Google Workspace Changes

Custom instructions for Gemini in Workspace are now available in Drive, Chat, and the side panel of Slides, Sheets, and Gmail.

Building on the earlier introduction of custom instructions for Gemini in Google Docs, this update expands the feature to additional Workspace surfaces including Ask Gemini in Drive, Ask Gemini in Chat, and the Gemini side panel in Gmail, Sheets, and Slides. Users can set persistent preferences that Gemini respects across these apps, ensuring a consistent, personalized experience without needing to repeat instructions in every conversation.

Gemini app now generates interactive simulations and models from user prompts.

Users can ask Gemini to show or visualize complex concepts, and the app will produce interactive visualizations such as 3D models, tables, grids, and simulations that can be rotated, zoomed, and explored directly within the chat. The feature is enabled by default for all organizations with Gemini turned on, with no end‑user setting required.

Admins can now view Google Chat usage metrics in the Gemini reports dashboard at organization and user levels.

Admins can now access Google Chat usage metrics in the Gemini reports dashboard, allowing them to track active Gemini users in Google Chat, analyze usage trends, and identify who benefits most from Gemini-powered summarization and generation features at the organization level. At the user level, admins can view the level of Gemini adoption for specific users who actively engage with the app. This launch also updates a few Gemini summarization interactions in Chat to 'Active' as they are initiated by the user, which may result in updated metrics for active users and overall Chat usage.

Users can now copy entire notebooks in Gemini Notebook, including sources and studio items, when they have copy permission.

Gemini Notebook users can copy entire notebooks, including all associated sources and studio items, provided they have copy permission for the original notebook. This enables building upon shared templates or work, such as a student copying a teacher's notebook to add personal notes and generate customized quizzes or flashcards. Copied notebooks include Drive-based sources (if the copier has access) and studio content like Audio Overviews, Video Overviews, Study Guides, Flashcards, Quizzes, Slide Decks, artifact generation prompts, and custom chat configurations. Personal chat history and user-generated notes are not transferred, and the copy does not sync with the original notebook. Admins have no specific controls; end users manage copying permissions via notebook sharing settings. The feature is available immediately for both Rapid and Scheduled Release domains.

Workspace Studio now offers an 'Add a source to Gemini Notebook' step that automatically adds text, Drive file links, or YouTube/web URLs as sources to Gemini Notebooks.

Previously, keeping Gemini Notebooks up to date required manually adding sources one by one. The new integration in Workspace Studio lets you automate this process as part of a recurring workflow using the 'Add a source to Gemini Notebook' step, which can ingest text, links to Drive files, or generic YouTube or web URLs. Admins can enable the step by default if Gemini for Google Workspace steps are allowed, and end users can try it in Google Workspace Studio. The feature is rolling out gradually over up to 15 business days starting August 6, 2026 for both Rapid and Scheduled Release domains, and is available for Business Starter/Standard/Plus, Enterprise Standard/Plus, Education Fundamentals/Standard/Plus, plus relevant add-ons.

Gemini Alpha program renamed to Gemini Beta; branding change only with no functional impact.

Google Workspace is updating the name of the Gemini Alpha program to 'Gemini Beta' to better reflect the scale and quality of features in this launch stage. This is solely a branding change; admin controls, data privacy, pricing, and Terms of Service remain unchanged. The update rolls out gradually over up to 15 days starting July 22, 2026 for both Rapid and Scheduled Release domains.

Data regions support is now available for the Gemini app.

The Gemini app now adheres to organization data regionalization requirements, allowing administrators to configure controls for EU and US storage and processing. These settings can be applied at the organizational unit (OU) level, helping customers meet internal, legal, regulatory, and data sovereignty requirements by controlling the geographical location of their data at rest.

Introduction of the Google Classroom app in Gemini for educators and students.

Gemini now integrates with Google Classroom, allowing educators to use class context to draft communications, create differentiated assignments, and gain insights into student progress. Students aged 18 and older can also use the Classroom app in Gemini to organize assignments, create study plans, and track announcements. The integration can be accessed automatically by Gemini or explicitly by typing '@Classroom'.

New administrator controls for temporary chats and conversation deletion in the Gemini app.

Google is introducing two new administrator controls for the Gemini app (gemini.google.com) that allow end users to manage their own chat activity. Admins can now configure whether users can use temporary chats, which are not saved to history, and whether they can delete individual chats or their entire conversation history. These settings are enabled by default and can be managed at the domain, OU, or group level, while Google Vault retention rules will still be honored if configured.

Workspace users can now share Gemini chats, canvases, and generated media securely via Google Drive.

Google is introducing the ability for Workspace users on the web to share snapshots of their Gemini chats, canvases, and generated media. This feature utilizes the existing Google Drive sharing interface and is governed by the organization's Drive sharing policies, enabling teams to collaborate on AI workflows and scale AI competency across the organization.

Gemini LTI™ is now available for Moodle.

Gemini LTI™ brings Google AI tools, including the Gemini app and NotebookLM, directly into Moodle. This integration enables students and teachers to access in-the-moment assistance, course-specific guidance, and audio overviews of materials to enhance the teaching and learning experience.

Gemini can now generate formatted files like Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, PDFs, and Microsoft Office files directly from prompts.

Gemini now allows users to transform conversational prompts directly into thoughtfully formatted files, including Google Workspace files (Docs, Sheets, Slides), PDFs, Microsoft Word (.docx), Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), CSV, LaTeX, Plain Text, Rich Text Format, and Markdown. This feature reduces the need for copying and pasting by enabling the creation of functional, downloadable documents directly within the Gemini app.

Introducing Workspace Intelligence to ground Gemini in real-time Workspace data with admin controls.

Google has introduced Workspace Intelligence, an underlying AI system that provides Gemini with a real-time understanding of a user's work across Gmail, Chat, Calendar, and Drive (including Docs, Sheets, and Slides). This grounding eliminates the need for users to manually provide context for every query. Administrators can manage which data sources Workspace Intelligence can access via new settings in the Admin console, though users can still manually add specific files to prompts even if a general data source is disabled.

Gemini app now available as a native desktop experience on macOS

The Gemini app is now available for macOS as a native desktop experience, designed to integrate directly into the user's workflow. It can be accessed quickly with a keyboard shortcut (Option + Space), enabling users to get immediate assistance without losing focus. The new native experience also allows users to share their screen with Gemini to gain context-aware help, such as summarizing complex charts, and is available for Gemini users on macOS versions 15 and up globally. This feature is ON by default for organizations with Gemini enabled, with controls managed via Generative AI settings in the Workspace Admin console.

Google launches a native Gemini app for macOS.

Google has introduced a native Gemini app for macOS (version 15 and up), providing a desktop experience that allows users to access AI assistance via a global keyboard shortcut (Option + Space). The app includes a feature to share active windows with Gemini for instant context, enabling users to summarize charts or get help with specific on-screen content without switching applications.