What’s changing
Earlier this year, we introduced the ability to use Gemini in Google Drive to interact with PDFs. To improve your viewing experience when reviewing PDFs from Drive, we’re excited to announce that Gemini in the side panel of Drive is now integrated into Drive's overlay file previewer.
As a result, you can seamlessly switch between multiple files while leveraging AI capabilities using Gemini in Drive to do things like:
- Get a quick overview of long, complicated PDFs
- Use PDF contents to make something new, like a study guide or an email draft
- Summarize files in @-folder
Getting started
- Admins: To access Gemini in the side panel of Workspace apps, users need to have smart features and personalization turned on. Admins can turn on default personalization setting for their users in the Admin console.
- End users:
- To access this feature, double-click on a PDF from the Google Drive file list and click on "Ask Gemini" (star button) in the top right corner.
- Note: When Gemini initially launched in Workspace, PDFs viewed in Drive opened in a new browser tab to allow interaction with the Gemini side panel. With this update, the default behavior will open a file in the overlay file previewer. If you prefer for PDFs to open in a new tab by default, you can update your PDF opening default behavior in your Drive settings. If you previously set a preferred PDF opening default behavior in your Drive setting, your default open behavior will remain the same.
- Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Gemini in Drive to work with PDFs.
Rollout pace
- Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on January 9, 2025
Availability
Available for Google Workspace customers with these add-ons:
- Gemini Business
- Gemini Enterprise
- Gemini Education
- Gemini Education Premium
- Google One AI Premium