Google Drive Changes (2024 to 2026)

September 2025:

Changes to Drive Sharing Permissions

Earlier this year, Google announced that they would be updating the access experience in Google Drive. With this update, they will stop allowing restricted access on specific files and folders within a shared folder, starting September 22, 2025. Limited access should instead be managed consistently via the limited access folder setting. Users with permission to restrict access on the parent folder will no longer see the “update item only” option.  Users without permission to restrict access on the parent folder will see certain options grayed out.

 For alternate ways to restrict access for a file only, refer to this Learning Center tips page. 

July 2025:

Restrict Printing, Copying, and Downloading for Editors

File owners and shared drive Managers can now apply printing, copying, and downloading restrictions to collaborators with edit permissions. (Editors still retain their editing abilities.) Previously, they could only apply this restriction to viewers and commenters. Learn more about restricting permissions for collaborators in Drive.

April 2025:

New Alert Badge for Files Owned/Shared Outside of UM Domain

A badge now displays on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files when the file is owned by or shared with someone external to U-M Google. You'll also see a pop-up with more details and the option to report the externally-owned file for abuse (if applicable). These alerts help you identify potentially harmful files and when to be cautious when sharing confidential information in external files.

March 2025:

Add Someone to a Chat Conversation Through @Mentions

@mentions will now prompt to add someone to a group chat if they are not already in the group chat.  (applies to Group, DM, or Space messages).  Learn more here.

Create Names for Group Direct Messages in Chat

You can now create names for existing and new group direct messages in Chat.  Names will be visible to all members.  Learn more here.

Organize Chat Conversations into Custom Sections

Similar to custom sections in Slack, you can now organize your Chat conversations (including DMs and spaces) into custom-named sections. You can also modify the height of each section, reorder them based on preference, toggle the Unread button on or off, and start a new DM or space message from the three-dot icon next to the Unread button.  Learn more about creating and organizing Chat sections here.

Chat Now has a new Board Tab 

Now, in 1:1 and group DM's and Chat Spaces - you now have a Board available.  The board can be used to pin messages and resources.  This is meant to be similar to Slack Canvases.  Note that all members will have access to add, edit, and delete information on this board - unless that has been restricted.  (Does not apply to Announcement Spaces).

Updates to Videos in Drive

You can now watch videos the moment you upload them to Drive on the web. This feature eliminates wait times between uploading and playback, while ensuring that your videos are still fully processed. Learn more about storing and playing videos from Drive.

In addition to the above changes and being able to automatically generate captions for Drive videos, you can also view and search transcripts for videos uploaded in Drive.

Convert Data to People Chips and Update the Chip Format in Drive

Similar to the functionality in Google Sheets that helps you easily convert data to dropdown chips, you can now use bulk chip conversion for people chips. If you have a column of data that includes a variety of emails, Sheets will show a “Convert to people chips” suggestion when you click into your data range. Learn more about this functionality here. 

Google Meet Offers More Screen Reader Options for Reactions (Accessibility Updates)

Meet has several more options for in-meeting reactions, specifically for those that experience meetings via screen readers.  4 more options have been added.  Read more about these updates here. Learn more about using Meet with a screen reader, and accessibility in Meet.

In addition to more reaction options, Meet has also changed the behavior of live captions and translated captions.  Previously, the captions were displayed in real time but disappeared - not allowing for scrolling back in time.  This update allows for scrolling back the previous 30 minutes of the captions. 

February 2025:

Updates to "Make Changes to Events" Permission on Shared Google Calendars

Collaborators can now view with whom the calendar is shared. Previously, they could not view who the calendar and its events were shared with, even though they could create events on it.  If you own and/or manage a shared calendar with individuals assigned the “Make changes to events” permission, and you do not want them to view who it is shared with, you will need to change their access permissions to either “See all event details” or “See only free/busy (hide details).” Please note that this will also remove their ability to create and edit events on the calendar.

New “limited access” Sharing Experience in Google 'My Drive' & shared drives

Google now allows Shared Drive Managers and My Drive folder owners to limit access to folders for specific individuals. Folders with limited access can only be opened by people who have been added to them directly. People with general access to the shared drive or parent My Drive shared folder can view the restricted folder’s name but cannot open it.

There are sharing features that are being retired, and some new ones that are being implemented, as a greater part of this change. Please see this link to learn more.

November/December 2024:

Transcriptions for Voice Messages in Chat

There is now automatic transcription of voice messages in Chat on web and mobile. For screen reader users, voice transcripts are treated as readable texts. Learn more about sending a voice message in Chat.

Respond to Conversations in the Home View

Your Home view in Chat has a new split pane option to respond to space, group, or direct messages without navigating away from Home. The split pane option can be toggled on and off from the top of your Home view.

Use the Drive Chat App to Respond to Comments and Access Requests

In November, Google announced they would be auto-installing the Google Drive app in Chat for every U-M account. As a result, many of you may have received a notification from the app welcoming you and providing more information on its purpose. You will now receive notifications about recent activity in Google Drive documents, such as new comments and share requests, directly in Chat (via the Gmail integration, mobile app, or desktop). If you would not like to receive these notifications, you can either mute or uninstall the app from Chat.

Add Multiple Multimedia Files to One Message

You can upload and send up to 20 photo and video files in one Chat message. Dragging and dropping files into the compose bar from your desktop is also supported. Learn more about sending and sharing files in Chat messages.

Improvements to Out-of-Office Notifications in Group Messages & Spaces

You will now notice a banner that shows when a person you are chatting with is out of office and the date they are returning in Chat group messages and spaces. Previously, this banner only appeared in direct messages with someone.  Tech Team Note - this is likely only going to show if 

Modernized Video Player

The video player within Google Drive has a new look and feel and enhanced functionality, including improved controls for fast forward/rewind and an updated experience when adjusting playback speed and managing captions.

Send Emails About Files to Collaborators, Using Sharing Dialog Button

Once a file is shared, you can choose to notify someone when they’ve been added as a viewer/commenter/editor. Google has built upon this feature by adding the ability to send an email to any collaborator if you are a file owner or editor. To email collaborators, click Share, click the envelope icon (“Email people on this file”) under the text field, select the email recipients, and add a custom message.

Tabs in Docs

You can create and manage tabs in Docs to better organize your documents, especially to break down long, structured ones into smaller, more digestible sections. Within each tab, you can also create subtabs. Learn more about using document tabs in Docs.

Cover Images in Docs

You can now add cover images that extend from one edge of your document to the other using Google’s gallery or uploading your own image. Cover images can only be added to documents set to pageless mode. Learn more about adding cover images to your Docs.

New Templates in Docs and Slides

Google has released 40 new, customizable templates to their Docs template gallery. These pre-made templates use the pageless format and incorporate several new features like document tabs, placeholder chips, and cover images. You can access these templates via the Templates button at the top of a newly created Doc, by going to File > New > From a template in an open Doc, or by clicking New, hovering over Google Docs, and selecting From a template in Drive.  See this article for more details on the Google Slides templates library.

Improved accessibility tagging to PDFs exported from Docs

Google has improved the ability for individuals with screen readers and other assistive technology to read and navigate PDFs by adding more structural and accessibility tagging in PDFs exported from Docs. Specifically, they’ve improved tagging for paragraphs, headings, hyperlinks, image ALT text, and lists. Learn more about using Docs with a screen reader.

Use "Rating" on a Google Form

You can now add a rating question type to your Forms. The rating scale can be three to ten whole numbers (starting at 1) and use star, heart, or thumbs-up icons.

Granular Controls for Form Respondents

Previously, form creators had two sharing options: restrict responses to U-M Google users or make forms public (i.e., anyone with the URL can respond). Form creators can now limit response access to specific individuals or MCommunity groups, similar to how owners can restrict the sharing of their Drive files. Currently, this feature is limited to newly created forms and is not retroactive for existing forms. Learn more about publishing and sharing your form with responders.

View & Structure Forms Data as a Table, in Sheets

When you create a new Sheet using your Forms data, Sheets will automatically open the data as a table. If you open a pre-existing Sheet connected to a Form, there will be no change, and you will need to convert the data to a table by clicking Format > Convert to table

Drop-down Chips Can Have Multiple Selections, in Sheets

Previously, drop-downs could only have one value selected in Google Sheets. Sheets now allow for multiple selections within a drop-down. Learn more about inserting drop-down chips in Sheets.

Multi-Monitor Support for Slides

Multi-monitor support lets presenters see Presentation View components, such as speaker notes and the timer, on one display while displaying the Slides presentation on an external monitor. Learn more about presenting Slides with other monitors.

Picture-in-Picture Mode Opens Automatically When Switching Tabs

Picture-in-picture mode automatically triggers when you switch tabs during a Meet call. Previously, you had to manually turn on this feature during a meeting. Picture-in-picture mode is only available on a computer using the Google Chrome browser. Learn more about using picture-in-picture mode with Meet.

Pronouns in Meet

If you have set your pronouns in your U-M Google account settings with visibility set to “Anyone,” they will be displayed on your video tile during Meet calls. This update is available only when using Meet on the web. Learn more about setting your pronouns in U-M Google.

Automatic Framing & Updated Virtual Backgrounds in Meet

Access to the automatic framing feature has been expanded to include Education Fundamentals domains like U-M Google. With automatic framing, Meet will automatically center your video before joining a meeting to ensure equal visibility for all participants. Additionally, Meet will now continuously keep you centered when using a virtual background, ensuring your background is fixed and not constantly reframing. Learn more about turning video framing on or off in Meet.

December 2024:

Jamboard has Retired

The Jamboard Service has been retired as of December 31, 2024.  

August 2024:

Shared Drive Nested Limits

Now you can have up to 100 nested folders and a maximum of 500,000 items (files).  The previous limits were 20 folder levels and 400.00 items.  Learn more here. 

Auto Generated Drive Captions (Video Content)

Now, when you upload video content to Drive, captions will be automatically generated in English. Previously uploaded videos will require you to manually generate them, by right-clicking the video, and selecting File Information ➡️Manage Caption Tracks ➡️ Generate Automatic Captions.  Learn more here. 

Hovercard Preview

If you put your cursor over a file icon in Drive (on the web) - you will see a "hovercard" preview (thumbnail) of the file or image.  This preview includes limited relevant information like file owner, who recently edited the file, last modified date.  

Activity Page

Drive's Activity Page shows pending access requests and recent comments.  You can see recent file shares under the "Shared with Me" header.

Automatic Digest Emails

If you haven't been on Drive in 7 days, and have multiple unviewed shared files, Google will send you a reminder summarizing the files.  Learn more here. 

Voice Typing in Docs and Automatic Captioning in Slides

Support for voice typing and automatic captioning has been expanded to Edge and Safari browsers.  (Previously only available in Chrome).  Learn more about voice typing here and presenting with Slides with captions here. 

Import/Export Markdown in Docs

Expanded support for composing and exporting Markdown content in Docs.  Now you can:

• Convert Markdown to Docs content (on paste)

• Copy Docs content as Markdown

• Export a Doc as Markdown (File ➡️Download)

• Import Markdown as a Doc (File ➡️ Open)

Import and Export are on by default.  You may have to enable the Copy and Paste by changing the setting in Tools ➡️ Preferences ➡️ Enable Markdown.  Learn more here. 

Format/Organize Data in Sheets - with Tables

You can ow use Tables in Sheets! Select the data range and click Format ➡️ Convert to Table. Sheets will organize column types, filtersm color coding, drop down menus, and more.  You can also use the "group by" features based on a column.  You can customize the settings, columns colors, and more.  Learn more here. 

June/July 2024:

Keyboard Shortcuts

Starting in June 2024 - you may see the blue bar (in the background) when accessing Google Drive on the web.  Google is making updates to the keyboard shortcuts used in Drive to navigate, select, and edit files.