What you need to know
- Gemini gains two NotebookLM-esque features, Canvas and Audio Overviews, in this month’s Workspace feature drop.
- Gmail can now automatically detect invites in emails and prompt you to add them to your Calendar in one click with Gemini.
- Google Slides has a new sidebar that makes it easy to add design blocks and elements without leaving your presentation.
Google’s Workspace feature drop for April 2025 is here with new AI tools for Gemini, Gmail, Slides, and Chat, the company announced in a blog post.
These updates notably bring popular features from NotebookLM, an AI-powered notebook and studying tool, to the main Gemini app. Integrating with existing features like Deep Research, the upgrades effectively bring the NotebookLM experience to more people.
The rest of the handy new Workspace features help with everything from adding events to your Google Calendar to creating unique presentations with Google Slides. Let’s dive in and review everything new added to Google Workspace this month.
The list of Gemini upgrades added in April starts with Canvas, a new workspace accessible from the main Gemini app. Here, users can draft documents, generate code, and much more. Below the Gemini prompt bar, you will now find the Canvas button beside the Deep Research button. Selecting it will start a writing or coding project that can be created, refined, and eventually exported to Google Docs or elsewhere.
It sounds a bit like NotebookLM, but more conveniently accessible from the regular Gemini user-interface. Similarly, Google is similarly bringing Audio Overviews from NotebookLM to the main Gemini app. For those unfamiliar, Audio Overviews take uploaded documents, slides, and more and turn them into spoken audio tracks that resemble the experience of listening to a podcast.
Audio Overviews in Gemini integrate with other features, like Canvas and Deep Research. For example, Google says a Deep Research report can be quickly turned into an Audio Overview. These features were previously announced in March, and are now widely available.
The same goes for Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental), which is widely available for free Gemini users, as announced on March 31.
Gemini in Gmail will automatically find appointments buried in your emails
Next up is a handy Gmail feature that will spot invites to on-site events in your inbox and prompt you to add the event to your calendar. This was already possible for shared Google Calendar or Google Meet invites, but this new Gmail tool works with written invites that have no connection to the Google ecosystem.
It’s powered by Gemini, and can detect written details about events in emails you’ve received. Then, in the Gemini sidebar for Gmail, you’ll seen an Add to Calendar button that’ll automatically create a Calendar event based on the information.
Additionally, Gmail is getting Gemini-powered Contextual Smart Replies that suggests context-accurate responses that can be sent with a tap or a few. These are available on both desktop and mobile.
It’s now easier to build presentations in Google Slides
Sidebars are becoming a mainstay of Google Workspace, and there’s a new one specifically made for Slides. This design sidebar can be used to find templates, add building blocks, discover stock photos, or generate images with AI. It’s neatly pushed to the side of the slide you’re working on as to not block your view.
“This convenient sidebar consolidates features to build and present visually stunning slides — without leaving your presentation,” the company explains.
Everything else that’s new, and when the features will be available
For enterprises, Google is adding a board tab in Chat that will let teams pin messages, files, and links. Additionally, it’s adding a HubSpot app for Google Chat that integrates with the customer resource management platform for convenient access.
Many of these features were previously announced on the Google Workspace Blog, but are now becoming widely available as of the Workspace feature drop for April 2025.
