Gmail can now literally ‘polish’ that turd of an email draft

If you’re crap at writing emails, Gmail’s latest Gemini-powered update could sort you out.

Announced by Google on Tuesday in a blog post, the new “Polish” feature for Gmail uses the company’s Gemini AI to do exactly that to your draft. It’s an expansion of the AI-powered “Help me write” feature launched in May last year for Google Docs and Gmail.

The “Polish” feature is available through a “Refine my draft” shortcut now appearing within email drafts on both desktop and mobile Android and iOS devices. But it’s only available for people paying for Gemini for Google Workspace or Google One AI Premium. Google says the feature will be switched on by default for these users.

When writing an email in Gmail, you can select the “Refine my draft” option to do one of the following with your trash words: Formalize, Elaborate, Shorten, and now, Polish. The Polish option lets you write the email as rough notes, then transforms it into a proper, formal email that another human will hopefully be able to understand.

According to Google, this is how the feature works:

“When 12+ words are present in an email draft, the ​​’Refine my draft’ shortcut will be shown below the email content to indicate that there are options available to Polish, Formalize, Elaborate, or Shorten your draft, or Write a new draft. The menu can be triggered simply by swiping right on ‘Refine my draft.'”

It’s one of the few things that’s new in Gemini, with only a few announcements about Google’s AI at the company’s “Made by Google” event last week — it was really about the new Pixel phones. However, Google did announce several Gemini-powered Gmail updates including tools to summarize your emails for you, Google Meet highlights, and the ability to ask Gemini questions about your inbox.

At the event, Google also announced Gemini Live, its AI chatbot that Mashable tech editor Kim Gedeon dubbed “the biggest threat to ChatGPT right now.”