Google Makes Docs Add-Ons More Enterprise-Friendly

Google is making it easier for Google Docs add-on developers to get their services into enterprise organizations and for IT admins to manage them.

About a year ago, Google launched an add-ons program for its Docs and Sheets productivity apps Support for Forms followed last October, though there still aren’t any add-ons for Slide, Google’s presentation app. For the most part, though, end-users had to install these add-ons one-by-one, and IT admins didn’t get a lot of control over the process (though they could always disable this feature across their domains).

Starting now, developers will have the option to make their add-ons available across entire domains. This, the company argues, will make it easier for potential customers to find them, but maybe more importantly, it also means that admins can now easily install an add-on for the whole organization.

They can also now block add-on installs across their domains and only allow users to install a set of IT-approved ones from the Apps Marketplace. This gives IT more granular control over how add-ons can be used in their organizations (though they don’t get separate settings for the different tools inside of Google Docs, so you can’t allow them in Docs and disallow them in Forms).

Google never made a lot of noise around Docs add-ons and the Apps Marketplace is in dire need of a redesign. Today’s update, however, will make this feature more attractive to larger organizations and, in turn, help attract more developers.