This official feed from the Google Workspace team provides essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers.
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Using text-based or image prompting, you can now generate custom 30 second soundtracks in Gemini. This new capability is powered by Lyria 3, Google’s most advanced music generation model yet.

The Gemini app facilitates new forms of musical expression by transforming prompts and images into custom soundtracks. A user might, for instance, turn a “welcome to the team” email into a track. Or, a student or educator could generate custom instrumentals for class presentations or projects. From funny jingles to lo-fi beats, just describe what you want to hear and let Gemini handle the rest.


Note: Lyria 3 music generation in Gemini is currently available globally in English, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and French for users over the age of 18.

Getting started

  • Admins: The Gemini app and related in-app tools are controlled by the Generative AI settings in the Workspace Admin console. Music generation in Gemini is subject to these existing controls. Visit the Help Center for more information on turning the Gemini app on or off.
  • End users: End users who have access to the Gemini app will receive access to Lyria 3 automatically. To get started, select “Create music” from the tools menu.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts who are 18 years or older and signed in to the Gemini app

Resources

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We are introducing a new capability in Connected Sheets for BigQuery that allows users to generate data forecasts directly within Google Sheets using the power of BigQuery ML (BQML) and Google’s state-of-the-art TimesFM model. Users can now predict future sales, demand volume, or other key business metrics without needing to write SQL, use Python, or customize and train their own models.

This feature is designed for simplicity and speed. TimesFM’s powerful foundation model is pre-trained on billions of data points from real-world datasets, enabling business users to generate sophisticated predictions on their data immediately without the complex, time-consuming training pipelines typically associated with machine learning.

Key features include:

  • Simple configuration: Forecasts can be created from any existing BigQuery dataset or custom query using a user-friendly configuration pane in the Sheets UIl.
  • Customizable parameters: Users can adjust forecast parameters, such as the prediction horizon for how far into the future the user wants to predict and confidence intervals, or use our default options to get started.
  • Granular analysis: The feature supports breakouts by any given data dimension, allowing users to run multiple time series forecasts simultaneously (e.g., forecasting sales broken down by region or product category).
  • Visual insights: For single time series forecasts, Sheets automatically generates a helpful chart visualizing the forecast alongside historical data.
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Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: Create a Connected Sheet. On the Preview view, click on “Advanced Analytics” and then “Create a Forecast”. 

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts 
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We are updating the administrative privileges setting for Windows device management to give administrators more control over how local administrative access is handled on Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices, managed by Google Endpoint Management.

This update simplifies settings and provides greater flexibility for organizations that need to preserve local admin access while managing specific users via Google Workspace. Previously, managing local administrative access used a "Replace" behavior, which removed any existing members from the local administrators group before adding the newly requested ones.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Business Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus
  • Frontline Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Cloud Identity Premium
  • Education Standard and Plus
  • Endpoint Education add-on

Resources


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Today, we’re releasing new adoption and usage metrics to our Gemini reports in the Admin console. These new reports offer administrators comprehensive visibility into AI feature usage and thresholds to help them better manage their Workspace subscription and Gemini adoption. This includes usage data by features, apps, and active users.

With these new metrics, administrators can better understand how users are engaging with Gemini features across Workspace apps. Admins can use this information to make decisions on AI enablement, adoption, and productivity for their organizations. This data also offers insight into when they may need to adjust their Workspace subscriptions and plan for potential upgrades when users have reached their maximum AI usage thresholds.

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Gemini usage report in the Admin console that shows per-feature data on active users and users at the limit


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User-level Gemini usage report in the Admin console that shows data across apps and overall activity

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual subscribers

Resources

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Move shared content in Google Meet to a separate window with the “Open in new window” option

We’re introducing the ability for meeting participants to move screen shared content into a standalone window with the “Open in new window” option. | Learn more about how to move shared content in Google Meet to a separate window with the “Open in new window” option.

Data loss prevention policies for Google Calendar now available in beta

We’re introducing data loss prevention (DLP) policies for Google Calendar in beta. Currently, DLP policies protect Calendar attachments such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides in meeting invites. | Learn more about data loss prevention policies for Google Calendar.

Control if new Meet hardware can join calls with a new on/off setting

We’re introducing a “Video calling” setting for Google Meet hardware, allowing you to turn video calling on or off for a device. | Learn more about new Meet hardware can join calls with new on/off setting.

Introducing Figma in Google Chat

The Figma for Google Workspace add-on helps teams seamlessly collaborate on Figma files and keep everyone on the same page without switching context. | Learn more about how The Figma for Google Workspace add-on helps teams seamlessly collaborate on Figma files.

Listen to audio summaries in Google Docs

Audio summaries in Google Docs, a new Gemini-powered feature that enables you to listen to a brief overview of your document, can help you get up to speed quickly and understand the most important parts of your content. | Learn more about how to listen to audio summaries in Google Docs.

The announcements above were published on the Workspace Updates blog over the last week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.
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