G Suite gets some new updates today, bringing in additional smarts to the applications.
G Suite is a set of office tools in the cloud and it is becoming smarter with the new updates. Action items are getting upgraded, with new ways of assigning tasks to a colleague within a document.
G Suite Gets Updates
G Suite is what was earlier known as Google Applications for Work. It is getting some additional updates. There is no common theme for these updates, but they mainly focus on offering more support for the existing workflow in case of bigger companies. They also offer additional Google smarts for these apps.
Automatic Feature
The automatic feature is available for Docs on your desktop, whereas the manual assignment will work in Slides as well as Docs and Sheets on the PC as well as the mobile phone. It is useful for those working in companies where the work is assigned to a different person. For instance, if you type out that a particular person has to create one document with some details, Docs now automatically suggests the creation of action items and assigning it to the concerned person. It is also possible to create the action item manually as well. Once something is assigned to a parson, he or she receives the email.
Easier to See Items
It is no easier to view the action item that has been assigned to you and the documents that might need attention. All the applications in the G Suite offera file badge in case they have an item attached. There will also be badges on suggestions that have not yet been resolved, when suggestions are made to a person ‘s files.
Google Forms
There is an update here as well and it is now easier to use, thanks to the expertise of Google in machine learning. The update allows it to offer responses based on the query. If you type the query into the forms, you will get some suggested response. Users of Forms can also prompt a respondent to upload a file, but it works only if the form is shared in your domain.
Google and Slack
In case of companies that have moved over to Slack, there is more benefit, as Google and Slack are now a team. They have joined for integrating the productivity applications of Google into the Slack conversation. Users can click on the + button near message box on the Slack chatting window. The menu allows the user to create new documents and also import files from the Google Drive.
Smart Features
Google is racing ahead along with Microsoft to add some smart features connected with machine learning to productivity applications. For the past few years, both Microsoft as well as Google Docs has not been really exciting in any way. However, due to the advancements in artificial intelligence as well as advanced analytics, the stale categories of Docs seem to be getting more interesting.