Get Docs mentions only from the people you want
Everybody knows about spam in email, or over text messages, but unwanted content in Google Workspace is one of those things that you’re not really aware of until it happens to you. With Google Drive’s open sharing and collaboration system, spammers have used it to wreak havoc and send unwanted files and folders to strangers — which you definitely shouldn’t open. Earlier this year, Google rolled out the ability to block people in Drive in response to this growing issue. Now Google’s extending a similar sort of block to mentions and comments in Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
When a blocked user tries to mention you or interact with you in a Google Docs file, you won’t receive a notification. This applies to both comments and action items. The way the announcement post describes it, users will still be able to actually try and mention someone when they’re blocked, but that person won’t receive any annoying pings about it.
It’s a small change, but one that should help cut down on unwanted distractions. Unlike Drive’s blocking, these blocks don’t sound like they were made with spammers in mind — both users need to be collaborators in the same document in order for an interaction to even be able to happen. Still, it’s good to see Google giving us more control whenever it does. Some restrictions apply — users within the same Workspace cannot block each other, and neither can users in trusted domains.
Other than that, the feature is available for all Google Workspace and G Suite users, as well as personal accounts. The change started to roll out on November 9th, and will take a couple of weeks before it’s live for everyone.
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