Examples of how to use Ask Gemini
Use ‘Ask Gemini’ in Drive to group related files, like financial reports or pitch decks, as sources. Then, ask questions to help connect the dots across your data.
- Prep for client meetings:Add your pitch deck and historical contracts to ask:
"Synthesize the client feedback from Q1 meeting notes and write a list of specific requirements I should bring up on today's call based on our latest product deck." - Track insights across teams:Group operational reports and meeting notes to ask:
"Identify the top 3 risks mentioned across the Q2 operational updates,"or"Compare the Q3 budget forecast sheet against our Q4 projected spend presentations." - Manage project status:Centralize active drafts and trackers to ask :
"Read the notes from Tuesday's marketing meeting sync and summarize all open action items that pertain to the social team."
In this section, you’ll learn how to:
Ask Gemini in Drive
You can group related files like financial reports or pitch decks and ask Gemini questions to connect the dots. You can:
- Analyze insights across multiple folders, shared drives, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, PDFs, and other Workspace apps like Gmail, Google Chat, and Google Calendar.
- Ask Gemini to identify patterns, compare different file versions, or verify compliance against internal policies.
- Verify answers with direct citations to your original documents.
- Group related files and folders into a saved Project, creating a focused knowledge base for Gemini to reference.
- Share your project with others so everyone can leverage the same foundational documents.
- Create new Google documents and images using the outputs from Gemini.
Open Ask Gemini from a specific file or folder:
- Go to drive.google.com .
- Navigate to a folder you want to analyze.
- In the toolbar at the top, click Ask Gemini
. The tool will open in a full-screen workspace with your selected files listed as your sources.
Start from scratch:
- Go to drive.google.com .
- At the top right, click Ask Gemini
. This opens the full-screen workspace.
Tip: When you start a conversation from scratch, search settings for other Workspace apps (Drive, Gmail, Chat, and Calendar) are turned on by default. Gemini will use this wider context to answer questions. Web search remains off by default.
Resume conversations in Gemini
Resume and refine your research
Gemini automatically saves your conversation history so you can pick up your work later without losing context.
- Go to drive.google.com .
- At the top right, click Ask Gemini
- In the left panel click History.
- Your conversation history behavior changes depending on how you opened Gemini:
- If opening from a Folder or Project:Your previous conversations related to those sources will appear under Suggested.
- If opening from anywhere else in Drive:Your conversations will appear under All, sorted by most recent.
- Continue the conversation where you left off.
Save and share your sources using Drive projects
While standard conversation history saves your conversations in order, a project makes it easy to find all your chats about specific sources.
This allows you to have multiple unique conversations using the exact same foundation of documents, and makes it possible to share the project with your team. Learn how to share your Gemini research with Drive projects.
Manage sources and search settings
You can choose specific files and folders for Gemini to use when answering your questions in Drive.
Manage your active sources:
- To add files and folders:In the left panel, under "Your sources" or "Project sources," click Add.
- Tip: If you are part of Gemini Alpha, Workspace Experiments, or if you have a Google AI Ultra or Pro account, you can add specific Gmail emails as sources.
- To remove files or folders:Hover over a file or folder in the list and click Remove. This deletes the file from the analysis but keeps it safe in your Drive.
- To temporarily exclude a file:Uncheck the box next to the filename. You can ask questions without Gemini referencing it, without fully removing it from the list.
Use suggested sources
Gemini may suggest additional files based on your current sources or project name.
Important: Suggested files are not used by Ask Gemini until you explicitly add them. Your analysis stays focused only on the data you approve.
- To view suggestions, click Suggested in the left panel to expand the section.
- To add a suggestion, click Addnext to the file to move it into your active sources.
Broaden your search
To broaden your search across your entire Workspace:
- In the left panel, toggle on Let Gemini search for sources. This enables Gemini to pull broader context from across Google Workspace.
- If you want to limit locations, leave the primary toggle on but uncheck specific locations:
- Select Driveto search your wider Drive content beyond pinned sources.
- Select Chat, Calendar, or Gmailto search recent communications and meeting schedules.
- Select Webto search the internet for supplemental public data.
Learn more about search settings.
Verify answers with citations
When Gemini answers a question based on your sources, it provides citations so you can review where the information came from.
- Hover over the small number (for example, [1]) at the end of a sentence to see which file provided the information.
- Click the file chip in the citation to open the original document in a new tab.
