Much like how Google Search now gives you an AI element at the top of its results, Gmail will now give you an automatic summary of some of your emails. Gmail first introduced email summaries in June last year, but this is the first time Google has turned them on by default.
The AI summary will appear as a boxout at the top of an email under the subject line, and it’ll include up to three bullet points breaking down the whole email chain. The idea is Gemini will give you key takeaways from longer email chains so you can scan for the most important information.
Google says it won’t appear on all emails, and the company’s messaging seems to suggest the feature will be used for longer conversations or complicated topics. The summary will also be updated as new information is added meaning new replies to the chain may change the summary at the very top.
A summary from Google Gemini within Gmail (Credit: Google)
If you find Gemini hasn’t summarized an email chain when you wanted it to, you can still manually activate the feature. There will be a Summarize this email button at the top of the message.
The feature is rolling out now, but only to specific accounts and devices. It’s first coming to Android and iOS versions of Gmail. The company has yet to announce whether it’ll come to other apps or its desktop version, but we’d expect it to rollout to the full suite at a later date.
Automatic summaries are also limited to Workspace accounts, or those with a Google One AI Premium subscription. As with many Gemini features, we expect this to be an initial test and it will then likely roll out to further Gmail accounts. Currently the feature is only available in the English language.
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If you don’t want summaries appearing in your emails, you’re able to turn it off but you’ll also have to turn off all of what the company calls its “Smart Features.” To do this on desktop, head to Settings in the top right of Gmail, scroll to General, and find the section called Smart features. You’ll then find a button called Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet, which can then be toggled off.
To do this on mobile, head to the three line menu in the top left of your Gmail app followed by Settings and then General. On Android, find the option called Smart features and toggle it to off. On iPhone, you’ll find it under Data privacy and then Smart features.
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About James Peckham
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