From classrooms to office board meetings, Google Workspace helps over three billion users worldwide draft documents, create charts, and prepare presentations. It's convenient, with easier accessibility across devices, unlike Microsoft suites. It is also much more cost-effective, with many in-app options that small business owners can tailor to their needs.
With the new Google Workspace update, all of this just got better for small businesses. As a start, Google announced a crucial change hitting Sheets, Slides, and Docs (taking effect from March 1 to March 4, 2024, according to the Google Workspace release calendar).
For many business owners, it's a long-awaited change. Here's how it might revolutionize the workspace's user interface.
Before the Google Workspace Update For Businesses
People widely revere Google Workspace for its simple, collaboration-friendly platform that allows anyone with the same link to write in and edit a page simultaneously. Still, sometimes, things get a little messy. For example, your business could have dozens of individuals commenting on the document, causing sidebar popups to overtake the interface and complicate navigation.
Are you a writer trying to tackle a sea of suggestions? How can you determine where to implement changes and remove those you've already made? With the Google Workspace update, this will soon be a thing of the past.
What Your Small Business Should Expect With This Latest Update to Google Workspace
One of the most notable improvements to the workspace is the new and improved sidebar opening up when you hit the "comments" button. In most Google Drive applications, including Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, you'll now have several options for viewing information.
All Comments
If you click "All Comments," you can see every comment like before. Now, though, you can also collapse the sidebar for a much cleaner interface. Upon doing so, circular icons pop up with each editor's profile picture, and you can hover above the icons to read each comment.
All the feedback is still at your fingertips but not in your face. Your employees may focus better this way, especially if they aren't tackling feedback at that moment.
For You
Are the document's editors not directing all the comments toward you? Then, it's unnecessary to view them. Click on the "For You" section and only view the notes editors tag you in!
Like the "All Comments" section, you can collapse this, too. That way, the only popups should be ones mentioning you specifically.
These seem like minor updates, but they could be monumental for daily collaborators.
Other Recent Updates From Google For Business Users
This update follows Google's recent "@ button" tool update from October 2023 that utilizes smart chip technology—hit "Enter" in a Google Doc and watch it automatically suggest an @ symbol to insert an email address, calendar event, and more.
In other news, the upcoming update promises ease of use without admin console control.
