Google is rolling out Ask Gemini in Google Chat, a new command surface that brings Gemini into the flow of Workspace collaboration.
The rollout starts August 26, 2026 for Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains, with gradual visibility over up to 15 days. The change affects users whose Google account language is English first. Users with other language preferences can continue using the existing Gemini side panel in Chat until broader language support arrives.
The product shift is small on the screen and large in workflow terms. Google is replacing a side panel with a command line inside Chat that can search across Workspace context, summarize conversations, draft content, manage tasks and events, and organize work into sessions.
Chat becomes the command surface
Google Chat is already where many Workspace teams coordinate work. Ask Gemini is meant to make that coordination actionable without sending users back through Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Docs, or task lists.
Google says Ask Gemini in Chat can search across Workspace data such as Gmail, Drive, and Calendar. It can help users catch up on conversations, create content, schedule meetings, manage tasks, and keep individual work sessions organized for later.
That fits the broader Workspace Intelligence strategy Google announced earlier this year: use Workspace context as the operating layer for agentic work. The difference now is that the command surface is arriving inside Chat, not only as a broad product vision.
The side panel migration has a catch
The migration is not just additive. Google says Ask Gemini in Chat provides many functions that were previously available in the Gemini side panel in Chat, and that users with the new surface will no longer see the side panel in Chat.
There is also a history issue. Google says conversation history from the Gemini side panel in Chat will not migrate to the new Ask Gemini surface. Administrators can export Gemini conversation history, and end users may be able to download it if their organization permits that export.
For teams that used the side panel as an informal work notebook, that matters. The right operational move is to export or preserve anything important before treating Ask Gemini as the new long-running workspace.
Availability and limits are still bounded
Ask Gemini in Chat is available for Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, and Google AI Pro for Education, according to the Workspace Updates post. It is available by default if Gemini in Workspace in Chat and Workspace Intelligence for all apps are enabled.
Through October 1, 2026, Google says Workspace customers will get promotional access to higher limits for Ask Gemini in Chat. Usage limits will apply after that date.
That makes the next month a testing window. Teams can learn whether the new command surface actually reduces app switching before the higher promotional limits end.
