Introduction to the Gemini app

Google’s Gemini app is an AI assistant that can help you with a variety of tasks. It’s similar to tools like ChatGPT and Claude. You can use it to brainstorm ideas, get help with planning, create images, and speed up time-consuming tasks.

You interact with Gemini through chat conversations. You give Gemini prompts (messages or instructions), and it will respond. Writing prompts that get good responses can take a little practice. See the prompting guide for techniques and tips.

Gemini app vs Gemini in Workspace

You’ll encounter Gemini in two places:

• The Gemini app (gemini.google.com): a standalone AI assistant where you have a full conversation interface, choose from different tools and models, and can work on any topic freely. This is what this guide covers.
• Gemini in Workspace apps: Gemini is built directly into Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive. It appears as a side panel or Help me write button, and works in the context of the document or email you already have open.

Use the Gemini app for open-ended tasks: brainstorming, researching a topic, or generating a first draft from scratch. Use Gemini inside a Workspace app when you’re already working on something and want help with it.

Get to know Gemini

Go to the Gemini app and sign in with your school Google account to get started.

The most important part of the Gemini app is the prompt input area. That’s where you type your instructions, followed by Enter to submit them to Gemini.

Select New chat to start a fresh conversation. Your earlier conversations are listed in your chat history, down the left-hand side.

Choose a model

The model you select affects the quality and speed of responses, and which tools are available. In general:

• Flash is the default. It responds quickly, so use it for everyday tasks such as drafting an email or summarising a document.
• Thinking works through a problem before it answers, so it responds more slowly. Use it for tasks with several steps, such as planning a sequence of lessons.
• Pro thinks for longest and gives the highest-quality responses. Use it for your hardest tasks, such as analysing a long document in depth, when you can wait a little longer.

Files and tools

Select + to add files to your chat or to choose one of Gemini’s tools.

You can add files straight from Google Drive or from your computer. You can also drag and drop files from your computer onto the prompt input area. Gemini will examine files you add, and you can refer to them in your prompt.

The tools include:

• Guided Learning: turns Gemini into an online tutor. Give it a topic or concept you’d like to learn about. Learn how to use learning tools with Gemini.
• Create image: generates images from text descriptions, edits existing images, or combines elements from multiple images. Learn how to create and edit images with Gemini.
• Canvas: gives you and Gemini a side-by-side workspace for drafting and refining documents, presentations, and interactive apps. You can import a document or presentation straight into Docs or Slides. To share an app, select Export, then Google Sites, and it opens as a new site draft. Learn about using Gemini with Canvas.
• Deep Research: explores a topic in depth and produces a structured report that draws on multiple sources. Learn how to use Deep Research.
• Create music: creates custom music tracks from a description of what you’d like to hear. The Flash model creates short clips of around 30 seconds. Thinking and Pro can create longer tracks of up to 3 minutes. Learn how to generate music with Gemini.

Other things Gemini can do

Gemini can do more than the tools in the + menu offer.

• Audio overviews: Gemini can turn text or documents into spoken summaries, which are useful for reviewing content on the go. To create one, ask for it: “Create an audio overview of this document”. Learn about creating audio overviews with Gemini.
• Illustrated storybooks: Gemini can write and illustrate short storybooks, for younger pupils or as custom reading material. Learn how to create storybooks with Gemini.

Connect Gemini to Workspace

Connecting Gemini to Google Workspace lets it work with your Gmail, Drive, Docs, Calendar, Chat, Keep, and Tasks.

1. Go to Settings > Apps.
2. Turn on Google Workspace.

Step-by-step guide

Google Chat has its own switch under Google Workspace, which stays off until you turn it on.

Once connected, you can ask Gemini things like:

• “Summarise the emails I received today”
• “Add a task to review my notes at 15:35 tomorrow”

Notebooks

Your Gemini Notebook notebooks are built into the Gemini app. They’re listed in the left-hand panel, and every chat you start in a notebook draws on its sources. To start a new one, select New notebook and add up to 10 sources.

It’s the same notebook in both apps, and changes you make in one appear in the other. Use Gemini Notebook to create audio overviews, quizzes, and other resources from your sources, which the Gemini app can’t make. In the Gemini app, a notebook’s answers can also draw on web search and Gemini’s other tools.

Learn how notebooks work in the Gemini app.

Skills

Skills are reusable instructions you can call on whenever you prompt Gemini. If you find yourself giving Gemini the same guidance over and over again, save it as a skill. A skill works inside an ordinary chat, and Gemini can apply one by itself when it’s relevant to your prompt. You can also combine several skills in one prompt, such as a “parent newsletter” skill with a “school house style” skill.

To create one, select Customise in the left-hand panel, then Skills. You can also open the settings menu from the cog next to your name and select Skills. You can write a skill yourself, start from one of Google’s templates, or describe what you want and let Gemini write it with you.

Learn how to create and manage skills.

What happens to Gems

Skills replace Gems, the custom versions of Gemini you could set up with instructions and reference files. Your Gems keep working for now. From 17 November 2026 they move to the Gemini app’s settings, where you can still create, edit, and use them. For schools, Gems stop working in the Gemini app and in Google Classroom no sooner than 1 June 2027. Any Gems left at that point are turned into draft skills. You can recreate a Gem as a skill yourself before then.

Learn about the transition from Gems to skills.

When to use other tools

Gemini is a strong starting point for most tasks, but some tasks are better handled by more specialist tools:

• Gemini Notebook: when you need answers grounded in a fixed set of documents, such as policies, sets of resources, or a unit of work. Gemini Notebook cites its responses against the sources you provide. That makes it more reliable than the Gemini app for detailed factual questions about specific content.
• Google Vids: when you need to create or edit a video. Google Vids is purpose-built for video production and includes AI voiceover, clip generation, and recording tools.