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Google Workspace is rolling out an update for its word processor that will give workers a new way to parcel out tasks to collaborators.
In a blog post (opens in new tab), the company outlined how Google Docs users can now manually assign checklist items to themselves or other colleagues. These tasks will then appear in each individual’s Google Tasks dashboard.
“When edits are made to an assigned item in Tasks, such as a change to the title, due date or completion state, those updates will show in the Doc, and vice versa,” Google explained.
Upgrading Google Workspace
The latest Google Docs update might not be ground-breaking, but it does represent the continuation of a series of improvements designed to create new interactions between apps housed within Google Workspace.
Although a recent survey commissioned by TechRadar Pro made clear that Workspace still plays second fiddle to Microsoft 365 in the office software space, with just 15% market share, the functionality gap between the two has closed rapidly.
At the start of the pandemic, Google also rebranded its productivity suite from G Suite to Workspace, signalling an increase in investment as remote working began to take hold. As part of this process, the company pledged to create a more “deeply integrated user experience”..
Since then, Google has rolled out hundreds of upgrades in an attempt to deliver on this objective and further fine-tune its services for the post-pandemic working environment.
Recent examples include the integration of Meet into Docs, Sheets and Slides, allowing workers to quickly spin up a video meeting when collaborating on a project, and the addition of new AI functionality to cloud storage service Drive that helps surface the most important files on a per user basis.
The latest Google Docs upgrade, small as it may be, will at least contribute to the overall sense of a more tightly integrated user experience, one that relies less on hopping between isolated applications.
The functionality will be available to all business users by the middle of next month, but will not be extended to personal account holders.