Google Docs will now confirm if someone you tag is out of office

Multi-user document collaboration is about to get a little bit more organized with work calendars, as the latest update to Google Docs for G Suite/Workspace subscribers is a warning if a coworker is out of office when tagged by a comment.

The update was confirmed in an official Google Workspace blog post and should really help prevent passive-aggressive emails probing why a coworker or colleague hasn’t seen an update or comment within Google Docs.

So when you attempt to tag someone in a collaborative Google Docs sheet/document, you’ll see a small pop-up section that includes any out-of-office information for that employee or teammate with any information on when they are set to return. If multiple people are set to be out of office, then you’ll simply see a condensed pop-up with detailed information available by clicking the “info” icon.

This is a change that we’re sure many people will wholeheartedly welcome, but it’s important to note that dates need to be marked in a shared Calendar. If coworkers are not marking a shared Google Calendar, then Docs won’t pull out-of-office information at all. We’re sure that this will help save some frustration for bigger projects that rely on large teams of people working concurrently within one document.

Expect to see the out-of-office prompts within Google Docs for rapid release domains from today, with a rollout occuring over the next 15 days. Scheduled release domains will begin seeing the option from February 15, 2021. That means it should be available globally by the start of March 2021.