Who this is for: Personal Gmail users, Google Workspace users on work or school accounts, Android users, and iPhone users who want to reduce or fully remove Gemini AI from their inbox and documents.
You can turn off Gemini in Gmail by going to Settings, selecting “See all settings,” scrolling to “Google Workspace smart features” on the General tab, clicking “Manage Workspace smart feature settings,” and switching off the two AI toggles. For Google Docs, you hide the bottom bar directly inside a document and then kill the “Help me write” feature through the Gmail settings panel. But here is the thing: there is no single master switch. You need to close several separate doors, and this guide shows you exactly which doors those are, where they live, and what changes when you close each one.
I have verified every step in this guide against current Google settings pages and official sources. Let me walk you through everything, device by device, setting by setting.
Important before you start: Your account type changes everything.
If you use a personal Google account, you control all these settings yourself. If you use a Google Workspace account (work or school email), your admin may have locked some settings. If a toggle is greyed out or missing entirely, your IT admin controls it from the Google Admin Console, and you will need to contact them. If you are based in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, Switzerland, or Japan, Google turns smart features off by default in your region, so Gemini may already be disabled on your account.
The Honest Reality Check: Can You Fully Turn Off Gemini?
Not completely, and not in one place. That is the honest answer.
Three separate toggles are needed to fully remove Gemini from Gmail: the main Smart features checkbox, the “Smart features in Google Workspace” toggle, and the “Smart features in other Google products” toggle. Hiding the bottom bar in Google Docs removes the visible AI box but does not touch the underlying “Help me write” feature. That requires a different setting entirely, which we cover below.
One more thing worth knowing before you start: disabling Smart features also removes spellcheck suggestions and Priority Inbox sorting in Gmail. You are trading AI features off alongside a few other conveniences. I will flag each trade-off as we go so nothing surprises you.
How to Turn Off Gemini in Gmail on Desktop
This is your most powerful starting point. What you change here flows across Google Docs, Drive, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, and Meet.
Step-by-step:
- Go to gmail.com and sign in to your account.
- Click the gear icon in the top-right corner of your inbox.
- Click “See all settings.”
- Stay on the General tab and scroll down until you see “Smart features and personalization.”
- Uncheck the box labelled “Enable Smart features and personalization in Gmail, Chat, and Meet.”
- Continue scrolling slightly to find “Google Workspace smart features.”
- Click “Manage Workspace smart feature settings.”
- In the pop-up panel that appears, turn off “Smart features in Google Workspace.”
- Scroll down inside the same pop-up and also turn off “Smart features in other Google products.” Both toggles must be off. The second one is easy to miss if you do not scroll inside the panel.
- Click Save inside the pop-up, then scroll to the very bottom of the General tab and click “Save Changes.”
When you turn off “Smart features in Google Workspace,” you are disabling Gemini across Gmail, Google Docs, Drive, Sheets, Slides, and Calendar in one action. The “Smart features in other Google products” toggle stops Gemini from using data from those Workspace apps to personalize other Google services you use.
Also on the same General tab, look for:
“Smart Compose” and “Smart Reply.” These are listed separately from the Workspace toggles, higher up on the General page. Turn them off too if you do not want AI sentence suggestions appearing as you type new emails.
How to Turn Off Gemini in Gmail on Android
- Open the Gmail app on your Android phone.
- Tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) at the top left.
- Scroll down and tap Settings.
- Tap the email address of the account you want to change.
- Scroll down and tap your Google account name to access account-level settings.
- Scroll to find “Google Workspace smart features.”
- Uncheck “Smart features in Google Workspace” and “Smart features in other Google products.”
Settings save automatically. There is no separate save button on Android.
If you have more than one Gmail account on your phone, you must repeat these steps separately for each account. Changing one account does not affect the others.
While you are in Settings for that account, also scroll up to the General section and disable “Smart Compose” and “Smart Reply” individually. Those toggles sit separately from the Workspace section.
How to Turn Off Gemini in the Gmail App on iPhone
The path on iPhone is slightly different from Android because Apple structures app settings differently.
- Open the Gmail app on your iPhone.
- Tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) at the top left.
- Scroll down and tap Settings.
- Tap your account email address.
- Tap “Data privacy” under the General section.
- Tap “Google Workspace smart features.”
- Switch off “Smart features in Google Workspace” and “Smart features in other Google products.”
- Tap Done at the top right to apply.
For Smart Compose and Smart Reply on iPhone, go back to the main Settings screen for your account, scroll to the General section, and turn off both options there.
One thing to know about iPhone specifically: “Help me write” in Gmail on iOS is tied to your Google One AI Premium subscription or your Workspace admin policy, not to a per-device setting. Turning off Smart features in the app removes the AI suggestions, but if you have an active AI Premium plan, some features may persist until you also manage your subscription settings at one.google.com.
How to Disable Gemini in Google Docs
There are three separate things you can turn off inside Google Docs. They each do something different. Here is exactly what each one controls and how to reach it.
How to Get Rid of the AI Prompt Bar at the Bottom of Google Docs
That floating “Write with Gemini” box sitting at the bottom of every document is the one most people want gone first. You can remove it in under a minute.
- Open any Google Doc.
- In the top menu bar, click “Gemini.” (You will see it between Insert and Tools, or sometimes as a standalone item depending on your account.)
- In the drop-down, click “Bottom bar preferences.”
- Click “Turn off.”
- Refresh the page.
When you turn it off in one document, it turns off across all your Google Docs. You only need to do this once.
One important detail: clicking “Turn off” hides the persistent bar at the bottom of your screen, but the Gemini side panel and menu remain accessible unless you also disable the Workspace smart features toggle in Gmail. Hiding the bar is cosmetic. The full AI toggle lives in your Gmail settings.
Also worth knowing: the “Turn off” option inside Bottom bar preferences is only visible for Google One AI Premium subscribers or managed Workspace users. If you are on the free Gmail plan and do not see this option, the bottom bar may not be available on your account at all, or it may be controlled entirely by the Gmail Workspace toggle.
How to Turn Off “Help Me Write” and “Write with Gemini” in Google Docs
This is the part that confuses most people. The setting for “Help me write” in Google Docs is not found inside Google Docs. Google keeps it inside Gmail settings.
Follow the Gmail desktop steps above: See all settings, General tab, Manage Workspace smart feature settings, toggle off “Smart features in Google Workspace.” That one action removes “Help me write,” “Refine,” and all other AI drafting features from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive at the same time.
How to Turn Off Smart Suggestions While Typing in Google Docs
Inline writing suggestions (the grey text that appears ahead of your cursor as you type) are a separate toggle from the bigger AI features.
- Open a Google Doc.
- Click Tools in the top menu.
- Click Preferences.
- Uncheck “Smart compose” and, if visible, “Smart reply.”
- Click OK.
This stops AI from suggesting words and phrases in real time as you write, independent of whether the wider Gemini features are on or off.
How to Remove Gemini from Google Sheets
Google Sheets does not have its own standalone Gemini toggle inside the app itself. AI features in Sheets, including autocomplete suggestions and Gemini-powered drag-to-fill recommendations, are all controlled through the same Workspace smart features setting you find in Gmail.
Follow the Gmail desktop steps above and toggle off “Smart features in Google Workspace.” That removes Gemini-powered features from Sheets without any further action needed inside Sheets itself.
For the drag-to-fill suggestion in Sheets specifically:
- Open a Google Sheet.
- Click Tools in the top menu.
- Click Autocomplete.
- Uncheck “Enable autocomplete.”
This stops Gemini from suggesting values as you drag down a column to fill in data. It is a separate preference from the bigger Workspace toggle and is worth checking even after you have turned off smart features, because Google sometimes re-enables it after major app updates.
How to Remove Gemini from Google Drive
Google Drive follows the same pattern as Sheets. There is no standalone Gemini toggle inside Drive. The Workspace settings apply globally across your Google Workspace including Google Drive, so turning off “Smart features in Google Workspace” through the Gmail settings panel removes Gemini from Drive as well.
After making that change, any AI-powered “Summarise this file” suggestions, smart search recommendations, and Gemini sidebar features inside Drive will stop appearing.
How to Turn Off Gemini Email Summaries in Gmail
When you open a long email thread, Gemini now shows an AI-generated summary at the top before you see the actual messages. To stop this from appearing:
- Go to Gmail on the web.
- Click the gear icon and select “See all settings.”
- On the General tab, uncheck “Enable Smart features and personalization in Gmail, Chat, and Meet.”
- Also go to “Manage Workspace smart feature settings” and turn off both Workspace toggles.
- Click Save.
Both the Smart features checkbox and the Workspace toggles need to be off to fully stop email summaries and AI thread recaps from appearing in your inbox.
If you only turn off one of the two, you may find that thread summaries still appear. This is one of the most common reasons people think the setting is not working. Both doors need to close.
How to Turn Off Gemini in Your Google Account (The Data Level)
Beyond the interface features, you can also stop Gemini from saving activity data linked to your Google Account. This is a separate layer of control that most guides skip over.
- Go to myaccount.google.com.
- Click “Data and Privacy” in the left sidebar.
- Under “History settings,” click “Gemini Apps Activity.”
- Click the toggle to turn it off, or click “Turn off and delete activity” to also remove what has already been saved.
Turning off Gemini Apps Activity stops Google from saving your Gemini conversations and linking them to your account for future personalisation. According to the Google Gemini Apps Privacy Hub, even after you turn activity off, chats and processed content are stored for up to 72 hours to provide the service itself. Conversations that were sampled for human review can be stored for up to three years, disconnected from your account. Deleting your activity does not remove those reviewed copies. That is worth understanding before you assume “turned off” means completely gone.
If you are a Google One AI Premium subscriber and want to disconnect Gemini from your Workspace apps specifically:
- Go to gemini.google.com.
- Click Settings.
- Select Extensions.
- Find the Google Workspace extension and disable it.
This removes Gemini’s permission to access your Gmail, Drive, Docs, and Calendar data through the Extensions layer, on top of whatever Smart features toggles you have already set.
How to Turn Off Gemini for a Whole Organisation (Google Workspace Admins)
If you manage a school, business, or any Google Workspace organisation and want to disable Gemini for all users under your domain:
- Log in to the Google Admin Console with your admin credentials.
- In the left-hand sidebar, expand “Generative AI.”
- Select “Gemini.”
- Set “Service status” to “OFF for everyone.”
- Click Save.
This overrides individual user settings and removes Gemini features for all accounts under your organisation. Individual users will not be able to re-enable Gemini until you change this back.
A note for users on managed accounts: If you try to access smart feature toggles and they are greyed out, missing, or reset themselves after you change them, your admin has locked the setting at the domain level. You cannot override an admin policy from your personal account settings. The only path forward is to contact your IT department or Workspace admin directly.
Does Gemini Read My Emails? (Privacy Questions, Answered with Facts)
This is the question underneath every other question on this page. Here is what is actually known, separated clearly from opinion.
Does Gemini read my emails?
When Smart features are enabled, yes, Gemini processes your email content to do things like summarise threads, suggest replies, and draft new messages. According to Google’s official Gemini Apps Privacy Hub, Google does not train its foundational Gemini AI models on your personal Gmail content. However, Gemini does access and process your email text to power the features while those features are active.
Turning off Smart features stops that processing from happening.
Is Gemini reading my Google Docs?
When Smart features in Google Workspace are enabled, Gemini can access the content of documents you open to power features like “Help me write” and “Refine.” Disabling the Workspace smart features toggle stops that access.
Does AI have access to my Google Docs?
Yes, when Workspace smart features are on. The access is used to power suggestions and drafting tools inside your documents. Turning those features off via the Gmail settings panel (as shown above) removes that access.
How do I stop Gemini from collecting data?
Turn off Gemini Apps Activity in your Google Account settings (steps are above in the data-level section). Also disable Smart features in Gmail settings and the Workspace toggles. Using all three together gives you the strongest available opt-out for a personal account.
Is Gemini linked to my Google Account?
Yes. According to Google, most Gemini usage happens when you are signed into Google, which means your Gemini activity is linked to your Google Account settings and identifiers. Turning off smart features and Gemini Apps Activity are both account-level changes, not device-level ones.
How do I stop Google from using my content for AI?
The most effective steps for personal accounts are: turn off Smart features and Workspace smart features in Gmail settings, turn off Gemini Apps Activity in your Google Account, and if you use Gemini Extensions, disable the Google Workspace extension in Gemini settings. For Workspace accounts, have your admin disable Gemini at the domain level through the Admin Console.
One thing to note: according to the Google Gemini Apps Privacy Hub, Google uses audio and Gemini Live video recordings in Gemini Apps Activity to improve and develop their services, including training generative AI models. This applies to those specific interaction types rather than regular Gmail reading, but it is important context for anyone concerned about data use.
What You Lose When You Turn Gemini Off
Be honest with yourself about the trade-offs before you make these changes. Disabling Gemini and smart features removes:
Smart Compose: The grey predictive text that finishes your sentences as you type emails and documents.
Smart Reply: The one-tap reply suggestions at the bottom of emails, such as “Thanks, sounds good!” or “I will check and get back to you.”
Priority Inbox sorting: Gmail uses AI to decide which emails appear in the Priority Inbox section. Disabling Smart features can affect how reliably this sorting works.
Email thread summaries: The AI recap at the top of long threads disappears.
“Help me write” in Docs: The drafting assistant is gone from the document sidebar and toolbar.
Spellcheck suggestions: Some grammar and spell suggestions are powered by the same smart features infrastructure. Basic spellcheck should remain, but contextual grammar suggestions may be reduced.
Drag-to-fill suggestions in Sheets: AI-powered column suggestions stop appearing.
None of these losses are deal-breakers for most people. But knowing what changes before you change it means no unpleasant surprises afterward.
When These Steps Will Not Work
A few situations where the steps above have limits:
Managed Workspace accounts: If your employer or school controls your account, you cannot override admin-level settings from your own profile. Contact your IT admin.
AI Overviews in Google Search: These are different from Gemini in Gmail and Docs and sit entirely outside the settings covered here. If you want to deal with AI Overviews in Google Search results, we have a full separate guide on how to get rid of AI Overview that walks through your options there.
The Gemini side panel in Docs: Closing it by clicking the X hides it visually, but it does not disable the underlying integration. Only the Workspace smart features toggle does that.
Settings resetting after updates: Google occasionally re-enables toggles after major product updates without notifying users. After a significant Gmail or Google Docs update, it is worth checking your smart features settings again to confirm nothing has changed.
Preinstalled Gemini on Android: The Gemini app preinstalled on most Android phones cannot be fully uninstalled, only disabled. You can change your default assistant by going to Settings, Apps, Default apps, Digital assistant app, and selecting Google Assistant or None. That does not remove Gemini from Gmail or Docs, but it stops Gemini from activating when you long-press the home button.
Free Gmail plan users: The “Turn off” option inside Google Docs Bottom bar preferences is currently only visible to Google One AI Premium subscribers and managed Workspace users. If you are on the free plan and do not see that option, control the Gemini bar through the Workspace smart features toggle in Gmail settings instead.
How to Change Google Docs Back to Normal
If you want your Docs experience as clean and distraction-free as it used to be, here is the full sequence to restore it:
- Turn off Smart features in Google Workspace via Gmail settings (the master switch for Docs, Sheets, Drive, and Slides).
- Hide the Gemini bottom bar if you see it: Gemini menu in Docs, Bottom bar preferences, Turn off.
- Disable Smart Compose in Docs: Tools, Preferences, uncheck Smart compose.
- Turn off Smart Compose and Smart Reply in Gmail: Settings, General tab, scroll up to find them.
After all four steps, your Docs environment should feel very close to the classic, distraction-free writing experience you remember.
Quick Reference Table: What to Turn Off and Where
| What you want to stop | Where to go | Exact setting name |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini email summaries in Gmail | Gmail web, Settings, General tab | Smart features and personalization |
| Gemini across Docs, Drive, Sheets, Slides | Gmail web, Manage Workspace smart feature settings | Smart features in Google Workspace |
| Cross-product AI personalization | Same Workspace panel as above | Smart features in other Google products |
| Bottom AI bar in Docs | Inside Google Docs, Gemini menu | Bottom bar preferences, Turn off |
| “Help me write” in Docs | Gmail settings, Workspace toggle | Smart features in Google Workspace |
| Typing suggestions in Docs | Docs, Tools, Preferences | Uncheck Smart compose |
| Drag-to-fill suggestions in Sheets | Sheets, Tools | Uncheck Enable autocomplete |
| Gemini saving chat data | myaccount.google.com, Data and Privacy | Gemini Apps Activity, Turn off |
| Gemini for entire organisation | Google Admin Console, Generative AI | Gemini, Service status, OFF |
FAQs
If I turn off Smart features in Gmail, does that also turn off Gemini in Google Docs?
Turning off “Smart features in Google Workspace” inside the Gmail settings panel does disable “Help me write” and other AI drafting features across Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive. However, it does not automatically hide the Gemini bottom bar in Docs. That bar has its own separate toggle inside the Gemini menu at the top of a document. You need both for the cleanest result.
Does turning off Gemini in Gmail affect Google Drive?
Yes. The Workspace settings apply globally across your Google Workspace including Google Drive, so you only need to adjust those once. Gemini-powered suggestions and summarisation tools inside Drive will stop appearing after you toggle off “Smart features in Google Workspace.”
Will Google turn Gemini back on after an update?
This is a valid concern and one worth checking periodically. Google has been known to reset or re-enable certain AI toggles following major product updates. After any significant Gmail or Google Docs update, spend 30 seconds checking your General tab settings to make sure the Smart features boxes are still unchecked.
Can I turn off Gemini for just one Google Doc and not all of them?
No. There is no per-document Gemini setting. Turning off the bottom bar in one document turns it off for all your documents. The Workspace smart features toggle also applies account-wide, not per file.
Does Google use my emails to train Gemini AI?
According to Google’s official Gemini Apps Privacy Hub, Google does not train its foundational AI models on your personal Gmail content. However, the Privacy Hub also states that audio and Gemini Live video content stored in Gemini Apps Activity can be used for AI model improvement. For ordinary Gmail messages, Google’s stated position is that email content is processed to power features but not used to train public Gemini models. If this matters to you, turn off Smart features and Gemini Apps Activity as shown in this guide, and review the Google Gemini Apps Privacy Hub directly for the full current policy.
What is the difference between Smart Compose and Smart features?
Smart Compose is a specific feature that suggests words and phrases as you type. Smart features is the broader category that includes Smart Compose, Smart Reply, email summaries, and Gemini integrations across Workspace apps. Turning off Smart features disables Smart Compose as part of that, but you can also turn off Smart Compose alone without disabling everything else if you only want to stop the typing suggestions.
If you are using AI tools regularly and want to understand how to write better prompts for Google’s tools or other AI assistants, our guide on AI prompt examples is a practical next read. And if you are exploring what Gemini can actually do before you decide to keep it or turn it off, our overview of Gemini Spark covers its current features in plain language.
All steps in this guide were verified against current Gmail and Google Docs settings in October 2026. Google updates its interface regularly. If a menu label has changed slightly on your screen, the setting will still be in the same general area. When in doubt, use the search bar inside Gmail Settings to find the exact toggle by name.
