Google has announced a new set of AI-powered features for four of its core productivity apps: Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive. The additions expand what Gemini, Google’s AI system, can do inside these tools by connecting it to information stored in a user’s Gmail, Google Chat, and Drive files.
The new features are available in beta to Google AI Ultra and Pro subscribers. Business customers enrolled in Google’s Gemini Alpha program also have access. All features launch in English only, with Docs, Sheets, and Slides available globally, while the new Drive features are limited to users in the United States.
What each app can now do
In Docs, a new “Help me create” tool lets users describe what they want, and Gemini assembles a formatted first draft by pulling relevant information from connected sources. A user could, for example, ask Gemini to draft a newsletter using notes from a previous meeting and a list of upcoming events. Once a draft exists, a separate “Help me write” tool allows targeted edits to specific sections without regenerating the whole document. Two additional tools, “Match writing style” and “Match doc format,” help standardize tone and layout — useful when multiple people have contributed to a single document, or when a user wants to mirror the structure of an existing template.
In Sheets, users can now describe an entire spreadsheet in plain language and have Gemini build it from scratch, drawing on data from emails, files, and the web. A feature called “Fill with Gemini” auto-populates table cells with categorized or summarized data. According to Google, this method is nine times faster than manual entry for tasks involving 100 cells, based on a 95-participant study. Google also says Gemini in Sheets achieved a 70.48 percent success rate on the SpreadsheetBench dataset, a benchmark used to evaluate spreadsheet AI performance.
In Slides, Gemini can now generate individual slides that match the visual style of an existing deck. Users can then ask for adjustments in plain language, such as changing colors or simplifying a layout.
In Drive, a new “AI Overview” feature appears at the top of search results and summarizes relevant content from a user’s files, including citations, without requiring the user to open individual documents. A separate “Ask Gemini in Drive” feature allows more detailed queries across documents, emails, calendar entries, and the web.
Google states that all new features are built with the same data protection standards as the rest of Google Workspace, meaning user data remains private and under the account holder’s control.
Sources: Google Blog, Google Workspace Blog, TechCrunch
