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How to Use Next Steps in Google Meet: Follow-Ups and Tasks

Next steps in Google Meet is a Gemini feature that acts on your meeting once it ends. If Take notes for me was on, look under Routines for this meeting on the post-call screen and switch on a next step: draft a follow-up email in Gmail or add the action items to Google Tasks. It works on a computer, on Workspace business editions.

The worst part of a good meeting is the twenty minutes afterwards: writing up the actions, sending the follow-up, chasing who agreed to what. Google's new next steps in Meet does some of that for you, straight from the screen you see when the call ends.

Google added it to the post-meeting screen in a recent Workspace update, and it's built on two things you may already use: Gemini's Take notes for me, and Workspace Studio, Google's tool for automated flows. Here's how it works, the conditions that quietly stop it appearing, and how I'd use it.

What next steps can do right now

Next stepWhat happensExtra conditions
Draft a follow-up emailGemini drafts an email in Gmail from the meeting notesYou're the host, it's a one-off meeting, at least one guest is outside your organisation
Add action items to Google TasksActions from the notes land in your Tasks listNone beyond the basics below

Google says these are the first two routine next steps, with more coming. If you've used Workspace Studio flows before, these show up there too, marked as system flows.

What you need before it'll appear

  • A work or school Google Account on Business Standard or Plus, Enterprise Standard or Plus, or Google AI Pro for Education.
  • Smart features in Google Workspace switched on.
  • Take notes for me and Ask Gemini turned on during the meeting.
  • A meeting that's part of a Google Calendar event (not an instant meeting link).
  • A computer. It isn't on the phone app.

Miss any one of those and the Routines section simply won't show. The most common culprit I'd expect is forgetting to start Take notes for me, because next steps are built from those notes.

How to turn on a next step

  1. Run your Google Meet call with Take notes for me switched on.
  2. When the meeting ends, stay on the post-call screen on your computer.
  3. Find the section called Routines for this meeting.
  4. Switch on the next step you want, such as drafting a follow-up email.
  5. Check your inbox: the first time, Workspace Studio emails you to confirm it's on. For draft emails, Google Chat also tells you when it's done.

For recurring meetings, the next step is switched on for every future meeting in that series, which is brilliant for a weekly team call. You can also choose to apply a next step across all your meetings.

The catches worth knowing

Follow-up emails don't work on recurring meetings

This is the one that'll catch people. Google's help page says the draft follow-up email needs you to be the host, the meeting must not be part of a repeating series, and at least one participant must be outside your organisation. So it's built for client and prospect calls, not your Monday stand-up. For internal recurring meetings, the Tasks next step is the one to use.

You can't edit a next step

Next steps can only be turned on or off. If you want different wording or a different action, you'd build your own flow in Workspace Studio instead.

Turning one off

Either cancel it from Routines for this meeting after a call, or go to Workspace Studio, click Flows, find the flow marked system, then Manage flow and Turn off. The same menu has an Activity view so you can check whether a next step ran.

Prompts to finish the job with Gemini

The drafted follow-up is a starting point. Open it in Gmail and use Gemini to make it sound like you:

Copy this prompt

Rewrite this follow-up so it sounds warm and personal, keeps every agreed action with its owner and date, and ends with one clear next step for the client.

Copy this prompt

Turn these meeting notes into a short recap for my team: three decisions, open questions, and who's doing what by when.

Copy this prompt

Work with me

Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?

I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.

From these notes, list anything the client asked for that we haven't agreed to yet, so I can raise it before it turns into scope creep.

Copy this prompt

Draft a polite chase email for anyone on this list whose action is overdue, one short paragraph each.

If you're new to Gemini in Workspace, my Gemini prompts for business owners are a good next stop, and this explainer on what Gemini 3 is covers the models doing the note-taking.

Tools that work with Google Meet next steps

These are the tools it connects to or sits beside, named here, not linked:

  • Take notes for me in Meet, which next steps depend on.
  • Gmail, where follow-up drafts appear.
  • Google Tasks, where action items land.
  • Google Calendar, since the meeting has to be a calendar event.
  • Workspace Studio, for managing flows and building your own.
  • Google Chat, which notifies you when some next steps finish.

If you'd like help designing meeting routines like this for your team, have a look at how I work with businesses.

My verdict

It's small, but it's the right kind of small: it removes a job everyone hates. Switch on the Tasks next step for your recurring internal calls, and the follow-up email for one-off client calls where you're the host. Just remember it can't be edited, so read every draft before it goes anywhere near a client.

Frequently asked questions

Why don't I see next steps after my Google Meet call?

Check that Take notes for me and Ask Gemini were on during the meeting, the meeting was a Google Calendar event, smart features are on and you're on a computer. Suggested next steps can also vary or not appear depending on the meeting.

Can next steps draft a follow-up email after a recurring meeting?

No. Google's help page says the follow-up email needs a meeting that isn't part of a repeating series, with you as host and at least one participant from outside your organisation.

Does next steps work on the Google Meet phone app?

No. Google says you need to be on a computer.

Can I edit a next step in Google Meet?

No. Next steps can only be turned on or off. For a custom version, build your own flow in Workspace Studio.

Which Workspace editions get next steps?

Google lists Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, and Google AI Pro for Education.

Published and maintained by the Lilach Bullock team, covering marketing, AI and business growth.
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