Google Inc. on Tuesday announced Cloud Search, formerly known as Springboard, which uses machine learning to search across the full range of G Suite products, including Drive, Gmail, Sites, Calendar, Docs and Contacts.

Google announced a preview of Springboard in June, following a name change, Google Cloud Search is now rolling out to G Suite Business and Enterprise editions. When you open the Cloud Search app you will see relevant information, included recently accessed files, meeting reminders, etc. sorted into cards, similar to Google Now, called “assist cards.”

In addition to using Google Cloud Search to find relevant work documents, you can also use the app to find out additional details about colleagues, including contact details or events and files that you have in common. When viewing the contact’s information, you can choose to send an email, make a call or start a Hangout directly from Cloud Search.

All of the G Suite file-sharing permissions currently in place remain when using Cloud Search. So you will only be able to find files that you have access to.

Here’s a look at how to get started with Google Cloud Search:

Get started with Cloud Search

Before you open Cloud Search, make sure you are signed into your G Suite account. You can access Cloud Search by going to cloudsearch.google.com on most computer and mobile device browsers.

If you have an Android device, you can download the Google Cloud Search app from the Play Store.

Note: If you are having issues, accessing Cloud Search, your G Suite administrator may have to enable it in the Google Admin console first.

Search for documents across your G Suite products

In the search box at the top of Google Cloud Search, enter your search query, like the  document name > use the down arrow to scroll through the list of suggestions > select the relevant result.

Tip: If you want to see results from the public web, click “Search web.”

When you search in Google Cloud Search it searches across all the G Suite products and the search results contain the following details:

• Title: The title of the document is displayed in blue. Click it to open the file.
• Icon: An icon displays the type of content, for example, an icon of an email, text document, presentation, etc.
• Short description: The description will contain bolded search terms.
• Privacy, date and owner: Additional details include the privacy settings for the document; the date reflects when the document was created or modified, an email was sent or when Groups posted; lastly it includes the owner or sender’s name.

Find contacts and start a conversation

In Google Cloud Search, enter the relevant person’s name in the search box. The profile card will display all available information for the person.

Once the profile card for the person is displayed, you can click “Reports to” to see the profile card of their manager.

To start a conversation with the person, click “Start a Hangout” or “Email.” If you are on a mobile device, you can tap the phone number to call the person.

Filter your search

You can filter your search by its content source, enter your search > select for example “Mail” or “Drive” to filter the results.

You can also filter the results further by using the search tools. Click Search tools (on the web) or tap More, then select Search tools (on a mobile browser) or tap Any time or Everything (on the Android app). In search tools, you can filter by time, ownership or file type.

Assist cards

Assist cards displayed on your Cloud Search homepage allows you to pick up on documents where you left off or see upcoming meeting cards.

Note: Cloud Search doesn’t currently support assist cards on mobile browsers.

Pick up where you left off card

To see your most recent documents, open Google Cloud Search > go to the section “Pick up where you left off card” > click “Show More” if there are more than three items > click or tap a card to open it in Drive.

Meeting cards

Open Google Cloud Search and select the relevant meeting card.

In the meeting card, you can email guests (email icon), join the video call (video icon), amend your response or edit the meeting in your calendar (“Show More” button).

To see a schedule of all your meetings for the day, open a meeting card > click “Show More” or tap “Today’s meetings” > you will see a timeline of your scheduled meetings for the day as well as any free time (60 minutes or more).

Customized suggestions

To get customized suggestions from Google Cloud Search you need to enable your account activity. In Cloud Search, select Menu > Settings > Account Activity > enable “Web & App Activity” > at the bottom of the page, select “Turn On.”

Source: Google

Images via Google