What problem does Gemini’s ‘Help me schedule’ solve?

We’ve all been there: A potential customer emails asking to meet next week. You check your calendar, propose three time slots, and hit send.

They respond that none of those work, offering their own suggestions.

You’re in a meeting during two of them, so you counter with new options. Three days and five emails later, you finally lock in a time, but the momentum of that initial conversation has faded.

This scheduling ping-pong is one of the most frustrating parts of professional life. It’s not just annoying, it’s costly. Every delayed meeting means delayed decisions, lost opportunities, and projects that move more slowly than they should.

Gemini’s new ‘Help me schedule’ feature in Gmail eliminates this pain point by intelligently automating the entire scheduling process directly within your email.

How to access: Available in Gmail with Gemini

Gemini’s ‘Help me schedule’ can help you:

● Eliminate scheduling back-and-forth: Automatically propose meeting times without manual calendar checking.

● Save time: Let AI handle the tedious work of finding mutually available slots.

● Schedule seamlessly: Insert time options directly into your email and automatically create calendar invites once confirmed.

Example:

Suppose a customer emails you requesting a 30-minute meeting next week to discuss a project proposal. Here’s how Gemini’s ‘Help me schedule’ streamlines the process:

● Detect intent: Gmail recognizes you’re coordinating a meeting and displays a ‘Help me schedule’ button in the toolbar.

● Generate smart suggestions: Click the button, and Gemini analyzes your Google Calendar and the email context (30 minutes, next week) to suggest ideal time slots that match your availability.

● Customize and insert: Review the suggested times, remove or add options as needed, then insert them directly into your reply.

● Automatic calendar invite: When your client selects their preferred time, a calendar invite is automatically added to both calendars. No additional steps required.

What makes ‘Help me schedule’ special?

● Context-aware intelligence: Gemini understands email context (meeting duration, timeframe) to provide relevant suggestions.

● Integrated workflow: Works directly within Gmail. No switching between apps or tabs.

● Automated follow-through: Calendar invites are created automatically once a time is selected, closing the scheduling loop effortlessly.

Mint’s ‘AI tool of the week’ is excerpted from Leslie D’Monte’s weekly TechTalk newsletter. Subscribe to Mint’s newsletters to get them directly in your email inbox.

Note: The tools and analysis featured in this section demonstrated clear value based on our internal testing. Our recommendations are entirely independent and not influenced by the tool creators.

Jaspreet Bindra is co-founder and CEO, and Anuj Magazine is co-founder, of AI&Beyond.