Google is making Gemini more accessible in its Workspace apps for paid users. The company has rolled out the Gemini side panel for Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, and Gmail, and has also released Gemini for the Gmail app on Android and iOS. When Google announced the Gemini side panel at I/O this year, it called the feature “connective tissue between multiple applications with AI-powered workflows.”
The side panel in Docs helps you revise or rephrase what you're writing, summarize information, suggest improvements, and create new content based on other files. In Spreadsheets, it helps you understand different spreadsheet features by creating tables, generating formulas, and learning how to perform specific tasks. The side panel in Slides helps you generate custom images and summarize presentations, and in Drive, you can summarize multiple documents at once without having to open them.
Gemini, on the other hand, can summarize email threads in Gmail, suggest replies, help you draft new emails, and look up information in your inbox or from your Drive files. You can also summarize email threads in Gemini for Android and iOS on Gmail. The mobile apps don't have a side panel, of course, but there's a button near the top of your email that generates a summary when you tap it. Over the next month, Gemini will offer contextual smart replies, an option that lets you respond with one tap based on the content of the conversation. Gmail Q&A will also be available next month, letting you type a question like, “What time does Chloe's recital start on Saturday?” and look up information from your emails.
These features are available if you pay for Google One AI Premium or have access to the Gemini add-in for Business, Enterprise, Education, or Education Premium.
