Gmail: AI-Powered Email

Email is where most knowledge workers spend 2-3 hours per day. Gemini in Gmail can cut that dramatically — if you know how to use it.

This lesson covers every AI feature in Gmail: drafting emails from prompts, summarizing long threads, polishing your writing, and using smart replies that actually save time.

Help Me Write: Draft Emails from Prompts

The most powerful Gmail AI feature. Here’s how it works:

1. Click Compose to start a new email (or reply to an existing one)
2. Click the pencil icon (✏️) that says “Help me write”
3. Type a prompt describing what you want
4. Review the draft, edit as needed, insert into your email

Prompts That Work

Prompt: “Write a polite follow-up to Sarah Chen about the Q3 marketing proposal. We sent it 5 days ago. Ask if she has questions and suggest a 30-minute call this week.”

Result: A professional, specific email ready for minor personalization.

Prompt: “Decline this meeting invitation diplomatically. I have a conflicting deadline. Suggest rescheduling next week and offer to send written feedback instead.”

Result: A tactful decline that maintains the relationship.

Prompt: “Thank the team for launching the new feature on time. Highlight the 48-hour turnaround on the final bug fix. Keep it under 150 words and enthusiastic.”

Result: A warm, specific recognition email.

✅ Quick Check: You need to write a cold outreach email to a potential partner. Your prompt is: “Write an email.” What’s missing? (Answer: Everything that makes the email useful: who the recipient is, what your company does, what you’re proposing, why they should care, the desired action, and the appropriate tone. Better: “Write a short intro email to the VP of Engineering at DataCorp. We make API testing tools. Propose a pilot program. Mention our 99.9% uptime and that 3 competitors use us. Keep it under 120 words, professional but personable.”)

Refine: Polish Existing Drafts

Already have a draft but it needs work? Select your text and use the refine options:

Pro tip: Write a rough draft with your thoughts, then use “Formalize” to polish it. This is often faster than prompting from scratch because your content is already there — Gemini just improves the packaging.

Email Summarization

Long email threads are Gmail’s biggest time sink. Gemini summarizes them:

1. Open a long email thread
2. Look for the summary card at the top of the thread
3. Read the 3-5 sentence summary

For threads without an automatic summary, open the Gemini side panel and type: “Summarize this email thread. List the key decisions and action items.”

When to trust summaries:

• Getting the general topic and tone of a thread you missed ✅
• Understanding who said what on a complex issue ⚠️ (verify attributions)
• Extracting specific numbers, dates, or commitments ❌ (check the original)

Suggested Replies

Gemini generates context-aware reply suggestions at the bottom of emails. These are more sophisticated than the old Smart Reply — they understand the full conversation context.

Best for:

• Quick acknowledgments (“Thanks, I’ll review this by Friday”)
• Simple approvals (“Looks good, let’s proceed”)
• Brief questions (“Can you share the updated timeline?”)

Not great for:

• Nuanced negotiations
• Sensitive topics
• Anything requiring your personal voice

✅ Quick Check: You receive a 15-message thread about a budget dispute between two departments. Gemini’s suggested reply is “Sounds good!” Is this appropriate? (Answer: Almost certainly not. Budget disputes require nuance, context, and often diplomacy. Suggested replies work for simple, low-stakes messages. For complex situations, use “Help me write” with a detailed prompt, or write it yourself. The risk of “Sounds good!” in a budget dispute: it might seem dismissive or appear to approve something you didn’t intend to approve.)

Advanced Gmail Prompting

Reference Files with @

In the compose window, type @ to reference Google Drive files. Gemini can read them and incorporate details:

“Draft an email to the finance team summarizing @Q3-Revenue-Report.pdf. Highlight the top-line revenue, month-over-month growth, and the three segments that exceeded targets.”

Chain Prompts for Complex Emails

Start broad, then refine:

1. “Draft a project kickoff email for the website redesign”
2. “Add a section about the timeline: discovery in March, design in April, development May-June, launch July 1”
3. “Shorten the intro and make the tone more energetic”

Each refinement builds on the previous version.

Templates for Recurring Emails

If you send the same type of email often, save your prompts:

• Weekly update: “Draft my weekly team update. Format: What was accomplished, what’s in progress, blockers, next week priorities.”
• Meeting request: “Request a 30-minute meeting with [name] about [topic]. Suggest 3 time slots this week.”
• Project status: “Summarize the current status of [project]. Include timeline, budget, and risks.”

Practice Exercise

1. Open Gmail and compose a new email
2. Use “Help me write” to draft a professional follow-up email
3. Try the Refine options: Formalize, then Shorten
4. Open a long email thread and read Gemini’s summary (or ask for one in the side panel)
5. Reply to any email using a Suggested Reply — then compare it to what you’d actually write

Key Takeaways

• “Help me write” drafts full emails from your prompts — the more specific, the better
• Refine options (Formalize, Elaborate, Shorten) polish existing drafts in one click
• Email summaries save time on long threads but need verification for specific details
• Suggested Replies work for simple responses; complex situations need manual prompting
• Use @ to reference Drive files for context-rich email drafts
• Always review AI-generated emails before sending — check facts, tone, and your personal voice

Up Next

In the next lesson, you’ll move from email to documents. Google Docs’ AI features can generate entire reports, rewrite sections for different audiences, and help you overcome writer’s block.