chat with screen sharing and collaboration in Google Docs, lets you work together on projects even when your team can't be in the same room. Whether you’re out of town, working on a project with a distributed group, or just don’t feel like walking to the next building for your meeting, Hangouts with extras can give your team the productivity boost it needs.



Google+ coming to a campus near you
Many students and teachers have sent us their ideas about how they can use Google+ to teach, learn, work, and play. These are a few Google Apps for Education universities from around the world that are bringing Google+ to their campuses today:

• Abilene Christian University
• American University in Cairo (Egypt)
• Arizona State University
• AT Still University
• Boise State University
• Central Piedmont Community College
• Dublin City University (Ireland)
• ESSEC Business School (France)
• Leeds Metropolitan University (United Kingdom)
• Loughborough University (United Kingdom)
• Saint Louis University
• Strathmore University (Kenya)
• Universidad Panamericana (Mexico)
• University of Ferrara (Italy)
• University of Maryland Baltimore County
• University of Minnesota
• University of Notre Dame
• University of Pavia (Italy)
• University of Portsmouth (United Kingdom)
• University of Washington
• Vanderbilt University
• Wake Forest University

Just the beginning
For those of you who’ve already started using Google+ with a personal Google Account and would prefer to use your Google Apps account, we’re building a migration tool to help you move over. With this tool, you won’t have to rebuild your circles, and people who’ve already added you to their circles will automatically be connected to your new profile. We expect this migration option to be ready in a few weeks, so if you’d like, you can go ahead and get started with your Apps account today and merge your connections once the tool is available.

It took more technical work than we expected to bring Google+ to Google Apps, and we thank you for your patience. This integration is just the beginning. We’ll continue to add features and improve the way that Google+ works with Google Apps, and we encourage you to share your ideas.


* Google+ requires Picasa Web Albums for photo sharing and Google Talk for chat, so if these services are not enabled then Google+ will not automatically become available, even if your domain has chosen to automatically enable new services. The option to automatically enable new services is controlled in the Domain settings tab of the administrator control panel. More information about using Google+ with Google Apps is available in the Help Center.


Update: For Google Apps for Education customers, we're starting with higher ed institutions and are looking into making Google+ available to K-12s at some point in the future.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-apps/google-is-now-available-with-google-apps/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-apps/cloud2-commission-releases-report-on-cloud-computing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cloud2-commission-releases-report-on-cloud-computing https://googledata.org/google-apps/cloud2-commission-releases-report-on-cloud-computing/#comments Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:00:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=54e79d14ffdc016fce9d5a9dacd50c0e Posted by Sarah Falvey, Sr. Policy Analyst, Google

In May we announced our participation in the TechAmerica Foundation’s Commission on the Leadership Opportunity in U.S. Deployment of the Cloud (CLOUD²). The Commission had a three-month mandate and we are excited to unveil the finished report entitled Cloud First, Cloud Fast: Recommendations for Innovation, Leadership and Job Creation.

This report is an important roadmap to assist the US government with moving toward more rapid cloud adoption while continuing to promote commercial innovation. More than 70 companies worked together to provide the government with detailed recommendations—and Google is proud to have been a member. The report consists of four key policy areas: Trust, Transformation, Transparency, and Transnational Data Flows and seeks to address barriers within each area that hinder cloud adoption. The Commission also produced a “Buyer’s Guide” to help government agencies evaluate cloud offerings and move services to the cloud.

This report is an important first step in outlining the necessary policy steps needed to keep the U.S. at the forefront of cloud innovation.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-apps/cloud2-commission-releases-report-on-cloud-computing/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-apps/keep-tabs-on-your-email-with-read-receipts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=keep-tabs-on-your-email-with-read-receipts https://googledata.org/google-apps/keep-tabs-on-your-email-with-read-receipts/#comments Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:30:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=f178e6ad09add79c71229022779a3342 Posted by Carl Haverl, Software Engineer

We’re always listening to your ideas about features you’d like to see in Google Apps, and many of you have asked for a better way to track your email communications in Gmail. Consider your message to us delivered: today we’re introducing read receipts as an optional feature for Google Apps for Business and Google Apps for Government accounts.

Read receipts allow senders to monitor the status of the messages they send and allow recipients to acknowledge receipt of mail. Let’s say John works in sourcing for his company and wants to make sure that his suppliers receive his purchase orders. As he sends each one out, John can request a receipt and later check that the recipients have received the orders. Conversely, if someone sends John a message with a request for receipt, Gmail can send a receipt to the sender when John opens the message. Read receipts work both internally within your organization and externally, so they can help improve communications with customers and partners.


Google Apps admins can now log in to the control panel to enable read receipts for their domain. Administrators can choose whether users need to manually approve receipts or whether receipts can be sent automatically. Automatic receipts can only be sent to users within the same domain and to a list of email addresses defined by the administrator.

To activate read receipts, log in to the administrative control panel of your Google Apps for Business or Government account and look for “Email read receipts” on the Settings page for email. For more information, please see our Help Center. As always, we welcome your feedback in the comments below.

Update: Read receipts is now also available as an optional feature with Google Apps for Education.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-apps/keep-tabs-on-your-email-with-read-receipts/feed/ 0 https://googledata.org/google-apps/preview-the-new-look-of-google-apps/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=preview-the-new-look-of-google-apps https://googledata.org/google-apps/preview-the-new-look-of-google-apps/#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=9d7797b5d5e398cd5a36e502b1d64cb5 Posted by Simon Smith, Google Apps User Experience lead

Google Apps, along with all of Google, will get a new look over the course of the summer to make the user interface more focused, elastic and effortless to use. We continuously improve and seamlessly update our products (there were over 125 new features added to Google Apps last year) and hope that these user interface updates will make features easier to find when you need them and hide them when you don't. Our goal is to give you the best possible experience across all of our apps on all of your devices.

Just like you, we rely on Google Apps every day and we know that change can take a little while to get used to. So we want to give you a heads-up before the new look becomes the default, and we’d like you to share your feedback along the way. These visual improvements will follow our standard Google Apps release process, with organizations on the Rapid Release track gaining access to the updates first, followed later by organizations on the Scheduled Release track. The first visual updates will be in Gmail and Calendar, and to start they will be available on an opt-in/opt-out basis, so you can continue to use the old interface and preview the changes before they become the default later this year. When you do give it a try, we hope you enjoy a cleaner, more modern look.

On the whatsnew.googleapps.com site, you’ll find instructions on how to access the latest designs for Gmail and Calendar. We’ll keep this site up-to-date with the latest information about the new look as well as a feedback form and other resources for Google Apps administrators and users.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-apps/preview-the-new-look-of-google-apps/feed/ 0