Google is now rolling out major Gemini-infused updates to Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive for Workspace businesses enrolled in Gemini Alpha and individuals with a Google AI Pro Ultra subscription.
“Today, we are reimagining how people create content, transforming Gemini in Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive into a collaborative partner that works alongside you throughout the creative process,” Google vice president of Workspace Yulie Kwon Kim writes. “With insights from across your emails, chats, files, and more, Gemini helps you draft, iterate, and perfect your work.”
Here’s what’s new.
Google Docs. A new “Help me create” experience in Docs lets you describe the document you wish to make: Gemini will follow your instructions and bring in information as needed from Drive, Gmail, Chat, and the web to generate what Google calls “a relevant, fully formatted first draft.” From there, Gemini will help you refine the draft into a final document with suggested edits you can review and accept. There’s also a “Match writing style” feature for those collaborating with other who want a consistent voice and tone. And a “Match the format” feature so your documents can align with a company’s style guides.
Google Sheets. Gemini just scored a record 70.48 percent success rate on the full SpreadsheetBench dataset and it can now help you build and edit spreadsheets using natural language while synthesizing data across Drive, Gmail, Chat, and the web. (That’s just below the human success rate of 71.33 percent, and just above number two Qingqiu Agent from Kingsoft Office with 69.96 percent.) A “Fill with Gemini” feature auto-populates tables with summarized, categorized, or new data from an existing sheet or the web. And Gemini in Sheets can now solve advanced optimization problems: “You can ask Gemini to optimize your weekly employee scheduling to maximize profit while balancing staff availability and required skills,” Google notes. “Gemini handles the complex logic to identify the best way to deploy your team.”
Google Slides. You can now create individual slides with Gemini using professional layouts and visual style matching with existing slides. You can also use Gemini to turn brainstorm sketches or tables into fully editable charts and diagrams, and you will soon be able to create an entire presentation.
Google Drive. With this update rolling out first to customers in the U.S., Google says that Drive is being transformed from a passive storage container into an active knowledge base. Search in Drive will now provide AI Overviews to generate “a highly relevant list of documents or a complete answer with citations, right at the top of your search results.” And an “Ask Gemini in Drive” feature lets you ask questions and get detailed responses that are based on the content in your files and across Gmail, Calendar, and Chat.
You can learn more about these updates on Google’s The Keyword blog.