The Polish shortcut is useful when it appears, invisible when it doesn't, and stubborn when you don't want it. Here are the three answers, in order, with Google's own documentation as the source.
Three causes cover most cases, and only one of them is under your control:
On Gmail for web, write a draft of at least 12 words; the Polish shortcut appears near the draft. Click it, or use the keyboard shortcut Google documents in its announcement, and Gmail rewrites the draft into a cleaner version. On mobile, the suggestion appears as a swipeable chip.
Two things to know before you rely on it. First, Polish rewrites the draft: review what changed before sending, because the result can shift your tone. Second, it works on the whole draft, not on the one sentence you wanted fixed.
If you want the fix without the rewrite, or you need it on a single selected sentence, that is exactly the job Prose is built for: polish any email outside Gmail too, with the text you select and nothing more. It installs in a few seconds.
If the suggestions get in your way, the switch lives in Gmail's settings: Settings, General tab, "Smart features and personalization", toggle off. As Google's support answers explain, this also disables the related smart features: Smart Reply, Smart Compose, and summaries. There is no switch for Polish alone. If the prompt persists after the toggle, check the same setting on each account you use: it is per-account.
The most common reasons: your draft is under 12 words (the shortcut only appears above that threshold, per Google's announcement), smart features are disabled in your Gmail settings, or the feature simply isn't rolled out to your account type or language yet. Availability varies by account, which is why the question keeps appearing on Google's own support forums.
On Gmail for web, a Polish shortcut appears on drafts of 12 or more words; clicking it, or using the keyboard shortcut Google documents in its announcement, rewrites the draft into a cleaner version. On mobile, you swipe on the suggestion.
Open Gmail Settings, go to the General tab, scroll to Smart features and personalization, and turn the toggle off. Note that this also disables related features like Smart Reply and Smart Compose, as Google's support answers explain.
Yes. Gmail's Polish only exists inside Gmail. A selected-text extension like Prose does the same one-click polish on any text field in Chrome: other webmail, Slack, LinkedIn, forms, docs. Select the draft, right-click, done. Here is how that works.
Last updated: August 17, 2026. Google changes Polish's availability and behavior over time; if something above no longer matches what you see, tell us.
If Polish isn't there,
the right-click is.
Prose polishes any selected text, in Gmail and everywhere else in Chrome.
Add Prose to Chrome - FreeFree. No account required. No subscription.