Google Adds Gmail Live, Docs Live and 63-Language Translation to Workspace

Google has announced several Workspace updates, bringing new features and changes to Docs, Drive, Gmail, Meet, Sheets, and Vids. The October update adds Markdown editing to Docs and Drive, along with voice-based tools in Gmail and Docs that let users find information or create drafts by speaking. Google Meet is also getting real-time speech translation across 63 languages. Other changes include faster data migration from Microsoft 365, new AI features in Sheets and improved video generation in Vids. The updates are rolling out to Workspace users.

Google Workspace Adds Markdown Editing, Voice Features and Live Translation

Google Docs and Drive can now open and edit Markdown (.md) files directly, so users don't have to convert them first, the company revealed in a blog post. Docs also lets people add comments and track changes through version history. In Drive, Markdown files appear with formatting intact, including tables and links, rather than as blocks of raw text. This could come in handy for teams that regularly work with technical documents or AI prompts.

Google is also bringing voice features to Gmail and Docs. Gmail Live lets users talk to their inbox and look up things buried in emails, such as meeting details or project updates. Docs Live takes a similar approach. Users can speak their ideas and turn them into drafts, whether that's a project brief or an executive summary. It can also pull relevant information from their emails, chats and Drive files using Workspace Intelligence.

Google Meet is getting live speech translation for 63 languages. It can translate what people say and display captions in each participant's preferred language during one-to-one and group calls. People can turn it on individually, so everyone in the meeting doesn't need to use it. Meet's Quick notes feature is changing, too. It will now give users a one-page rundown of the main decisions and next steps, alongside the full meeting notes and transcript.

For organisations moving from Microsoft 365 to Workspace, Google says its updated migration tools can make the process up to five times faster, at no extra cost. They can move Teams messages and attachments to Google Chat, transfer OneDrive files and folder structures to Drive, and bring SharePoint Online libraries into shared drives. Google has also made some changes to Office file editing in Gmail, Docs and Sheets. These include cross-references in Docs and improvements to charts and pivot tables in Sheets.

In Sheets, Fill with Gemini and the AI function can now cite web sources and handle up to 3,000 cells in a single request. Google Vids, meanwhile, is getting AI video generation through Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash. Users can make longer clips, set their duration and upscale videos to 1080p.