How to Turn Off Gemini Pop-ups in Google Docs
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Google Docs users can remove the Gemini AI box at the bottom of their screen by clicking "Gemini" in the top menu bar and selecting "bottom bar preferences" from the dropdown menu.
- When the author asked Gemini itself how to remove it from Google Docs, the AI suggested clicking an "X" icon that only closed the active conversation rather than disabling the feature.
- Other Google Docs users have reported additional intrusive AI prompts, including a "help me write" feature that hovers over the cursor while working in a document.
- A broader workaround routes through Gmail: users click the gear icon for Settings, select "See all settings," then navigate to "Google Workspace smart features" and click "Manage Workspace smart feature settings."
- The smart features settings page presents two toggles — one for Google Workspace smart features (including Gemini pop-ups in Docs) and another for features like Gmail auto-creating calendar events for flights.
Why it matters: Google is layering AI features into Workspace products without a visible off-switch in the apps themselves, forcing users to dig through nested Gmail settings menus — meaning anyone who doesn't know to look outside of Docs will keep getting interrupted by Gemini prompts during routine writing tasks.
Ask SkimNews
