There was a multitude of new features and updates introduced across Google Workspace and Google Meet during August 2026. Some of the 🔑 key new features include ✍️ “Take notes for me” for in-person meetings, Ask Gemini in 💬 Google Chat, the ability to block users in 📅 Google Calendar and 🧑💻 Admin Assist which enables you to leverage Gemini for assistance directly within the Google admin panel.
Continue reading to uncover what else is new; or, jump directly to the application that interests you most.
Google Meet
During August, Google Meet’s Gemini-powered ✍️ notetaking feature – “Take notes for me” – became available to use for in-person meetings. With this update, you'll be able to devote your full attention to participating in all types of meetings, not worrying about taking notes. Once activated from either the 🌐 web or the Google Meet app on your 📱 Android or iOS mobile device, Gemini will generate a 💬 meeting summary, 👣 actionable next steps and a 📜 transcript, saved as a Google Docs file which you can later access via Google Drive or by email – just like you would when notes are generated for 📹 video meetings.
💡 Note: “Take notes for me” for in-person meetings only supports one spoken language per meeting.
Later in the month you were able to begin using a new 💡 Room Display mode to join BYOD Google Meet calls on your laptop. Available only on the 🌐 web, Room Display mode will automatically split the interface into two synchronised windows when an external display is detected. It’ll generate a shared view on the room’s 📺 TV that displays participant video tiles and shared presentations and a personal view on your 💻 laptop so that you can manage meeting controls, chat messages and more in private. The shared view is visible to everyone in the room whereas the personal view is visible only to you. Whilst dedicated Google Meet Hardware remains the best option for meetings, Room Display mode can elevate the BYOD experience and streamline setup and in-call management when you don’t have access to dedicated 📹 Google Meet Hardware.
The 📹 Google Meet Hardware interface on HP Poly TC8 and Neat Pad touch controllers began updating last month to more closely match the 🎨 design on 🌐 web and 📱 mobile. This included making in-meeting controls such as 🎙️ mute, 📷 camera, 🙋 hand-raise and 😀 emoji reactions more accessible and adopting the new 🌒 dark mode. With this update, all Google Meet touch controllers now support the latest UI. This brings consistency across your entire fleet of meeting devices and ensures that your users have a familiar experience, whether in a 📺 meeting room, 🤳 on-the-go or at a 🖥️ desk.
On the last day of August, support for “Take notes for me” directly on Google Meet Hardware started rolling out to Early Preview. Instead of having to use your 💻 laptop or 📱 phone in companion mode to manage “Take notes for me”, the touch controller that’s readily available in the room will now have a dedicated 👆 button on the screen, similar to the 🌐 web experience. From here you’ll have direct access to ”Take notes for me”, allowing you to easily and quickly ✅ enable, ❌ disable, ⏸️ pause and ▶️ resume the feature.
💡 Note: to enrol devices into the preview, you will need to enable “Early Preview” for your chosen devices or organisational units (OUs) through the Google admin panel. (Instructions here.)
Google Workspace
Google Chat
In August, ✨ Ask Gemini ✨ was launched for 💬 Google Chat to replace the Gemini side panel in supported regions. You can can still use Gemini in Chat to 📁 locate files, ✅ capture action items and 📝 summarise conversations, just like you could with the Gemini side panel. In addition to this, you can use Ask Gemini to generate 🖼️ images and 📄 documents, 📅 schedule meetings and tasks, 🔎 find information across your Workspace apps and more.
💡 Note: at launch, Ask Gemini in Chat will only be supported in English; for other languages, the current side panel experience will remain in place until supported by Ask Gemini.
By the end of the month, admins had more granular control over who could create new 🚀 spaces in Google Chat, now with three 🔑 restriction levels to choose from instead of two. In addition to completely allowing or restricting users from creating any spaces, direct messages or group messages, a new middle tier allows you to restrict space creation whilst still allowing them to create new direct or group messages. You have the option to apply the new setting to specific users or groups across the organisation.
Another new 🔐 privacy setting was also introduced at the end of the month: this setting allows space owners and managers to restrict who can 👀 see the complete list of members in a space. Instead of everyone always being able to see the full list, space owners and managers will soon be able to choose which group will have visibility over space members: owners, owners and managers, all members or the entire organisation.
💡 Note: the name and profile of anyone who sends a message within a space will always be visible, regardless of the member visibility restriction set.
Google Drive
In the first week of August, Google added the ability to leave 🕑💬 timestamped comments on videos in 🗃️ Google Drive. Anchoring comments to exact times within a video makes it easier and faster to collaborate with others and allows everyone to jump straight to the 🎬 cited frame by 🖱️ clicking on the generated marker. You can still ✏️ edit, ✍️ reply, ✔️ resolve and 👥 tag users within timestamped comments just like you would with a general-file level comment.
💡 Note: timestamped comments can only be created via Google Drive on the web.
The ability to preview 🔐 client-side encrypted files directly within Google Drive was introduced in beta at the end of the month. Instead of downloading the 📂 encrypted files, you’ll be able to view encrypted PDF and image files from your 🌐 web browser within Drive. This helps to save time and avoids the encrypted files being saved on unnecessary devices.
Another feature also began rolling out in open beta on the same day. ✨ Gemini-based data classification in Google Drive allows 🧑💻 admins to leverage Gemini to automatically 🕵️ analyse and 🏷️ label files across Drive using natural language instructions rather than manual model training. You’ll retain control during the automated process and have the ability to review, accept and modify labels as needed. All labelling events are logged in the Google admin panel to maintain transparency and ensure compliance with company policies.
Google Slides
A new way to record presentations in Google Slides using 📹 Google Vids was introduced last month. With Vids integrated into Slides, you’ll be able to take advantage of advanced capabilities available in Vids, such as 📜 transcript-based editing and 🗣️ AI voiceovers. You can then make further ✏️ edits in Google Vids once the recording is captured. The new recording option offers the choice between recording 📷 yourself and the slides (using picture-in-picture mode), just 🔊 audio or only your 🖼️ screen.
Google Sheets
In order to help ensure that Microsoft Excel tables and linked pivot tables stay intact during the 📥 import process into 📊 Google Sheets, an update added at the start of the month enabled Sheets to seamlessly 🔀 convert Excel tables into Sheets tables and keep 🤸 Excel pivot tables fully interactive when they are backed by table ranges – instead of turning them into static grids. This means that you’ll no longer have to constantly ⚒️ fix broken table formatting each time you open a Microsoft Excel file in Google Sheets.
An update to Connected Sheets lets you reference multiple values in a single list parameter using cell ranges directly in your spreadsheet, so that you can dynamically filter data and run advanced queries using dropdown menus, making it easier to 🕵️ analyse large sets of BigQuery data in Google Sheets. You can also create aliases for column names, allowing you to – if needed – add more context and improve readability. Both the original name and alias will be supported when used in formulae and inputs.
Towards the middle of the month, Google began rolling out Sheets canvas. Powered by Gemini, you can use Sheets canvas to convert your raw data into 👀 interactive visual mini-apps using ✍️ natural language prompts. This means that you can easily create 🎨 custom and dynamic visualisations – such as dashboards and Kanban boards – of your data without any advanced coding or third-party tools. Any ✏️ changes made within the canvas will also automatically update the underlying data in Sheets and vice versa, ensuring that, no matter where you're working from, the data are always in sync.
In the last week of August, an update to Sheets enabled grouped fields – such as 📅 date, 🕒 time or 🔢 numeric – in a pivot table to be saved as reusable source fields in the ✏️ editor sidebar. This means that you’ll be able to remove grouped fields from a table and easily re-add them without having to manually re-build them. Additionally, grouped fields in pivot tables within Microsoft Excel files will be preserved when 📥 imported into Google Sheets, helping to minimise wasted effort in recreating the same setup.
Google Calendar
Last month, admins gained more control over managing which inbound event invitations will be automatically added to 📅 Google Calendar. Instead of just choosing a default value, admins can limit which of the options are available to users, helping to set an appropriate baseline across the organisation. The complete list of options, from which admins can suppress choices, is for events to automatically be added to users’ calendars from everyone, from only known senders or only after the user responds to the invitation via email.
💡 Note: changes to this calendar setting only apply to new invitations.
Additionally, in order to help minimise spam and unwanted 📩 calendar invitations, the ability to ⛔ block users and add them to an account-wide blocklist in Google Calendar began rolling out last month. Blocking a user will automatically ❌ delete the current Calendar event and prevent future invitations or interactions from them across Google Workspace, including ✉️ Gmail and 💬 Google Chat. If a user was blocked in another Workspace application, this will also now block calendar invitations from them.
To improve interoperability between Google Calendar and 📹 third-party video conferencing platforms, 📥 incoming invitations with third-party links will soon automatically generate a “Join” button within the Calendar event, whilst 📤 outgoing invitations will have the 🔗 meeting link automatically placed in the 📍 location field (where other calendar services expect to find it). This makes it easier for everyone to join calls without having to 🔎 search the event description for meeting links, IDs and passcodes.
At the end of the month, Google added a new setting to Google Calendar that enables you to suppress RSVP 🔔 email notifications and out-of-office auto-replies when creating or editing an event. For organisers of large events, this means not getting hundreds of ✉️ emails confirming event attendance and keeping your inbox focused on important emails. The default setting for the new “Get an email when guests respond” setting is on, preserving the same behaviour as before; when you turn it off instead, you’ll still be able to track the RSVP status of guests using Google Calendar from within Calendar, though the RSVP status of guests using third-party calendar platforms will not be updated.
Gemini
In addition to generating static diagrams within its output, Gemini gained support for creating 🖼️ interactive simulations and models that’ll help you to visualise and improve your understanding of complex topics. The 🎨 custom, 3D and functional simulations generated within the Gemini app include interactive controls, allowing you to see and manipulate, in real-time, how one component affects another.
Gemini Notebook
In August, Google introduced the ability to make private copies of entire notebooks within ✨📓 Gemini Notebook. This allows you to build upon a notebook without altering the original. When duplicating a notebook, all of the Studio content – including 🔊 audio and 📹 video overviews – is automatically included in the copied version, along with any 📂 Drive-based sources that you have permission to access and edit. 💬 Chat history and personal notes will remain 🔒 private to the original owner.
💡 Note: you can only copy a notebook if the original owner has granted permission. Any changes made to the original notebook after it’s been copied will not be reflected in the copied version.
ICYMI: in July, NotebookLM became Gemini Notebook.
Workspace Studio
At the start of the month, you could begin creating a recurring workflow in Workspace Studio to keep sources within ✨📓 Gemini Notebook updated seamlessly. The new “Add a source to Gemini Notebook” step lets you automatically add 💬 text, 📁 Google Drive files and various 🔗 URLs as sources to your notebooks based on triggers, making it faster and easier to ensure you're always working with the latest information.
Later in the month, several new 🔒 security controls began rolling out for Workspace Studio that enable you to incorporate new steps into your automated workflows whilst protecting 🛡️ sensitive data and allowing 🧑💻 admins to retain full visibility and control over the impact of every workflow. Some of the new security controls include 🏃 running the least-privileged permission on automated workflows to prevent unauthorised data access, requiring ✅ human approval for specific steps before sensitive data is shared externally and new ✨ Gemini and Agent data loss prevention (DLP) rules to restrict Gemini data access and secure automated flow outputs. With these new security measures in place, you’re able to add more advanced steps, such as Gemini sending an 📨 email or sharing a 📄 doc, into your workflows.
Google Admin Panel
Since the middle of August, admins can now monitor 📂 externally-shared Drive files more effectively in Google BigQuery. New granular sharing fields within Drive Inventory Reporting provide details on ✅ direct permissions, 👥 group memberships and 🔗 public links, making it easier to detect any potential data exposure risks. Within the Google admin panel, admins will also be able to distinguish between user types and cross-reference data loss prevention metadata.
On the same day, Admin Assist was added to the Google admin panel to help you manage 📑 domain policies and ⚒️ troubleshoot issues faster. Admin Assist lets you leverage Gemini from the new Gemini side panel or main search bar within the Google admin panel without having to navigate away from the dashboard. ✍️ Prompting Gemini in the side panel allows you to ask questions about complex tasks and get interactive guidance with 👣 step-by-step instructions. Meanwhile, when you ask a question in the main 🔍 search bar, Gemini generates 📝 overviews of, and summarises, relevant Help Center articles to provide you with exact answers alongside actionable next steps.
💡 Note: Admin Assist is currently only available to super admins on Google Workspace business tiers.
Towards the end of the month, Google Chat usage metrics were integrated into the ✨ Gemini reports dashboard, giving admins 🕵️ deeper insights into how users across the organisation are using Gemini within Google Chat. The reports are available at both the organisation and user level, allowing you to view 📈 usage trends, 📊 engagement levels for Gemini-powered features and more. Additionally, summarisation requests initiated by the user are now categorised as ✅ “Active” events, which means that you may notice updated baseline metrics for active user counts and overall Google Chat activity logs.
In order to help organisations 🔁 transfer large amounts of files and chat data from Microsoft to Google Workspace more easily, the 📥 Data Import tool in the Google admin panel was expanded at the end of August. The Data Import tool now supports the migration of 💬 channel messages, group chats and direct conversations from Microsoft Teams as well as large-scale 📂 file migrations from Microsoft OneDrive; both tools were made generally available. You also have the ability to take advantage of the migration planning utility in both cases, enabling you to see migration timeline estimates – even long before you initiate the migration – and organise your data into batches to speed up the migration process.
Catch up on June’s updates
Do you want to see what happened in July? You can catch up on all of the updates across Google Meet and Google Workspace in our July 2026 recap.
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