Take Your Google Workspace to the Next Level with Gemini

You're already paying for Google Workspace. As of January 2025, you're also paying for Gemini—whether you use it or not.

That's not a complaint. It's an opportunity most organizations are ignoring.

Google quietly bundled its premium AI features into all Business and Enterprise plans this year, eliminating the separate Gemini add-on that previously cost $20/user/month. A customer who previously paid $32/user/month for Workspace plus Gemini now pays $14/user/month for Business Standard with everything included.

The price went up slightly—$2/user/month for most tiers—but you're getting Deep Research, NotebookLM Plus, AI functions in Sheets, and intelligent meeting notes that previously required separate subscriptions or weren't available at all.

Most users have noticed the "Ask Gemini" button. Few have explored what it can actually do.

No technical skills required—if you can use Gmail, you can use these features.

Stop using AI like a search box.

Next Tuesday’s Lunch & Learn shows how to turn Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini into real workflow engines—persistent systems that capture your expertise and automate repeatable work. Hosted by Mark Hinkle, this session breaks down how to build menu-driven AI projects that actually scale across your day-to-day tasks.

If you use AI at work, this will change how you use it.

Join us on January 27, 12:00 PM EST and leave with practical frameworks you can use immediately.

The AI capabilities now bundled into your subscription—and how to actually use them

The features below represent Google's integrated AI rollout throughout 2025. Each one is accessible right now if you have a Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, or Enterprise plan. No additional subscriptions required.

If you're evaluating whether to invest more deeply in Google's ecosystem—or trying to get more value from a subscription you're already paying for—these are the capabilities that separate power users from everyone else.

Subscription Required: Google Workspace Business Standard ($14/user/month), Business Plus ($18/user/month), or Enterprise

Important Note: Business Starter ($7/user/month) has severe limitations—only 5 Gemini prompts per day with the standard model, and no access to Gemini side panels in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, or Slides.

Where to Find Them:

Prerequisite: Admins must have "smart features and personalization" enabled for users to access Gemini in Workspace apps.

To enable Gemini in Google Workspace, an administrator signs into the Google Admin console (admin.google.com), navigates to Menu > Generative AI > Gemini for Workspace, selects the desired Organizational Unit or Group, and turns the service "On," often requiring an eligible Workspace edition or adding a Gemini add-on subscription.

Regional note: Features are available globally, though some capabilities roll out to US users first. If a feature described here isn't visible, check back in 1-2 weeks.

What it does: Explores complex topics across the web, analyzes your uploaded documents, and delivers comprehensive, structured reports with citations—essentially a research assistant that works while you do other things. Learn more about Deep Research.

Step 1: Open gemini.google.com and click the model dropdown in the top left

Step 2: Select "Deep Research" — now powered by Gemini 3 Pro, Google's most capable model for research tasks (upgraded December 2025)

Step 3: Enter your research question with as much context as possible

Step 4: Review the research plan Gemini presents—approve it or ask for adjustments

Step 5: Wait 5-15 minutes while Deep Research explores sources, then review the structured report

Time: 5-15 minutes for complex research

Best for: Competitive analysis, vendor evaluation, industry trend reports, market research before strategy meetings, and synthesizing information from multiple sources into executive-ready summaries.

Advanced capability (May 2025): You can now upload PDFs and images directly into Deep Research or link Google Drive documents. Your research reports can draw from both public information and your internal documents.

Limitations: Deep Research is available only in the Gemini app—not embedded in Docs or other Workspace tools. Currently supports 80+ languages (expanded from English-only). As of November 2025, Deep Research can now pull content from your Gmail, Chat, and Drive—not just uploaded files—making it far more useful for internal research.

What it does: Converts your documents, slides, and research into podcast-style AI discussions between two hosts—making complex information easier to absorb during commutes or while multitasking. Get started with NotebookLM.

Step 1: Go to notebooklm.google.com and create a new notebook

Step 2: Upload your sources—PDFs, Google Docs, Slides, web URLs, or YouTube transcripts (up to 50 sources in the free tier, 300 in Plus)

Step 3: Click "Generate" under Audio Overview in the Studio panel

Step 4: Wait 2-5 minutes for generation, then download or listen directly

Step 5 (Optional): Click "Interactive mode" to join the conversation and ask questions verbally while the audio plays

Upload a 40-page quarterly report, three competitor earnings call transcripts, and your team's strategic planning document. Generate an Audio Overview that synthesizes the key themes into a 15-minute discussion you can listen to before your board meeting.

Time: 2-5 minutes to generate; audio length varies by source material

Best for: Digesting long reports during commutes, sales enablement (turning product specs into conversational battle cards), onboarding materials, research synthesis, and making dense technical documents accessible to non-technical stakeholders.

Customization options (October 2024): You can guide the conversation with custom instructions, choose a format (Deep Dive, Brief, Critique, or Debate), adjust the length, and set the expertise level. As of December 2025, custom instruction limits expanded to 10,000 characters—enough to define detailed personas or specific analysis frameworks.

New in 2025: Video Overviews transform your sources into visual slide-style videos with AI narration, images, and diagrams. Available in 80+ languages.

Workspace tier limits:

Limitations: Audio Overviews can take several minutes to generate and occasionally introduce inaccuracies—always verify critical facts against source material. AI hosts may pause awkwardly, especially in interactive mode. Interactive mode currently supports English only. Generated audio reflects the sources you provide; garbage in, garbage out.

What it does: Puts AI directly into spreadsheet formulas with =AI("prompt", optional_data_range). Classify sentiment, categorize text, summarize content, or generate text—all updating automatically when your data changes. See the complete AI function guide.

Step 1: Open any Google Sheet (Business Standard or higher required)

Step 2: In any cell, type =AI("your instruction") or =AI("your instruction", A1:A10) to reference data

Step 3: Press Enter and wait 1-3 seconds for results

Step 4: Copy the formula down to apply to multiple rows (limit: 200 cells at once)

Example formulas:

Time: 1-3 seconds per cell

Best for: Sentiment analysis on customer feedback, categorizing unstructured text, generating summaries of open-ended survey responses, and creating classifications that would require complex nested formulas. In my testing, classification tasks (positive/negative/neutral) produce the most consistent results.

Multi-step capabilities (October 2025): Gemini in Sheets can now execute multiple actions from a single prompt. Ask it to "delete all rows where Status is 'Archived,' add a dropdown column for Team, and insert a formula column calculating Days Until Due Date"—and it handles all three actions at once.

Critical limitations: Microsoft explicitly warns against using COPILOT for numerical calculations, and Google should post the same warning. The AI function is non-deterministic—the same prompt can yield different results across runs. Never use this for financial reporting, reproducible calculations, or any output that needs to be consistent. For math, use native Sheets formulas. Rate limit: 200 cells per batch. If source data changes, cells show an "out-of-sync" state and require manual refresh.

I use Fireflies as my notetaker, primarily because I use Zoom for meetings. But if your business relies heavily on Google Meet, it does a good job.

What it does: Automatically captures meeting notes in a Google Doc, extracts action items with suggested assignees, and shares the summary with attendees—no manual note-taking required. Learn about Take Notes for Me.

Step 1: Start or join a Google Meet call

Step 2: Click the pencil icon (Activities) in the bottom toolbar

Step 3: Select "Take notes for me" and confirm to start

Step 4: After the meeting, find the notes document attached to the Calendar event and emailed to the organizer

Step 5: Review the "Suggested Next Steps" section for AI-extracted action items

Example output:

The generated document includes a meeting summary, key discussion points organized by topic, and a "Suggested Next Steps" section listing action items with the ability to assign them as Tasks directly from the document.

Time: Notes appear within minutes after the meeting ends

Best for: Weekly team syncs, client calls where you need to be fully present, any meeting where action items tend to get lost, and creating a documentation trail for project decisions.

Advanced options:

Limitations: Only one language per meeting—if participants switch between languages, notes will be incomplete—recommended meeting length: 15 minutes to 8 hours. Notes may be incomplete if content violates Google's Acceptable Use Policy. Admins must enable the feature for your organization. The AI captures what's said, not what's meant—sensitive discussions may require human review before sharing.

What it does: Drafts emails from prompts, refines existing drafts (Polish, Formalize, Elaborate, Shorten), and generates contextual Smart Replies that understand the whole email thread. Get started with Help Me Write.

Step 1: Open Gmail and compose a new email or reply to a thread

Step 2: Click the "Help me write" button (pencil with sparkle icon)

Step 3: Enter a prompt describing what you want to write, or select a refinement option for existing text

Step 4: Review the draft, click "Recreate" for a new version, or "Insert" to use it

Example prompts:

Refinement options:

Personalized Smart Replies adapt to your typical communication style by learning from your past emails and Google Drive documents.

Time: 2-5 seconds per draft

Best for: Routine acknowledgments, meeting scheduling, polite declines, following up on proposals, and any email where you know what to say but don't want to spend time writing it.

Limitations: Available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese on desktop; expanding to mobile. AI drafts can sound generic—always add personal touches for essential communications. The "Recreate" option generates a new draft but doesn't let you return to previous versions.

What it does: Create complete Google Slides presentations from a text prompt or uploaded document—including theme, images, and structured content—then export directly to Slides for refinement. Learn about AI presentations.

Step 1: Go to gemini.google.com

Step 2: Enter a prompt describing the presentation you need, or upload a source document (sales brief, research report, project plan)

Step 3: Gemini generates a complete slide deck with theme, images, and content

Step 4: Click "Export to Google Slides" to open the presentation for editing and collaboration

Example prompts:

Time: 1-3 minutes for initial generation

Best for: First drafts of internal presentations, transforming written documents into visual formats, creating training materials, and converting research reports into board-ready decks.

Side panel features in Slides: Beyond whole presentation generation, the Gemini side panel in Google Slides can generate individual slides, create AI images, summarize existing presentations, and reference your Drive files or Gmail to pull in relevant content.

Rollout status: Full presentation generation in the Gemini app completed rollout by November 12, 2025. Available on web and mobile web; native Android/iOS app support coming.

Limitations: Generated presentations are first drafts—expect to refine content, adjust formatting, and replace placeholder images. AI-generated images may not match your brand guidelines. Always review for factual accuracy before presenting. Complex presentations with specific data visualizations still require manual chart creation in Slides.

What it does: Provides a consistent AI assistant across Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, and Chat—with the ability to reference files using @ mentions and receive context-aware suggestions. Explore Gemini in Workspace.

Where it appears: Click the "Ask Gemini" spark icon in the top right corner of any supported Workspace app

What you can do:

Reference files directly: Type @ followed by a file name to pull information from documents in your Drive without switching apps.

Time: Responses typically appear in 2-10 seconds

September 2024 upgrade: The side panel now uses Gemini 1.5 Pro with a longer context window, enabling better understanding of complex documents and multi-turn conversations.

Best for: Quick lookups across your files, drafting assistance that understands your document context, getting unstuck when you're not sure how to structure content, and finding information buried in long email threads.

Limitations: Side panels are not available on Business Starter; they are available only on Business Standard, Business Plus, and Enterprise. The AI can only access files you have permission to view. Suggested prompts are helpful but generic; custom prompts usually yield better results.

While Gemini integrations in Google Workspace aren’t the best for productivity or quality, I think they are a good start for most people. I spend a lot of time using cut-and-paste across chatbots because of these limitations.

Business Starter is severely limited. Five Gemini prompts per day with the standard model, and no access to side panels in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, or Slides. If your organization is on Starter, most features in this guide won't be available until you upgrade.

No opt-out from the price increase. Even if you turn off Gemini features entirely, you're paying the new pricing ($14/user/month for Business Standard, up from $12). The AI is bundled whether you use it or not.

Non-deterministic outputs. The AI function in Sheets and "Help me write" in Gmail can produce different results from the same prompt. Fine for brainstorming and classification; problematic for anything requiring reproducibility.

Audio Overviews aren't transcripts. They're AI-generated discussions about your content, not word-for-word reproductions. The hosts may introduce inaccuracies or miss nuances in technical documents.

Deep Research depends on public information. It can't access paywalled content, your competitors' internal documents, or anything not indexed on the public web (unless you upload it directly).

Feature parity varies by platform. Some capabilities appear on the web before mobile, or in the Gemini app before being integrated into Workspace apps. Quick reference: Deep Research, whole presentation generation, and the AI function in Sheets are desktop/web only. Take Notes for Me and Help Me Write work on mobile. If something isn't working as expected, try a different access point.

Always verify. These are AI-generated outputs. Google's own documentation notes that responses can include incorrect content. Cross-reference anything consequential with trusted sources.

The features are live. Over 10 million businesses use Google Workspace—the question is whether your team is getting baseline value or power-user value from the same subscription.

This is where AI gets real. No sales pitches—just 4,000 builders, engineers, operators, and execs sharing how AI actually works in practice, from hands-on workshops to real-world sessions, right in the heart of RTP and Duke’s AI ecosystem.

We want to make learning AI as practical, accessible, and immediately useful as possible—so you leave knowing what to build, what to deploy, and what actually drives results.

I appreciate your support.