The comment thread ate the workday. Let Gemini build the decision list.

Comment threads are good at collecting feedback. They are much worse at telling you what actually needs a decision.

A proposal, operating plan, or letter to parents can pick up twenty comments in an afternoon. One person wants a different tone. Someone else questions a date. A third person replies halfway down a thread, but the decision never makes it into the document. The next morning starts with reading the whole thing again.

Google is now rolling out a new way to use Gemini in Google Docs. Gemini can read and summarize comments, find unresolved questions, suggest replies, add new comments, and propose edits to the text. For a compact team, the value lies in turning those comments into a short decision list while the context is still fresh.

What Gemini can do with comments in Google Docs

Google announced the comment workflows on July 28, 2026. The feature can:

• Summarize all comments or comments from a named person.
• Identify recurring themes and unresolved issues that still block the document.
• Draft replies grounded in the document and, when specified, a relevant file in Google Drive.
• Add a new comment, such as a request for someone to confirm a date.
• Suggest text changes based on reviewer feedback, ready for an editor to accept or reject.

Gemini works through the bottom prompt bar or the Docs side panel. The user needs edit access. Suggested edits and comment replies still pass through a person before they become part of the document.

Source: Streamline collaboration in Google Docs with Gemini-powered comment workflows.

This may sound like a minor Google Workspace update. In daily work, it can close a familiar gap: the distance between receiving feedback and knowing who needs to do what about it.

Start with a decision queue, not an automatic rewrite

It is tempting to ask Gemini to "fix all comments." That is also a poor first test. Comments contain different kinds of work.

A wording change can often happen immediately. A new price needs a commercial decision. Legal language needs the right reviewer. Two comments may also contradict each other. If AI treats everything as editing, it hides the questions the team most needs to see.

Start with a decision queue instead. A decision queue is a sorted list of open questions with an owner, supporting material, and next action. It should separate four states:

1. Ready to edit: the feedback is clear and needs no new decision.
2. Missing facts: a date, figure, link, or approval is required.
3. Decision required: there are two reasonable options and a named person must choose.
4. Conflict: the comments point in different directions and need to be resolved together.

This gives Gemini the role of editorial assistant while the team keeps the decisions.

A 45-minute test for your next document review

Choose a document that already has real comments: a proposal, campaign plan, meeting brief, operating procedure, or letter that several people must approve. The test works best with roughly ten to forty open comments. That is enough material to show whether the summary helps, without turning the test into its own project.

Minutes 0–5: define what finished means

Write one sentence at the top of a separate working note:

After this review, the document should be ready for [client delivery/internal approval/publication], with all facts confirmed and every remaining choice assigned to an owner.

Name the person who can approve the final version. Gemini can sort and suggest. The person who closes the work should be explicit.

Minutes 5–15: ask Gemini to map the comments

Open the document and use Gemini in Docs. Start with a reading task. Do not ask for edits yet.

Have Gemini group the feedback, identify unresolved questions, and flag threads where people appear to be talking about different things. Then check that every item maps back to a real comment.

Minutes 15–25: assign the decisions

Review the decision queue with the document owner or team. Add an owner and due time to every point that needs facts or a choice. If the same question appears in several places, give it one shared decision rather than five nearly identical replies.

This is often where most of the time is saved. The team stops debating sentences before it knows which underlying decision the sentence needs to carry.

Minutes 25–35: let Gemini suggest replies and edits

Gemini can now write, within clear boundaries:

• Ask for draft replies where the supporting facts are already available.
• Request suggested edits rather than silent direct changes.
• Tell Gemini to mark [MISSING] when a claim lacks support.
• Have the responsible person approve every change that affects price, timing, commitments, or ownership.

Google Docs presents suggested changes for review. Use that mechanism. Bulk acceptance may suit pure style adjustments, but not business decisions.

Source: Write & edit with Gemini in Docs.

Minutes 35–45: close with a decision record

Finish with five lines in the document or project tool:

• What changed.
• Which facts were confirmed.
• Which decisions were made and by whom.
• What remains open.
• Who will publish or send the final version.

Also save the number of open comments before and after the review. Do not chase zero comments at any cost. Keep important questions from hiding in a thread.

Copy this prompt: turn comments into a decision list

Paste the prompt into Gemini in Google Docs. Replace the text inside brackets. If the comment feature is not visible in your account yet, the same prompt can work with an exported comment list, although you will lose direct traceability to each thread.

Read every open comment and reply in this document. Do not make any changes yet.

Document goal:
[Describe what the document will be used for and who must approve it.]

Create a decision queue in the order the issues should be resolved. For each item, include:
- the part of the document affected by the comment;
- a short summary of the issue;
- category: READY TO EDIT, MISSING FACTS, DECISION REQUIRED, or CONFLICT;
- who appears to need to respond, if stated;
- which supporting material is mentioned or missing;
- the recommended next action.

Merge duplicates, but list the comment threads that belong together. Flag comments that contradict each other. Do not invent dates, prices, decisions, or owners. Write [MISSING] when the evidence is insufficient.

Finish with:
1. the three questions blocking the document most;
2. text changes that can be suggested without a new business decision;
3. comments that can be answered from the existing document and linked sources.

Wait for my approval before suggesting edits or drafting replies in the comment threads.

The prompt makes one useful separation: analysis comes before action. The team gets a map first. It then chooses which parts Gemini may help carry out.

How to tell whether the test worked

Do not measure only how quickly Gemini produced an answer. Check whether the work became easier to finish.

A good result means:

• Every item in the decision queue traces back to a real comment.
• Conflicts remain visible instead of being smoothed over.
• Missing facts are clearly marked.
• Owners receive questions they can answer.
• The final text contains the decisions that were actually made.

Compare the time from the last comment to the approved version. That is a better measure than the number of AI-written replies. If the decision queue is longer than the original threads, you did not save time. The target is shorter, clearer, and traceable.

Three documents where the workflow fits immediately

The client proposal: Have Gemini separate wording requests from changes to price, delivery, or scope. The salesperson can approve phrasing quickly and raise commercial decisions separately.

The school information letter: Collect comments from teachers, administrators, and school leaders. Dates and owners should be confirmed by the right person, while tone and readability can be handled as editing.

The campaign plan: Group feedback on messaging, channels, budget, and timing. When two people want different things, the disagreement becomes a visible decision point instead of two parallel rewrites.

The same pattern can later support a more integrated routine. An approved decision queue can move into a project tool, CRM, or internal task list. Use scoped permissions, add an approval gate before writing, and keep a short audit log. That is a sensible next Tool Forge step when document review happens every week.

Check access and language before planning the routine

Google says the rollout started on July 28, 2026, and may take up to fifteen days. Eligible plans include Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, Education Plus, and certain Google AI and education add-ons. Gemini for Workspace in Drive and Workspace smart features must be enabled.

Google's help page for the comment workflow is still labeled Workspace Experiments, even though the launch post describes a wider rollout. Check that the feature appears in your account before you build a fixed process around it.

Google's language matrix does not list the comment workflow as a separate multilingual feature. Google says features that are not specifically listed are English-only. Swedish works in the Gemini side panel in Docs, but this particular comment workflow may therefore require an English account language or English instructions during the rollout. Test it in the intended account and with a real Swedish document before promising a Swedish workflow to the team.

Sources: Respond to & manage comments with Gemini in Google Docs. Supported languages for Google Workspace with Gemini.

Many teams save time as soon as AI finds the questions that would otherwise wait until the next meeting.