August is a month that brings a sense of excitement and renewal, making it one of the best seasons of the year for various reasons. Not only does it mark the height of summer in many parts of the world, but it's also a season of anticipation and change - including new Google Workspace updates. Bonus - Our colleague Max also celebrated his birthday! We will quickly summarize the highlights of these awesome Google features (but Max also takes you through an in-depth review of these features in the YouTube video at the end of this article). Let’s check it out!
Fine-tuning Google Doc features
Okay, so everyone knows - sometimes things don’t go to plan. Have you found yourself at your wits end with dragging and moving tables, but sentences sometimes end up between tables? Or when you want to drag a table to the left, and it ends up to the right? As easy as they are to create, tables are now easier to place.
With the new Google table properties feature, you can move place tables exactly where you want in your document.
No more headaches! All you have to do is move your mouse to the upper left-hand corner, and you can drag your tables left, center, right, etc. You can also customize your table, such as starting the table on a new line. Cool, right?
A second feature we’d like to tell you about is that heading titles can now be linked with hyperlinks. This makes scrolling through long documents easier. Just link a text defined as a heading and then copy the heading link - paste that, and you’ll be brought directly to that heading in the document. Simple but effective.
Google Sheets is getting smarter and faster
Google Docs isn’t the only tool with updates - Google Sheets has some intriguing updates, too. Now, you can convert multiple places (addresses) into smart chips in Google Sheets. In other words, you can see Google Maps previews directly in Google Sheets. This is easier for planning travel arrangements, event schedules, etc.
Similarly, now on mobile devices, people smart chips in Google Sheets are now also available on mobile devices. You’ll never have to struggle to find a contact again.
Other Google Sheet updates include:
Fresh Google Slides features!
It can happen to anyone: you’re listening to a presentation, and only for a second do you daze off into la-la-land. The hard part is following along again. For us who have faced this problem - this solution is for you. With the new pen tool, presenters can add annotations to their slides. Presenters are now more than ever able to interact with their audience, so you can’t get lost (even if you daydream for a minute).
Also cool - you can:
- Save domains into your Google Slides. Anyone needing company-specific layouts, pictures, fonts, etc., can easily access them.
- Insert 👀😌💕🤓🥭. Yes, you can now add emojis to your slides. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Having emojis at your disposal will help capture the message you are presenting even more. 🙌
Google Form feature updates
Similarly to Google Slides, you can now store a theme or domain in Google Form too. You can have access to company colors, images, etc., already in the form.
Across the board
There are also updates that apply to multiple tools:
- For Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Google Drawings, you can now edit alt text. Before you could only right click on the image and edit it. Now available on the sidebar its easier to access this feature.
- Revamped look for Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides on Android
- Drag and Drop between Drive instances in Google Drive on Android
- Reformat texts (underline, bold, etc.) on Google Keep on Android
- You can now have Google Assistant use Google Keep for keeping notes
이제 메일을 직접 번역할 수 있습니다. = You can now translate gmail messages directly in your mobile devices! - Afraid someone might ask an awkward question? With the new update Google Meet now offers Q&A moderation, so you can review and approve questions being asked by participants.
- … and so many more!
Keeping up with Google updates
That was a lot of updates! What are you excited to try out? Do you have any questions or are you not clear about some features? Then check out our YouTube video where our colleague Max goes into even more detail about the Google updates.
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Make sure to give the video a like and subscribe to our account for more Google updates!
Further Reading
- You’re Gonna Want to Know This: 14 Updates from Google Workspace
- Summer Slump: Over 20 Hot Updates from Google Workspace
- All articles in the Google Hybrid Work series
- Google Workspace: Bringing Productivity and Well-being Together
