Every small business has at least one spreadsheet like this: a list of equipment, parts, or suppliers with half the columns filled in and the other half left blank because typing in categories, specs, or notes one row at a time is the kind of chore that never makes it to the top of the list. Google has quietly shipped a feature built for exactly this problem. It's called Fill with Gemini, and it turns that half-finished spreadsheet into a weekend project instead of a someday project.
What Fill with Gemini Actually Does
Fill with Gemini, which Google rolled out across Google Sheets in April 2026, reads the context of your table and infers what belongs in the empty cells — then fills them for you, either by pulling from the web, classifying existing text, or following a plain-English instruction you type. There are two ways to trigger it:
- Drag-fill: type one example into a column (say, a category next to the first item on your list), grab the fill handle, and drag down. Sheets reads the pattern from that one cell plus the rest of the row and completes the column the way autofill already completes a date series — except now it understands meaning, not just sequence.
- Prompt-fill: select an empty range, click the Fill button that appears, and either accept Gemini's automatic suggestion or type your own instruction, like "classify by equipment type" or "write a one-line description from the model number."
The feature needs Workspace smart features turned on, and Google's support documentation for enhanced Smart Fill walks through both entry points in more detail. By July 2026 it had expanded to eleven additional languages, so it's no longer an English-only experiment.
The Weekend Build
Pick a spreadsheet you've been meaning to clean up — a tool inventory, a vendor list, a parts catalog, a list of past clients you never fully categorized. Here's the build:
- Get one row right. Pick your messiest column (category, equipment type, service area, whatever you've been skipping) and fill in the correct value for just the first row by hand.
- Drag to fill the rest. Grab the fill handle on that cell and drag it down the column. Sheets will offer to complete the rest based on the pattern it sees in the other columns of each row.
- Use prompt-fill for anything that needs research. For a column like "typical replacement interval" or "manufacturer website," select the empty range, click Fill, and type a specific instruction instead of relying on the automatic guess. The more specific the prompt, the less cleanup you'll do afterward.
- Spot-check before you trust it. Read through the filled column against a handful of rows you actually know the answer to. Fix anything wrong before it becomes the reference copy everyone on your team pulls from.
- Turn the finished list into something useful. Once the table is complete, Google's separate update on building and editing complex spreadsheets with Gemini lets you ask it, in plain language, to turn that table into a pivot summary or a chart — for example, "show me which equipment categories have the most items" or "chart inventory by supplier."
Where to Be Careful
Prompt-fill can pull information from the open web when your prompt calls for it, which is exactly what makes it useful for filling in manufacturer details or specs you don't already have on hand — and exactly why you shouldn't treat its answers as gospel. Treat the filled cells the way you'd treat a new hire's first pass at data entry: generally close, occasionally wrong, always worth a second look before it feeds into a quote, a safety record, or anything a customer will see. Google's own writeup aimed at small businesses pitches this as a way to get a faster first draft of your data, not a replacement for someone who knows the business checking it.
The feature currently requires Workspace smart features enabled on your account, and availability depends on your Workspace or Google AI plan tier — worth confirming before you build a process around it if you're on a shared family or free account.
Why It's Worth an Hour
The real cost of a half-filled spreadsheet isn't the blank cells — it's that nobody ever goes back and finishes it, so the list quietly stops being trustworthy. Fill with Gemini doesn't replace the judgment call on what belongs in each column, but it removes the excuse for leaving the column blank in the first place. Pick the spreadsheet you've been avoiding, give it one real hour this weekend, and see how much of it you can get Sheets to finish for you.