Lets admins scope external sharing of AI notebooks by domain, organizational unit, or group instead of one org-wide switch, with sharing off by default.
What are the new Gemini Notebook sharing controls?
Google Workspace administrators can now manage external sharing for Gemini Notebook with 4 granular controls in the Admin console. Google’s Workspace Updates post announced the change on September 10, 2026, and it reaches all Google Workspace customers over a gradual rollout of up to 15 days.
Before the update, administrators had a single high-level toggle that turned Gemini Notebook on or off for the entire organization. The update replaces that switch with sharing settings that can be applied at the domain, organizational unit, or group level.
There is no end user setting. If admins do not act, the default behavior decides who shares what, and the default is Off.
4 scoped controls now govern external notebook sharing, and they replace 1 org-wide switch.
Can you share a Gemini Notebook outside your domain now?
Yes, if an admin enables it, and the 4 options carry real differences in exposure. Off blocks sharing with anyone outside the domain and is the default setting, so notebooks stay inside your perimeter until an administrator acts.
Trusted Domains permits external sharing restricted to email addresses on a specified allowlist of trusted domains. On opens sharing to any external email address, and On with public notebook sharing lets users create notebooks anyone with a link can open, without adding individual sharees.
The public option changes the blast radius. A notebook shared that way opens for anyone holding the link, and no individual email gets added as a sharee, so the reader list stops being a list you can audit.
Google’s admin documentation for Gemini Notebook walks through the same configuration path in the Admin console, under the Generative AI settings.
External sharing is now possible, granular, and off until you turn it on.
How do the new controls differ from the old Gemini Notebook toggle?
The old toggle forced one posture on every team. A firm running client research under confidentiality terms sat under the same sharing rule as a solo owner with no external collaborators.
The new model maps controls to how organizations run. A client-facing team can hold a Trusted Domains allowlist while the rest of the company stays at Off, and the group-level setting means 2 teams inside 1 domain no longer share a rule they disagree about.
Google positions the update as flexibility for distinct sets of users, which is the gap the single switch could never close. The Gemini Notebook product page pitches the same sharing and collaboration story from the user side.
The timing is short. The rollout reaches all Google Workspace customers over up to 15 days, and the update post carries the full option list for admins who want the settings mapped before the feature lands in their console.
The upgrade is scope, not capability: same notebooks, finer boundaries.
Who do the Gemini Notebook sharing changes affect?
Administrators own the configuration, and every user who touches client material owns the consequence. A 10-person firm with 6 active client accounts carries 6 separate confidentiality obligations inside 1 tool, and group-level controls are the first setting that maps to that reality.
Solo owners with no external collaborators can leave the default Off untouched and lose nothing. Teams that deliver research to clients should map their active client domains and build the Trusted Domains allowlist around them, a class of AI governance move we track as it lands in the daily signal archive.
Solo owners can ignore this update, and client-facing teams cannot afford to.
The client’s security questionnaire arrives on a Tuesday, and question 14 asks where their data sits when it leaves your tenant. Last quarter the honest answer was a shrug and a screenshot of 1 toggle.
This quarter the answer is a configuration built from the 4 new options: notebooks default to Off, the 2 client domains that need access sit on a Trusted Domains allowlist, and public sharing stays off for the whole org.
The questionnaire takes 20 minutes instead of a week of internal email. Compliance work shrinks to a settings page the moment the settings match how the firm runs.
What should you do about Gemini Notebook sharing now?
Confirm the default Off status for each organizational unit as the rollout lands. If partners require notebook access, configure the Trusted Domains allowlist for those domains and leave public sharing off.
Check the group-level settings for any team handling client material, and document what you find while you are in the console. Documentation is the difference between a policy and a memory.
Google’s admin documentation sits under the Generative AI section of the Admin console, and the 4 options there match the announcement line for line, so the configuration pass takes one sitting.
Default Off, a short allowlist, and one documented pass through the Admin console: that is the whole playbook.
Source: workspaceupdates.googleblog.com
