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AI in Google Workspace – Slides

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Gemini AI in SlidesGoogle Workspace is a comprehensive and secure platform that empowers organizations to be more productive, collaborative, and creative. This series explores the power of AI built within Google Workspace across each of the workspace apps. In this post, we cover AI in Slides.

AI in Slides

Google Slides are a collaborative tool for communicating ideas. Gemini AI in Slides helps bring your presentations to life. Create visually stunning unique images, generate new slides, get help writing slides content and talk tracks, and catch up with quick summaries.

Here are 5 Gemini features in Slides you should know:

Generate Slides and Presentations
  • Use Gemini AI to transform ideas into slides and full presentations. 
  • Start your presentation from scratch by giving the AI a prompt or describing your presentation in a few sentences. 
  • Gemini will generate an outline and a first draft of slides, complete with titles, bullet points, and even suggested layouts.
Generate Images
  • Gemini AI in Slides uses advanced image generation models (like Imagen 3) to create original images directly within your presentation. Describe the image you need and the AI will generate it. Create unique visuals without searching for stock photos.
Summarize Presentations
  • Get up to speed quickly with automatic presentation summaries provided by Gemini in the side panel of Slides.
Generate Speaker Notes
  • AI in Slides can assist in creating speaker notes for individual slides and can provide an executive summary for your entire presentation. You get clear talking points quickly and efficiently.
Design Suggestions and Customization
  • Gemini AI suggests visually appealing layouts and designs for your slides and with a consistent and professional look. 
  • Transform a plain block of text into a more structured format like a timeline or a diagram.

And More …

You can also use Gemini AI within Slides for …

Contextual Content Creation
  • Gemini in Slides can reference your existing Google Drive files (PDFs, Docs, etc.) or even Gmail emails to help you generate new slides or extract relevant information.
Remove Image Backgrounds
  • This feature allows you to easily remove the background from images you’ve added to your slides, making it simpler to integrate visuals seamlessly into your design.
Rewrite/Summarize Text
  • Gemini AI helps you refine your slide content. Select text and ask the AI to rewrite it for conciseness, to expand on a point, or to change the tone. 
  • You can also use Gemini AI in Slides to summarize longer blocks of text into digestible bullet points for your slides.

We Will Help

At Cumulus Global, our priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable managed cloud services. We work to ensure that you get the most value from the IT and cloud services you need and want, without overspending, to best support your business objectives.

Unsure of where to start? Check out our IT Assessment or schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor. We will help you adapt while keeping your IT services secure and cost-effective.

About the Author

Allen Falcon is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Global.  Allen co-founded Cumulus Global in 2006 to offer small businesses enterprise-grade email security and compliance using emerging cloud solutions. He has led the company’s growth into a managed cloud service provider with over 1,000 customers throughout North America.

AI in Google Workspace – NotebookLM

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Gemini AI in NotebookLMGoogle Workspace is a comprehensive and secure platform that empowers organizations to be more productive, collaborative, and creative. This series explores the power of AI built within Google Workspace across each of the workspace apps. In this post, we cover AI in NotebookLM

AI in NotebookLM

NotebookLM is a research and learning assistant, powered by Gemini, that helps you navigate and understand your information more effectively. Its responses are accurate, relevant, and tailored to the specific context of your inquiry.

Here are 4 Gemini features in NotebookLM you should know:

Source Grounding
  • NotebookLM bases its responses solely on the sources you provide (e.g., PDFs, Google Docs, website URLs, YouTube videos, audio files). This significantly reduces “hallucinations” and ensures the AI’s output is directly relevant to your material. Every response is accompanied by citations, allowing you to easily verify the information against your original sources.
Audio Overviews/Podcast Generation
  • Use NotebookLM to transform your source material into an engaging audio “podcast” with two AI hosts discussing the content. This allows for “listening and learning on the go” and can help in digesting complex information in a more accessible format. With interactive mode, you can “join” the conversation and ask questions of the AI hosts.
Precise Question Answering
  • NotebookLM can understand nuances in your questions. It’s like having a helper who can instantly recall specific details from a vast library of information and give you relevant answers to different types of questions, however simple or complex they may be.
Conversational AI for Deeper Understanding
  • Interact with your uploaded sources via chat interface. Ask direct questions about your documents, explore connections between different sources, or even ask the AI to explain complex concepts in simpler terms. Gemini AI in NotebookLM acts as a personalized research assistant, helping you delve deeper into your material.

And More …

You can also use Gemini AI within NotebookLM for …

Intelligent Summarization and Information Extraction

NotebookLM excels at summarizing complex documents and extracting key information. You can generate:

  • Overviews/Briefing Docs: High-level summaries for quick digestion.
  • FAQs: Automatically generated frequently asked questions based on your content.
  • Timelines: Capture sequential information contained within your documents.
  • Study Guides:  Create study materials, including short-answer questions, answers, and glossaries.
Idea Generation and Content Creation 

Beyond summarization and Q&A, NotebookLM assists with creative tasks and content generation.

  • Brainstorm new ideas based on your research.
  • Generate scripts, outlines, or other structured content from your notes.
  • Receive suggestions for improving your writing style or structure.

We Will Help

At Cumulus Global, our priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable managed cloud services. We work to ensure that you get the most value from the IT and cloud services you need and want, without overspending, to best support your business objectives.

Unsure of where to start? Check out our IT Assessment or schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor. We will help you adapt while keeping your IT services secure and cost-effective.

About the Author

Allen Falcon is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Global.  Allen co-founded Cumulus Global in 2006 to offer small businesses enterprise-grade email security and compliance using emerging cloud solutions. He has led the company’s growth into a managed cloud service provider with over 1,000 customers throughout North America.

AI in Google Workspace – Sheets

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Gemini AI in Sheets

Google Workspace is a comprehensive and secure platform that empowers organizations to be more productive, collaborative, and creative. This series explores the power of AI built within Google Workspace across each of the workspace apps. In this post, we cover AI in Sheets.

AI in Sheets

Google Sheets is a spreadsheet and data analysis tool built for ease of use and collaboration. Using Gemini AI in Sheets, you can build spreadsheets, summarize your data, generate formulas, and improve your data skills.Gemini in Sheets helps you build more effective and efficient sheets.

Here are 3 Gemini features in Sheets you should know:

 

Create Tables
  • Gemini in Sheets helps you build contextually relevant, formatted, and styled spreadsheets in a snap. 
Create Formulas
  • You can ask Gemini to create formulas for you, combining and nesting functions for your desired results.  
Summarize Spreadsheet Data
  • Gemini in Sheets will automatically summarize the data in your spreadsheet. You gain a better understanding of your data, creating actionable information. You can also ask Gemini questions about the summary for deeper insights.

And More …

With Gemini AI in Sheets, you can also …

  • Build and enhance spreadsheets using content in other files and your emails.
  • Use prompts to edit your sheets with actions such as adding checkboxes or dropdowns, applying conditional formatting, and sorting data.

You can ask Gemini to create formulas for you, combining and nesting functions for your desired results.  

Summarize Spreadsheet Data

Gemini in Sheets will automatically summarize the data in your spreadsheet. You gain a better understanding of your data, creating actionable information. You can also ask Gemini questions about the summary for deeper insights.

And More …

With Gemini AI in Sheets, you can also …

  • Build and enhance spreadsheets using content in other files and your emails.
  • Use prompts to edit your sheets with actions such as adding checkboxes or dropdowns, applying conditional formatting, and sorting data.

We Will Help

At Cumulus Global, our priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable managed cloud services. We work to ensure that you get the most value from the IT and cloud services you need and want, without overspending, to best support your business objectives.

Unsure of where to start? Check out our IT Assessment or schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor. We will help you adapt while keeping your IT services secure and cost-effective.

About the Author

Allen Falcon is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Global.  Allen co-founded Cumulus Global in 2006 to offer small businesses enterprise-grade email security and compliance using emerging cloud solutions. He has led the company’s growth into a managed cloud service provider with over 1,000 customers throughout North America.

AI in Google Workspace – Docs

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AI in Google Docs

Google Workspace is a comprehensive and secure platform that empowers organizations to be more productive, collaborative, and creative. This series explores the power of AI built within Google Workspace across each of the workspace apps. In this post, we cover AI in Docs

AI in Docs

Google Docs is an editor built for collaboration. Using simple prompts, Gemini AI in Docs helps you create professional, stylized, and structured documents with images, tables, and more. Get help refining your content, see the latest summary of your work, and ask questions to improve and finalize your document. Gemini in Docs can help you build better docs.

Here are 3 Gemini features in Docs you should know:

Create Your Doc

Gemini in Docs lets you build a stylized, structured document using content in Drive from a single prompt. Gemini in Docs helps you transform your long-form document with cover images, in-line images, stylized text, tables, and more.

Create an Image

Create unique inline and cover images with Gemini in Docs. Personalize your documents, add your branding, or elevate promotional content. With Gemini in Docs, you can also apply different styles, such as photography or watercolor.

Help You Write

Gemini in Docs can help you write. Use Gemini in Docs to:

  • Brainstorm
  • Create an outline
  • Build your first draft
  • Fix grammar and punctuation
  • Help adjust the length and/or tone of your content.

And More …

Gemini in Docs can reference files from your Drive and Shared Drives when generating responses in Docs. You can also summarize files from Drive and emails from Gmails. Access to your content empowers Gemini to help you create and refine. 

We Will Help

At Cumulus Global, our priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable managed cloud services. We work to ensure that you get the most value from the IT and cloud services you need and want, without overspending, to best support your business objectives.

Unsure of where to start? Check out our IT Assessment or schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor. We will help you adapt while keeping your IT services secure and cost-effective.

About the Author

Allen Falcon is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Global.  Allen co-founded Cumulus Global in 2006 to offer small businesses enterprise-grade email security and compliance using emerging cloud solutions. He has led the company’s growth into a managed cloud service provider with over 1,000 customers throughout North America.

AI in Google Workspace – Meet

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AI in Meet

Google Workspace is a comprehensive and secure platform that empowers organizations to be more productive, collaborative, and creative. This series explores the power of AI built within Google Workspace across each of the workspace apps. In this post, we cover AI in Meet.

AI in Meet

Google Meet offers business-grade video and voice conferencing designed to enhance collaboration. Gemini AI in Meet takes care of the details, enabling you to focus on participating instead of meeting management and logistics. Beyond providing a smarter meeting experience, Gemini in Met can help you look and sound your best.

Here are 4 Gemini features in Meet you should know:

Take Notes
  • In addition to generating a transcript, Gemini in Meet will automatically take notes during a meeting.
  • While a transcript captures every word spoken, notes provide a summary of discussions, highlight key points, and identify action items.
  • Notes offer a great way to share information from meetings with others and to help create minutes. Notes are placed in a Doc and save it to your Drive. Gemini also notifies you on Gmail for quick access to your notes.
Captions with Real-Time Translation
  • Gemini in Meet provides real-time captions and can translate captions into more than 65 languages, breaking down language barriers and helping everyone feel included.
Adaptive Audio
  • You can join hybrid meetings without conferencing hardware or rooms.
  • Attendees can use their laptops in any space. Gemini AI in Meet will synchronize microphones and speakers to avoid echoes, feedback, or distortion.
Show and Tell
  • Gemini in Meet includes tools to enhance your appearance and audio, with lighting and look adjustments and audio filtering/noise cancellation.

After the Meeting …

  • Gemini in Meet can create summaries of key points and identify action items. You can create custom summaries to identify information such as most discussed or “best of” topics.

We Will Help

At Cumulus Global, our priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable managed cloud services. We work to ensure that you get the most value from the IT and cloud services you need and want, without overspending, to best support your business objectives.

Unsure of where to start? Check out our IT Assessment or schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor. We will help you adapt while keeping your IT services secure and cost-effective.

About the Author

Allen Falcon is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Global.  Allen co-founded Cumulus Global in 2006 to offer small businesses enterprise-grade email security and compliance using emerging cloud solutions. He has led the company’s growth into a managed cloud service provider with over 1,000 customers throughout North America.

AI in Google Workspace – Drive

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AI in Workspace: DriveGoogle Workspace is a comprehensive and secure platform that empowers organizations to be more productive, collaborative, and creative. This series explores the power of AI built within Google Workspace across each of the workspace apps. In this post, we cover AI in Drive.

AI in Drive 

Gemini in Drive helps you quickly find answers and insights from across your files. Catch up with summaries of long documents, query project folders, and automatically classify your most sensitive content.

Features you should know when using the Gemini Drive

The Gemini Side Panel is available when you are looking Drive. In general, you can:

  • Specifically direct Gemini to analyze a particular folder by typing “@” followed by the folder name in your prompt (e.g., “Summarize files in @Marketing Reports”).
  • Explicitly select a folder as a source for Gemini to focus on when you ask a question or request a summary.
  • Use Gemini’s ability to understand folder content is currently focused on non-media file types like text documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, and presentations.
  • Use or modify “nudges”, or suggested prompts, which are provided based on your content in Drive.
Q&A for Understanding Folder Content
  • Gemini can analyze the files within a folder (including documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, and presentations) and provide a concise summary of the main points or themes. This allows you to quickly understand the content of a folder without opening each file individually.
  • Gemini can answer specific questions about the information contained within a folder. Gemini can synthesize information from multiple files in the folder to provide an answer. For instance, you could ask, “What are the main risks identified in the documents within the ‘Q3 Planning’ folder?”
  • Find specific pieces of information or quick facts related to a project or topic by analyzing the files within a designated folder.
  • Identify the overarching theme or topic of the content within a folder.
AI Classification
  • Automatically identify, classify, and protect your organization’s sensitive content with precision and scale.
PDF File Support
  • Get the gist of a long document with Gemini’s help, summarizing it, or ask Gemini complex questions about any PDF in your Drive.

File and Folder Management

  • You can instruct it to “Create a new folder” or “Create a new folder named ‘Meeting Minutes’.
  • Use Gemini to create new Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides within your Drive. Specify the name, for example, “Create a new Google Doc titled ‘Project Proposal Draft’.

We Will Help

At Cumulus Global, our priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable managed cloud services. We work to ensure that you get the most value from the IT and cloud services you need and want, without overspending, to best support your business objectives.

Unsure of where to start? Check out our IT Assessment or schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor.

We will help you adapt while keeping your IT services secure and cost-effective.

About the Author

Allen Falcon is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Global.  Allen co-founded Cumulus Global in 2006 to offer small businesses enterprise-grade email security and compliance using emerging cloud solutions. He has led the company’s growth into a managed cloud service provider with over 1,000 customers throughout North America.

AI in Google Workspace – Gmail

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AI in Workspace: GmailGoogle Workspace is a comprehensive and secure platform that empowers organizations to be more productive, collaborative, and creative. This series explores the power of AI built within Google Workspace across each of the workspace apps. In this post, we cover AI in Gmail.

AI in Gmail

AI in Gmail lives in the Gemini Side Panel.  Gemini in Gmail is your productivity partner that can help draft, reply, sift through, and summarize your emails to save you time at your desk or on the go.

Features you should know when using the Gemini Side Panel in Gmail

The Gemini Side Panel is available when you are looking at your inbox and when you have opened an email or email thread. From the inbox, or at any time, you can:

  • Find specific messages or information in your inbox
  • Identify trends and topics
Draft Emails and Respond
  • Summarize an email thread. You can ask for a more or less detailed summary than the initial response
  • Draft an email based on keywords and the context of your inbox
  • Edit emails to polish your tone or change the length of your message
  • Ask Gemini to suggest a response to the email
Access Calendars and Events
  • Create events using your natural language requests
  • Search for calendar events by dates, participants, or subject
  • Request details about specific upcoming events
Access Files and Drive
  • Search Drive for documents related to the topic of an email thread
  • Use the “@” prompt to search for and add specific documents to your query

The “One-Click” features you should know when working in an email message

  • When viewing, the “Summarize this email” link gets you an instant summary of the message and thread
  • When composing a new email message, the “Write an email for me” link prompts you for information and drafts your message

We Will Help

At Cumulus Global, our priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable managed cloud services. We work to ensure that you get the most value from the IT and cloud services you need and want, without overspending, to best support your business objectives.

Unsure of where to start? Check out our IT Assessment or schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor.

We will help you adapt while keeping your IT services secure and cost-effective.

About the Author

Allen Falcon is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Global.  Allen co-founded Cumulus Global in 2006 to offer small businesses enterprise-grade email security and compliance using emerging cloud solutions. He has led the company’s growth into a managed cloud service provider with over 1,000 customers throughout North America.

AI in Google Workspace – Gemini App

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AI in Google Workspace - Gemini AppGoogle Workspace is a comprehensive and secure platform that empowers organizations to be more productive, collaborative, and creative. This series explores the power of AI built within Google Workspace across each of the workspace apps. We begin with the Gemini App in Google Workspace.

The Gemini App

The Gemini App is a Large Language Model (LMM) service built to help you get more done in less time. It’s great for brainstorming ideas, researching topics, and improving your writing. Use Gemini to pressure-test your work against target personas, with enterprise-grade data protections. 

Choose from multiple versions specifically designed for advanced reasoning, complex tasks, deep research, and everyday queries.

Three features you should know

Deep Research

Explore complex topics and get findings from different sources across the web in a comprehensive, easy-to-read report that brings hours of research to your fingertips in mere minutes. The reports can also be exported into Google Docs to easily share with your teams, allowing you to dive into industry trends, understand the competitive landscape, or even research customers ahead of a sales meeting.

Gems

Gems are customizable versions of Gemini that help with specialized or repetitive tasks. It’s like having an expert to help craft compelling marketing copy, prepare for job interviews, brainstorm new ideas, and so much more. You can even feed Gems your documents and other information, making them smarter and more tailored to your needs.

Integrations

Gemini seamlessly connects to other Google Workspace apps. Pull schedules from Gmail, PDFs from Drive, and content from Docs into the Gemini app without switching tabs or windows, so you can stay focused and get quality work done faster.

We Will Help

At Cumulus Global, our priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable managed cloud services. We work to ensure that you get the most value from the IT and cloud services you need and want, without overspending, to best support your business objectives.

Unsure of where to start? Check out our IT Assessment or schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor.

We will help you adapt while keeping your IT services secure and cost-effective.

About the Author

Allen Falcon is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Global.  Allen co-founded Cumulus Global in 2006 to offer small businesses enterprise-grade email security and compliance using emerging cloud solutions. He has led the company’s growth into a managed cloud service provider with over 1,000 customers throughout North America.

Google Gemini Licensing Explained

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Gemini Licensing Explained

Google’s recent announcement that Google Gemini is now a core service within Google Workspace has led to some confusion regarding the distinction between the Gemini App and Gemini for Google Workspace and your Gemini licensing options.

This blog post provides clarity on the products and their pricing.

The Gemini App

The Gemini App runs at gemini.google.com. There are two versions of the Gemini App: Gemini and Gemini Advanced.

Gemini is free and runs as a web app and a Chrome extension. It offers a range of features, including: 

  • Summarization
  • Translation
  • Q&A
  • Brainstorming
  • Writing suggestions

Gemini integrates with other Google apps and is free to use.

Gemini Advanced is a stand-alone paid service, and it is included as a core service in most Google Workspace subscriptions. It offers all of the features of Gemini, plus:

  • Access to a larger language model
  • The ability to create custom models
  • More robust image generation
  • Priority support

If you have Google Workspace, Gemini Advanced is included as a core service at no additional cost. Stand-alone access to Gemini Advanced costs $19.99 per month and requires a Google One account for security.

Gemini for Google Workspace

Gemini for Google Workspace is an add-on to Google Workspace that brings Gemini directly into Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Meets.  Integrations into Chat and other Google Workspace apps are expected in the near future.

Pricing depends on your Google Workspace subscription tier. With an annual commitment, Gemini for Google Workspace pricing is as follows:

  • Business Tier: $20/user/month 
  • Enterprise Tier: $30/user/month

You can subscribe on a month-to-month basis for $24 and $36 per user, respectively.

Gemini for Google Workspace for Education has two pricing options with an annual commitment:

  • Gemini Education: $16/user/month
  • Gemini Education Premium: $24/user/month

Your Next Step:

Give Gemini a try. For a limited time, we are offering a Gemini $10 Trial for Google Workspace clients that includes Gemini Advanced, Gemini for Google Workspace, and learning tools.

Google occasionally offers free trials and incentive discounts. Schedule a quick consultation to discuss your specific Gemini licensing options. Our Cloud Advisors will help you navigate offers, options, and pricing.

About the Author

Allen Falcon is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Global.  Allen co-founded Cumulus Global in 2006 to offer small businesses enterprise-grade email security and compliance using emerging cloud solutions. He has led the company’s growth into a managed cloud service provider with over 1,000 customers throughout North America. Starting his first business at age 12, Allen is a serial entrepreneur. He has launched strategic IT consulting, software, and service companies. An advocate for small and midsize businesses, Allen served on the board of the former Smaller Business Association of New England, local economic development committees, and industry advisory boards.

Webcasts

Secure Your Data for Gemini AI

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(05/20/25) – Take steps to ensure that Gemini and other AI tools will not expose sensitive information internally or externally. In this 3T@3 Series online event, Cumulus Global CEO Allen Falcon is joined by Paul Lees, CEO of Bespin labs to discuss the importance of data governance and security with gen AI in Google Workspace.

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library

Gen AI Prompt Engineering

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Whitepaper | Source: Google — You don’t need to be a data scientist or a machine learning engineer – everyone can write effective gen AI prompts. This 60+ whitepaper goes beyond “prompting 101” and dives deep into advanced prompt engineering with Gemini AI and for large language models (LMMs) in general.

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Cyber Security Requirements for Cyber Insurance

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eBook | Source: Cumulus Global — This eBook presents the minimally required, recommended, and best practice cyber security components for small and midsize businesses seeking appropriate and affordable cyber insurance.

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Building a Foundation for AI Success: A Leader’s Guide

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eBook | Source: Microsoft — This Whitepaper shares insights from AI leaders about the five categories that, collectively, form a foundation for AI success and for building sustainable value with AI.

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Gemini for Google Workspace: Prompting Guide 101

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eBook | Source: Google — This eBook provides you with the foundational skills to write effective, instructional prompts when using Gemini for Google Workspace so that you can be more productive and efficient in your day-to-day tasks.

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