Google Workspace Wednesday

Issue #30 / 20-DEC-23

Protect sensitive messages in Gmail with PIV/CAC smart cards and client-side encryption

This year, Google has made client-side encryption (CSE) more widely available across Workspace. In February, CSE was expanded to include Gmail and Calendar, and in August, Google added more enhancements, including support of mobile apps and the ability to set CSE on by default. Now, Google is extending CSE in Gmail to support hardware keys, such as PIV (Personal Identity Verification) and CAC (Common Access Card) smart cards, to help meet the needs of its public sector and enterprise customers.

Introducing the Bitbucket app for Google Chat

Google is introducing the new Bitbucket app for Google Chat. Bitbucket is a Git-based code and CI/CD tool optimized for teams using Atlassian’s Jira. The Bitbucket app for Google Chat will allow you to receive messages when events occur in your Bitbucket repositories, as well as perform quick actions, such as viewing and approving pull requests. The app is available now for all users.

New guide to help screen reader users transition from Gmail HTML view to Gmail Standard view

Gmail Basic HTML view for desktop web and mobile web is being disabled starting in early 2024, so Google is sharing a guide to help screen reader users make the switch from HTML to Standard view. This new guide, along with an existing resource to ensure the best Gmail experience when using a desktop screen reader, should help users get up to speed on Gmail Standard view.

Excuse assignments in Google Classroom

Following the expansion of grading systems in Google Classroom, Google has added an additional feature that gives teachers even more flexibility when it comes to grading for assignments and classwork. Teachers can mark an assignment for a particular student as “Excused” instead of giving it a 0-100 score. This will exclude that particular assignment from the student’s overall grade. The feature addresses various class scenarios, such as wanting to drop a student’s lowest assignment, excusing an assignment when a student is absent, or any other circumstance in which an assignment should not be included in a student’s grade.

Follow | View | Visit | Meet