Whoever repeatedly answers similar inquiries in the office – such as appointment confirmations, feedback on invoices, or standard rejections – often types the same text in slightly altered form. Gmail has offered its own template function for years, which can be combined with the AI Gemini: Gemini provides an initial text draft, and the template ensures that it remains readily available thereafter.
Templates save recurring texts once for all
Templates in Gmail are a feature that must first be activated in the settings. After that, any written text can be saved as a template via a menu and inserted again with one click in the next appropriate email.
According to Google, the feature is available to every Gmail account, whether private or business, but so far only on the computer.
Those who often struggle with writing can also have the initial draft formulated by the AI Gemini in Gmail. With the "Formulate for me" button, a brief description of the concern is enough for Gemini to provide a suitable text suggestion.
The draft can then be refined with further instructions such as "formulate more formally" or "add delivery date."
This is how the first email template is created in six steps
A typical example from everyday office life: recurring feedback on delayed deliveries should no longer need to be reformulated each time.
- Activate and save the "Templates" option in the Gmail settings under "Advanced"
- Open a new message and, with a Workspace or Google AI account, create an initial draft via "Formulate for me"
- Refine the draft with an additional instruction such as "formulate more formally"
- Replace personal information such as names or order numbers with placeholders in square brackets
- Save the finished text as a new template via the three-dot "Templates" menu
- Insert the template into the next similar email and fill in the placeholders individually
In the end, there is a small library of standard texts that can be expanded or adjusted at any time, without anyone having to start from scratch.
Costs, access, and requirements at a glance
According to Google, the basic template function costs nothing and does not require an additional subscription. The situation is different for Gemini's writing assistance: Google Workspace accounts with a plan starting from Business Standard have "Formulate for me" enabled worldwide in several languages, including German, according to the official Gemini help page.
Private Gmail accounts without a business subscription, on the other hand, have only received the feature in the USA so far – even with an additional Google AI subscription, access for private accounts in Germany remains uncertain for now.
For office teams with Google Workspace, access is therefore the more reliable route: exact pricing is listed on the Google Workspace pricing page, staggered by contract duration and number of users.
Anyone entering customer or order data into a template or a Gemini prompt should replace sensitive information with placeholders beforehand and, when in doubt, check their own company's internal data protection rules.
Gemini provides useful initial drafts but does not replace content review: numbers, deadlines, and technical terms should be double-checked before sending, since the AI naturally has no insight into internal processes. And anyone in Germany using only a private Gmail account without a business subscription currently gets the free templates but no AI writing assistance for now – for that, the only options remain writing it themselves or switching to another tool.
