Gemini now creates documents
This week Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini, released a new feature I find incredibly useful for those who live in Google Workspace. With a single prompt, Gemini can create a variety of documents for you: Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, PDF, .xlsx, docx, and others. Previously, users had to take multiple steps, usually involving cutting and pasting. Now, just ask for the document you want, and Gemini will serve it right up. For me, creating sheets is the feature I’ve been waiting for.
I'm planning an 80s themed party with a John Hughes vibe. Create a Sheets spreadsheet for me with a list of 50 songs including song title, release year, most applicable movie, artist, mood, and song length.
Click on the sheet, make it a table, and you’ve got a sortable table for the ultimate playlist.
Fun fact: While the film Pretty in Pink was released in 1986, the average release year of the songs in the movie is approximately 1983.083333.
How is this useful at work?
Keep your inventory organized and ensure you never miss a reorder deadline.
Create a comprehensive inventory tracker for a [type of business, e.g., boutique coffee shop]. Include columns for Item Name, SKU, Category, Current Stock Level, Reorder Point, Unit Cost, Total Value, and Supplier Name. Add conditional formatting to highlight items in red if they fall below the reorder point.
Turn a raw sales data report into actionable insights without needing to build complex pivot tables yourself.
I have a sheet with my daily sales data (Date, Product, Quantity, Price). Create a summary table that calculates total monthly revenue, the top 5 best-selling products by volume, and the average order value. Also, generate a formula to calculate the percentage growth compared to the previous month.
Use the @ symbol in your prompts to reference other files in Google Drive. If you have a PDF of your business goals or a Doc with your employee duties, you can say:
Create a weekly shift schedule for 5 employees based on the opening and closing duties in @[Employee Handbook].
AI for humanity
This is just a taste of how forward-thinking individuals and teams are using Gemini for efficiency. More importantly, it’s allowing them to spend fewer lunches in front of their laptops and more lunches engaging with the people who expand their mission and strengthen their values.
