Checked by Hanny Ramzy on 24 September 2026. Drafted with AI help, then checked against our own tests and Google's help pages.
Gemini is Google’s AI assistant, built into Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet and the other Google Workspace apps. This guide shows how it does everyday office work in Malaysia: a quotation reply, a staff notice, a sales sheet total and meeting notes. It also covers Malay support, your company data and the settings.
Gemini in Gmail, the Gemini app, Gems and Gemini Notebook work on every Business plan. Gemini in Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive and Chat, Help me schedule and Meet notes need Business Standard or higher. Higher plans also get higher usage limits. Prices and the full feature table are on our Gemini for business page.
What Gemini does in each app
Gemini sits behind a star-shaped Ask Gemini icon at the top right of Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive. This is what it does in each app.
Gmail: draft a quotation email
A customer asks for a price on 20 office chairs. In your reply, type a prompt into the Help me write bar, such as “Thank Encik Faizal for his enquiry, say the quotation for 20 office chairs is attached and is valid for 30 days”. Gemini writes the draft into the email. To change it, type an instruction into Describe your change and click Polish, or choose Formalize, Friendly or Shorten.
Gemini can use details from your other emails and Drive files, so check every name, price and date before you send. On every Business plan, the Ask Gemini side panel can also summarise a long thread, suggest a full reply (English account language only) and proofread in English and Spanish. Help me schedule, which suggests meeting times, needs Business Standard or higher. Guide: Gemini in Gmail.
Docs: first drafts and summaries
In a blank Google Doc, describe what you need in the Gemini box at the bottom of the page, such as “Write a one-page notice to staff about office hours during the Deepavali holiday week”. Gemini writes a first draft, and you edit it.
In a document you already have, select text and click Refine for Rephrase, Shorten, More formal, Bulletize or Summarize. For a long tender or policy, open Ask Gemini and type “Summarise this document in five bullet points”. Your colleagues cannot see Gemini’s suggestions until you accept them. Gemini in Docs needs Business Standard or higher. Guide: Gemini in Google Docs.
Sheets: the formula you cannot remember
In Sheets, open Ask Gemini and ask for a formula in plain words, with your column names. Below, we asked for the total of the Sales (RM) column where the product is Kopi Tarik. Gemini wrote the SUMIF formula, and Insert put it in the selected cell.
Gemini in Sheets can also do these tasks:
- Build a table from a description, such as an order tracker.
- Explain or repair a formula that shows an error.
- Answer questions about your data and make a chart, in a new tab with its own copy of the data.
- Fill a column with the
=AI()function, for example to sort customer comments into positive, negative or neutral.
It works on Google Sheets files only, so save an Excel file as a Google Sheet first. Gemini in Sheets needs Business Standard or higher. Guide: Gemini in Google Sheets.
Meet: meeting notes written for you
Take notes with Gemini writes a summary of a Google Meet call into a Google Doc, with decisions and next steps. After the meeting, the organiser gets an email with a link. The Doc is saved in the organiser’s Drive, with a Quick notes tab and a Full notes tab.
The organiser needs Business Standard or higher, and Malay is not a supported meeting language yet. Tell everyone that Gemini takes notes. Meet also shows a pencil icon to all participants.
Admins must also check the Automatic note-taking setting. From 21 September 2026, Google applies it to hosted meetings with three or more guests, so Gemini can already take notes in larger meetings without a click from anyone. Guide: Take notes with Gemini.
The Gemini app, Gems and Gemini Notebook
Every Business plan also includes three tools outside the main apps:
- The Gemini app at gemini.google.com. With your work email, your company’s Workspace agreement covers it. See use the Gemini app with your work account.
- Gems, saved versions of Gemini with your own instructions, for repeat jobs such as customer replies in your company’s tone. See create and share a Gem.
- Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM), which answers questions from files you give it, with citations. See Gemini Notebook for work.
Malay language support today
This is the position as of September 2026:
- Gemini in Docs: supports Malay. Google added Malay, Mandarin and other languages to the main Docs features in July 2026. Some newer features start in English first.
- Help me write in Gmail: not in Malay yet. An English prompt with a request for a Malay reply can work, but check the result carefully.
- Suggested replies in Gmail: only when your Google Account language is English.
- Proofread in Gmail: English and Spanish only.
- Take notes with Gemini in Meet: not in Malay yet. Google supports English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish, one language per meeting. A meeting mostly in Malay can give poor notes or none.
- Gemini Notebook Audio Overviews: more than 80 languages, Malay among them.
If most of your meetings are in Malay, do not upgrade for Meet notes alone. Docs is where teams that work in Malay get the most from Gemini today.
What happens to your company data
With a work account, Google treats prompts and answers as your company’s data, under the same agreement as your Gmail and Drive. Google’s Generative AI in Google Workspace Privacy Hub sets out these commitments:
- No model training. Without your permission, Google does not let people review your prompts, files, emails and answers, and does not use them to train its AI models outside your organisation. This is in the Workspace Service Specific Terms.
- It stays in your organisation. Gemini does not share prompts or answers with other users or organisations.
- It obeys your permissions. Gemini reads only what the signed-in person can already open.
There are three limits to know:
- Personal accounts are different. A personal Gmail account obeys Google’s consumer terms, and humans can review chats there. Keep company information in the work account.
- Gemini Notebook copies files. Drive files added to a notebook are copied into Gemini Notebook, and your data region settings do not apply to that copy.
- Feedback goes to Google. If you rate an answer and include your prompt, people at Google can read it.
If a file is shared with the wrong people, correct the sharing. The full detail is in how Gemini handles your company data.
How to turn Gemini on or off
For each user, Gemini works only when Workspace smart features are on. In Gmail, go to Settings > See all settings > General. Tick Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet. Then turn on Smart features in Google Workspace under Manage Workspace smart feature settings. If Gemini is on your plan but you cannot see it, this is usually the cause.
For admins, the controls are in the Google Admin console under Generative AI. Your plan decides what you can change:
- Every Business plan: turn the Gemini app and Gemini Notebook on or off for everyone or one department, set how long Gemini chats are kept, and set a default for smart features.
- Business Standard and Plus: also turn Meet notes and automatic note-taking on or off.
- Enterprise Standard and Plus only: turn Gemini on or off in each app separately.
Users can change the smart features default in their own Gmail settings. When you turn smart features off, older features such as Smart Compose also stop. Most changes apply in minutes, but they can take up to 24 hours. Full steps with screenshots: turn Gemini on or off.
Should you upgrade? A quick decision guide
An upgrade moves every user on the account. You can mix plans only when each plan has 20 or more seats (see can you mix Google Workspace plans?). These questions will help you decide.
Business Starter is probably sufficient if:
- Your staff mainly send email and want help with drafts and summaries.
- The Gemini app and Gemini Notebook cover their other AI tasks.
- Most of your meetings are in Malay.
Business Standard is worth a price check if:
- Staff write documents, proposals or reports in Google Docs every week.
- Someone spends time on spreadsheet formulas and reports.
- You run regular meetings in English, and nobody likes to take the minutes.
- Staff often reach the usage limits in the Gemini app or Gemini Notebook.
To see the cost for your headcount, use our Google Workspace price calculator. The upgrade is arranged through us, not in the Admin console. See licences and renewal.
Before you rely on it
Gemini can make mistakes. Treat all its text as a first draft. Check names, amounts, dates and anything legal or financial before it goes to a customer, a supplier or LHDN. Read meeting notes before you forward them.
How we checked this guide
The screenshots come from our own Google Workspace test account, with sample data, in September 2026. The facts come from Google’s official Workspace help pages, which we also used for our Gemini guides in the help centre. We drafted this guide with AI help. Hanny Ramzy then checked every feature, plan limit and menu name on 24 September 2026. We will update this page when Google changes Gemini.
Next steps
See prices in Ringgit and short videos of Gemini at work on our Gemini for business page. To move to Google Workspace or change plan, request a quote and we will size it for your team.
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Hanny Ramzy runs Office Niaga at Web Impian Sdn. Bhd. (SSM 920163-H) in Kota Bharu, Malaysia, helping businesses and agencies move to Google Workspace and business email with Ringgit billing and local support.