Google’s Gemini app now opens the files it generates in an editor inside the chat. Since 29 October, you can type changes in a full-screen view, highlight a passage to ask about it, or let Gemini rewrite it. Google says every Gemini user gets it, from free personal accounts to all Google Workspace customers, and Workspace admins get no separate switch to turn it off.
PDFs can be edited on your phone, slides and sheets only in the browser
Gemini has been able to create files since April, including Word and Excel formats. Until now, changing one meant writing a new prompt or downloading it. Now the file appears as a preview in the conversation. Expand it to full screen and it works as a simple editor: you type yourself, or select text and ask Gemini to change the wording or a visual.
What you can do next depends on the format:
- Slide decks open in Google Slides, or download as PPTX or PDF.
- Spreadsheets, such as trackers and tables, open directly in Google Sheets.
- Documents can be drafted as PDF, Google Docs, LaTeX, Markdown or plain text, and saved to Google Drive.
PDF preview and editing work on the web and in the mobile app. All other formats, including documents, spreadsheets, slide decks and code, work only in the browser version of Gemini. Google says the editor works in every language the Gemini app supports, which includes Dutch.
Workspace admins cannot turn off the file editor on its own
Google’s update for Workspace administrators is brief on controls: “There is no admin control for this feature.” The same applied to file generation in April. The only lever is switching the whole Gemini app on or off, which also removes everything else it does. Google lists the editor as available now for all Workspace domains, without a staged rollout. It also says users “of all ages” with access to the Gemini app can generate files.
Does Google use the files you edit in Gemini to train its models?
On a company Workspace account, Google says no; on a personal account, it depends on one setting. For Workspace, Google’s privacy page states that your content is not reviewed by humans or used to train generative AI models outside your domain without permission.
On a personal Google account, Gemini saves your chats and uploads in your activity while the Keep Activity setting is on. Google says a subset of chats is read by human reviewers, including staff at its service providers, to improve its services. With Keep Activity off, new chats are kept for 72 hours and are not used to train Google’s models, unless you send feedback. Even then, Google uses chats to protect its services and users, with help from human reviewers. You change this in your Gemini Apps Activity settings.
Staff on Microsoft 365 can now finish a PowerPoint deck in a free Gemini account
For the organisations DataNorth works with, the editor matters less for what it can do than for where work ends up. If you run Google Workspace, you have already decided whether Gemini is on, and the editor comes with it under the Workspace data terms. Do check that the retention period for Gemini conversations suits files that are now drafted and revised in the chat. Admins can set it to 3, 18 or 36 months.
Organisations on Microsoft 365 face a different question. Any employee can now draft a deck in a free personal Gemini account, adjust it slide by slide and download it as PPTX. Gemini also generates Word and Excel files. Without a clear rule, client documents end up in personal accounts that your organisation cannot see or delete. If those files contain personal data, there is no data processing agreement between your organisation and Google for that account.
Add one line to your AI policy on whether personal Gemini accounts may hold work files, and name the tool staff should use if they may not. If you allow it, ask staff to turn off Keep Activity or use temporary chats for work. And before anyone relies on the PPTX export, try it on a non-confidential deck to see whether your template survives the trip into PowerPoint.
For more information, visit the official announcement of file editing in Gemini on the Google blog.
