There’s such an abundance of apps that can be connected to most of the AI tools you regularly use.
With ChatGPT, its library of plugins covers the gamut of helping one tackle tasks aimed at productivity, creativity, developer tools, business & operations and more. Claude and Perplexity offer their own collection of “Connectors” that incorporate the direct usage of third-party tools that make your personal and professional life more manageable.
I’ve already experimented with my fair share of those plugins and Connectors—they’ve all proven to me that being able to create a music playlist based on how I’m feeling, find the sort of podcasts that appeal to my hobbies & interests and check if an email is a scam are just a sample size of the great things they can do. In the case of Google Gemini, I hold it in high regard among today’s AI tools since it's directly accessible as a side panel within Google Workspace. And I love how you connect your Workspace account to the Gemini app to accomplish tasks in a quicker, more efficient manner.
With these seven prompts, I’ve built a system that allows me to make the most of Gemini’s Workspace collaboration and be all the more productive for it.
Gemini is now a central part of my Google Workspace activities
Connecting your Google Workspace apps to Gemini is as simple as signing into your Google account, heading into your “Settings” in Gemini (it’s the gear icon at the bottom left of the screen next to your account name) and clicking on “Activity” to make sure the “Keep Activity” toggle is turned on. Then go back to your Settings, select “Connected Apps” and toggle on the option for connecting your Google Workspace apps.
With Gemini’s help, I generated 7 prompts that handle all manner of tasks I present it with across Gmail and Google Docs. And most times, I click on the neon-colored Gemini icon across both apps to open its sidebar and do my prompting from there.
Other times, I access my Gmail and Docs directly through the Gemini app by using the “@” sign to mention specific emails and documents:
- The Inbox Tamer (Gmail): Summarize this email thread into three to five short bullet points.
- The Unread Inbox Triage (Gmail): Summarize my unread emails over the last [timeframe]. Give me a bulleted list of the core updates and flag any direct questions or urgent action items I need to handle today.
- The Thread Decoder (Gmail): Review the long email thread in @Gmail with the subject "[subject line]". Give me a bulleted summary of the final consensus, and list out any remaining open questions.
- The Cross-Referencing Meeting Prep (Gmail and Docs): Look at the meeting agenda in @Docs titled "[name of document]". Then, check @Gmail for any recent updates from [colleague's name] about this project. What outstanding issues do I need to bring up in the meeting?
- The Meeting Prepper (Docs): Give me a briefing for my meeting today by summarizing the key points from this document and tell me the top questions I should be prepared to answer.
- The Brain-Dump to Structured Outline (Gmail): Take the rough notes from my email draft titled "[draft name]" in @Gmail and turn them into a structured outline for a project brief. Use clear headings for Objectives, Deliverables, and Next Steps.
- The Brutal Editor (Gemini): I need to send an email to [recipient name]. I've drafted it here: [paste draft]. Edit this to be 50% shorter, keeping only the essential information and a clear call to action. Remove conversational filler like 'I hope this finds you well.'
The takeaway
Gemini comes in clutch during those moments when I need a bit of clarification about my next assignment, meeting and actions to take from an important set of emails. It took me a while to get used to seeing that bright Gemini icon sitting atop my Gmail and Docs. But after giving Google’s AI tool an assortment of tasks, it turned out to be more of a reliable assistant than I expected. Applying those aforementioned Gemini prompts to your Gmail- and Docs-related duties should also prove equally beneficial.
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