Google announced two Workspace Studio updates on its Workspace Updates blog on November 9 and 10. Skills, which are saved instructions that tell Gemini how your team writes and works, are now rolling out across Workspace Studio, Gmail, Docs, Slides, Drive and Chat. Studio flows also get a new “Wait until” step that pauses an automation and picks it up later.

What’s new

  • Skills in Workspace. You write a skill once (your brand voice, a proposal structure, an invoice review checklist) and Gemini applies it when it’s relevant, or when you call it with an @mention. Google says skills can be built in Workspace Studio or Google Docs, shared as copies with teammates, and used to start Studio flows set to run manually or on a schedule. They use the open SKILL.md format, work in English only for now, and aren’t yet available in Sheets or Meet.
  • Wait until step. A flow can now pause for a set time, up to 14 days, or until a specific day and time, then carry on. Google’s examples include a follow-up email a few days after a meeting and a team digest held until Monday morning. Before this, delays meant splitting one process into several scheduled flows.
  • Gems are on the way out in flows. Google says you can no longer add new “Ask a Gem” steps to Studio flows, and skills are the replacement.

Who it affects

Teams on paid Google Workspace plans. For the Wait until step, Google lists Business Starter, Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, and Education editions, with no admin control and a rollout that began on November 9. Google says skills are on by default for eligible editions, and admins can switch them off by domain, organizational unit or group.

Our take

This is the most useful Workspace automation news for small teams in a while. Skills fix the problem of everyone prompting Gemini differently, and Wait until makes simple follow-up sequences possible without Zapier or Make. We’d pick one repeat task this week, such as proposal drafts or post-meeting follow-ups, and write a single skill for it. If your flows still use Ask a Gem steps, list them now so you can plan the switch before Google moves the remaining Gems in 2027.

If you want help mapping which Workspace jobs to automate first, our AI workflow automation team works in Workspace Studio as well as email automation tools, and we can connect those flows to the apps and CRM you already use.