Google Apps highlights – 5/7/2010

This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label “Google Apps highlights" and subscribe to the series. - Ed.

We've been busy over the last few weeks with improvements to make Google Apps more useful, whether you use Google Apps at work, at school or at home.

Improvements to comments in Buzz
We’ve been making continuous improvements to Buzz, including a few changes to comments over recent weeks. We added new options so you can have comments delivered directly to your inbox for conversations that you’re interested in. You can also comment back by replying to the message in your inbox. Also new, when a conversation you started has run its course, “Close comments” will prevent people from adding new comments.


Copy sheets from one spreadsheet to another
We’re continuing to improve on the new documents and spreadsheets editors that we introduced a few weeks ago. On Wednesday we launched the ability to copy sheets across spreadsheets when you don’t want to duplicate an entire spreadsheet. Just click the “Copy to...” option in the sheet options menu.


More Google applications coming for Google Apps customers
Yesterday we shared the news that many more Google applications are coming later this year to businesses, schools and organizations using Google Apps. Coworkers will be able to publish their organization’s blog on Blogger, share project images with Picasa Web Albums, track industry news in Google Reader, advertise online with AdWords and much more, all without switching back and forth between multiple accounts. Read the details on the Google Enterprise Blog.


Administrative reset of end-user sign-in cookies
Google Apps customers also now have the ability to reset sign-in cookies for an end-user from the administrative control panel to help prevent unauthorized access to Google Apps. This security feature can come in handy when a user loses a laptop or mobile phone. That user’s active Google Apps browser sessions are immediately signed out, and will require new authentication with the user’s username and password.


Who’s gone Google?
Tens of thousands of businesses, schools and organizations have started using Google Apps since our last update, including Morehouse College, Kenyon College, Shenandoah University and the University of Rhode Island.

LiquidConcrete, an industrial materials firm in Seattle, also shared a great story about going Google. Not only do they use Gmail, Google Docs and Google Calendar, they also rely on Smartsheet — available from the Apps Marketplace — for project management. Now they’re able to track their inventory, manage the order-to-ship process and much more in the cloud, for a fraction of the cost of alternative solutions.

I hope you're making the most of these new features, whether you're using Google Apps with friends, family, coworkers or classmates. For more details and updates from the Apps team, head on over to the Google Apps Blog.

Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager