Google Workspace: 7 great ways to use the Gemini AI sidebar

Google’s generative AI chatbot, named Gemini, is available as a web app. But you can also access most of Gemini’s AI tools in a side panel as you’re using Google Workspace apps including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, and Gmail. Using the Gemini sidebar within a Workspace app is much more convenient and contextual than copying and pasting between browser tabs.

When you’re in one of these five main Workspace apps, open the Gemini side panel by clicking the nova star icon that’s next to your user profile icon at the upper-right corner. From this side panel, you can instruct Gemini to generate new content (such as text, tables, or slides), make changes to your current document or other file, or analyze its content to provide context.

The Gemini side panel in Google Docs.
Howard Wen / Foundry

Keep in mind that, like all genAI tools, Gemini can make mistakes, so it’s always advisable to check the output carefully for errors. What’s more, the copy it writes is often generic and flat, but it can be a useful starting point for you to refine and add color to.

As you’ll see, Gemini’s real strengths lie in taking away drudge work such as summarizing a long document or extracting a key piece of information from a sea of emails. This guide explains how to use these AI capabilities from the Gemini side panel in the Google Workspace apps.

Who can use Gemini in Google Workspace apps

The Gemini AI tools that include this side panel are now included with paid Google Workspace plans from the Business Standard plan and up. If you have a regular Google personal account, you can subscribe to Google One AI Premium to have access to these tools. Or, for no cost, you can sign up for access to Google Workspace Labs with your Google account to be permitted to try out Gemini in the Workspace apps.

Get started: Use a suggested prompt or type in your own

In the Gemini side panel, you’ll usually see suggested prompts — these are action links you can click that instruct the AI to do something, such as creating an outline.

Many of these suggested prompts will be the same, or similarly phrased, across the five Workspace apps that you can use the Gemini side panel in. But they can also vary from app to app and sometimes depend on whether you start with a blank document or open an existing one.

Suggestions in the Gemini side panel for Gmail, Sheets, and Slides.
Howard Wen / Foundry

In Docs, for instance, Gemini might prompt you to brainstorm a list of ideas, whereas in Slides it might prompt you to create a slide to pitch an idea. In some cases, prompts might be customized for you based on the emails in your Gmail account or files in your Google Drive. (If you want to see additional suggested prompts, click More suggestions in the panel.)

To choose a prompt, click it, and it will appear in the entry box at the bottom of the window, where you can customize it for your needs. When it’s worded the way you want, press Enter.

Or you can skip the suggested prompts: just type your own prompt inside the entry box and press Enter.

Next steps: Insert, copy, retry, or refine

After you enter your prompt, Gemini generates a result, which appears in the side panel. Like all genAI tools, Gemini sometimes makes errors, so you’ll want to carefully check over its output.

If you’re happy with the result, you can click the arrow icon on the toolbar below it to insert the generated text, image, or other content into your document, email draft, slide, or spreadsheet. Or you can click the Copy button to copy it to your PC clipboard.

Gemini’s generated result appears in the side panel.
Howard Wen / Foundry

If you want to see what the result will look like in your document before inserting it, click the vertical three-dot icon (More options) and select Preview. If you wish, you can send Google feedback on the result by clicking the thumbs up or thumbs down icon on the toolbar.

Right above this toolbar, you may see a link labeled “Sources.” When clicked, this action will list the sources (your documents, emails, presentations, spreadsheets, etc.) that Gemini used to generate the content.

If you’re not happy with Gemini’s generated result, you can instruct it to generate a fresh result from your original prompt by selecting More options > Retry or More options > Retry with Google Search in the toolbar.

Below the toolbar you might see one or more additional prompt suggestions. Click a suggestion, and Gemini will generate a second result that builds on the first one.

Another option is to instruct Gemini to refine the current result rather than starting over from scratch. To do so, just type how you want the result refined into the entry box and press Enter.

A few additional tips for using the Gemini side panel:

To erase your previous prompts and results from the panel, click the three-dot icon (More options) at the top of the Gemini side panel and click Clear history.

To make the side panel larger so you can see the results better, click the Expand button immediately to the right of the More options button at the top of the panel.

To close the side panel, click the X in its upper right corner.

7 useful tasks to try via the Gemini side panel

Now that you know how to use the side panel, let’s look at some specific use cases. There are too many possible actions to cover in this article, and Google adds new capabilities all the time. But here are some common examples of what you can prompt Gemini to do.

1. Summarize documents and emails

Gemini can quickly summarize your emails and files stored in Google Drive in a variety of ways.

In Docs, Sheets, and Slides: Open a document, spreadsheet, or presentation, then open the Gemini sidebar. When you do, Gemini automatically generates a summary of the file, provided that it has enough text or data content. The summary appears near the top of the Gemini panel; you may need to click the three-dot icon (View more) to see the whole thing.

Gemini can instantly summarize the contents of a document.
Howard Wen / Foundry

In Drive: Select a document or other file, then click Summarize this file on the toolbar above the file listing. This will open the Gemini side panel, and a summary for the contents of the file will be generated if possible.

Gemini can summarize documents stored in Google Drive.
Howard Wen / Foundry

You can summarize all the contents of a folder in Google Drive in the same way. Navigate to the folder in Drive, select it, and click Summarize this folder on the toolbar above the listing.

Another method to summarize files in Drive is to open the Gemini sidebar first, then write a prompt in the entry box telling it what you want it to summarize. Type summarize @ and start typing the document’s filename. A small menu of suggested files will open, and you can select the one you want.

If you can’t remember the filename, you can try describing the document or file, and Gemini may be able to determine which file you’re referring to. You can also instruct Gemini to summarize more than one document or file together.

Examples:

Summarize the meeting notes from the July meeting

Summarize @Office Budget Winter and @Office Budget Annual

In Gmail: Open an email or email thread first. Then, in the Gemini side panel, you can click a suggested prompt to generate a summary of the email or thread.

You can also prompt Gemini to summarize multiple emails, even if they’re not in a single thread. To do so, open the Gemini sidebar and describe what you want it to summarize in the entry box.

Give me a summary of the emails that Saulo sent me regarding our upcoming meeting

Summarize the emails I sent to Mona over the last week

Gemini can also summarize multiple emails based on a description you provide.
Howard Wen / Foundry

2. Extract specific info from files or emails

Instead of asking Gemini to summarize an entire document or email, try asking it questions about your files in Drive or about your emails in Gmail to extract specific information.

What are the key points in @Business Plan: IT Consulting for Restaurant Management?

How much is allocated for new technology purchases @Office Budget Annual?

How much has [business name] charged me this year?

Ask Gemini for specific information from your emails and files.
Howard Wen / Foundry

3. Create a table

Gemini can generate a table template with headings, placeholder text, and even formulas in its cells. After you insert it into your document, email draft, slide, or spreadsheet, you fill out the table with your own data.

Gemini works best at designing tables for project management, so try describing a table that has dropdowns, lists, task lists, or to-dos. It can also generate a data table that you can insert into a spreadsheet and then create a chart from it.

Make me a table depicting 12 months with 3 categories per month

Create a table with dropdowns with selections that include Greek, Japanese, Italian for a business luncheon

A generated table template in Sheets.
Howard Wen / Foundry

When you create a table in Sheets, it will appear as an overlay on the spreadsheet. Click the Insert button below it to insert it in the spreadsheet.

Note: In Sheets, when you launch a new, blank spreadsheet, the Tables side panel will automatically open on the right. To switch to the Gemini side panel, either click the “Help me create a table” button in the Tables side panel or just click the nova star icon at the top of the screen.

If the spreadsheet you open already has data in the cells, and they’re not organized in a formal way, try clicking one of the Create a table suggested prompts. Gemini will generate a table with this data arranged in a neater fashion.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Sheets has another table template tool called Help Me Organize that we’ve covered previously. See “How to use Gemini AI to make templates in Google Sheets” for details on how to use it, along with ideas for crafting successful table prompts that would work in the Gemini sidebar as well.

4. Create an image

Describe the kind of image that you want Gemini to generate. In Slides, you can prompt Gemini to generate an image based on the content of the slide that you’re currently viewing in the main window.

Create a cartoon of a giraffe reading a menu while seated at a restaurant table

Create an image based on the current slide

In Slides, Gemini can create images related to the current slide’s content.
Howard Wen / Foundry

5. Write a text draft

You can use the Gemini side panel to generate a first draft for an email or document. In Docs or Gmail, open the side panel and type a prompt describing the kind of text that you want Gemini to generate.

Create an opening paragraph pitching my IT consulting service for restaurant owners

Create an email to send to Eric Jones in which I suggest we catch up at the tech conference in San Diego next week

Using email as an example, from the main page of your Gmail account, open the Gemini side panel and enter your prompt. If you like Gemini’s generated draft, click the Insert button, and a composition window for a new email will open with the generated text inserted into it. You can add or make changes before sending it out, or leave it in your Drafts folder to work on later.

A new email draft generated by Gemini.
Howard Wen / Foundry

The Gemini side panel will also present suggested prompts that you can click to guide you through refining or rephrasing your document or email draft.

All that said, a better way to generate and redo text is to use the Help Me Write tool (which is also powered by Gemini). See our story “How to use Gemini AI to write (and rewrite) in Google Docs and Gmail” for full instructions on using Help Me Write.

6. Create a formula in Sheets

Don’t know most of the formulas that you can use in Sheets, or want some ideas? Describe to Gemini the kind of calculation you want, and the AI will try to generate something workable. You can then insert the formula into a cell on your spreadsheet.

Formula for the sum of Column B divided by 10 and then multiplied by 1.67

Formula to calculate compound interest at 3.5% over 3 years

In Sheets, Gemini can help you create a formula.
Howard Wen / Foundry

7. Create a slide in Slides

In Slides, describe a slide that you want Gemini to generate.

You can even ask Gemini to create a slide based on the content of a document, spreadsheet, or other file in your Google Drive.

Create a slide that introduces an annual business budget report

Create a slide using @Office Budget Winter

Gemini can create a slide based on a document or other file.
Howard Wen / Foundry

This is just a sampling of what you can ask Gemini to do in Google Workspace apps. Once you start experimenting, you’ll likely find numerous ways it can help you in your work.

[ See more Google Workspace tips and tutorials ]