How to Use Gemini in Google Workspace: Docs, Sheets, Gmail and Meet with AI

Before looking for the AI button, confirm that your plan includes it.

1. Open Gmail in your browser (mail.google.com).
2. Look at the right side of the screen: if you see a star or pencil icon with text like “Help me write”, Gemini is active.
3. If you don’t see it, your plan may be Business Starter (Gmail only) or your organization’s admin may not have enabled it yet.

Are you an admin? Go to admin.google.com → Apps → Google Workspace → Gemini settings to enable it for your team.

Gemini in Gmail has two main modes:

“Help me write” mode (drafting from scratch):

1. Open Gmail and click Compose to start a new email.
2. At the bottom of the compose window, click the pencil-with-star icon (“Help me write”).
3. Describe what you want: for example, “Formal email to ask a client for a follow-up meeting on project X.”
4. Gemini writes the draft. You can accept it, edit it, or ask it to adjust (more formal, shorter, different tone).

Side panel mode (summarize and reply):

1. Open any long email.
2. Click the Gemini icon (star) in the right bar.
3. The side panel opens. You can ask: “Summarize this email thread” or “What action are they asking me to take?”
4. You can also ask it to draft a reply: “Write a reply saying I accept the meeting for Thursday.”

To learn more about drafting professional emails with AI, check our tutorial How to write professional emails with ChatGPT.

Gemini in Docs helps you write, improve and reformat any document without leaving it.

Writing from scratch:

1. Open a new or existing document in Google Docs.
2. Click the Gemini icon (star) in the right sidebar, or the pencil that appears at the top of the document.
3. Type your instruction: “Write an introduction for a report on team performance in Q2.”
4. Gemini generates the text. Click Insert to paste it into the document.

Improving or reformatting existing text:

1. Select the paragraph or section you want to improve.
2. Click the pencil that appears next to the selected text, or open the Gemini panel.
3. Ask for what you need: “Make this clearer and more direct”, “Convert this into a list” or “Rewrite it in formal tone”.

Gemini side panel (questions about the document):

• Click the star icon in the right bar.
• Ask it: “Summarize this document in 5 key points” or “What decision is being proposed here?”

Gemini in Sheets helps you organize data, create formulas and analyze information without being a spreadsheet expert.

1. Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. Click the Gemini icon (star) in the right sidebar.
3. The side panel opens. From there you can:

Organize data:

• “Sort this table by date from newest to oldest.”
• “Create a new column that classifies revenue as High, Medium or Low.”

Create formulas:

• “Create a formula that calculates the average only for rows where column B says ‘Completed’.”
• Gemini writes the formula ready to paste.

Analyze and interpret:

• “What trend do you see in the sales data for the last 3 months?”
• “Summarize the main findings from this table.”

To learn more about getting the most from AI in spreadsheets, check our tutorial How to use AI in Google Sheets.

Gemini in Meet automatically takes notes and generates summaries of your meetings (available on Business Standard or higher).

Activating automatic notes:

1. Join a meeting in Google Meet.
2. In the bottom bar, click the three dots (more options) or look for the Gemini icon.
3. Enable “Take notes with Gemini” before the meeting starts (or at the beginning).
4. Gemini transcribes the meeting in real time and generates a summary when it ends.

Post-meeting summary:

• When the call ends, Gemini automatically sends a Google Docs document with:
  • The main points discussed.
  • Decisions made.
  • Tasks and owners mentioned.

Note: This feature requires your Workspace admin to have enabled it and that your plan is Business Standard or higher.

In addition to the specific features in each app, all Workspace apps have a Gemini side panel (the star icon in the right bar) that works as a general assistant: you can ask questions about the open file, ask it to find information from your other Drive files, or ask it to generate new content.

Some practical uses of the side panel:

• In a Doc: “Search my Drive files for the Acme client contract and give me the main points.”
• In a Sheets spreadsheet: “Create a bar chart from this table’s data and explain what it shows.”
• In Gmail: “Do I have any unanswered emails from client Rivera this week?”

To open the side panel in any Google Workspace app:

1. Click the star icon in the right sidebar.
2. If you don’t see it, look for the “Ask Gemini” button in the main menu.

Run this quick test to confirm Gemini is working on your account:

1. Open Gmail and start composing a new email.
2. Click the pencil-with-star icon (“Help me write”).
3. Type: “Brief email to confirm attendance at a meeting.”
4. Gemini should generate a draft in seconds.

If it works in Gmail, open Google Docs and repeat with the side panel: ask it to summarize the open document. If you see results in both apps, everything is configured correctly.

Problem	Fix
I don’t see the Gemini icon in Gmail	Your plan may be Business Starter; ask your admin to enable Gemini
The button is there but says it’s not available	Your organization’s admin may have restricted access; contact your IT admin
Gemini doesn’t appear in Docs or Sheets	Confirm your plan is Business Standard or higher
Meet notes aren’t generated	Verify that the admin enabled the notes feature in the admin console
Gemini doesn’t understand my instructions in Spanish	Write clear, direct instructions; you can add “Reply in Spanish” if it switches languages