Google is rolling out a new feature in its Docs that’s designed to make it easier to use its word processor to draft emails, the company has announced. It’s part of Google’s “smart canvas” initiative, which aims to seamlessly weave together the search giant’s productivity software like Meet, Docs, and Gmail.
Much like Google Docs’s other smart canvas features, the email draft template is accessed with the @ symbol, before selecting “Email draft” from the context menu. You can then draft the email, including defining recipients, a subject line, and its body text. When it’s ready to send, click the Gmail icon on the left to open the email service.
The feature seems most useful for emails that multiple people need to contribute to, allowing everyone to collaboratively edit them in a Google Doc and post comments and suggestions. Sure, there was nothing to stop you from copying and pasting text between the two Google services before, but the whole point of smart canvas is to make switching between products like this more seamless.
Google says the email draft feature, which it teased last month, will be available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as anyone on legacy G Suite Basic and Business plans. It’s gradually rolling out to rapid release domains now but will start appearing for most users from next week.