SaaS Updates Summary: August 19 – August 23

Google released a number of G Suite updates last week. From shortcuts in Drive to being able to fill out PDFs on mobile, these updates are here to make your life a breeze. Keep reading for last week’s G Suite updates.

Create Shortcuts in Drive With a New Beta
G Suite Updates | Google is launching a new beta that allows you to create shortcuts in Drive, making it easy to reference and organize files and folders outside of a given shared drive.

Improved As-You-Type Spelling and Grammar Correction in Gmail
G Suite Updates | Google is introducing new spelling and grammar correction capabilities for Gmail to help you compose emails quickly with confidence. As you type your message, Gmail will use artificial intelligence to make smarter spell-check suggestions while also detecting potential grammar issues. For some common spelling mistakes, Google has also added as-you-type autocorrection for improved accuracy.

Improving Real-time Collaboration in Google Docs for Assistive Technology Users
G Suite Updates | It’s now easier for users of assistive technologies, like screen readers and Braille displays, to keep track of real-time updates made by collaborators in a document. With live edits, you can view a periodically updated summary of collaborator changes in a convenient sidebar.

Updates to Hangouts Chat Migration Timelines
G Suite Updates | Earlier this year, Google announced that we will be transitioning classic Hangouts users in G Suite domains to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. At that time, Google provided a timeline of changes and said that in October 2019 they would start retiring classic Hangouts for G Suite customers. Since then, Google has heard feedback from many users that they’d like more time to migrate your organizations from classic Hangouts to Hangouts Chat. As a result, Google is officially postponing the final transition date (i.e. phase 4 in this timeline) to no sooner than June 2020.

Complete Basic PDF Forms Directly in Google Drive on Mobile
G Suite Updates | You can now fill out structured PDF forms within the Google Drive app on Android and iOS devices. You’ll be able to complete text fields, select options from a dropdown menu, and select checkboxes or radio buttons. After filling out the form, you can save your edits as a new revision of the document, or save a copy.

For last week’s SaaS updates (and beyond), click here for our archive.