Google Workspace update wants to get you to stop sharing files in Slack

Google probably has Slack in mind with one of the updates it released to Google Workspace users today.

In a blog post, the company announced a small number of updates to its Google Workspace product. While the number of updates was small, at least one of them could mean a lot for the way people share access to files, especially when they are in the middle of a meeting.

The first update is focused on Google Sheets and allows users to resize the pivot table editor side panel:

We’re excited to announce a requested feature that allows you to resize the pivot table editor side panel when creating or editing a pivot table. This functionality is especially useful when the names of columns or fields are too long and you want to see the text in its entirety.

The second update will use your recent search history in Gmail to make search better for the product on the web:

In July, we announced better search and suggestion options in Gmail. Now, when using Gmail on the web, this also includes better search results based on your recent search activity in Gmail. This enhancement to Gmail search makes results more relevant and contextual.

The last update is arguably the most significant. Now, when you are in a Google Meet meeting, you’ll be able to share a Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides file through Google Meet chat directly from your meeting. Even better, you’ll be able to quickly share (or not share) the file with meeting attendees.

Earlier this year, we announced the ability to join or present to a Google Meet call from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides. Now, if you are presenting or joining a meeting from a file, you can easily share that file with meeting attendees through in-meeting chat. With this update you’re able to grant access to a document, spreadsheet, or presentation to all or select meeting attendees, allowing everyone in the meeting to collaborate while having a conversation.

This could boost the Google Meet chat product’s adoption as the current way to share this is a little more cumbersome when working with something outside of Google Workspace like Slack. We’ll see if users actually take this convenience as a way to potentially switch from Slack to start using Google’s chat product in certain cases.