Gemini in Google Docs can now make your diagrams and handle your comments

On 28 July 2026, Google announced two Gemini features for Google Docs. In plain terms: the diagram you would have built in another tool, and the comment thread you would have waded through on a Friday afternoon, can both now be handled inside the document itself.

Most coverage of Gemini in Google Docs will lead with the pictures. The more useful half is the comments. Google has given Gemini the ability to read every comment on a document, tell you which issues are still unresolved, draft the replies and turn the feedback into suggested edits. If you run a business where documents go round three people before anything is agreed, that is the part worth ten minutes of your attention.

What actually changed?

Two separate announcements landed on the same day, both for Google Docs on the web. The first lets you ask Gemini to create and edit visuals without leaving the document. Google’s examples include asking it to “Add a diagram providing an overview of the proposal at the top of my doc”, or to change an existing image’s aspect ratio to 16:9. The images use the context of what you have already written, so the diagram is built from your text rather than from a blank prompt.

The second gives Gemini four jobs on the comments in a document: summarise the threads and answer questions about them, add new comments on your behalf, draft replies to open threads, and suggest edits to the document based on what reviewers asked for. You reach both from the bottom bar or the Gemini side panel. Google notes that comment workflows are “currently only available for Google Docs users with edit access”, so a client you shared a view-only link with will not get them.

Sources: Google Workspace Updates, Generate and edit visuals with Gemini in Google Docs and Streamline collaboration in Google Docs with Gemini-powered comment workflows, both 28 July 2026.

Which Google plans get it?

This is the question that decides whether the rest of the article matters to you. Google published an availability list for both features, and it is the same list. Anything not on that list does not get the feature.

Availability as published by Google on 28 July 2026. The comment workflows post also lists the AI Expanded Access add-on.

Does this cost extra?

No, not if you are already on one of the plans above. There is no separate charge and no new product to buy. Two switches have to be on, though, and one of them is not yours: an administrator needs Gemini for Workspace in Drive enabled, and you need Workspace smart features turned on in your own settings. If you are the person who set up your company’s Google account, both of those are your job.

When will I actually see it?

Not necessarily today. Google describes a gradual rollout of up to 15 days for feature visibility, starting on 28 July 2026, for both rapid release and scheduled release domains. So if you look now and see nothing, the honest answer is to check again in a fortnight rather than to conclude you are on the wrong plan. The visuals feature is also web only for the moment, so nothing will appear in the Docs app on your phone.

What to ignore

Ignore the framing that this replaces your design tools. It does not. A diagram generated inside a document is for the internal proposal, the process explainer and the board paper, not for the brochure that carries your brand. If you need artwork that looks like you made it on purpose, that job still belongs somewhere like Canva.

Also ignore the idea that Ai now runs your document reviews. It reads the comments and drafts the answers. It does not know which of your colleagues is usually right, which comment is really about last month’s argument, or which client will notice that you agreed to something on a Tuesday. Those decisions are still entirely yours, and they are the ones that carry the risk.

What should a small business do next?

Open a document you have already written, ideally one with a few comments on it, and try two prompts. Ask “Based on the comments, what are the unresolved issues?” and see whether the answer matches your own read. Then ask for a diagram summarising the document and see whether it is usable or merely decorative. Ten minutes tells you more than any launch post will.

If nothing appears, check the two switches before you check your plan: Workspace smart features in your settings, and Gemini for Workspace in Drive on the admin side. This is the same pattern as the custom refine instructions Google added to Gmail and the editable presentation generation in Slides: Google keeps adding Gemini into the tools you already pay for, and most businesses never turn the settings on.