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Overview
All Google@UH users are licensed for Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, which includes access to all Google Workspace core applications and features such as Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Meet, etc.
Faculty and Staff at UH are provided with a Google Workspace for Education Plus license in addition to the Education Fundamentals license. This Education Plus license adds advanced features for Gemini in Workspace, Google Meet, and Google Classroom, outlined below in this article.
For more information on individual Google Applications (or application features) that are available to users via Google@UH, please visit the Google Service Availability Matrix (link).
Gemini in Workspace
Starting in February of 2026, Gemini in Workspace features provided to UH Faculty and Staff include:
- Gemini in Docs: Create content in seconds with Help Me Write and Gemini in the side panel of Docs
- Gemini in Slides: Enhance presentations with the ability to create original images and slides in the side panel of Slides
- Gemini in Forms: Quickly create forms and see AI summaries of responses
- Gemini in Vids: Create polished videos with a simple text prompt or from existing slides
Additional Gemini in Workspace apps (such as Gmail, Calendar, Drive, etc.) and access to more advanced AI models and Gemini features are available to Faculty and Staff users with a Google AI Pro for Education License - available for purchase with departmental funds.
Google Workspace Intelligence
By default, Gemini in Workspace apps makes use of Google's Workspace Intelligence, a dynamic system that inherently understands the complex semantic relationships within the content of your Workspace apps (such as Docs, Slides, or Gmail). This gives Gemini greater contextual information and awareness from your other Workspace apps to provide you with better responses to your prompts and more personalized and authentic output that matches your tone and style.
Workspace Intelligence utilizes strict access controls and adheres to existing permissions for a user's data. The system only retrieves, ranks, and generates context from files, emails, and data that a user already has explicit permission to access. If a user cannot search for a file organically, the AI cannot see it, retrieve it, or reason over it on their behalf. Additionally, under our agreement with Google and when using your Google@UH account, data from your Gemini activity will never be reviewed by humans nor used by Google to train or improve their AI models.
If you would like to use Gemini in Workspace but want to restrict the sources used by Workspace Intelligence, you can do so by following these steps:
- Click on the Gemini "Sparkle" icon in the toolbar of the app you're in.
- Click on the + (Add sources) button.
- Hover over Gemini search settings > to expand the search settings/sources pane.
- Uncheck any sources you do not want Gemini to reference by default.
Note: Gmail also offers additional Smart Features that synthesizes data between Gmail and other apps. You can disable Gmail Smart Features by following these steps:
- Navigate to your Google@UH Gmail on the web.
- Click on the Settings (gear) icon at the top right, then click See all settings.
- On the General tab, scroll down to Smart features.
- Uncheck the box next to "Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat and Meet".
- When prompted, click Turn off and reload.
Google Meet
Additional Google Meet features provided to UH Faculty and Staff include:
- Record meetings
- Recorded meetings are automatically saved to the host’s Google Drive. Note: recording had previously been temporarily provided to Google Workspace for Education customers, regardless of licensing, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Access to polling, breakout room, and noise cancellation features
- Increased participant limit of 500 for meetings - increased from the 100 participants limit with the base Fundamentals license
- Access to moderation controls
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Google Classroom
Additional Google Classroom features provided to UH Faculty and Staff include:
- Access to unlimited originality reports in Google Classroom
All Faculty and Staff at the University are automatically licensed for Google Workspace for Education Plus and no additional action is required to take advantage of these features. You can view a complete list of features for both Education Fundamentals and Education Plus, but please note that some features listed may not be available with your Google@UH account at this time (see below).
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Education Plus features not available to licensed users on Google@UH
- Google Meet attendance tracking
- Google Meet live streaming
- Google Cloud Search
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