I opened a Google Doc the other day to start writing an article, and a text box immediately popped up, inviting me to “write with Gemini.” I searched for a way to dismiss this flashy AI prompt, but nothing worked. It infuriated me. So instead of finishing the piece I was supposed to be working on, I’m now writing about how to banish those AI pop-ups from your Google Docs screen—because it took me a while to figure out. You’re welcome.

The first solution is simple enough:

Click “Gemini” in the top menu bar above your document. From the drop-down menu, select “bottom bar preferences.” You can then choose to turn off that bottom bar, which will remove the AI box at the bottom of your screen.

Full disclosure: I was so frustrated when I went looking for “bottom bar preferences” that I completely overlooked it at first. Instead, I clicked “Ask something else” and asked Gemini to help remove itself from my life. AI may not be human, but Gemini appeared to have a survival instinct, because it told me to click the “X” icon. That doesn’t actually remove Gemini, though—it just closes the conversation, the very one where I was asking it how to turn itself off. Suspicious.

Other annoyed Google Docs users have reported features I haven’t encountered yet, like a “help me write” option that hovers over your cursor while you work. That sounds like something that would drive me crazy, so it’s probably worth stopping it before it becomes a problem. Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” (He was talking about fire safety; I’m talking about product design.)

Instead of toggling off each individual AI feature like a game of whac-a-mole, you can disable “smart features” across your entire Google workspace through Gmail. Start by navigating to your Gmail inbox. From there, click the gear icon for Settings. Then, at the top of the menu, select “See all settings.” (While you’re there, why not pick out a fun theme for your inbox? A little whimsy wouldn’t hurt.)

After clicking “See all settings,” scroll about halfway down the page to find “Google Workspace smart features,” then click “Manage Workspace smart feature settings.”

Here, you’ll see two options: one lets you turn off smart features in Google Workspace (like those annoying Gemini pop-ups in Google Docs), and the other applies to other smart features (which I personally find less irritating). I only toggled off the first option, but if for some reason you hate when Gmail automatically creates calendar events for your flights, this is where you can fix that. You should now be safe from those pesky Gemini pop-ups that disrupt your writing flow in Google Docs. Rest easy.