Posted by Sumit Chatterjee, Program Manager

Simple to use enterprise applications can sometimes seem like a misnomer. While enterprise software has remained complex, consumer software has gravitated towards simplicity. For Google Apps administrators, we believe in providing an EMM solution that’s as simple to operate as changing your personal Gmail settings, all the while delivering enterprise-grade security.

We recently launched three new capabilities that make it easier for Apps admins to set up mobile management and define policies:

• Mobile Management can now be set up with one click 
  By simply clicking MANAGE NOW on the Admin console landing page, admins can set up Mobile Management with a predefined set of security policies:

• Android for Work can now be set up with one click
  No longer must admins complete fifteen steps spread across different pages in the admin console, cutting and pasting security tokens, to set up Android for Work. With a single click, admins can begin managing and whitelisting mobile apps (MAM) for their Android for Work devices in their domain:

• Device management settings are now easier to find and use
  With the continued evolution of our device management and application management capabilities, an ever-growing list of policy settings on a single page has become unwieldy for admins. Hence, we’ve redesigned the device management experience by logically categorizing all device policy settings, making them easier to find and use:

• Enterprise mobile devices can now be managed from anywhere, anytime
  With the latest version of Google Admin App, we now offer mobile device management capabilities at admins’ fingertips. Our admins don’t need to reach their desk to handle a device security breach. They can view the list of all managed devices and take remote actions like account wipe or even block user devices right from our Admin app anywhere, anytime:

As we continue to improve Google Mobile Management, our goal will always be to make it simple for admins to keep their employees productive while keeping work data secure on their mobile devices.

For the latest news and resources about Google Mobile Management, including launch announcements, product updates or user guides, please join our Admin community at Google for Work Connect.

Posted by Sumit Chatterjee, Program Manager, Google Apps Mobile Management

Working on the move has gotten pretty easy. With just your phone, you can set up your next meeting in Calendar, keep track of your expenses in Concur and follow up with a new client in Gmail. And as the IT admin, it’s now easier than ever to get your team up and running on their own devices with Google Apps Mobile Management. Starting today, with the new Device Policy app on iOS, employees can easily see which apps are company approved, install them, and keep getting things done. On Android, admins can already use the Device Policy app and Google Play for Work to manage devices and apps (MDM and MAM for alphabet soup lovers), while on iOS, admins can also already manage device policies like requiring passwords and removing company information with account wipe (MDM) directly from the Admin console.

As the admin, you can quickly whitelist any work app from the iOS device management section in the Admin console.

Because security has always been a top priority for Google, we're continuously working to stay ahead of those with bad intentions. But the latest security is only as good as the number of people who use it, and that’s why mobile management — including MDM and MAM — is simply a part of Google Apps for Work, so you can just start using it, nothing to buy. We spend a lot of time on those devices in our pocket, so take advantage of everything included with Google Apps for Work, and let us know what’s working and what could be better in the Google for Work Community.

Posted by Ganesh Shankar, Product Manager, Google Drive for Android

(Cross-posted on the Google Drive Blog.)

Google Drive makes it easy to keep your stuff safe and accessible from any device, but it doesn’t stop there. We want you to easily find and share your documents, photos, and PDFs with others. So, in addition to a Material Design facelift, the latest update for Android gives you new ways to add, locate, and share from Drive.

Improved Search
The search tool makes it even easier to find the content you’re looking for by providing updated results as you type each letter into the search box.

Better Sharing
Now, you can add a custom message when you share a file so your collaborators know why you sent it—for example, you can add a note asking for feedback. You can also turn on link sharing to make the file “public” and set access to view, comment, or edit. This automatically copies the link to the clipboard and allows you to paste it wherever you want.

Enhanced PDF Viewer
A new PDF viewer lets you find, select and copy text in PDFs, plus, it’s built right into Drive so you don’t need to launch another app.

Look for these updates to roll out over the next several days. If you don't have the Google Drive app, you can download it from Google Play.

Posted by Clayton Jones, Product Manager, Google for Work

Marvel and DC Comics, Star Wars and Star Trek, Emacs and VI—we all have our favorites. And then there’s iOS and Android, each with dedicated fans. Regardless of which you prefer, there’s no reason your device of choice should get in the way of your work.

 Alongside our Android device management solution, we’re introducing iOS Sync for Google Apps giving you and your company the increased security needed to protect your files, emails, documents and more on your favorite iOS phone or tablet. iOS Sync is integrated right into the Gmail and Google Drive apps for iOS, so you don’t have to take any action to download an additional app. And iOS Sync will support iOS 7, 8 and, of course, the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

 As part of iOS Sync, you’ll get the following additional security measures:

• Manage Google Apps: Set a policy that prompts employees to enroll their device when they log into Google Apps such as Google Drive and Gmail. 
• Configure WiFi networks: Distribute WiFi passwords and certificates to employees so they can easily connect to trusted networks. 
• Support for existing policies: Manage password requirements, data encryption and camera policies, as well as actions like remotely wiping a device, activation approvals and blocking devices. 

iOS Sync will be available for Google Apps for Work, Google Apps for Education and Google Apps for Government beginning next week. Administrators should go to the Admin console to enable these new functions.

Work from anywhere, safely on your favorite device while keeping your work information secure with Google’s mobile management tools.

Posted by Shinichi Abe, Enterprise Managing Director, Japan

Japanese companies are facing major challenges for long-term success. The rapid graying of society is shrinking the workforce, leaving only 62% of the population in the working age. Inflexible workplace practices prevent many women from returning to their careers after childbirth. The Japan Productivity Center ranks Japan lowest of the Group of Seven most advanced nations in productivity, despite some of the world’s longest work hours.

As pressure mounts on Japanese businesses to find new ways to be productive and to attract and retain top talent, we asked Deloitte to take a look at how mobile and digital tools might be able to help. According to their new report, Japan’s Mobile Potential, access to mobile devices for work and more flexible IT policies could help unlock almost 2 trillion yen for the Japanese economy and keep some of Japan’s most skilled people in the workforce. There are a number of additional findings from the report which may be useful for businesses including:

Japanese businesses are missing out on a massive mobile opportunity
Deloitte found that despite having one highest rates of smartphone use in the world — 75% of people between 18 and 49 own a personal smartphone — less than 9% use their smartphone for work. Of the same group, 20% of people own a tablet computer at home, but only 3% of these people have access to a tablet for their work tasks.

People want to work more flexibly with digital and mobile tools
71% of people said that they would be more productive if they had access to digital tools like smartphones, laptops and tablets for work, as it would enable them to work from home or while commuting.

Workplace IT has some catching up to do
Many people say that their home IT is better than what they’re given at work. They rate their home technology as more user friendly (51%), more up to date (45%) and said that their internet was faster (43%). Almost half of the respondents said that they are frustrated with their workplace IT, as their computers and internet speeds are too slow and their devices are outdated.

Employees with flexible workplace IT policies are more productive
Businesses that allow their employees to work from home or work remotely with digital tools said they are more productive. And none of the respondents with flexible workplace IT policies said they work overtime, while 31% of those without this approach said they regularly work overtime.

Mobile devices and flexible IT policies could unlock two trillion yen for the Japanese economy
Deloitte found that the Japanese economy could generate 2 trillion yen if businesses provided digital tools like smartphones, laptops and tablets to people who want to work, but don't have direct access to the tools they need to work from home or remotely. When you consider that they did not calculate the economic impact of giving people who are working access to digital tools and flexible workplace policies, this figure could be much higher.

You can learn more about Japan’s mobile potential from Deloitte’s report, and to find out how Google can help your company work flexibly with mobile tools visit the Google Enterprise website.

Posted by Simon Forsyth, Software Engineer, Gmail

(Cross-posted on the Gmail Blog.)

Important stuff doesn't always happen when you’re conveniently sitting at your desk. Maybe you're out to dinner when your boss tells you that she needs the latest project proposal ASAP, or your daughter calls you on your commute home to ask you to proofread her college essay (that’s of course due that night!). While we can't make your life more predictable, today's update to the Gmail iOS app, along with earlier updates to the Gmail Android app, makes it easier to get stuff done on-the-go.

Just like with Gmail on the web, you can now insert files from Google Drive directly into an email on your phone or tablet.

The apps will even tell you if your file isn’t shared with the person you’re sending it to so you can change the sharing settings before you send it. And to help you store all your files in a single place, if someone sends you an email attachment, you can save it directly to Drive with one tap.

On iOS, you can now also change your profile picture right from your Settings. So the next time you take that perfect selfie, you can make it your profile picture right away, all while out with friends. Lastly, if you have multiple Gmail accounts, you can choose which signed-in accounts you want visible in the app.

You can give these features a try by downloading the updated Gmail iOS app from the App Store, and if you’re using an Android phone or tablet, you can get the latest version of the Gmail Android app from the Google Play Store.

Posted by Clayton Jones, Product Manager, Google Enterprise

Bring your own device (BYOD) is no longer just a trend — it’s how business gets done. With thousands of mobile applications to choose from and an increasing number of websites optimized for mobile, today’s employees can work whenever and wherever they choose. It also means IT organizations now have the dual challenge of both helping employees be more productive and protecting corporate data.

We're adding new features to Google Apps Mobile Management for Android to help your organization meet these challenges head on:

1. Inactive account wipe: Set policies that will wipe an inactive account from a device if it has not been synced for a predetermined number of days, so a lost device that wasn’t reported or the old device left in a drawer does not cause a security risk.
2. Support for EAP-based WiFi Networks: Configure settings and distribute certificate authority (CA) based certs for EAP networks.
3. Compromised device detection: Set policies that will detect signals for common forms of a compromised device, such as “rooting” or installing a custom "ROM", and block that device.
4. Additional reporting fields: Access new reporting fields via the API and Admin console to better understand the devices that are in use and troubleshoot issues. Additional fields include: Serial number, IMEI, MEID, WiFi MAC address, baseband version, kernel version, build number, mobile operator/carrier, language settings, and account ownership/management.

To learn more about these mobile device management features visit our Help Center. You can also visit the Google Admin console at admin.google.com to enable this service to help you rest assured that your corporate data stays safe.

Posted by Brian Levee, Product Manager, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog.)

Every year, phones and tablets get better, and more of you are starting to use your mobile devices not just to view, but also to create and edit content. And while the Drive app is a convenient place to store your stuff, we want to make it easier for you to quickly find, edit and create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on the go. Starting today, you can download new, standalone mobile apps for Docs and Sheets—with Slides coming soon. Need to find a spreadsheet? Go to the Sheets app. Need to create a document? Go to the Docs app. They’re all right there at your fingertips.

When you open the new apps, you’ll see your most recently edited files, which means less time searching and scrolling.

The apps also come with offline support built in, so you can easily view, edit and create files without an Internet connection. Now, if you have a brilliant idea for a best-selling novel while traipsing through the Amazonian rainforest (or you know, something more probable, like during flight takeoff)...no problem. You can jot down your idea in the Docs app on your phone, even when you’re offline.

You can get the apps on Google Play [Docs] [Sheets] and in the App Store [Docs] [Sheets]. If you don’t have time now, over the next few days you’ll be prompted to download the apps when you go to edit or create a document or spreadsheet in your Drive app. And of course, you’ll still be able to use the Drive app to view and organize all of your documents, spreadsheets, presentations, photos and more.

So enjoy the Amazon—we’re looking forward to buying that novel someday. And in the meantime, just remember: even if a crocodile eats your phone, your files are safe in the cloud!

Posted by Aman Rathi, Product Manager, Google Apps

Last year we launched the Google Admin app for Android that enabled administrators to easily add users, reset passwords, see audit logs and contact support.

Today we’re launching the Google Admin app for iOS so admins can take care of common tasks on the go directly from their iPhones or iPads.

This app is designed for admins and requires API access to be enabled. Install the Google Admin app for iOS or Android. To learn more, visit the Help Center.

Posted by Muzammil Esmail, Product Manager, Google Apps

To make it easier for Google Apps administrators to manage their users, services and devices, we recently announced a redesigned Admin console. Two weeks ago, we made the new Admin SDK available to developers who want to build customized tools for organizations that use Google Apps.

Today we're launching the Google Admin app for Android devices. The Admin app makes it easy for admins to use their Android phone or tablet to accomplish the most common tasks—such as quickly adding or suspending users, resetting passwords, managing group memberships, and directly calling or emailing specific users.

This app is designed for admins and requires API access to be enabled. Install the Google Admin app from Google Play. To learn more or contact support, visit the Help Center.

Posted by Denis Teplyashin, Software Engineer, Google Drive

(Cross-posted on the Google Drive Blog.)

The process of creating and accessing your stuff shouldn’t be, well...a process. Today, the Drive app for Android is getting several improvements to make creating and accessing your stuff on-the-go even easier.

To help you find the content you care about, Drive files will now be displayed in a clean, simple card-style. You can swipe between files to see large previews that let you quickly review and discover the information you’re looking for. And if you want to keep some Drive files on your Android device, you’ll now be able to “download a copy” from the actions menu inside settings.

The updated Drive for Android app also gives you to a way to keep track of important paper documents like receipts, letters, and billing statements. Simply click “Scan” from the Add New menu, snap a photo of your document, and Drive will turn the document into a PDF that’s stored for safekeeping. And because Drive can recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, a simple search will retrieve the scanned document later. No more frantic scrambling through drawers looking for a receipt or digging through your pockets to find that business card -- just scan, upload and search in Drive.

The editing experience in Google Sheets has also gotten some improvements: now you can adjust font types and sizes for a spreadsheet and tweak the cell text colors and cell alignment right from the app. Plus, the Drive app comes with Cloud Print support so you can print anything from Drive with a Cloud Ready printer -- perfect if you need to, say, print a contract right before a meeting.

Get the Google Drive app today on Google Play. 

Posted by Jonathan Rochelle, Director of Product Management, Google Drive

Since the Quickoffice team joined Google a few months ago, we’ve been working to make it easier for you to work with your legacy Microsoft Office files -- both by converting them to Google documents and by editing them directly in Quickoffice.

Better conversion to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
You’ve always had the option to convert documents from popular formats into Google Docs, where you can share and work together in real-time. In the past few months, we’ve incorporated Quickoffice conversion technology into this process so your Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files look even better when you convert them to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, respectively.

Left: Old conversion of Excel to Google Sheets

Right: Improved conversion after integrating Quickoffice technology

Using Quickoffice to edit Office files on your iPad
Converting old files to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides is the easiest way to share and work together, but perhaps not everyone you work with has gone Google yet. To complement what you can do with Google documents, we’re also making it easier for you to make quick edits to Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files without conversion. Starting today, the Quickoffice iPad app is available for free to all Apps for Business customers, and iPhone and Android versions are on the way. With the app, you can open and edit any Office files you’ve stored in Google Drive right from your iPad.

Whether you’re converting Office files to Google documents or you just need to make a couple quick edits without converting, it should be easy to get work done whenever you need to, on any device. Stay tuned for more document conversion and mobile editing improvements in 2013.

Posted by Ellie Powers, Product Manager, Google Play

The Google Play Store is the place to find Android apps like the Google+ app, the Google Drive app and hundreds of thousands more. Today we’re expanding the Google Play Store for our Google Apps customers to help you distribute internal apps to your employees through the Google Play Private Channel.

Whether you’ve built a custom expense reporting app for employees or a conference room finder, the Google Play Private Channel is designed to make your organization’s internal apps quick and easy for employees to find. Once your company has loaded these internal apps using the Google Play Developer Console, users just need to log in with their company email address to browse the Private Channel and download apps.

These changes make it easier than ever to get the internal Android apps your company develops into employees’ hands. If you’re a Google Apps for Business, Education or Government customer you can learn more about how to create your organization’s own Google Play Private Channel in our Help Center.

Posted by Matthew Izatt, Product Manager, Gmail

(Cross-posted from Gmail blog.)

Six months ago, our team set out to completely rebuild the Gmail app for iPhone and iPad to give you you a faster, sleeker, and easier experience on iOS. The result? Version 2.0. With version 2.0 of the app, you'll get a totally new look and feel, plus a bunch of improvements like profile pictures in messages, numerous new animations from swivels to transitions and infinite scrolling in the message lists.


The app adds many new time-saving features like being able to RSVP to Google Calendar invites as well as +1 and comment on Google+ posts directly from the app.


Last, but certainly not least, we've added a feature many of you have been waiting for: multiple account support. You can now login to up to five Google Accounts from the menu and switch between them with a couple taps.


You can download the app right now from the App Store. We're excited to hear what you think!

Posted by Shrikant Shanbhag, Software Engineer

(Cross-posted on the Drive Blog.)

With the holidays fast approaching, life speeds up and work can’t always wait.

While on the move, you can now edit Google Sheets on your mobile device, just like you can with Google Docs. From the Drive app on your iPhone, iPad or Android device, you can create a new spreadsheet or edit an existing one. You can switch fonts, resize columns, sort data, and more. And just like on your computer, you’ll be able to see other people’s edits instantly as they’re made.

Beyond spreadsheets, you may notice a few other tweaks to the Drive app, including better text formatting when you copy and paste in a Google document. And if you’re using an Android device, you can now edit text within tables in documents and add a shortcut on the homescreen of your device to any specific file in Drive.

Whether it’s 2013 budget planning or your company’s holiday gift list, the Drive app on your mobile device makes it easy to get things done wherever you are.

Get the Google Drive app today from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Posted by Hong Zhang, Google Apps Enterprise Mobile

People are using phones and tablets more than ever before to get work done from anywhere – in the field, at home or while traveling. Along with this increase in flexibility and productivity come new challenges for businesses managing all of these mobile devices. We launched tools to manage mobile devices across all mobile platforms for Google Apps last year, and since then we’ve been hard at work adding a number of new capabilities to help organizations better manage smartphones and tablets.

Some of our newest features are focused on helping administrators enforce tighter security using mobile settings in the Apps control panel to keep company data safe. We now offer administrators more ways to promote strong passwords on users’ phones and tablets and allow policies that enforce data encryption. New features also let administrators set policies to allow or block the use of the phone’s camera on Android 4.0+ devices and comply with organizational email retention policies. And now administrators can enforce these policies where available without disabling phones running older versions of Android that don’t support all the latest policies.

Through the Google Apps Device Policy app, administrators have the ability to remotely erase data from lost or stolen devices. Now we’re extending this capability so that IT admins can grant end users the ability to remotely delete data from their phone as soon as they notice it’s missing using the My Devices page.

As employees increasingly depend on their phones and tablets we’ll continue to work on making it easier and more secure for organizations to manage their fleet of devices. You can watch this video or visit our Help Center for a detailed look at how our enterprise mobile offerings can benefit your business.

Posted by Clay Bavor, Product Management Director

(Cross-posted on the Google Docs Blog.)

In April, we introduced Google Drive, a place where you can create, share, and keep all your stuff. Today at the Google I/O conference we announced two new ways to get things done in the cloud: offline editing for Google documents and a Drive app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Offline document editing 
No internet connection? No big deal. With offline editing, you can create and edit Google documents and leave comments. Any changes you make will be automatically synced when you get back online.

You can enable offline editing from the gear icon in Google Drive and find more detailed instructions for getting set up in the Help Center. Note that you’ll need the latest versions of Chrome or ChromeOS to edit offline. We’re also working hard to make offline editing for spreadsheets and presentations available in the future.

Google Drive for iOS 
We launched the Drive app for Android phones and tablets a few weeks ago, and starting today, Google Drive is available for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

With the Drive app, you can open PDFs, photos, videos, documents and anything else stored in your Drive while you're on the go. You can also search all your files, add collaborators to documents, and make files available offline to view them even without an internet connection. For blind and low-vision users, the app also works great in VoiceOver mode. Learn more about what you can do with the app in our Help Center.

Get Drive in the App Store for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5.0+ and visit the Play Store to get the latest on your Android phone or tablet.

To learn more about Google Drive, visit drive.google.com/start.

Posted by Marcus Benedetti, President and CEO, Clover Stornetta Farms

Editors note: Clover Stornetta Farms is a family-owned and operated dairy processor that distributes a wide range of dairy products consumed by millions of families throughout the western United States under the Clover Stornetta and Clover Organic Farms brands.

Since the 1970’s, we’ve worked hard to do right by our customers and the environment, reducing our water consumption by 10 million gallons a year, converting our sales fleet to Hybrid vehicles, and always sourcing our milk from local farmers committed to the sustainability of their land, welfare of their cows and producing the highest quality milk pool in the country. These are the things we care about. So, when our IT infrastructure began to limit our ability to work together as we grew, we knew we had to find a new solution that allowed us to focus on making great dairy products, not running a complex IT system.

Google Apps provides us with a platform that can help the Clover business grow without a heavy investment from our IT team. The move to Google Apps went very smoothly and our IT team now spends 25% less time supporting email than they did with our old infrastructure.

We’ve always been very team-oriented, and Google Apps has made it easier for us to work even more closely and collaboratively. Since Google Apps is delivered via the cloud, our employees love that they can access their email, calendar and files from any computer or mobile device. Instead of waiting until we can meet face-to-face, we save time by working together in Google Docs and video chatting in Gmail. Google Apps has been a huge time saver.

The dairy industry is very traditional, but that doesn’t mean our IT has to be. We love that Google is constantly innovating and we can benefit from the new features and products available to us. With Google Apps, we know that we can continue to work together and communicate as if we’re a small company, even as we grow.

Posted by Vadim Gerasimov, Software Engineer

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog, the Google Docs Blog, and the Google Mobile Blog.)

As I was sitting on the ferry commuting to Google’s Sydney office this morning, two thoughts occurred to me. First, Australia is beautiful. If you’ve never been here, you really should visit. And second, it’s amazing how productive I can be with just my Android phone and an Internet connection. I was responding to email, reading news articles, and editing documents—just like I do at the office. Only the view was better!

We want to give everyone the chance to be productive no matter where they are, so today we’re releasing a new update to the Google Docs app for Android. We've brought the collaborative experience from Google Docs on the desktop to your Android device. You'll see updates in real time as others type on their computers, tablets and phones, and you can just tap the document to join in.

We also updated the interface to make it easier to work with your documents on the go. For example, you can pinch to zoom and focus on a specific paragraph or see the whole document at a glance. We also added rich text formatting so you can do things like create a quick bullet list, add color to your documents, or just bold something important. Watch the new Google Docs app in action:




If you want to hear about the latest Docs news or send us feedback on the new app, visit Google Docs on Google+.

Gotta run—I’ve got another ferry to catch!

Posted by Hong Zhang, Software Engineer

These days it’s commonplace for employees to bring personal mobile devices to work, expecting to get all kinds of business done on-the-go, and this can be both a blessing and a challenge to IT managers. The importance of keeping mobile devices and data secure is as essential as ever.

Starting today, comprehensive mobile device management is available at no extra charge to Google Apps for Business, Government and Education users. Organizations large and small can manage Android, iOS and Windows Mobile devices right from the Google Apps control panel, with no special hardware or software to manage.

In addition to our existing mobile management capabilities, IT administrators can now see a holistic overview of all mobile devices that are syncing with Google Apps, and revoke access to individual devices as needed.

Organizations can also now define mobile policies such as password requirements and roaming sync preferences on a granular basis by user group.

Also available today, administrators have the ability to gain insights into mobile productivity within their organizations, complete with trends and analytics.

Finally, we’re also updating the Google Apps Device Policy app for Android. The new version provides users with more transparency about information available to administrators, and includes support for Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. These new mobile management features will roll out for customers using the Next Generation Release version of the control panel starting today, and will be coming to the Current Release version in a matter of weeks. We invite you to explore our help center for more details.