This article is written for G Suite for Education (GSFE) Admins. Note Safe Doc configuration is not supported for personal gmail accounts.
Out of box, Safe Doc eliminates all kids-inappropriate features in GSFE,
- the image searching feature
- the video searching feature
- the Explore feature
- the Dictionary feature
But every chef has their own taste. With that in mind, Safe Doc supports policy configurations to customize which G Suite features to block. To get a better understanding how policy works, take a look at Google's how-to Configuring Apps and Extensions by Policy.
Policy Configuration Format
As you just discovered from the Google article, the policy formats depend on the platform. I only explain the format for Chrome OS because students commonly use Chromebooks in school.
In a nutshell, the configuration is a human-readable JSON file. A sample policy for Safe Doc is like
{
"SafeDocLicenseKey": {
"Value": "12345678-9012-3456-7890-1234567890"
},
"EnableExplore": {
"Value": true
},
"EnableDictionary": {
"Value": false
},
"EnableVideoSearch": {
"Value": true
},
"EnableImageSearch": {
"Value": false
},
"BlockAddVideo": {
"Value": false
},
"BlockEmojis": {
"Value": ["🖕"]
}
}The definition of each policy can be found in Safe Doc Policy List below.
Editing a policy value is simple. Check the data type of the policy. If it's a Boolean, the value is either true or false. If it's a String, the value is a text like "this is a text", If it's a number, type a number. If it's an array, then the value is like ["a", "b", "c"].
But be ware of typos, an excess comma or missing curly bracket will invalidate the policy configuration.
Apply New Policy Configuration
First of all, test your policy configuration in an isolated Organizational Unit (OU) to see if the user experience is what you wanted.
When you're ready to deploy the policy configuration, follow these steps
- Log into Admin Console.
- Go to Devices > Chrome management > Apps & extensions.
- Select your student OU with Safe Doc installed.
- Click Safe Doc app.
- In this Policy for extensions of right panel, copy and paste your tested policy configuration.
- If everything is correct, click Save to take effect. Then Safe Doc in your students' Chromebooks will be automatically reconfigured.
Safe Doc Policy List
SafeDocLicenseKey
| Description | The license key used to activate Safe Doc. With a valid license key, the Safe Doc extension will display the icon in GREEN. Otherwise, it's displayed in GREY. If not set or incorrect, the extension does not function. |
| Data type | String |
EnableExplore
| Description | Block the Explore feature in Docs and Slides. The Explore feature can be activated from the floating widget on the bottom right of app, context menu or app menu. If not set or false, the Explore feature is blocked. |
| Data type | Boolean |
| Default | false |
EnableDictionary
| Description | Block the Dictionary feature in Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and Drawing. The Dictionary feature can be activated from right-click context menu or app menu. If not set or false, the Dictionary feature is blocked. |
| Data type | Boolean |
| Default | false |
EnableVideoSearch
| Description | Block the YouTube Video Search feature in Slides, Forms and Classroom. The YouTube video search feature can be activated from app menu in Slides or side app bar in Forms or comment bar in Classroom. If not set or false, this feature is blocked. |
| Data type | Boolean |
| Default | false |
EnableImageSearch
| Description | Block the Google Image Search feature in Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and Drawings. The Google Image Search feature can be activated from app menu Insert > Image > Search the web, toolbar, context menu or side app bar in Forms. If not set or false, this feature is blocked. |
| Data type | Boolean |
| Default | false |
BlockAddVideo
| Description | Block the Adding Video feature in Slides, Forms and Classroom. This is a more aggressive policy than EnableVideoSearch. It completely removes the Add video option from Slides, Forms and Classroom. The Slides Insert > Video will be removed. The video buttons in Forms and Classroom will removed. If this policy is set to true, the Adding Video feature is blocked. |
| Data type | Boolean |
| Default | false |
BlockEmojis
| Description | Block certain insulting emojis in Gmail. Gmail has a feature to allow students to select emoji symbols when composing an email. This policy allows you to configure which emoji symbol should be blocked. This policy is supplied with a list of strings. If this policy is not set, the default array will be used, ["🖕"]. If this policy is empty [], no emojis are blocked. If this policy includes an *, the emoji feature is disabled. |
| Data type | List of Strings |
| Default | ["🖕"] |
| Examples | Block middle finger, grinning face, smiling face with sunglasses emojis. ["🖕", "😀", "😎"] Block the emoji feature. ["*"] No block. [] |
Takeaway
Customization is an important aspect of software. Luckily Google provided this option to remote configure the behavior of Safe Doc. If you're not satisfied or encountered issues with the configurations, please leave a comment, email us at support@xfanatical.com or ask on our support community.
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