Recent updates to Workspace integrate Gemini into Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive, with Google boasting about its results.
Google is combating the empty Workspace document pause. Each moment a user turns to another tool while stuck, Microsoft 365 Copilot seizes the opportunity.
Google’s response, launched in beta today, involves a series of Gemini enhancements across Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive to transform workflow: describe your needs, direct Gemini to your files and emails, and let it generate a draft.
The updates are available today for Google AI Ultra and Pro subscribers, the new consumer paid tiers replacing Google One AI Premium, and can be accessed in English globally for Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The Drive features are initially limited to the US.
Google’s main offering is “Help me create” in Docs. A new bottom bar beside the side panel allows users to define a document in plain language, be it a newsletter, a coaching plan, or a travel itinerary, with Gemini gathering relevant input from files, Gmail, and Drive to draft it.
Two new editing modes accompany it: “Match writing style” unifies document tone, while “Match doc format” aligns one document’s structure with another’s content. A practical example from Google involves extracting flight and hotel details from emails and reformatting them to fit a saved itinerary template.
In Sheets, Google highlights a benchmark result. Gemini in Sheets reportedly achieved a 70.48% success rate on SpreadsheetBench, an AI model benchmark for real-world spreadsheet tasks, said to exceed competitors and approach expert human performance.
Moreover, a “Fill with Gemini” function auto-fills table cells with summarized, categorized, or web-based data. An internal study of 95 participants compared manual entry to Fill with Gemini on a 100-cell task, noting the 9x speed improvement is based on this controlled test, not general usage.
Slides now features an updated slide-generation tool that derives context from files, emails, and the web, and can edit individual slides, adjusting colors, tone, or layout on command. Full deck generation from a single prompt, a more ambitious feature, is marked as “coming soon.”
The Drive update is strategically crucial. Google is introducing AI Overviews to Drive search, mimicking Google Search, to provide a cited summary atop search results, negating the need for document opens. “Ask Gemini in Drive” lets users question files collectively, pulling from Drive, Gmail, Calendar, and the web. Google’s description suggests transforming Drive into an active knowledge base.
Yulie Kwon Kim, VP of Product for Google Workspace, penned the announcement which mentioned few executives beyond her. Google hasn’t disclosed subscriber numbers for Google AI Ultra and Pro, making today’s beta audience unclear. The business version of these features is separately detailed in a Google Workspace blog for enterprises.
The timing is clear. Microsoft is quickly integrating Copilot into Microsoft 365, and the productivity suite space, dominated by Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, serves as a battleground for enterprise AI adoption. Google’s latest move shows its approach to embed Gemini deeply within app interfaces, transforming apps into AI interfaces themselves.
However, user trust in allowing Gemini access to inboxes for content is uncertain, a concern Google briefly touches on, saying information is “safeguarded” without detailing the technical measures.
All features being in beta implies continual iterations. Full deck generation in Slides and any language expansion beyond English currently have no set release dates. Google promises more language support “soon.”