Elain Brown Tech 08.28.2022 22:Aug PM EDT

Google Workspace Update: Meet Is Keeping Up With Zoom, New Features Rollout

Google rolls out the newest features from the latest Workspace update. Included in the most recent update, Google is making it easier to unmute in Meet.

Google has a wide variety of Workspace services that a lot of its users have gravitated toward during the pandemic. The massive shift to hybrid work and online schooling brought a lot of attention to the company's Workspace services, which were first dominated by other brands.

Two years into the pandemic, the company continues to update its software and roll out new features.

Google Meet Implements Zoom-like Feature

Google is rolling out an easier way for Meet users who are in a meeting to have flexibility in muting and unmuting themselves.

To use the latest feature, if users want to unmute themselves, all they need to do is press and hold the spacebar. However, to return to mute, users only need to release the spacebar.

According to The Verge, when users are in a meeting, they can quickly unmute themselves by holding down the spacebar until they are unmuted. Once they are unmuted, they can release the spacebar to return to their muted state.

Google hopes that this will make it even simpler for users to take part in the meetings they attend by allowing them to immediately unmute themselves when they have something to say.

This feature will be helpful for users to avoid situations where they can embarrass themselves or accidentally interrupt the other person speaking in the meeting due to loud noises in the surroundings.

This feature will be rapidly released beginning September 9th, 2022, at a gradual pace with up to 15 days for feature visibility. This feature can be used by all Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts on all web browsers. However, this feature is off by default and can be enabled in the Google Meet settings.

Google Workspace Updates

Google not only released features for Meet but also updated features in Workspace.

Drive

According to Google, it rolled out a feature that enables more flexibility in terms of collaborative work in Drive.

At the moment, users can use a feature called "visitor sharing," which is a secure collaboration based on pin codes, to share products with people who do not have Google accounts.

This enables users who are not registered with Google to access Google Drive, Slides, Sites, Sheets, and Docs to view, comment on, or change information.

However, users now have the ability to use visitor sharing to permit non-Google users to upload material or create files within shared drives that are owned by organizations and other users on Google Workspace.

Google started rolling out this feature on August 24th, and it will potentially take longer than 15 days for the feature to be available to all users.

Hey Google

Another update Google rolled out is the ability to call Google on demand during meetings.

The company is tweaking how "Hey Google" is used whenever the user is in a meeting. Google has received complaints and suggestions from users regarding the sudden, unintentional, and accidental activation of "Hey Google" during meetings.

As the company rolls out this feature, the Google Assistant will only be active on a device when it is not currently participating in a meeting and when it is less than ten minutes away from the start of an upcoming meeting.

In this way, accidental activation can be prevented. This feature will also help reduce the number of accidental interruptions that occur during calls made by users.