Gemini in Google Workspace · Lesson 3 of 7

Gemini in Gmail: summarize, draft, a person sends

20 minutes. Read long threads in seconds and get a first draft of the reply. A person still checks and sends every email.

---

Tanya, who runs the office at our fictional Comfort Zone Heating & Cooling, spends the first hour of every day in Gmail. A property manager's 14-message thread about three rooftop units. A supplier's price update. A customer who wrote four paragraphs to ask if Tuesday works.

Gemini in Gmail helps with two things: reading (what is this thread about, and what do I need to do?) and writing (a first draft of the reply). This lesson covers both, and the one rule that doesn't bend.

Gemini drafts. A person reads, fixes and sends every email.

Google's help says Gemini in Gmail can't send email on its own. It drafts, and you send. Keep it that way in your own habits too. Google's help pages also carry the same warning on every Gemini feature: it "may suggest inaccurate or inappropriate information," and you shouldn't rely on it for "medical, legal, financial or other professional advice." A draft that says you'll be there Saturday when you won't is still your email once you click Send.

Pick the longest, messiest thread in your inbox. There are two ways in, both from Google's help:

• The quick way: open the thread. At the top, click Summarize this email.
• The side panel way: click Ask Gemini at the top right of Gmail. With the thread open, click the suggested prompt What's this email about? or type your own.

Then ask follow-ups in the same panel. These work well:

• "Create a list of action items for me based on this email."
• "What did the customer actually ask for, in one sentence?"
• "Which dates or times were proposed, and by whom?"
• "What's still unanswered in this thread?"

Google notes that thread summaries work on threads with more than two replies. On a short email, just read it.

Check the summary against the thread the first few times. You're learning how much to trust it. If it missed something important, note what kind of thing it missed.

With the side panel open, you can ask about your inbox in plain words. Google's help gives examples like finding flight times or package details. For a service business, try:

• "When did the Henderson Property Management order come in, and what did they order?"
• "Find the last email from our filter supplier about price changes."

The answer tells you where it came from. Click through and read the original before you act on it.

Google's steps on a computer:

• Click Reply on an email (or Compose for a new one).
• In the Help me write prompt bar, type what you want the email to say.
• Click Create.
• To polish it, type a new instruction like "Make it more professional," or use Formalize, Friendly or Shorten.

The quality of the draft depends almost entirely on what you type in step 2. Compare these:

> Weak: "reply to this"

> Strong: "Reply to confirm the furnace tune-up for Tuesday the 14th between 8 and 10 a.m. Tell them the tech will call 30 minutes before arriving. Our tune-up price is $129. Friendly, three sentences, no exclamation points."

The strong version hands Gemini the facts. That matters, because Google says Help me write also pulls details from your other emails and Drive files to personalize the draft. Usually that helps. Sometimes it pulls an old price from a two-year-old email. When you give it the facts, it doesn't have to guess.

Read every draft against three questions:

• Is every fact right? Each price, date, time, address and name. If you didn't put a fact in your prompt, find where it came from before you keep it.
• Does it promise anything it shouldn't? Look for "will," "guarantee," "free," "today" and "covered."
• Does it answer what they asked? Drafts sometimes answer a neighbor of the question.

Then edit it until you'd sign your name to it, and send it yourself.

Some emails need a person from the first word. At Comfort Zone, these go straight to Marcus or Tanya, with no draft:

• Angry or upset customers. Call them if you can.
• Refunds, credits and billing disputes.
• Damage, injury or safety. (A gas smell gets "leave the house and call the gas company's emergency line" from a person, right now.)
• Anything mentioning a lawyer, a complaint to an agency, or a contract dispute.
• Anything about someone's health.

Write your own short list on your Gemini Prompt Card.

Google's help says Gemini in Gmail can also label, archive and delete emails when you ask, and it asks you to confirm first. There's a short undo window, and deleted mail goes to Trash for 30 days. That's handy, but start with reading and drafting. Let people get used to checking Gemini's work before it moves anything.

• Summarize three long threads. For each, ask for the action items.
• Draft five real replies with Help me write, using strong prompts with the facts included.
• Run the 30-second check on each. Note which ones you sent as is, which needed a small edit, and which needed a big fix.
• Send them yourself.
• Save your best Help me write prompt on your Gemini Prompt Card.

Check it worked

• You can summarize a thread and pull out action items in under a minute.
• Five replies went out today, each read, checked and sent by a person.
• None had an unchecked price, date or promise.
• You've written down your "always a person" list.

---

Next: Gemini writes from your own files, and finds them for you.

→ Lesson 4: Gemini in Docs and Drive: draft from your files, find and summarize

Previous: What Gemini can see, and an oversharing check · Next: Gemini in Docs and Drive: draft from your files, find and summarize