Gmail users have likely noticed a logo change in the fall of 2020. But that’s not all that Google has been up to lately. There have been some significant changes and more to come further along in 2021.
Big Change #1 – The Name
Many people use the free Gmail service for their email. However, many others use Google’s email and productivity package, best known by the name of GSuite. GSuite has now rebranded to Google Workspace. Google’s biggest competitor is Microsoft 365, which has also had a bit of a makeover due to increased remote work and in-home learning due to the pandemic that hit in 2020.
Big Change #2 – Improvements
The name change to Google Workspace signifies the fact that its apps are now more interconnected and integrated with each other. The colors in each of the app’s logos are part of the same color scheme.
Google has continued to improve its video conferencing and communication tools to meet the demands of increased usage from schools using Google Classroom for in-home learning and remote workers communicating with their teams using these communication tools. Google Workspace will be available to education and non-profit customers as well.
Big Change #3 – Business Plus
For business customers, there will be a new Business Plus subscription where you can pay for premium security and compliance tools, in addition to the other great features that Google Workspace provides. Business Plus will come with more storage per user and allow up to 100 participants in meetings than the previous Business Standard subscription.
Big Change #4 – Google Storage
Google storage may be the most significant change that has caused a bit of a stir lately. Your Google account automatically came with 15 GB of free storage, shared among all Google apps, such as Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Docs. Google Photos users benefit from unlimited storage, so it did not use up the 15 GB of free storage. With the new changes, unlimited Google Photo Storage is coming to an end. This change will happen in June 2021. It’s important to note that with this change, Google Photo Storage users who continue to upload photos after June 1, 2021, will find that the photos will count against their free 15 GB of storage, along with all of the other Google apps. Any photos you were storing before June 1, 2021, will not count toward your storage. There are other photo storage options, such as Amazon Photo Storage for prime members, if you plan to stop using Google Photo Storage to save space.
There is also an option to purchase a Google One membership (where available). Google One plans start at $1.99 per month for 100 GB. Google says you may occasionally receive offers for free additional quota from special promotions or qualifying purchases.
Keep in mind what uses up your Google storage space. Not just photos, but Gmail messages and attachments, including your spam and trash folders. Perhaps this will help motivate us to achieve inbox zero! Google Drive is also a primary source of space usage if you have videos, images, and PDFs stored. If you go over your quota, this may impact your ability to send and receive emails in your Gmail account. You may not be able to upload new files to Google Drive or upload photos and videos to Google Photos.
Stay tuned to see what changes Google continues to bring us in 2021!