In July 2025, Google Meet and Google Workspace received numerous updates, introducing new features as well as enhancements to existing ones. These include 📹 Video Overviews in NotebookLM, the ability to send 💬 chat messages during Google Meet livestreams, 🖼️ thumbnail video previews in Google Drive and new 🔊 audio tools in Google Vids.
Continue reading to discover in more detail about these and more of the updates that rolled out last month.
Google Meet
At the start of July, the ability to 📤 send in-meeting 💬 chat messages whilst being a viewer of a Google Meet livestream was made available. In addition to already being able to 📖 read chat messages, being able to also send messages provides more opportunities to engage with the broadcast in real-time. Whilst access to it is controlled by meeting hosts, it’s enabled by default.
💡 Note: for hosts to allow viewers to send messages, viewers’ ability to read messages must also be turned on.
The second update to Google Meet added more details to the after-meeting ✉️ email notification, an email you receive after using Gemini to ✍️ take notes during a call. The email now has a short 📝 summary and 👣 next steps in addition to a link to the complete notes document. That document can also contain a full 📜 transcript of the meeting, if enabled. Meeting hosts now also have more control over who receives the notes, choosing between: all invited guests; invited guests within the organisation; or just hosts and co-hosts.
The ability to join 🔒 Client-Side Encrypted (CSE) Google Meet calls directly from Google Meet Hardware devices in meeting rooms was introduced last month. CSE ensures your call content is encrypted directly on your device, using 🔑 keys only you and 👥 participants control, meaning Google servers cannot access it. To join, you simply select the meeting from the in-room agenda and authenticate from your personal 📱 phone or 💻 laptop, securely granting the room access based on your individual identity.
Google Workspace
Google Chat
During July, apps for Lucidchart and Lucidspark were made available for Google Chat, enhancing your ability to collaborate directly within Chat. These apps allow you to 👀 see previews of shared Lucidchart diagrams and Lucidspark whiteboard 🔗 links and quickly 🔎 find and share your Lucid documents by typing “/lucidsearch”. The apps enable you to bring 🖼️ visual context directly into conversations to improve clarity.
On the last day of July, Google extended the Workspace add-ons framework to include Google Chat, meaning 🧑💻 developers now only need one version of their app to deploy it across multiple Workspace apps, including 💬 Chat, ✉️ Gmail, 📆 Calendar and 🗃️ Drive. This means a single app can now provide features like 🔔 external alerts or 🔗 link previews directly within Chat, as seen with Lucidchart and LucidSpark. More third-party apps, including Asana, Figma and Trello, will also be coming soon based on this framework.
Google Docs
Gemini in Google Docs began rolling out to iOS devices in more than 20 languages. With support for more languages, you’ll be able to leverage ✨ Gemini to quickly 📃 summarise long documents and 💬 get answers to specific questions within files whilst on-the-go in languages like 🇫🇷 French, 🇮🇹 Italian and more.
💡 Note: “Help me write”, “Help me create” and image generation are not currently available on mobile.
Google Drive
✨ Gemini in 🗃️ Google Drive gained support for organising files and folders with natural language, meaning you can now use prompts like “Create a new document in the Q1 sales folder” to perform basic actions such as 🗄️ moving files and creating 📂 folders, 📄 documents, 📊 spreadsheets and 🖼️ presentations.
Enhanced Information Rights Management (IRM) controls were introduced to Google Drive, enabling file owners and shared drive managers to now restrict 🖨️ printing, 📋 copying and 📥 downloading of 📂 files even for users with ✏️ edit access. Those with editor permissions will still be able to edit the document, however they will not be able to copy and paste content outside of it.
Towards the middle of July, Google Drive for desktop received an update that consolidated sync activity, 🔔 notifications and 📂 shared files into a single view, providing easier and quicker access to key information.
By the end of the month, thumbnail previews shown on the 📹 video's progress bar in Google Drive began rolling out. These let you quickly see snapshots of different sections of the video by hovering your 🖱️ mouse over the bar. This means you’ll be able to easily preview content and jump to the exact part you need, saving you 🕐 time when reviewing footage or finding 🔑 key information.
💡 Note: thumbnail previews will only be available on newly-uploaded videos.
There were also new ways to train your custom 🤖 AI models for data classification introduced in Google Drive. This included support for training up to five different models – instead of just one – with various 🏷️ label and field combinations. There’s also now the ability to train the models on demand and an updated user interface that includes additional 🕵️ insights and training metrics, providing admins with more flexibility and information.
Google Calendar
Sharing calendars with others directly from the Google Calendar app on Android devices is now possible. Just like what's available on the 🌐 web, you’ll have full control over sharing, allowing you to choose 👥 who views your calendar, what they can 👀 see and whether they have permission to ✏️ edit them. This applies to your own 📅 calendars in addition to those you have permission to share.
Gmail
In July, Google introduced a new feature in Gmail that conveniently 📋 lists all of your active subscriptions in one place. This makes it simpler to 👀 view your subscriptions and quicker to ❌ unsubscribe from the ones you no longer wish to receive. It's currently rolling out to both 🌐 web and 📱 mobile, so you can keep on top of your inbox no matter where you are.
Building on their initial availability in the Gmail mobile app, automatic Gemini summary cards are now also available on the 🌐 web. The cards include an AI-generated 📜 summary of the email 🧵 thread and can help you get up-to-speed with what’s been said. They will appear at the top of ✉️ emails when you open them, similar to the 📱 mobile experience.
By the end of July, you were able to insert your appointment schedule from 📅 Google Calendar directly into your email drafts, reducing context-switching and speeding up the process of finding a good time for your meeting.
NotebookLM
Google introduced 📹 Video Overviews in 📓 NotebookLM which build upon 🎙️ Audio Overviews, allowing you to turn your 📑 research into AI-generated, narrated videos. Video Overviews provide dynamic 👁 visual summaries that include 🖼️ images, 📊 diagrams, 💬 quotes and 🔑 key points from your uploaded sources. Similar to Audio Overviews, you will be able to customise the videos by specifying preferences. Also, the Studio Panel now includes the ability to create multiple Audio Overviews per notebook and share your content with others.
Gemini
💎 Gems, previously found only in the Gemini app, began rolling out to the side panel of other Workspace apps: 📄 Google Docs, 📊 Sheets, 🖼️ Slides, ✉️ Gmail and 📂 Drive. This means you'll soon be able to use your 🖌️ custom, specialised AI assistants instantly whilst you're working on a document, email or spreadsheet without having to 🔁 switch tabs or apps. This saves you 🕞 time by having the Gem jump into the action faster with the instructions it already knows – and without you needing to provide the same context every time.
In the middle of July, Google launched a new pre-made 💎 Gem: the Productivity Planner. The Gem aims to bring everything you need to stay organised into one place. It pulls information directly from Workspace apps like ✉️ Gmail, 🗓️ Calendar and 📂 Drive, allowing you to see urgent emails, review upcoming events and get the context needed to prioritise tasks for the day, all from within one app.
Veo 3, Google's text-to-video AI model, was integrated into the Gemini app at the end of the month. Veo 3 lets you generate 📹 videos with accompanying 🔊 audio using ✍️ text prompts directly within the Gemini app, in addition to Google Vids and Flow. You’re also able to bring pictures to life, transforming any 🖼️ static image into a video with features for animating objects or drawings.
💡 Note: daily usage limits apply and vary depending on your Google Workspace tier.
Google Vids
There were two new audio features that launched into 📹 Google Vids last month: firstly, 🔊 automatic volume levelling to balance all audio (voices, music and other sounds) in 🎬 scenes; and secondly, 🦆 audio ducking to automatically lower background 🎵 music when other audio begins to play. Both aim to help enhance the clarity of the primary or spoken audio.
Google Sites
🔎 Searching for content in Google Sites will now provide more comprehensive results. Search results now include information from within embedded 📂 files like Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and PDFs in addition to the 💬 text directly on the pages. This helps you find what you're seeking more quickly by looking for both the visible content and the data within 🔗 linked files.
💡 Note: new and republished sites will have this feature soonest; existing sites will see this over time.
Google Admin Panel
July started with Google updating and expanding the device event reporting that gets logged for Google Meet Hardware. For 🧑💻 admins this is useful for both 🔐 security and 🔧 troubleshooting. Some existing event types were also renamed, potentially affecting some existing scripts and automations. Additionally, when admins now make a change to a Google Meet Hardware device (such as changing its settings or OU membership), the logged information will be much more specific about what was done.
Additionally, towards the end of the month, event types recorded in audit logs relating to Google Meet Hardware were renamed to remove outdated terminology. Specifically, changes made to your devices’ 🏠 home screen, release channel,💡 display power saving and 📱 call phones settings will now be recorded under an “Application Setting” event type, removing old "Chromebox" references.
Gemini audit logs introduced last month – which are available through the investigation tools in the Google admin panel and also the 📑 Reporting API (Admin SDK) – make it possible for admins to see exactly how people are using ✨ Gemini in the Gemini app as well as other Workspace apps. These new logs can help admins identify, analyse and understand which features are being utilised and where.
Following the launch of Google AI Ultra for Business in June 2025, it was made available in over 75 additional countries. Google AI Ultra for Business is a Google Workspace add-on that provides access to higher usage limits, the latest AI models and 🧰 tools like Flow and Whisk.
💡 Note: access to some AI features and tools vary depending on location.
AppSheet
In the middle of July, the 🤖 AI Task became generally available in the AppSheet, offering ways to streamline workflows, categorise data and extract information. This includes pulling details from 🖼️ images and unstructured text, understanding complex 📄 PDFs, 📑 categorising and prioritising incoming requests and leveraging information from linked tables using 📊 REF types in spreadsheets. You can also test AI steps directly within your workflows to ensure correct functionality.
💡 Note: testing these AI steps now counts towards your usage limits.
Catch up on June’s updates
Did you miss June’s updates? You can see everything that happened across Google Meet and Google Workspace in our June 2025 recap.
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