SaaS Updates Summary: May 23–27

Last week, there were multiple updates from Microsoft, Google,and Dropbox. Microsoft rolled out new features for Excel 2016, as well as updates to the OneNote Class Notebook APIs and the ability to chat in real-time in all the Office Online applications. Google added several new PII predefined detectors for DLP for Gmail, and it also launched Mobile Audit. Dropbox for Windows 10 was updated, and it also introduced a feature that prohibits Dropbox Enterprise users from moving shared folders to the desktop.

May 2016 Updates for Get & Transform in Excel 2016 and the Power Query Add-In – Excel 2016 includes a powerful new set of features based on Power Query technology, which provides fast, easy data gathering and shaping capabilities and can be accessed through the Get & Transform section on the Data ribbon. Today, Windows is pleased to announce 10 new data transformation and connectivity features that have been requested by many customers.

Dropbox for Windows 10 Updated for Video Casting – Dropbox for Windows 10 has been updated with a handful of new features, including the ability to cast your videos directly from Dropbox to other devices and advanced comment notifications. Although there are still some features missing compared versus the iPhone and Android applications, these new additions make Dropbox a little more business-savvy for Windows users.

Teacher Only Spaces, Collaboration Space Lockdown, Subgroup Creation and More with the New Class Notebook API Updates – With the preview launch of our new OneNote Class Notebook APIs in February, we received a lot of interest and feedback from IT administrators and Microsoft Education Partners. The Class Notebook APIs allow IT admins, Partners and others to automate the creation and updates of OneNote Class Notebooks across a school or district. This allows for large time savings and efficiency for teachers, as well as school IT staff.

Dropbox Enterprise Now Prohibits Moving Shared Folders to the Desktop – Cloud file syncing and sharing service Dropbox said it’s rolling out a new feature, starting with its Dropbox Enterprise service tier, that should stop some unintended problems from cropping up. The service essentially stops users from dragging a shared folder onto their local desktop, an action that ordinarily stops everyone else from accessing the folder.

Secure Passport and CURP Numbers with Our New Predefined Detectors for Data Loss Prevention for Gmail – Earlier this year, Google launched several improvements for Data Loss Prevention for Gmail, such as optical character recognition and more flexible content detection thresholds. Google Apps Unlimited customers all around the world were able to start using DLP to automatically check outgoing messages according to content policies set by the administrator and help prevent accidental data loss. In this latest release, Google’s adding several new Personally Identifiable Information (PII) predefined detectors to enhance your DLP for Gmail solutions.

Office Online—Chat with Your Co-Editors in Real-time – Microsoft recently announced the ability for co-editors to chat with one another directly within a OneDrive document when working in Office Online. They’re pleased to extend this capability to their Office 365 Business and Education customers for documents stored in OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online. Built on the same technology as Skype for Business, the new chat feature is available in all the Office Online applications—Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote.

Monitor Key Activities on Managed Devices from the Admin Console – As security on mobile devices becomes increasingly important, Google wants to give Google Apps administrators an improved ability to monitor key activities occurring on managed devices. With that in mind, it’s launching Mobile Audit, which audits activities on iOS and Android devices managed by Google Mobile Management. Examples of activities that will be recorded include mobile application changes, operating system updates, and device settings changes.