How to Use Gemini in Google Docs to Write and Edit

The short version

Gemini in Docs edits your document in place, as suggestions you can accept or reject. Instead of copying text into a chat and back, you tell it what to change and review each edit like a colleague’s.

Step by step

Edit with a prompt

1. Open a document in Google Docs.
2. Click Gemini in the bar at the bottom (hover over the bottom to show it if it’s minimized).
3. Describe the change. Name a section if you want to target it: “Add evidence to my Research section.”
4. Review the suggestions in the document. Click Accept suggestion for each one, or Accept all / Reject all.

Refine selected text

1. Select a paragraph.
2. On the floating bar, click Refine.
3. Choose Rephrase or Shorten, or More for Elaborate, More formal, More casual, Bulletize or Summarize.

Use your own files as sources

In the Gemini bar, click Sources > Add from Drive or other location, or type @ and pick a file. Then ask, for example, “Add a section on Q3 goals using the Annual Strategy file.”

Keep it open

Click Switch to side panel to keep Gemini open with more room for answers.

Prompts to copy

Tighten a draft:

Cut this document by about a third without losing any facts, dates or numbers.
Keep my headings.

Restructure:

Convert the bulleted list in the "To do" section into a three-column table:
task, owner, due date.

Update from another file:

Update the timeline in this document based on @Project meeting notes from last week.
Mark anything that changed.

Get a critique first:

Act as a demanding editor. Suggest the five places where my argument is weakest.
Don't rewrite yet.

Example

You have: a two-page proposal written in a hurry.

You do: ask “Suggest places where I can better defend my argument,” accept the two suggestions you agree with, then select the conclusion and click Refine > Shorten. Finally, check every number Gemini touched against your source.

Mistakes to avoid

• Clicking Accept all without reading. Suggestions can change meaning, not just wording.
• Letting it invent evidence. If you ask for “evidence”, point it to your files with @, or check every fact it adds.
• Over-editing your voice. Repeated Rephrase passes flatten your style. Edit once, then stop.
• Expecting it on a free account. Docs features need an eligible plan; Google also offers some through its Workspace Experiments tester program.

Good to know

Google’s Workspace Experiments program can add a Writing style option under Tools in the Gemini bar that copies the tone of another document in your Drive. If you don’t have a plan, you can draft in the Gemini app’s Canvas and click Export to Docs; see use Gemini Canvas.

Related: use Gemini in Google Sheets and use Gemini in Gmail.