Google Introduces New Gemini AI Features to Enhance Gmail Experience

Gmail's 'Help Me Write' Feature Can Now Polish Up Your Emails With AI

If you (or your job) pays for Gemini, you can let AI polish your emails. Google is continuing its push to help you draft and rewrite your emails with AI -- whether or not that's actually useful. These features, powered by Gemini, are combined under the umbrella of the "Help me write" shortcut, and collectively act as an AI email assistant. Since last August, "Help me write" has been available to rewrite a message to be more formal, add more details if you think it needs more elaboration, or shorten up the draft if it feels too lengthy. Now, Google is adding a new "Polish" option to the mix: The idea is to take whatever you've written, whether that be a fully-formed email or a rough draft, and, well, polish it up into an email you hopefully feel comfortable sending. It seems Polish's default is to make the writing seem more formal, so if you prefer a more casual tone, you may need to ask Gemini to rewrite it for you again. (Or, maybe, write the email yourself?) This feature works on both the mobile versions of Gmail as well as on the web. Google is also updating the "Help me write" shortcut on iOS and Android. Now, when you write at least 12 words in your email draft, you'll see a new "Refine my draft" option appear on-screen. If you swipe on it, you'll pull up these AI rewriting features, including Polish, Formalize, Elaborate, Shorten, and Write a new draft. These features, and "Help me write" in general, aren't available for all Gmail users. To try them, you need to be subscribed to Google One's AI Premium plan, which comes with Gemini Advanced. Alternatively, if your school enrolls in the Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on, or your company signs up for the Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on, you'll see these options appear in Gmail. It's the same for other Gemini features in Workspace, like having Gemini appear in your sidebar. While these features might entice some to pay extra for the company's premium Google One plan, I don't necessarily see the appeal. Sure, if you write a lot of emails, the work may get tedious. But does outsourcing rewriting and editing efforts to AI really save you that much time? After typing out some notes, swiping through the options, and choosing "Polish," you probably could have written the email yourself. (And it wouldn't sound like a bot wrote it, either.)

Gmail can now literally 'polish' that turd of an email draft

Announced by Google on Tuesday in a blog post, the new "Polish" feature for Gmail uses the company's Gemini AI to do exactly that to your draft. It's an expansion of the AI-powered "Help me write" feature launched in May last year for Google Docs and Gmail. The "Polish" feature is available through a "Refine my draft" shortcut now appearing within email drafts on both desktop and mobile Android and iOS devices. But it's only available for people paying for Gemini for Google Workspace or Google One AI Premium. Google says the feature will be switched on by default for these users. When writing an email in Gmail, you can select the "Refine my draft" option to do one of the following with your trash words: Formalize, Elaborate, Shorten, and now, Polish. The Polish option lets you write the email as rough notes, then transforms it into a proper, formal email that another human will hopefully be able to understand. According to Google, this is how the feature works: "When 12+ words are present in an email draft, the 'Refine my draft' shortcut will be shown below the email content to indicate that there are options available to Polish, Formalize, Elaborate, or Shorten your draft, or Write a new draft. The menu can be triggered simply by swiping right on 'Refine my draft.'" It's one of the few things that's new in Gemini, with only a few announcements about Google's AI at the company's "Made by Google" event last week -- it was really about the new Pixel phones. However, Google did announce several Gemini-powered Gmail updates including tools to summarize your emails for you, Google Meet highlights, and the ability to ask Gemini questions about your inbox. At the event, Google also announced Gemini Live, its AI chatbot that Mashable tech editor Kim Gedeon dubbed "the biggest threat to ChatGPT right now."

Gemini in Gmail can now help polish up your drafts

Google is upgrading its Gemini writing tools in Gmail to help you polish drafts that you've already written. Now, among other Gemini-powered "Help me write" options like Formalize and Elaborate, you can tap "Polish" to refine your emails, Google says in a blog post. The company has also added shortcuts that appear in the body of your emails on Android and iOS, making it more obvious that there are AI writing tools to use. The tools are available to people who pay for Google One AI Premium accounts or who have paid for Google's Gemini add-on for Workspace. If that's you, when you open an empty draft, you'll see a "Help me write" shortcut appear that you can tap to have Gemini draft text for you. Once you have 12 or more words in a draft -- AI-written or not -- you should see a new "Refine my draft" shortcut, shown in grey letters below the words. Swipe your thumb across the text and you'll be given the choice to Polish, Formalize, Elaborate, or Shorten, or to have Gemini just write a whole new draft for you. (And if the "Refine my draft" shortcut doesn't appear, tapping the pencil icon does the same thing.)

Google Gemini AI Adds New Features for Polishing Emails

Google already had a Help Me Write feature for generative AI email creation, but the company has now adjusted it. You could choose from options like Formalize, Elaborate and Shorten to tweak your messages, and now there's also a Polish option for web and mobile that refines the message, even taking rough notes from a draft document and turning them into a formal message for you to review. On mobile, the Help Me Write shortcut will now appear in the body of your email. Select it to unlock access to the feature. Once 12 or more words are in your draft, you should see the Refine My Draft shortcut, and then you can choose from the Shorten, Formalize, Elaborate or Polish options. These options are only available if you've got Google Workspace with the Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on, the Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on or Google One AI Premium. If you are one of those customers, the feature is turned on by default. But watch where you're using the AI abilities: they may be fine for a business email, but more personal notes require a more personal touch. Google was recently called out for a TV commercial it ran during the Paris Olympics in which a dad claimed his daughter used AI to write a note to her favorite Olympic athlete. Many viewers rightly pointed out that taking the charm out of a kid's honest feelings and handing what could have been a touching letter over to AI was a cringeworthy idea. "I don't know about you, but I'd call that a massive parental fail," writes CNET's Connie Guglielmo in a commentary. "The whole reason we sometimes gush over fan letters written by kids to their heroes is that the kids produce such charming, honest -- and imperfect -- homages in their heartfelt, handwritten letters and quaint crayon drawings. Do we really want to encourage little kids to stop writing and drawing on their own because it has to be 'just right,' which apparently only an AI can produce?" Google told Guglielmo that while the ad tested well before airing -- though it didn't say with who -- the negative feedback led the company to pull it from its Olympics rotation.

Google Gemini can now write better emails than you -- here's how to use it

Help Me Write is an AI feature powered by Google Gemini that originally appeared on Gmail and offered suggestions on how to complete sentences. It was then expanded to Chrome earlier this year and includes writing suggestions and rewrites. It appears that more updates are coming for certain Gmail users. In a new Workspace Updates Blog post, Google announced two new features, the first is a new option for Help Me Write that polishes email drafts on web and mobile devices. When using Gemini to refine emails, users pick from three options: Formalize, Elaborate and Shorten. These new options can be added to drafts to help perfect your email and save you time. For instance, you could enter a rough draft of what you want to say, and then Gemini can turn it into a formal draft with a single click. The second new feature focuses on two new shortcuts for Help Me Write and Refine My Draft. On mobile, when an email draft is empty, the Help Me Write option now appears in the body of the email and will expand when tapped. Meanwhile, the Refine My Draft shortcut will appear when at least 12 words are in an email draft and will be located below the email content. Users can select the option by swiping on the screen and will be able to Polish, Formalize, Elaborate or Shorten their draft, or easily compose and Write a new draft. It should be noted that these options will be on by default, and there is currently no Admin control for the feature. However, all of these features are currently available on web browsers, Android and iOS for Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on, Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on and users with the Google One AI premium. These new features will help Gmail to maintain its place as our top email service. Hopefully, we will see some free variations appear for customers soon, unless Google plans to keep it locked behind subscriptions. In the meantime, check out our breakdown for the Made by Google event to see all the new products and software coming soon, including the new Pixel 9.

Gmail can now help you polish your drafts with a tap

These new features are widely available for select Google Workspace subscribers. Google rolled out significant upgrades for Gmail's Help me write feature earlier this year, giving users the ability to dictate text prompts to easily draft an email. The company also previewed a new "Polish" feature that could fix drafts to create a structured email at the touch of a button. This feature is now rolling out to users along with new Help me write and Refine my draft shortcuts for Gmail on Android and iOS. Google announced the rollout in a recent Workspace Updates blog, revealing that the new Polish option will be available as part of Help me write's Refine my draft feature on Gmail for mobile and web. With this feature, you'll be able to enter rough notes into a draft and Gemini will "turn the content into a completely formal draft, ready for you to review in one click." In addition, Gmail users on Android and iOS should also see a new Help me write shortcut when an email draft is empty. This shortcut will launch the full Help me write experience. When you enter 12 or more words in a draft, you'll see a Refine my draft shortcut instead. You can swipe on this shortcut to access all the Refine my draft tools, including Polish, Formalise, Elaborate, Shorten, and Write a draft. Help me write's new Polish feature is widely rolling out on Gmail for the web, Android, and iOS, while the Help me write and Refine my draft shortcuts are available on Gmail for Android and iOS. However, these features are currently limited to Google Workspace subscribers with a Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on, Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on, or Google One AI Premium.

Help me write gets a new shortcut in the Gmail app as Gemini learns to refine your drafts

Summary Gmail's Help me write feature now includes a new Polish tool for refining drafts in a single click. Refine my draft shortcut now appears below your draft content if there are at least 12+ words composed. Only available for Google Workspace customers with specific add-ons or the Google One AI Premium plan . Google's Help me write, a tool that essentially started out as an AI suggestion feature for Gmail to help you complete common sentences, expanded to Chrome earlier this year and has evolved into a robust writing companion. Powered by Gemini, the tool's functionality includes writing suggestions and rewrites, with more significant updates rolling out now that will enhance its ability to polish and refine your email drafts. Related Google Chrome is rolling out Help me write The generative AI writing feature arrives right on schedule In a new Workspace Updates blog post, the Mountain View, California-based tech giant announced two new features for Help me write: An option that polishes email drafts on the web and mobile devices. Help me write and Refine my draft shortcuts on Android and iOS devices. Designed to streamline the email typing experience on Gmail, the Refine my draft tool formerly offered Formalize, Elaborate, Shorten, and I'm Feeling Lucky options, with the latter, which updated your draft with "creative details," now seemingly removed. Instead, users on the web and mobile will now see a new Polish tool, which Google says can turn your rough notes into a "completely formal draft, ready for you to review in one click." Close The Refine my draft shortcut will now appear below your email content, provided that there are at least 12+ words in your draft. New shortcut for Help me write Elsewhere, Gmail users will now also see the Help me write shortcut in the body of the email when the draft is empty, alongside a shortcut right beside the 'attach' icon. These shortcuts are available on both Android and iOS (not on the web), and tapping them triggers the full Help me write experience to surface. It's worth noting that the features are only available to Google Workspace customers with either a Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on, a Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on, or the Google One AI Premium plan. Although Google said that these features are "available now," we've only gained access to the Help me write shortcut, with the Refine my draft shortcut still awaited. Also worth noting is that these features will be enabled by default, with no option for account admins or end users to disable them. Related Gmail: What is Help Me Write and how do I use it? Gmail's Help Me Write feature is an AI composer that could help your email strategy

Gmail's new Polish feature transforms rough notes into full draft - Times of India

Google is rolling out two new updates to the 'Help me write' feature of Gmail. These updates include a new 'Polish' option and 'Help me write' and 'Refine my draft' shortcuts on the Gmail mobile apps for Android and iOS. Announcing the new update via a Workspace blog post, Google said "Building upon our popular Help me write feature in Gmail and the recent launch of the summarization feature in the Gmail mobile app, we're excited to introduce two new Gemini in Gmail updates to help you draft emails even faster". How Gmail new features will help users The new 'polish' option for the 'Help me write' feature will take a rough draft email and turn it into a more refined, polished version with just one click. It will be available on both web and mobile versions of Gmail. In addition, the new shortcuts for 'Help me write' and 'Refine my draft' will appear in the body of the email when an email draft is empty. Tapping on it will open the full Help me write experience. On the other hand, when 12+ words are present in an email draft, the "Refine my draft" shortcut will be shown below the email content to indicate that there are options available to Polish, Formalize, Elaborate, or Shorten your draft, or Write a new draft. These shortcuts will be available for both Android and iOS users. These new features will be ON by default for both Admins and end users. There is no admin control nor they can disabled by end users, Google said. The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.