Gemini in Google Drive can now dig through your Gmail for better answers

There’s no questioning that Google is bullish on Gemini and wants it to be part of every other product. One of the apps that it proposes benefits hugely from the deep integration of AI is Drive. Gemini in Drive helps users by searching through different files and folders, renaming or organizing them, or answering questions specific to files or folders by peeking inside them. This information is displayed in panels that open on the side of the file or folder preview.

In addition to file or folder-specific side panels, Google also offers a conversational interface in Google Drive, called “Ask Gemini,” where you can ask the AI questions about a broader range of files. To make results more accurate or limit them to a smaller section, you can choose specific files or folders stored in your Drive as sources, just like you would in NotebookLM. And now, you can also include email threads for better context.

Google recently announced that users can now include Gmail threads as sources for conversations in Drive. That gives users the power to work on or use documents stored in Drive while using emails for additional context to improve the chatbot’s output.

Imagine you’re planning a trip and want Drive to give you an itinerary based on any travel plans or brochures already stored in your Drive. Along with those brochures, you can now also fetch emails confirming your travel plans, flight or hotel bookings, or other similarly useful information.

How to use Gmail with Ask Gemini in Drive

To get started, click the Gemini button in the top-right corner of Drive, which opens a chat interface. On the left of the screen, you’ll also notice a sidebar open up, where you will have the option to add specific sources for your chat.

Click the Add button in the sidebar, where you will now also see the option to include Gmail threads. Once you click the Add from Gmail option, a search bar will pop up where you can look for specific threads by entering a keyword. You can select multiple sources, then click the Add button in the bottom-right corner to include these threads as sources.

Gmail support for Ask Gemini in Drive is rolling out to Google Workspace users and paying Google AI Pro or Ultra subscribers. The features are also limited to Drive’s desktop version, and have yet to arrive on mobile apps.