Google’s Newest - The Smart Canvas

During the recently held Google I/O keynote, there were several updates and innovations announced by Google. One of them was a smarter workspace for all kinds of users. This is a specially useful upgrade, in the current work from home scenario. They call it the ‘Smart Canvas’. After launching Google Docs and Sheets in 2006, Google has almost 15 years of workspace experience, Now its goal is to make the experience much better for everyone.

Source: Google

Introduced by Google’s Javier Soltero, the update is basically built on Google Documents which allows people to connect using building blocks, making them interact with each other on projects and work easily. Somewhat similar to Coda, it uses pre-existing templates(you can also customize your own) to tell people in detail what exactly they need to do.

Javier explained with the example of a distributive team using Smart Canvas to plan an important Marketing campaign. The simplified steps to use this workspace include starting a Document and adding a brainstorm template. You can add people to the document and generate a checklist to assign different action tasks to these people. This connects the team's plan to the people, dates and tasks, making their collaboration instantaneous, interactive and more efficient.

Source: Google

The principle that the Smart Canvas works on is that by using responsive tables to assign tasks to people, the team can use custom views to work on documents together in real-time. They can add people or attach files directly to the document. This converts the document into an interactive, up-to-date actionable plan in which the team can stay connected every step of the plan.

New Assisted Writing Capabilities in Google workspace including Language suggestions help the team to monitor errors and remain on the track to success. It also integrates voices and faces of people with the function to add a Google meeting directly into the document (Docs, Sheets and Slides) with just one click. The team can also use the feature of responsive voting to see which ideas are more popular.

In addition to this workspace, Google meet will also undergo some updates. Firstly, introduction of companion mode in Google meet will give each participant their own video tile. They can stay connected easily and everyone can participate in chats and polls in real time.

Source: Google

Noise cancellation feature will allow everyone to be heard equally. Along with that, with the help of Machine learning, camera zooms and lighting are automatically adjusted. You can customize views, share content easily and the team can focus on important things.

During presentations, you can arrange everyone’s faces around to check their reaction. Along with that, all participants can easily follow your presentation with the help of live captions and even language translations.

The best part of this update is that this workspace is not limited to customers of the enterprise version, but is available to everyone, whether they are college students, small businesses, family and friends or anyone else. Google expects that these features will roll out by the end of this year, and with these features, workspaces experience for everyone will improve tremendously.

To see the article for the entire keynote, click here.