Gmail is finally rolling out AI-powered summaries to help users save time reading long emails. The feature is designed to provide concise recaps of email conversations, making it easier for users to stay on top of their inboxes without having to read through lengthy threads. It is part of the Gemini side panel on the web and is now rolling out to Gmail for Android and iOS, specifically for paid customers.
The screenshot of the feature shared by 9-to-5 Gmail reveals that while the button for this feature does not appear in single-thread emails, it becomes available when there are at least two responses in a conversation. This makes it particularly useful for summarising extended discussions and ensuring that key points are not missed.
Once the Summarise button is tapped, within a few seconds it generates a summary in the form of bullet points. The summary is presented in a sheet that slides up from the bottom of the screen. Although there is currently no field for entering follow-up prompts at the bottom of the sheet, this capability may be introduced with the upcoming launch of Gmail Q&A. Users can swipe down on the sheet to view recent summaries, and the user interface can be expanded to take up the entire screen for easier viewing.
This feature is rolling out starting today and will be fully available in the coming weeks. In addition to Summarise, Google is set to launch Gmail Q&A and Contextual Smart Reply next month, further enhancing the email experience.
Meanwhile, Gemini is also rolling out a new Side Panel feature on web Gmail, powered by Gemini 1.5 Pro. The AI powered Side Panel can summarise an email thread, suggest responses, help draft emails, and assist in finding specific information from emails within the inbox or from Google Drive files. Users can access these features by tapping the Gemini sparkle icon in the top-right corner, which triggers proactive prompts.
With the side panels, users can do the following:
Docs: The Gemini tool in the Docs side panel assists users with writing and refining content, summarising information, brainstorming ideas, and creating content based on other files.
Gmail: Gemini can summarise email threads, suggest responses, help draft emails, and find specific information from emails in your inbox or from Google Drive files.
Drive: In Drive, this tool can summarise one or multiple documents, provide quick facts about a project, and conduct in-depth research on a topic without requiring you to click through multiple documents.
Slides: The feature can generate new slides, create custom images, summarise presentations, and more.
Sheets: With the Sheets side panel, the tool helps track and organise data, create tables quickly, generate formulas, and provide guidance on performing specific tasks in Sheets.
Both the Summarise feature and the Gemini side panel are available for users with Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on, Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on, and Google One AI Premium. This rollout promises to make email management more efficient, freeing up time for users to focus on more critical tasks.