Thursday, February 26, 2015

Google Docs editors URL format change

Posted: 26 Feb 2015 10:35 AM PST
To help people use the Google Docs editors when signed in to multiple accounts in an upcoming release, we are changing the structure of Docs editor URLs to no longer use the format /a/DOMAIN for Google Apps customers and to instead use a format containing /u/.

All current URLs will continue to work after this change. If you click on an old URL, you will be redirected to the new structure that removes /a/DOMAIN without having to do any additional work. Note that users may still see /a/DOMAIN included in Docs editor URLs for an approximately one week-long transition period after this launch.

Why are we making this change?
Currently, when people are signed-in to multiple Google accounts and open a Docs editor file, they may be asked to select which account to use to open the file. After this change, the Docs editors will be able to select which account to use automatically by examining all logged in account sessions and choosing the first one with view access (prioritizing accounts in the same domain as the document owner) without people needing to specify.

In the future, the change will also enable us to lift the one account per domain restriction currently imposed while using the Docs editors.

Impact
We vetted this change with trusted Apps customers and partners and do not anticipate any disruptions as a result. However, to mitigate any unforeseen impact on Apps customer and partner systems and processes, we are announcing this change four weeks in advance to allow for any necessary adjustments.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release coming in 4 weeks

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