What do you need before opening Gemini?

Check the account, subscription and language requirements first. Google's getting-started guide specifies an age requirement of 18 or older, an eligible account and a qualifying plan; feature availability also varies by language. For a managed work account, ask your administrator to confirm access. Google's access requirements.

Google Workspace is the service suite containing work apps such as Docs and Gmail. Gemini is the AI assistant available within supported apps for tasks including drafting and revising documents. Check the feature table for the particular app you intend to use. Workspace feature overview.

If the button is missing

• Check which account is signed in before investigating subscriptions.
• Ask about Docs writing and editing access specifically.
• Compare the required feature with your plan's published feature list.
• Check language availability before treating a missing option as a technical fault.

Give your administrator a precise request: “Please confirm whether this account can use Gemini to write and edit in Docs.” Include the account address and the option you cannot find. Avoid buying another subscription until you understand what your existing account includes.

How do you turn rough notes into a useful draft?

Open your document on a computer, click Gemini and enter an instruction in the bottom bar. You can name a section or request a broader edit without selecting text first. Google's instructions describe suggestions appearing directly in the document. Start writing and editing.

A prompt is simply the instruction you give the assistant. Include the reader, purpose, source information and required format. Write it as though a colleague must complete the task without another conversation.

Hypothetical example: a freelance project proposal

Use the notes below to draft a proposal for a small retailer. Include the client's goal, deliverables, exclusions, information I need and the next step. Keep the language straightforward. Use only the supplied scope and fee. Mark missing details as questions rather than filling them in. Notes: [paste approved notes].

Before accepting the draft, compare every deliverable with your notes. Look for extra revisions, support commitments or deadlines you never offered. Use the business proposal guide to decide what belongs in the document.

1. Read the draft once as the customer: is the offer understandable?
2. Read it again as the person delivering the work: are the commitments correct?
3. Separate missing information from writing problems.
4. Request one focused revision, then review the affected section again.

Use Accept suggestion to approve an individual change, Accept all for the complete set or Reject all to discard it. For the first proposal, review individual changes before approving the whole document. Review controls.

Which editing action should you choose?

For a specific passage, select the text and choose Refine on the floating bar. Available actions include rephrasing, shortening, expanding, changing formality, turning text into bullets and summarising. Google's quick editing actions.

The action names come from the Docs editing documentation. Treat the review column as your own acceptance checklist. Choose the action that addresses the actual problem rather than trying every option.

Hypothetical example: a customer update

Suppose a small design studio has written a long progress report. Try: “Shorten the Project status section. Preserve the agreed delivery date, the client's outstanding decision and the reason for the delay. End with the action required from the client.”

Then compare those three details against the original. If one disappeared, request its restoration explicitly. Avoid repeatedly asking for a “better” version without naming what needs to improve.

For another practice task, collect questions customers actually ask and draft a short answer sheet. The customer service prompt examples offer ideas for structuring the instructions; adapt the wording to your own policy.

How do you use information from your own files?

Attach the relevant source before requesting a factual update. In the bottom bar, use Sources to add a file, or type @ and select one. Gemini can use selected files when drafting and revising content. Reference files in Docs.

Hypothetical example: an agency's weekly report

Update this report using the attached approved meeting notes. Separate completed work, agreed next steps and open questions. Preserve the named owners and dates. If the notes do not establish a status, mark it as unconfirmed. Do not convert a suggestion into a decision.

Choose the latest approved notes yourself. If two files disagree, ask for a list of conflicts rather than a blended answer. Keep the source open while checking the finished update.

For each factual statement, ask where it came from. Remove anything you cannot trace to the material you supplied. Before sharing, confirm that the document distinguishes an approved decision from an idea still under discussion.

If collecting the source notes is the difficult part, explore meeting notes automation. Keep this week's experiment focused on turning one agreed set of notes into one checked report.

How should a business handle privacy and access?

Confirm whether you are using a managed Workspace account or a personal Google AI plan. Google's business guidance says existing Workspace protections apply and content is not used for model training outside the domain without permission. It directs personal plan users to separate privacy information. Google's data protection explanation.

Some AI features can be switched off, and administrators have specified access controls. Ask your administrator about the particular Docs feature and account involved rather than assuming one switch controls everything. Access control guidance.

Write a short team rule

• Name the account staff should use for work documents.
• Remove personal details that the task does not need.
• Choose who reviews customer-facing text before it leaves the team.
• Provide a contact for uncertain or sensitive cases.
• Practise with a sample document before using confidential material.

Make the rule usable during ordinary work. For example, tell staff what to do with a customer complaint containing a phone number, rather than simply saying “be careful”. Build that example into your team AI training.

How do integrations with other services work?

An integration connects Gemini to another service so it can retrieve information. Google lists services including Asana, Mailchimp and Salesforce, with support inside Docs. These integrations currently support reading information, not changing records in the connected apps. Supported integrations and limits.

Check requirements separately from ordinary Docs access. A supported plan, administrator permission for managed accounts and sometimes a third-party subscription are required. The integration's listing explains any additional helper app. Connection requirements.

1. Find the integration in the relevant Google Workspace Marketplace listing.
2. Select Connect and review the requested access.
3. Open Ask Gemini in Docs.
4. Type @, choose the connected service and enter your question.

Google documents those steps in its integration instructions. For a hypothetical first test, ask for an Asana project's current tasks and use the answer to draft a status note. Verify the result in Asana before sharing it.

If your source material is mostly email, continue with Gemini in Gmail. Otherwise, finish the first Docs workflow before adding more connections. Record drafting time, checking time and any corrections so you can judge the complete task.