Google has added tools for creating, previewing and editing files directly in Gemini chats. The features are available to all Gemini users from October 29, 2026, and cover PDFs, Google Docs, Google Sheets, slide decks, Markdown, TXT files and code.
Users can open a document in full-screen mode to edit it, or highlight part of a file and ask Gemini a question or request a change. For example, Google says someone could select a table and ask Gemini to turn it into a graph. The company says this can be done without leaving the Gemini app.
Which files work on mobile?
PDF previews and editing are available on both the web and mobile versions of Gemini. The other listed formats work only on the web for now. Google has not specified in the announcement how those files are represented or which editing controls are available for each type.
The feature builds on file generation and download support that Google added to Gemini earlier in 2026. The change is that users can now work on those files within the chat, rather than downloading them first to make edits elsewhere.
How does this fit with other tools?
Gemini already offered editing through connections to Google Workspace apps, including the Gemini bar in Google Docs. The new chat-based tools offer another way to work with files, but the announcement does not say that they replace those integrations or provide the same controls as editing in Docs or Sheets.
Anthropic also introduced a feature earlier in 2026 for generating and editing documents and presentations in Claude chats. Google’s announcement covers a wider list of file types, including spreadsheets, PDFs and code, but the companies’ tools are not directly compared in the available details.
Why it matters
For people who use Gemini to draft or revise files, the new tools mean they can make some changes inside a chat instead of downloading a file first. Mobile users can edit PDFs, but the other listed file types still require the web version; Google has not detailed how editing works for every format.
