Google Cloud Next ’26 Announcements
Last week we saw the Google team make some major announcements at Google Cloud Next ‘26 in Las Vegas.
Underpinning all of these announcements is the introduction of Workspace Intelligence.
Workspace Intelligence delivers a secure, dynamic system that is able to understand the relationships within all of your Workspace apps, your active projects (more on that later), your collaborators and your organisation’s domain knowledge. Availability: Full rollout starting on April 22, 2026
Find out more about how to control Workspace Intelligence within the Admin Console.
Some of our favourite announcements from Google Cloud Next ‘26 in Las Vegas include:
Format matching in Google Docs with Gemini
Availability: Education Plus
Schedule: Gradual rollout starting on May 6, 2026
Update
You will soon be able to use Gemini to match the formatting from a template or source document including colours, fonts and even headings and table columns.
How could you use it?
This is a much requested feature that will allow you to match templates you may have like newsletters, lesson plans, policy documents and so much more.
Find out more about this feature update.
Gems in Workspace Studio
Availability: All Education editions
Schedule: Gradual rollout started on April 17, 2026
Update
Coming soon you will be able to add a Gem as a step in Workspace Studio. This will allow you to use your specialised AI agents for a specific task such as writing emails based on an Email Template Gem.
How could you use it?
This will work for any Gem that you have created in Gemini and opens up the possibility of using Workspace Studio to perform specific tasks like generating feedback on learning activities based on your school pedagogical policy!
💡Use Gemini to help you refine your Gem prompt to ensure it works exactly as you intend it!
Find out more about this feature update.
Custom-branded AI Avatars in Vids
Availability: Education Plus (until at least May 31, 2026) and AI Pro for Education
Schedule: Full rollout starting on May 6, 2026
Update
AI Avatars in Google Vids are getting some major changes, one of them being the ability to refine and brand according to your organisation’s style.
How could you use it?
Think of how you could use this to create videos using your schools logo and branding for topic introductions and explanatory videos.
Find out more about this feature update.
Drive Projects
Availability: AI Pro for Education
Schedule: Gradual rollout starting on May 6, 2026
Update
You will soon be able to dive deeper into your files with Ask Gemini in Drive. This new experience lets you ask questions and get detailed responses, all based on the content from your files in Drive, as well as Gmail, Calendar, and Chat. This will be great for brainstorming lesson ideas on your next unit of work based off of a curated list of resources in your Drive.
How could you use it?
The new Drive Projects feature allows you to save a curated list of sources, creating a project that you can easily reference later or share with colleagues. Since Projects maintain Drive’s inherent security and compliance controls, access to the project content is restricted to those who have access to the underlying documents. This feature is designed to enhance team collaboration, ensuring alignment on complex workflows such as budget processes or curriculum documentation.
Find out more about this feature update.
Gemini in Sheets
Availability: AI Pro for Education
Schedule: Gradual rollout starting on May 6, 2026
Update
A brand new feature called canvas is coming to Sheets which provides the ability to build spreadsheets using Gemini from a single prompt. This will allow you to generate graphical representations of your data from dashboards to kanban boards. Sheets canvas doesn’t just give you a static dashboard, it builds a fully interactive mini-app right on top of your data.
How could you use it?
This feature will allow you to generate data dashboards for things like school attendance and professional development feedback. You could even use it to create trackers or mapping for all of your curriculum documentation!
Find out more about this feature update.
Even more from Cloud Next
Find out about all the updates from Google Cloud Next ‘26 here.
Stay Curious!
📖 Learn on your own time – Head over to our online courses store to check out the different courses we have on offer from our Level 1 and 2 Google Certified Educator Courses to Intro to Gen AI or Google Classroom Masterclass to the Essentials with Docs, Sheets, Gmail and Slides.
🤝 Professional Development – Reach out to us to discuss how we can partner with your school to support your professional development journey.
📣 Events – Watch this space! The 2026 Summits will be announced soon. Follow us onLinkedIn or Instagramfor more information.
Learn with Deploy Learning & Google – Check out this link for our 2026 Google events https://dpln.au/google26
