One of the most powerful features of Google Workspace Studio is that you can easily incorporate Gemini into your flows. In a flow, Gemini can help automatically analyze, write, research, or even determine if a flow should run at all. But it can be hard to know which step is best for your use case. This page covers:
If you're signed in with a school account and are under 18, you can’t use any AI features in Workspace Studio. If a flow containing AI steps is shared with you, those steps will be removed when you open the flow.
How to use AI steps
No matter which AI step you use, here are 4 keys to success:
- Provide context in your request. Gemini doesn’t know about the other steps in your flow. Prompts like “Write a professional reply to the email” won’t work because Gemini doesn’t know which email you mean.
- Reference data from earlier steps and specific files: For AI steps with open prompts, such as 'Ask Gemini' and 'Decide', add context to your prompt to get better results. You can add variables from earlier steps, links to specific Drive files, or other websites. Learn more about prompt best practices .
- Allow Google Workspace data sources: By default, Gemini can reference the web, as well as all content that you can access in Google Workspace and connected integrations. To prevent Gemini from accessing your organization's data, choose Web only. Learn more about Gemini sources .
- Access Gemini’s response by adding a variable in a later step. The response from Gemini or a Gem is available as a variable associated with the AI-powered step. You can add in later steps in your flow to use it in a message, a document, a sheet, or another request to Gemini.
- Use more than one AI step in a flow. Pass information from one AI step to another with variables. For example, you could use the Sales pitch ideatorGem in Ask a Gemto analyze a form response, use an Extractstep find any questions in an open-ended response, use a Ask Geministep draft an email message using the Gem response and extracted questions for additional context, and use an Ask Geministep to create a subject line for your message.
- Use AI action steps when appropriate.Though you can use Ask Gemini for almost all types of requests, Workspace Studio has AI steps that are optimized for certain actions, such as extracting information from text, summarizing ideas and insights, or writing text for specific scenarios. Learn more about AI action steps .
General AI steps
Use these fundamental agentic steps the same as you do in Gemini in Workspace.
Best for when you have general inquiriesor text generation needs.
For example:
- Do a quick web search on the company of a person who submitted a form or contacted you.
- Summarize the state of a project based on the latest meeting notes and tracking spreadsheet.
- Write a poem about the importance of updating a meeting agenda to send to attendees.
Tip:For common drafting, summarizing, and extracting tasks, you can save time crafting prompts by using AI action steps instead. Learn more about AI action steps .
Ask a Gem
When you need the agentic expertise of a Gem, either pre-built or one of your own.
For example:
- Have the Sales pitch ideatorGem generate ideas based on a customer interest form.
- Use a custom Gem that’s grounded in your files to generate the content you need based on a request from a stakeholder.
Control which sources Gemini can use
In the Ask Geminiand Ask a Gemsteps, you can choose which sources Gemini can use to generate a response. You can choose from:
- Web search to allow Gemini to search the web
- Workspace for Workspace content you can access.
By default, Gemini is allowed to use the web, as well as any Workspace and connected integration data that you can access. That content includes:
- Your Gmail and Chat messages
- Files you own or that are shared with you in Drive
- Your calendar
- Content from any linked integrations, such as Asana projects, Mailchimp audiences, and Salesforce
To prevent unintentional sharing of your organization's data, you should only choose this option for flows where you or trusted recipients get the response from Gemini. For flows that share the response from Gemini externally, review the response in your draft or protected document before you share it manually.
AI action steps
These specialized steps have optimized requests built-in and help you provide context for best results. In some cases, they can do things that Gemini or a Gem can’t do yet.
Decide
When you want your flow to run only when certain subjective or complex conditionsare met.
For example:
- Email messages with an angry tone
- Files added to a folder that are about a certain topic
- Form responses with positive feedback
Decide lets you specify many conditions at once, giving you sophisticated control on your flow’s behavior.
Extract
When you want to pull out specific detailsor information from text.
For example:
- Order number
- Phone number
- Physical address
- Action items
Summarize
When you want to get the highlightsfrom text.
For example:
- An email thread
- Insights from a sheet
- Contents of doc
- A custom request
With the predefined options, you only need to provide the content to summarize. You can optionally give Gemini more instructions about what you want in the summary or its format.
Recap unread emails
Ask Gemini can’t tell if a message is read or unread. Instead, use this step to get a summary of your unread emails from a specific time frame.
This is a great way to assess and prioritize requests that you get through Gmail.
