Google Apps

• Apps & Updates
• Android
• Google Apps
• Google Keep
• update
• app

APK Download: Google Keep for Android can now export lists to Docs

Stephen Hall Aug 5 2015 - 12:30 pm PT

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It’s been possible on the web for quite a while, but a recent update to the Google Keep app now lets you quickly export your notes to a Google Doc. To do so, make sure you have the latest version of the app, and then select the notes you’d like to export. Then tap the drop down menu at the top right of the screen and tap “Copy to Google Doc”. It’s pretty nifty.

You can grab the app from the Play Store for free of course, and if you’d like to try out the feature right now, open this page on your Android device. All you have to do is tap below to download the APK (via APKMirror), and then tap the notification on your phone once the app is done downloading. You’ll be walked through a couple steps, and then you’ll be on the latest version.

• Google Keep version 3.1.313.00

• Google Apps
• Google Drive
• Google Docs
• Google Sheets
• iOS

Google axes editing of Docs on mobile web, presenting install banners for multiple file types

Tom Maxwell Jul 27 2015 - 3:33 pm PT

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Google Drive for the mobile web has always restricted editing to just Docs files — attempting to edit Sheets or Slides files required downloading the Google Drive app for iOS or Android. That changes today. No, you won’t be able to edit Sheets or Slides files now, but rather Google is also killing off the editing capabilities in Docs for mobile web.

The change makes total sense, if for consistency at the very least. But Google says it’s because the Drive native mobile app is “easier to use and offers more robust functionality.” Native apps typically have more access to the hardware and system-level software capabilities of the devices they’re installed on than web apps, and since they are downloaded directly onto the device, much of the boilerplate user interface doesn’t have to be loaded from the Internet each time the user goes to use them.

From now on, when a Drive user opens a Docs, Sheets, or Slides document from the mobile web, they’ll be presented with one of Google’s new app install banners that make it easy to launch or download the native app, and then be taken directly to the file they were initially viewing in the browser. Tapping the pencil icon in the top right will also trigger the banner to appear.

The user interface across the mobile web viewers for the three aforementioned editing tools have also been cleaned up to create a more consistent experience, which is nice.

• Android
• Google Apps
• update
• Google Voice
• Project Fi

Google launches improved voicemail transcriptions for Google Voice and Project Fi

Stephen Hall Jul 23 2015 - 4:04 pm PT

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Google has announced today that its voicemail transcription service is getting a much-needed update. Hoping to leave behind the days of hilariously bad voicemail transcriptions, Google asked some users for access to their voicemail. Now, the fruit coming thanks to those kind souls who trusted the company with their precious information has been officially announced.

Here’s the word:

So, we asked users if they would kindly share some of their voicemails for research and system improvements. Thanks to those who participated, we are happy to announce an improved voicemail system in Google Voice and Project Fi that delivers more accurate transcriptions. Using a (deep breath) long short-term memory deep recurrent neural network (whew!), we cut our transcription errors by 49%.

According to Google, errors have been cut by 49% post-update. And, good news for those who might not even see this post nor Google’s announcement, you don’t have to do anything at all to reap the benefits of these changes. Just keep using Google Voice and Project Fi as you always have, and you should notice that your voicemail transcriptions are suddenly less horrid.

• Android
• Google
• Google Play
• Google Apps
• Google Play Store

Google Play Store carrier billing added in Denmark, Saudi Arabia, & 2 more countries

Tom Maxwell Jul 23 2015 - 12:55 pm PT

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Carrier billing, also known as direct billing, is a way through which customers of Google Play can pay for premium downloads without ever manually inputting a credit, debit or gift card – by having new charges billed directly to the carrier service plan they pay monthly. Now it’s available for Play Store customers on a few more select carriers in several countries – only on select carriers, though. The change was initially spotted by Android Police.

Here are the carriers and countries where Play Store carrier billing is now available:

• 3 in Denmark
• Sun in Philippines
• Mobily in Saudi Arabia
• Avea in Turkey
• du in UAE

Typing on mobile devices can be a frustrating, mistake-prone experience that takes longer than typing on a full-sized desktop keyboard, so it’s no surprise to see app developers quickly bringing to fruition changes that reduce the amount of finger-pecking necessary to take action – making password input a fallback to fingerprint scanning being one example. The full list of carriers and countries that have support for Play Store carrier billing is available on Google’s support site.

• Apps and Updates
• Google Apps
• Google Drive
• Microsoft Office
• Office 365

Google’s new Microsoft Office plugin allows users to open and save Drive files

Tom Maxwell Jul 21 2015 - 10:56 am PT

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Google has a new plugin out for Microsoft Office (Windows only, for now) which makes it possible to access files stored in Drive from Office and save edits back to the cloud storage service, as well as create new files in Office and save them directly to Drive. The plugin works with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint (2007, 2010, and 2013 versions), and Office 365.

Here’s what saving a new document looks like in Word once the plugin is installed:

This plugin isn’t anything monumental, but Microsoft’s Office suite of productivity applications still has an undeniably significant hold on the corporate market. By making Drive more interoperable with the suite, Google can ease people into trying its cloud-based applications for getting work done, initially by pushing the benefit of Drive for sharing files with teams, and easily accessing files across devices. It’s a strategy Google’s competitors have claimed to use to gain a foothold in the corporate world – get enough average employees in a company using your product for some of their needs, and eventually IT will budge and consider switching over for everything. Google has a website up dedicated to the new plugin.

• Google
• Apps and Updates
• Google Apps
• Google Drive
• Google Docs

Google’s productivity apps receive minor updates for paid and unpaid users

Tom Maxwell Jul 20 2015 - 1:57 pm PT

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Google’s productivity apps have received two small updates today, one specifically for paid customers of Google Apps, the enterprise-grade version of Google’s online productivity suite for those who want to use Google products with their own domain, and the other for all users of the products. Let’s take a look.

First off, a couple products which tend to fall under the “Docs” brand have received a new UI button (pictured above) for all users which makes it clearer want kind of access you have to a document you’re viewing, and easier to request greater access. If you’re viewing a spreadsheet and have only been granted the ability to view it but not edit or add comments, for example, you’ll see a blue button which says “View only.” Clicking the downward facing arrow reveals the option to request greater access, in this case the ability to edit. Viewers with the ability to comment will see a similar button in the color green. The blue “View only” button will appear across Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Drawings, while the “Comment only” button will only appear across Slides, Sheets, and Drawings.

The second minor change up on the block is specifically for Apps administrators, and alerts company employees to when a document they’ve shared with someone cannot be viewed by that person for one reason or another. Oftentimes to prevent sensitive information from getting into the wrong hands, Google Apps administrators will restrict their employees from sharing files with any user of Google’s apps other than those on the same domain (i.e. tom@corpemail.com). This is what it may look like if you attempt to share a document with someone outside your corporation and sharing outside your own domain is disabled:

More information on both updates is available on the Google Apps Updates blog, here for the new Docs UI buttons, and here for the new invalid sharing settings alerts.

• Android
• Google
• Google Apps
• Google Drive
• Google Docs

Google appears to be sunsetting the classic Drive UI

Tom Maxwell Jul 2 2015 - 1:39 pm PT

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Are you a holdout who’s been using the classic Google Drive ever since Google unveiled the new design over a year ago? Unfortunately, it seems that your time to give in has come.

Initially spotted by a tipster talking to the (unofficial) Google Operating System blog, the toggle in Drive’s settings dropdown which allowed switching between the new Drive experience and the classic version appears to be disappearing. I can no longer see it myself. It was possible to switch to the classic version by clicking the settings icon in Drive and then choosing “Leave the new Drive”.

We don’t have our own image of it, but thanks to techinfoweb.com here’s what the toggle did look like:

And from a Google support page on how to switch between the two (it’s still live), here’s a comparison of the design and user interface of the new Drive and the classic Drive:

I know a lot of diehard users were upset when Google unveiled the new Drive, but I’m not quite sure what exactly is believed to be worse about the new experience. Maybe one of you can enlighten me?

• Google
• Google Apps
• Google Docs
• Google Sheets
• publish to the web

You can now publish Google Sheets documents to the web in 5 new formats

Stephen Hall Jun 30 2015 - 11:32 am PT

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After making a spreadsheet in Google Sheets, you can make your content publicly visible through the app’s “Publish to the web” tool. As Google announced on the Google Apps updates blog today, this feature now supports publishing to five new formats. On top of being able to choose Web page, you can now publish in Comma-separated values (.csv), Tab-separate values (.tsv), PDF document (.pdf), Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), and OpenDocument spreadsheet (.ods).

Today’s launch allows people to publish spreadsheets in five additional formats—as comma-separated values (.csv), tab-separated values (.tsv), a PDF document (.pdf), a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet (.xlsx), or an OpenDocument spreadsheet (.ods). The URL generated, when opened in a browser, will automatically download the spreadsheet in the chosen format (spreadsheets in these additional formats cannot be embedded).

To see the new options, head over to a Google Sheets document and click “File,” and then “Publish to the web…” The feature should be available over at the Google Sheets website right now.

• Android
• Google
• Google Apps
• update
• admins

Google Apps admins can now see download events in Google Drive audit logs

Stephen Hall Jun 26 2015 - 2:07 pm PT

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Google lets the administrators of Google Apps accounts view an auit log of all the activity happening in their company’s Google Drive account. Before today, you could see in these logs all of the events when someone would view, create, update, delete, or share Drive content. Starting today, Google says that admins can now see download events in these logs as well.

To help analyze and monitor the use of Google Drive content in their organizations, Drive for Work and Google Apps for Education admins are able to access audit logs in the ‘Audit’ section of the Admin console Reports area and via the Reports API. The current Drive audit logs include events such as create, view, and delete, among others. With today’s launch, we’re adding download event support to the Drive audit logs.

Google says that these new “download events” will include user file downloads for both Google and non-Google file formats. As if the case with other types of audit events, admins will be able to filer by document name, user name and timestamp. Finally the company says that they’ll add more sources in the future including “Sync Client downloads and exports of documents through the Google Docs editors.”

• Google
• Google Apps
• Apps for Education
• Google Apps for Education
• training center

Google’s new courses help teachers seeking to integrate its services into the classroom

Tom Maxwell Jun 26 2015 - 9:44 am PT

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Google wants schools to take advantage of its Apps for Education suite of productivity tools and services, but it also recognizes that proper professional development is essential to enabling educators and transforming education. The company today announced the release of a free training platform that provides interactive lessons with a focus on how to successfully complete real classroom tasks and objectives using Google products.

The new platform is called Google for Education Training Center and builds upon a recent survey by the American Federation of Teachers which found that 71% of educators and administrators surveyed cited “adoption of new initiatives without proper training or professional development” as a primary source of stress in their work lives. The new tools are supposed to help teachers apply Google’s tools in the classroom and beyond.

The lessons, like how to get students collaborating using Drive and Docs, are organized around the three themes above and range in difficulty from beginner courses to those targeted at teachers who already know their way around Google’s products quite well but might inspiration on how to differently using the products with their students.

As part of the announcement, Google says that it has brought on the Chicago Public Schools, a school district including over 600 schools and 400,000 students, as a launch partner for the Training Center. The district will use Training Center as a part of its technology professional development program, and the course will count towards its teachers’ professional development hours.

“The Training Center reflects what we value most about education, focusing on the process of learning rather than the tools themselves,” the company says. More information about the Training Center and to try the lessons, Apps for Education customers can visit g.co/edutrainingcenter.

• Google
• Google Apps
• update
• web
• app launcher

Google App Launcher for Apps users getting updated w/ additional row, ability to move apps

Stephen Hall Jun 25 2015 - 10:09 am PT

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The familiar Google App Launcher that you may or may not use on a daily basis — found on Google’s many web properties — has four rows of icons and the ability to move them around to organize them the way you’d like. You probably didn’t even notice when these features were added, but they’re nice to have. If you have a Google Apps account too, though, you may know that the App Launcher is stuck in the past for Apps users.
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