What is Smart Compose in Gmail? It is Google’s predictive-writing feature: as you type an email, it may show a grey continuation that you can accept or ignore. It helps finish phrases and sentences; it does not generate a complete message from a prompt. On a computer, accept a suggestion with Tab. In the Gmail mobile app, swipe across the suggested text.
- Turn it on on desktop
- Use it on Android, iPhone, or iPad
- Compare Gmail’s writing features
- Understand its limitations
- Troubleshoot missing or unexpected suggestions
What is Smart Compose in Gmail?
Smart Compose is autocomplete for email. Gmail displays a predicted continuation in light grey inside the draft. Press Tab on a computer or swipe across the text on mobile to accept it. If it is not right, keep typing and it disappears.
The feature reduces repetitive typing. It can complete a greeting, a familiar request, or a common closing such as “Have a great weekend.” It may suggest a few words or more of a sentence, but it is completing what you started—not deciding what the email should say.
Google says Smart Compose uses machine learning and is available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. Google also warns that it is not designed to provide answers and may not always predict factually correct information. Treat every suggestion as draft text that needs your review.
How Smart Compose works
Smart Compose predicts a continuation from the text and context available while you write. Google’s technical paper describes a real-time system built around a neural language model. In practice, type normally and accept only suggestions that match your meaning.
Gmail can show generic or personalized suggestions. With Smart Compose personalization on, suggestions are tailored to how you usually write; with it off, Gmail can still show generic suggestions. Google says only you can see your account’s personalized suggestions, including on work or school accounts.
Smart Compose is a Google Account-level setting. Changing it applies to devices where that account is signed in, so check which account you are editing if you use several Gmail addresses.
How to turn on Smart Compose on desktop
Google’s current computer instructions no longer use the old “experimental access” setting found in 2018 tutorials.
- Open Gmail on your computer.
- Select the Settings gear in the top-right corner.
- Select See all settings.
- Stay on the General tab and scroll to Smart Compose.
- Select Writing suggestions on.
- Under Smart Compose personalization, choose Personalization on for suggestions based on your writing style, or Personalization off for generic suggestions.
- If Gmail shows a save control at the bottom of the page, save your changes.
Smart Compose also requires smart features in Gmail, Chat and Meet to be enabled. Google’s smart-feature controls guide places that control in Gmail under Settings → See all settings → General → Smart features.
How to use Smart Compose
Start a new email or reply as you normally would. After you type part of a phrase, Gmail may place a grey continuation after your cursor. Press Tab to accept the whole visible suggestion. Keep typing to ignore it, or edit the accepted text like any other part of the draft.
For example:
- Type “Hi Jordan, I hope” and Gmail may offer a familiar greeting continuation.
- Type “Thanks again for” and it may suggest the rest of a common closing.
Suggestions are often most useful when the next phrase is conventional or follows clearly from your text. They will not appear after every word or always capture your nuance. Before sending, reread names, dates, commitments, and sensitive details.
How to use Smart Compose on Android, iPhone, and iPad
On mobile, Smart Compose appears inside the Gmail app. It is separate from predictive text supplied by Gboard, Apple’s keyboard, or another installed keyboard.
Android
- Open the Gmail app.
- Tap Menu, then Settings.
- Select the Google account you want to change.
- Turn Smart Compose on or off.
To accept a grey suggestion, swipe across the suggested text. These steps come from Google’s Android Smart Compose guide.
iPhone and iPad
- Open the Gmail app.
- Tap Menu, then Settings.
- Under Compose and Reply, turn Smart compose on or off.
Swipe across a suggestion to accept it. Google documents the current path in its iPhone and iPad guide. Smart Compose personalization can only be changed from Gmail on a computer.
Smart Compose vs Smart Reply vs Help me write
Gmail’s writing features start at different moments and solve different jobs.
| Feature | Trigger | Typical output | Main job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smart Compose | While you type | An inline phrase or sentence continuation | Finish text you are already writing |
| Smart Reply | After you receive an email | Up to three suggested quick responses | Start a short reply |
| Help me write | You enter a prompt or ask to refine text | A generated or rewritten draft | Create more of the email for you |
Google describes Smart Compose as available to everyone, while access to Gemini-powered features can depend on account type, location, language, and plan. Check Google’s live Gemini features in Gmail availability table rather than assuming that Help me write is included with every account.
The simplest distinction is control. Smart Compose waits for you to begin and offers a continuation. Smart Reply offers ready-made responses to a message you received. Help me write can produce or revise a larger draft from an instruction.
Smart Compose limitations
Smart Compose is convenient, but it has a deliberately narrow job.
- It does not answer questions for you. Google explicitly warns that suggestions may be factually incorrect.
- It is not a full-draft generator. Use Help me write, where available, if you want Gmail to work from a prompt.
- It does not automate your inbox. Smart Compose completes draft text; it does not triage messages, send follow-ups, or manage conversations.
- Its language support is limited. Google currently lists English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese.
- Its suggestions may miss your intent. A plausible continuation can still be wrong for the recipient, tone, or commitment you mean to make.
- It is not Mac-wide autocomplete. Gmail’s Smart Compose does not become available in Apple Mail, Outlook, Slack, Notes, or unrelated browser text fields.
Smart Compose also depends on Google’s smart-feature controls. Google says enabling smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet lets those products use your content and activity to personalize the experience, and data may be used to improve the features. Review Google’s linked explanation; the Smart Compose personalization switch does not describe every Google data setting.
What if you want autocomplete outside Gmail?
If Gmail is the only place you want inline completions, Smart Compose may be enough. If you move among email, messages, documents, and browser text fields, the rest of that writing is unchanged.
Nextline is a Mac autocomplete app that predicts continuations where you are already typing. It is not an email client, a Gmail replacement, or an inbox agent. The difference is reach: Nextline works in supported Mac apps, including Gmail on the web, Apple Mail, Outlook, Slack, and Apple Notes. See current email-app compatibility before deciding whether it fits your workflow.
For a wider view of writing tools, you can also compare Nextline with other approaches.
Troubleshooting Smart Compose
If suggestions do not appear—or continue after you thought you disabled them—check these possibilities:
- Writing suggestions are off. Revisit General → Smart Compose in Gmail settings.
- Smart features are off. Smart Compose requires smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet.
- You changed another account. On Android, select the account inside Gmail settings; on all devices, remember that Smart Compose is account-level.
- The text comes from another feature. Keyboard prediction, Smart Reply, Help me write, a browser extension, or a Mac writing tool can look similar but have separate controls.
- The language is unsupported. Compare your writing language with Google’s current five-language list.
- Your app needs updating. Google’s smart-feature guide recommends updating the mobile Gmail app when account changes are not reflected there.
- It is a managed account. If the expected controls are unavailable in work or school Gmail, ask your Workspace administrator whether organization settings affect access.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gmail Smart Compose free?
Google describes Smart Compose as available to everyone, with no separate paid add-on. You still need Gmail access and the required smart-feature settings. Gemini features have separate availability rules.
Does Smart Compose learn my writing style?
It can provide suggestions tailored to the way you usually write when Smart Compose personalization is on. Turn personalization off on a computer to receive generic suggestions instead.
Can I turn Smart Compose off?
Yes. On desktop, choose Writing suggestions off under General → Smart Compose. In the Gmail mobile app, use the Smart Compose toggle described above.
Does Smart Compose work on Android and iPhone?
Yes. Google supports Smart Compose in the Gmail apps for Android, iPhone, and iPad. Swipe across the grey suggested text to accept it.
Is Smart Compose the same as Gemini or Help me write?
No. Smart Compose completes text as you type. Help me write is a Gemini feature that can create or rewrite a larger draft from a prompt, subject to current account and availability requirements.
Does Smart Compose work in Apple Mail or Outlook?
No. Gmail Smart Compose is a Gmail feature. For inline completion in those apps, you need a separate tool that supports them.
Why am I still seeing suggestions after turning it off?
The suggestion may come from your phone’s keyboard, browser, operating system, an extension, or another writing app. Disable one source at a time to identify which control is responsible.
Want inline completions beyond Gmail? Download Nextline for Mac after checking where it works.