SaaS Updates Summary: February 15 – 19

Big week for the folks at Google! Of course, there was the big rebranding of Google Workspace for Education. But also, now you can mute all Google Meet participants at the same time. Rejoice! Read about these updates and several others in the links.

Introducing Google Workspace for Education
Google Workspace Updates | Google announced that G Suite for Education is now Google Workspace for Education. It hopes that this change will provide you greater choice and flexibility in selecting the best tools to empower your institution. As part of this change, Google Workspace for Education will now be available in four distinct editions instead of just two.

Mute All Google Meet Participants at Once
Google Workspace Updates | Meeting hosts in Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals and Education Plus domains can now mute everyone all at once in Google Meet. The meeting host is the only user in a meeting who can use the “mute all” feature. Once all participants are muted, the meeting host cannot unmute them. However, users will be able to unmute themselves as needed.

Changes to Information Visibility in Meet Quality Tool, Meet Audit Log, and Reports API
Google Workspace Updates | Google is updating how information is displayed in the Meet quality tool, Meet audit log, and Reports API. This makes it easier for admins to follow up on calls hosted within their domains, as all three tools will use the same identifiers for external participants.

New Calendar Admin Privilege Hierarchy in the Admin Console
Google Workspace Updates | Google is changing the hierarchy of privileges within the Calendar privileges section of the Admin console. Before, to control calendar-related admin privileges, you had to use the “All Settings” checkbox, which controlled both calendar settings and resource management. Now, there’s a separate “Settings” checkbox which allows you to assign privileges related to calendar settings separately from resource management.

Limit Google Drive Sharing to Specific Groups With Target Audiences, Now Generally Available
Google Workspace Updates | Admins can now define specific audiences with whom their users can link-share Google Drive files. This can help keep your organizational data secure, and make it simpler for users to share files with the right colleagues. The feature was previously available in beta.

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