Google Workspace adds AI note-taking for in-person meetings, Drive 'Projects' organization

Google announced a suite of Workspace updates at Cloud Next 2026, extending its Gemini-powered features beyond virtual environments and adding new organizational tools across Drive, Sheets, and Meet.

Take Notes for me expands to in-person meetings

Google's "Take Notes for me" feature is now available for in-person meetings through the Google Meet mobile app or website. According to Google, over 110 million attendees used the virtual version in the last month, representing 8.5x year-over-year growth.

The feature generates transcripts, meeting summaries, and action items in Google Docs. Users can start a recording session from their device to capture in-person discussions. Google also added support for Teams and Zoom meetings.

Drive Projects centralizes file organization

Google Drive is adding a "Projects" feature designed to organize files and emails for team collaboration and Gemini integration. Projects appear in the side panel under "Home" on the web interface.

The feature allows users to add specific source files, enabling multiple conversations around a defined set of documents. This gives Gemini and team members a centralized reference point for project-related content.

Canvas brings interactive visualizations to Sheets

Canvas in Google Sheets enables users to create dashboards, heat maps, kanban boards, and other interactive visualizations that can be shared. Google describes it as a "fully interactive mini-app right on top of your data," similar to functionality in the Gemini app.

Workspace automation expands

Google is adding "skills" to its existing Workspace Studio automation flows. These skills handle common tasks and are accessible from any Gemini in Workspace chat. Google's example use case involves automating invoice reviews by comparing new invoices against previous ones stored in email to identify billing discrepancies.

Workspace customers using Chrome Enterprise can now access agentic auto-browse for multi-step web tasks. Google also announced a Workspace MCP Server for third-party app integrations and an upcoming Workspace CLI for developers.

What this means

Google is systematically expanding Gemini's reach across Workspace, moving from virtual assistance to physical meeting environments. The 110 million monthly users of virtual note-taking suggests strong adoption, though Google doesn't provide context on total Workspace user base. The Drive Projects feature addresses a long-standing organizational challenge in cloud storage, while the MCP Server integration signals Google's intent to make Workspace data accessible to third-party AI agents. These updates roll out over the coming weeks.