Preventing “unintentional data loss” is a big concern for companies, and Gmail is now adding an “External” badge on email conversations that include recipients outside your Google Workspace organization.
This badge appears on the subject line as a yellow/orange pill with black text before any labels. Hovering over explains how “Someone in this conversation is outside your organization.” It’s definitely visible thanks to the color, but you might miss it if the subject line is especially long.
The “External” label and the reply warning banner and label are helpful reminders for users to treat external messages with caution. This can help avoid unintentionally sharing confidential information with recipients outside of their organization.
It joins the warning banner that appears before responding to emails sent from outside your organization. Google has enabled it by default, but admins are able to turn it off entirely for their domain. Meanwhile, secondary and alias domains are exempted from being badged.
The External badge is rolling out now for Gmail on the web and Android, with the warning arriving on iOS at a later date.
Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers