The Gemini-powered features in Google Workspace that are worth using | TechCrunch

Google has been steadily integrating Gemini across Google Workspace, embedding AI into Docs, Gmail, Sheets, Slides, Drive, and Meet. With so many updates rolling out, the real question isn’t what Gemini can do; it’s what’s actually useful in day-to-day work.

The best Gemini features are arguably the more practical tools that help you manage information faster, such as summarizing, drafting content, organizing data, and tracking all those meetings.Let’s go through all the best ones.

The best Gemini features in Google Docs

What Gemini in Docs does best is automatic summarization. Instead of digging through a long report or research doc, you can ask Gemini for the key points or a quick outline. It’s a time-saver when you’re reviewing something or want to quickly explain the information to a colleague.

There’s also a new “Help me create” tool. You can describe what you want, like a newsletter or a report, and Gemini will pull in context from your Drive, Gmail, and Chat to generate a first draft as a strong starting point.

On top of that, there are other useful tools like “Help me write,” which can clean up your wording or expand on ideas, and “Match writing style,” which is great when multiple people are contributing to the same document and the tone is all over the place. There’s even a “Match the format” feature that lets you copy the structure of another document, which is handy if you’re working from a template. (These features are currently still in beta.)

The best Gemini features in Gmail

Gemini in Gmail is particularly useful when your inbox gets out of control. The “AI Inbox” feature filters out all the non-important messages and highlights the emails that matter, like a reminder for your upcoming doctor’s appointment or your son’s soccer practice next week.

Gemini also summarizes long email threads, which means you don’t have to scroll through a dozen back-and-forth messages just to figure out what’s going on. You can get the key points in an email summary card right at the top of the email.

“Help me write” is another handy capability. Gemini can generate replies based on the context of the conversation. Whether you want something more formal or shorter, it can rewrite messages quickly in the tone you want. Plus, it goes a bit further with contextual smart replies, which generate longer, more detailed responses.

There’s also an “AI Overview” feature, allowing you to ask Gemini a question such as “Who was the plumber who gave me a quote for the bathroom renovation last year?” and the AI will dig through your emails to find the conversation.

The best Gemini features in Google Sheets

With a single prompt, Gemini can grab relevant information from Gmail, Chat, and Drive and turn it into a fully structured spreadsheet.It can also help you visualize data by generating charts and graphs.

There’s also a “Fill with Gemini” feature that speeds up populating tables, which is useful when you’re starting from raw or incomplete data.

The best Gemini features in Google Slides

For creating slides, Gemini’s strength is formatting, which removes a lot of the repetitive work. It’s especially useful for internal presentations or when you just need a solid first draft quickly.

You can give it a prompt like “create a five-slide deck summarizing our Q1 results,” and it will build out a presentation that matches your theme, pulls in relevant content, and organizes it into slides with bullet points and visuals.

From there, you can tweak things by asking it to simplify slides, adjust formatting, or match a specific design style. There’s also a “refine text” feature if you need to shorten a paragraph or rephrase a sentence.

A bonus tool: You can tweak images in Slides using Nano Banana, Google’s image-editing model.

The best Gemini features in Google Meet

The standout Gemini feature in Meet is automatic note-taking. Instead of trying to listen and write at the same time, you can let Gemini capture the key points, decisions, and action items for you. After the meeting, everything is already organized and ready to share.

Gemini also helps out if you join late. You can ask what you missed and get a quick summary without interrupting the flow.

There are also practical upgrades like real-time translated captions, improvements to video, and the ability to reduce audio distortion to make meetings easier to follow.

The best Gemini features in Google Drive

Gemini in Drive allows you to quickly search for files, summarize a marketing plan, pull specific targets from a document, or even draft updates based on the latest files in your workspace. Gemini can also generate an “AI Overview” of the most relevant information across your documents, complete with sources. That means you don’t have to open five different files just to find one detail.

Plus, with a new beta tool called “Ask Gemini in Drive,” you can now ask complex questions across your calendar, documents, emails, and the web.

The best Gemini features in Calendar

As for Google Calendar, one of the standout AI-powered features is “Help me schedule.” Instead of manually scanning availability, you can describe what you need, and Gemini will suggest the best times based on everyone’s calendars. It can even take preferences into account, such as avoiding early mornings. Gemini can connect to your Gmail to detect available time slots, rather than proposing times blindly.

Gemini also helps with event creation. You can type a simple prompt like “Lunch with Nick,” and it will generate a full calendar event with the right date, time suggestions, and even location details.

It also improves rescheduling. If a meeting needs to shift, Gemini can suggest alternative times that minimize conflicts, instead of forcing you to manually recheck everyone’s availability, which is great when you have larger groups.

The best Gemini features in Chat

Instead of scrolling through long threads, you can ask Gemini to summarize a space, highlight key decisions, or pull out action items. This is especially helpful in active team channels where important details tend to get buried.

Gemini can also draft replies based on the context of the conversation. It also learns from your past conversations, so it can bring up key details and past moments in its chat suggestions to sound more natural.

Another useful feature is its ability to connect chats with files. You can ask questions about documents shared in a conversation without opening them.

The best Gemini features in Google Vids

Gemini in Google Vids helps you generate polished video content. Instead of starting from scratch, you can prompt Gemini to generate a rough cut based on a topic or outline. It can suggest scenes, structure your narrative, and draft scripts automatically.

Gemini can also handle voice-overs by generating script variations and adjusting the tone. With transcript trimming, Gemini identifies “ums” and any awkward pauses that you want to remove from the recording.

There’s also the ability to convert an image to video using Gemini Veo 3, as well as input a script and use an AI-powered avatar as the star of the video.

The best Gemini features in Forms

Gemini in Forms lets you describe what you want, such as a survey, and generate a complete form with relevant questions and structure.

It also helps refine questions. Gemini can suggest clearer wording and better answer formats, and identify gaps in your form that might lead to incomplete or low-quality responses. This is particularly useful when you’re trying to gather actionable data.

In addition, Gemini can summarize results as they come in, highlighting trends and key takeaways without requiring you to dig through raw data. Instead of exporting responses and analyzing them elsewhere, you get immediate insights directly within Forms.