Gemini Gems Guide 2026: Create, Share, Move to Skills

Gemini Gems are custom versions of Gemini that remember your instructions and files. Google is now replacing them with skills, and personal Gems turn read-only on November 17, 2026.

This guide shows how Gems work, how to build and share one, and how to move every Gem to skills before your data is removed.

TLDR

What a Gem is: a saved name, a set of instructions and optional knowledge files that Gemini follows every time.
Big change: personal Gems become read-only on Nov 17, 2026 and are removed on Dec 17, 2026.
Workspace: business and enterprise Gems keep working until March 2027, education until June 2027.
Replacement: skills, which you call with / in any chat. Gems convert automatically as inactive drafts.
Do this now: download your knowledge files and copy your instructions as a backup.

What Gemini Gems Are

A Gem is a saved helper inside the Gemini app. You give it a name, write instructions once, and Gemini follows them in every chat with that Gem.

Think of it as a shortcut. Instead of pasting the same long prompt each time, you open the Gem and start typing.

Name: what you see under “My Gems” in the sidebar.
Instructions: the role, tone, format and rules Gemini should follow.
Knowledge: optional files from your device, Google Drive or NotebookLM that the Gem can read.
Default tool: a Gem can start with a tool such as Create image or Canvas already on.

Gems you make on the web also show up in the Gemini mobile app and in the Gemini side panel of Google Workspace apps.

The Gems to Skills Timeline (Read This First)

Google is phasing out Gems in favor of skills. Skills launched in Gemini chat on September 30, 2026, and the new Customize menu started rolling out on October 13, 2026.

Account type	What happens	Date
Personal account, 18+	Gems become read-only. You can open them but not use, edit or create them.	Nov 17, 2026
Personal account, 18+	Gems and their files are removed from Gemini Apps	Dec 17, 2026
Personal account, under 18	Transition comes later. Google has not set a date yet.	To be announced
Workspace business, enterprise, non-profit	Gems move to Settings on Nov 17 but still work. They stop working no sooner than March 1, 2027.	March 2027
Workspace education	Same as business, plus removal from Google Classroom and LMS tools	June 2027
Opal and Gems by Google Labs	Switched off. They do not convert to skills.	November 2026

Warning: On personal accounts you can only download files from Gems before December 17, 2026. After that, the Gem and its files are gone from Gemini Apps.

Google says it will move your Gems to skills automatically. Converted skills arrive as inactive drafts, so you still need to check and turn each one on.

How to Create a Gem

Gems are created on a computer at gemini.google.com. You can use them on mobile, but the help page only gives desktop steps for building one.

Note: From November 17, 2026, personal accounts can no longer create new Gems. These steps still apply to Workspace users until their own cutoff, and to anyone working before that date.

Open Gemini. Go to gemini.google.com and sign in.
Open the sidebar. Click “Open Sidebar”, then click “Gems”. If you have never made a Gem, click “Settings and help” first, then “Gems”.
Start a new Gem. Click “New Gem”.
Name it. Pick a short, clear name such as “Email Polisher”.
Write instructions. Type a few lines, then click “Use Gemini to re-write instructions” if you want a fuller version.
Add knowledge (optional). Under “Knowledge”, click “Add files” and choose a source.
Test it. Type a prompt in the preview box on the right and click “Submit”.
Save. Click “Save”. The Gem now appears under “My Gems”.

Editing and deleting a Gem

Use: Open Sidebar, then Gems, then pick the Gem under “My Gems” and type your prompt.
Edit: Open the Gem from “My Gems”, change the fields, then save.
Delete: Find the Gem under “My Gems”, click “Options”, then “Delete”.

Writing Good Gem Instructions

Good instructions are the whole point of a Gem. A clear structure works better than a long wall of text.

Persona: who the Gem is. Example: “You are a friendly editor for a small travel blog.”
Task: what it should do every time. Example: “Rewrite my draft in simple English.”
Context: who reads the output and what they need.
Format: length, headings, bullet points or a table.
Rules: what to avoid, such as jargon or made-up facts.

Tip: Keep your instructions in a text file as well. You need that copy for the move to skills, and it lets you reuse the same prompt in ChatGPT or Claude.

Knowledge Files: What You Can Add

Knowledge files give a Gem reference material, such as a style guide, product list or course notes. When Google added file support in November 2024, it allowed up to 10 files per Gem.

Three places to add files from

Your device: click “Upload files”.
Google Drive: click “Add from Drive”. This needs Keep Activity on and Google Workspace connected to Gemini Apps.
NotebookLM: click “More uploads”, then “Notebooks”. See our NotebookLM guide for building notebooks.

Drive files stay live. Gemini reads the latest version, so edits you make in Drive show up in the Gem automatically.

Supported file types

Documents: Google Docs, TXT, DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF, HWP and HWPX.
Data: Google Sheets, XLS, XLSX, CSV and TSV.
Citations: select “Disable knowledge citations” if you do not want the Gem to cite its files.

Premade Gems

Google ships five ready-made Gems you can use without writing anything. They sit in the Gems manager next to your own Gems.

Brainstormer: ideas for events, gifts, content and plans.
Career guide: help with skills, goals and job planning.
Coding partner: help writing and fixing code.
Learning coach: step-by-step help to learn a topic. It does not support language learning yet.
Writing editor: feedback on grammar, tone and structure.

Google also lists “experimental” Gems that test early features. Their quality and availability can change.

Gem sharing works like Google Drive sharing. Shared Gems and their files are saved in a new Drive folder.

Open the Gems list. On desktop, open the sidebar and click “Gems”.
Click Share. Click “Share” next to the Gem you want to send.
Add people. Enter email addresses and pick Viewer or Editor.
Set extras. Add an expiry date, a message, or turn off the email notice.
Grant file access. If asked, give Viewer, Commenter or Editor access to the Gem’s files.
Or copy a link. Click “Copy link”. People still need access through the general access setting.

Viewer: can use the Gem and see its instructions and files.
Editor: can also change instructions and files, share the Gem and delete it.
General access: Public, Anyone with the link, Your organization, or Private. Some options are hidden on work and school accounts.

Warning: Anyone with access can see your instructions and uploaded files. Do not share a Gem that holds private data.

A shared Gem only shows under “My Gems” after the person opens it and chats with it. NotebookLM notebooks cannot be used as sources in shared Gems.

Gems Limits by Plan

Gems are free for adults on personal accounts, on the web and in the mobile apps. Google does not publish a separate Gem quota, so the general Gemini Apps limits apply.

Plan	Usage limit	Context window
No AI plan (free)	Standard limits	32K tokens
Google AI Plus	2x standard	128K tokens
Google AI Pro	4x standard	1 million tokens
Google AI Ultra	5x or 20x AI Pro, by tier	1 million tokens

Refresh: limits reset every 5 hours until you hit a weekly cap.
At the limit: subscribers can keep going with Flash-Lite.
Skills: listed on every plan, including free.
Gemini Live: Gems cannot be used with Gemini Live.

The context window matters for Gems with big files. A free account with 32K tokens can lose details from long PDFs. Compare plans in our Google AI Pro vs Ultra guide.

Gems in Google Workspace

Since July 2025, Gems appear in the Gemini side panel of Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive and Gmail. You create them in the Gemini app, then call them from the side panel.

Create the Gem. Build it at gemini.google.com/gems/create.
Open a Workspace file. Open a Doc, Sheet, Slide deck or Drive folder on the web.
Click Ask Gemini. Click the spark button in the top right corner.
Pick your Gem. Choose a custom or premade Gem, and use @ to point it at files.

Admins have no separate switch for Gems in the side panel. Sharing outside your organization follows your Drive sharing rules, and admins can turn Gem sharing off.

What changes for Workspace users

Nov 17, 2026: Gems move into Settings in the Gemini app, but you can still create, edit and use them.
March 1, 2027 or later: business and enterprise Gems stop working, and Workspace Studio “Ask a Gem” steps break.
June 1, 2027 or later: the same for education, plus removal from Classroom.
No sync: skills in the Gemini app and skills in Workspace are separate. You must rebuild a skill in Workspace Studio to use it in both.
Carried over: names, instructions, knowledge files, Drive permissions and sharing settings.

For Gmail-specific help, see our Gemini in Gmail guide.

How to Move a Gem to Skills Yourself

You can wait for the automatic move, but doing it yourself lets you test each skill early. It also protects files that will not transfer.

Back up the Gem. Open the Gem, click Edit, copy the instructions into a text file, and download every file under “Knowledge”.
Make a folder. On your device, create a folder named after the skill in lowercase with hyphens, such as email-polisher. Move the files into it.
Create the skill. In Gemini, go to Customize, then Skills, then Create, then “Create manually”.
Paste the details. Add the name, a one or two sentence description, and the instructions.
Add files. Download the skill as a .zip (it holds SKILL.md), move SKILL.md into your folder, then use “Replace skill” and upload the folder.
Test it. Open a new chat, type / and the skill name, and run a prompt.

Skills limits to know

Files: up to 100 MB in total per skill. In auto conversion, the largest files are dropped first.
Not transferred: GitHub files, audio, video, old Office files (.doc, .xls, .ppt) and archives like .zip.
Count: unlimited skills, but only 100 active at once.
Uploads: skill file uploads work only in the Gemini web app and Mac app for now.
Tools: Create video, Create music, Canvas, Deep research and Guided learning do not work with skills yet.
Coming soon: sharing and adding files from Drive and Gemini Notebook.

Quick answer: Back up instructions and files now, then rebuild key Gems as skills under Customize. Legacy .doc, .xls and .ppt files will not move, so save them as DOCX, XLSX or PDF first.

If skills sound familiar, they work much like Claude’s version. Our Claude skills guide explains the same SKILL.md idea.

Gems vs Custom GPTs vs Claude Projects

All three save instructions and reference files so you stop repeating yourself. They differ in who can build them and how sharing works.

Feature	Gemini Gems	ChatGPT Custom GPTs	Claude Projects
Free to create	Yes (until Nov 17, 2026 on personal accounts)	New GPTs now prompt you to build a plugin instead	Yes, up to 5 projects on free
Knowledge files	Up to 10 files, plus Drive and NotebookLM	Yes, uploaded files	Yes, with RAG on paid plans for large sets
Sharing	Drive-style, Viewer or Editor, public link	Link or GPT Store	Team and Enterprise only, view or edit
Office apps	Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Gmail side panel	Not built in	Not built in
Future	Being replaced by skills	Retiring Dec 11, 2026, replaced by plugins	Ongoing

If you mostly work in Google apps, skills are the natural next step. Custom GPTs are also on the way out, so compare tiers in our ChatGPT plans guide before you rebuild there.

Troubleshooting: Common Problems and Fixes

“New Gem” is missing: on personal accounts, Gem creation stops on Nov 17, 2026. Use Customize, then Skills, instead.
Gems link not in the sidebar: click “Settings and help”, then “Gems”. On Workspace, Gems move into Settings from Nov 17.
“Add from Drive” does not work: turn on Keep Activity and connect Google Workspace in Gemini Apps settings.
Cannot share a Gem: the Gem may hold a NotebookLM notebook or another unsupported source, or your admin has turned sharing off.
Shared Gem not in My Gems: open the link and send one message. It appears after you interact with it.
Converted skill does nothing: migrated skills are inactive drafts. Open the skill and turn it on.
Files missing after conversion: the 100 MB cap dropped the largest files, or the file type is unsupported. Re-upload as PDF or DOCX.
Skill missing in Gmail or Docs: Gemini app skills do not sync with Workspace. Rebuild it in Workspace Studio.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Gemini Gems going away?

Yes. Personal Gems become read-only on November 17, 2026 and are removed on December 17, 2026. Workspace Gems last until March 2027 (business) or June 2027 (education).

Will my Gems turn into skills automatically?

Yes. Google converts them for you, keeping the name, instructions and supported files. They arrive as inactive drafts that you must review and turn on.

Are Gems free to use?

Yes. Gems have been free for adult personal accounts on the web and mobile since 2025. Paid plans only raise general usage limits and the context window.

How many files can a Gem hold?

Google allowed up to 10 knowledge files per Gem when it launched file support. Skills instead allow up to 100 MB of files in total.

Can I use Gems in Gmail and Google Docs?

Yes, on Workspace accounts with Gemini in the side panel. Click “Ask Gemini” in Docs, Sheets, Slides or Drive and pick your Gem.

What happens to premade Gems like Coding partner?

Google has not said much about them in the transition notes. The new skills page already offers premade skills such as /prep-for-meetings and /match-my-writing-style.

Is a Gem better than a Custom GPT or a Claude Project?

Gems win if you live in Google Docs and Gmail. Custom GPTs also retire on December 11, 2026, and Claude Projects suit long documents. New Gemini work should go into skills.

Gemini Gems Guide 2026: Create, Share and Move to Skills

What Gemini Gems Are

The Gems to Skills Timeline (Read This First)