Google Brings Gemini AI Features to Gmail Side Panel: How It Works

Gemini AI is coming to the side panel on Gmail for these users

Google has started rolling out Gemini in the Gmail side panel which brings advanced AI capabilities to help you write or summarise emails in seconds. This move comes after Gemini was just added to Google Drive, Sheets, Slides and Docs. The tech giant announced the launch of Gemini 1.5 powered side panel at the I/O 2024 last month.

“In addition to the recent announcement of Gemini in the side panel of Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Drive, we’re excited to introduce the general availability of Gemini in the Gmail side panel,” Google wrote in its official blog.

As per Google, using Gemini in the side panel, users can summarise an Email thread, Suggest responses to an email thread, Get help drafting an Email also Ask questions and find specific information from emails within their inbox or from their Google Drive files.

Apart from these, users can also ask freeform questions to Gemini, for example, you can ask the integrated AI feature to search your inbox for things like “What was the PO number for my agency?”, “How much did the company spend on the last marketing event?” or “When is the next team meeting?”. And just like that, you’ll have the information you need to quickly reply without having to ever leave Gmail, as per the official blog.

Gemini is now available on Gmail Android and iOS devices. This includes features like analysing email threads and generating summaries with essential points. This feature is especially handy for users while traveling, as it simplifies reading through extensive email conversations on smaller screens.

The tech giant will also be introducing additional features like Contextual Smart Reply and Gmail Question and Answer soon. Gemini in Gmail helps you view, understand and respond to email content, it also connects to other Workspace apps like Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive.

How to enable Gemini AI for Google Workspaces

Users must enable personalisation and smart features to access Gemini in the Workspace app side panel.

On the web, users can access Gemini AI in the Gmail side panel by clicking on ‘Ask Gemini’ in the top right corner of Gmail. On mobile, it can be accessed by tapping on the ‘summarize this email’ chip in an email thread, Google mentions in its official blog.

For the web users, the rollout began on June 24, with full feature availability within 1-3 days for Rapid release domains, while for the Scheduled release domains the gradual rollout will begin from July 8. On the mobile devices, the gradual rollout began on June 24.

The feature is available for Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on, Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on and Google One AI Premium.