The first time the Gemini sidebar barged into my Google Doc, it felt less like a helpful assistant and more like an uninvited collaborator. A bright panel urged me to “write with Gemini” before I had typed a single word. Closing the window only made it reappear later, like a pop-up hydra. So the question became not how to use Gemini, but how to make it go away.

Google’s AI tools are woven through Docs, Gmail, and the rest of Workspace, which means the most reliable way to quiet them is to adjust your account’s smart features. The controls live in Gmail, but they affect Docs as well.

Start in Gmail. Open Settings, then choose See all settings. Look for the section labeled Smart features and personalization. Here, Google lets you decide whether its systems can scan your content to offer suggestions, summaries, and other AI-driven tricks.

To strip back the AI layer, turn off Smart features in Gmail. This disables things like automatic email categorization and certain predictive prompts. Next, turn off Smart features and personalization in other Google products. This broader switch tells Google not to reuse your Gmail, Chat, and Meet data to power suggestions elsewhere, including in Docs.

These settings do not delete Gemini from existence, but they dramatically reduce how aggressively it inserts itself into your workspace. Many users report that once smart features are disabled, the “help me write” prompts and Gemini nudges in Docs either disappear or become far less prominent.

If you still see a Gemini panel in Docs, close it using the X in the corner, then look for any toggle or menu item labeled Help me write or Gemini and switch it off. In some Workspace accounts, administrators control whether AI tools appear at all, so if you are using a school or work account, you may need to ask your IT admin to disable Gemini features for your organization.

None of this is as simple as a single “no AI, thanks” button, but it is the closest thing Google currently offers. With smart features dialed down and Gemini panels dismissed, Docs returns to what many writers actually want: a blank page, and silence.