Gmail includes more than one kind of AI help. Gemini in Gmail can draft, rewrite, and summarize messages. Smart Compose and Smart Reply are smaller automatic features that suggest sentence completions or short replies.
Does this affect you?
Use this for Gmail on the web or mobile app with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account where Gemini is enabled.
Draft and summarize emails with Gemini
Gemini is the fuller AI assistant inside Gmail.
- Open a new email or reply in Gmail.
- Look for the Gemini icon, usually a star or sparkle, near the compose toolbar.
- Choose Help me write.
- Enter a short instruction such as politely decline this meeting and suggest next week.
- Generate the draft and use refine options such as Formalize, Elaborate, or Shorten.
- Edit the message before sending.
- For long threads, open the email and choose Summarize this email if the option appears.
If the Gemini icon is missing, your account or Workspace plan may not include it, or an administrator may have disabled it.
Use Smart Compose and Smart Reply
These suggestions appear automatically.
- Smart Compose: Gmail shows predicted text in gray while you type. Press Tab to accept or keep typing to ignore it.
- Smart Reply: Gmail shows short reply buttons under some messages, such as Thanks or Sounds good. Click one to insert it.
- To turn them off, open Gmail Settings > See all settings > General, disable Smart Compose or Smart Reply, then save changes.
More control
Always check details
Gemini can write convincing email text, but it does not know missing schedule details, project status, names, dates, or promises unless the email thread or your prompt includes them.
Personal and Workspace controls differ
Personal Gmail users can review Gemini Apps Activity and related permissions in their Google Account. Workspace availability and controls are usually managed by an administrator.
Edit tone for real relationships
Help me write often defaults to neutral formality. For close coworkers, friends, or customers who know your usual voice, shorten and soften the draft manually.
Check privacy settings for sensitive email
Google states Workspace business data has different protections from personal-account interactions. Review your specific account settings before using AI on sensitive mail.
Sources
- Google Help – Write emails with Gemini in Gmail (2026)
- Google Help – Use Smart Compose in Gmail (2025)
- Google Help – Turn Gemini for Workspace on or off (2026)