Grok Bot 0.68.1: Slide Decks, Fixes, and the Changelog Blackout Ends

James Turner

Last time, I left you with a mystery. Desktop clients had quietly updated to 0.68.1, but the official changelog feed was stuck on 0.66.0, dated October 2nd. Nobody could say what changed in 0.67.0, 0.68.0, or 0.68.1, and that was in the middle of the cloud computer outages and the reset trap. Well, the blackout is over. The official SpaceXAI changelog now lists all three releases, and that feed is the one to trust. The community tracker at getgrokbot.com hasn't updated since August 31st.

James Turner

This is Grok Bot Release Notes, brought to you by Jellypod AI, the easiest platform to create AI podcasts and generative videos. Let's go through the three releases in order, because the story builds.

James Turner

Version 0.67.0 shipped October 2nd. It's mostly polish, but one change is easy to notice. Marketplace is now called Connect Apps. It has category chips under the search box, a Recommended for you section up top, and Bot templates on the web. While a Bot works, its status now reads things like Thinking it through or Working on your computer, without the Bot's name stuck in front.

James Turner

The approval cards got more honest too. They now show when your Ask first rule paused an action, or when Always allow added a rule, with an Edit rule button that takes you to Settings. Connected Google accounts show their actual email address instead of the word default. On Windows, hardware acceleration is now on by default, matching Mac, and if you'd already made a choice, it's kept.

James Turner

The fixes in 0.67.0 matter if you've been fighting updates. Connecting an app now finishes even when another app is using its sign in port. And Stop in Settings stops every running chat, so the Update button actually unlocks. If an update ever felt stuck behind a busy Bot, that's the one. Small ones too: Logitech mouse Back and Forward buttons now work on Mac, and the sidebar avatars no longer freeze with one eye bigger than the other.

James Turner

Then 0.68.0 landed October 5th, titled New languages and computer removal. Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Swahili, and Hausa join the Language options in Settings. But the line I care about is in Settings, under Computer. It now shows Remove for your other computers, and a removed computer tells you to restart Grok Bot to add it back.

James Turner

Remember the reset trap from last episode? The official notes don't connect those dots, so this part is my interpretation. But if you have a secondary computer in a bad state, Remove is a cleaner path than hammering reset and hoping. Remove it, restart Grok Bot, and add it back.

James Turner

A few more from 0.68.0. Approval cards now ask whether to allow the Bot by name and quote its instruction, and saved rules are called Custom Rules. You can right click a routine in the details pane for Pause, Resume, Test, Edit, and Delete. Opening the computer full screen shows the live view right away, with no second Connecting screen. And email drafts can go out from a verified Gmail send as address, with a From picker if you have more than one.

James Turner

The fixes there are the ones people feel. Copying or saving a large image, or opening a large JSON or Markdown file, no longer freezes the app. Switching chats no longer flashes an empty transcript. Copied replies keep their line breaks and link URLs when you paste them into email or Slack. And Gmail draft cards include your signature, logo included.

James Turner

Now the headliner. Version 0.68.1 shipped October 7th, called Slide decks and Bot colored chats. First, slide decks. Bots can build them with you, showing sample slides to choose from, then deliver them as PowerPoint files or Google Slides. That lines up with Grok 4.7, which was described as trained on the Grok Bot harness with document and presentation work in mind. That link is my read, not something the changelog states, but the timing fits.

James Turner

Email got an upgrade too. Bots can send formatted emails from a draft card, so recipients see headings, bold text, and lists. Bots can also search your Gmail Spam folder and move a message back to your inbox. If a client reply got buried, you can just ask.

James Turner

Here's the cosmetic one. In a 1:1 Bot chat, your messages take that Bot's color. If you run several Bots and it gets visually noisy, set Accent to Black in Settings, under General. It requires Grok Bot 0.64.0 or later. Also, typing slash in the composer no longer opens the menu of skills and actions. If you type file paths or shell commands, that's one less accidental popup.

James Turner

The Bot's computer got a real upgrade. The screen is now 1920 by 1200, up from 1280 by 800. That's one and a half times wider and taller, so more than double the pixels, which gives you more room when you watch or take over. The notes say actions settle sooner, screenshots come back quicker, and new windows skip a five second wait.

James Turner

And the fixes speak directly to last episode's instability. The Bot's browser recovers from a crashed tab, handles large uploads, and gives up on a stuck page after 25 seconds. Stop, or sending a new message, ends a Bot that's stuck on an unresponsive step within about 30 seconds. If the app's window crashes, Grok Bot reloads it instead of leaving it blank. When X or Vercel needs you to sign in again, you get a reconnect card instead of endless retries.

James Turner

Gmail fixes are worth a note. Send and reply no longer report a missing tool, and Bots wait out Google's rate limits. A Send cut off by Stop still goes out, and attachments keep their file names. Checkout card fields get a Secure Form instead of a screen handoff. For Teams, Team Bots can mention a Slack user group so its members get notified, while @here and @channel still don't ping anyone, and they stay quiet on untagged replies like emoji only ones.

James Turner

So how do you use this? The official docs say the best Bot roles own a repeatable outcome. Take Sales Outbound. Have a Bot research accounts, draft formatted outreach, and prepare a starter deck, all stopping at a review list. The docs' own example says do not send or enroll anyone. Keep that boundary. Review the deck, then approve.

James Turner

For Bug Reproduction, the docs describe a Bot reproducing a report in staging with a fresh test account and returning steps and screenshots. A bigger screen and faster windows should help there, and a 25 second timeout means a stuck page won't hang the whole run. That's my inference, so test it on your own flow.

James Turner

If you're still recovering from the outages, my advice is simple. Update to 0.68.1, use Remove under Settings, Computer for any broken secondary machine, and review your Custom Rules. Then try one small deck task before handing over anything big.

James Turner

That's the roundup. Three releases, one finally honest changelog. Check x.ai/changelog/bot for the source. See you next time.