Gemini Gems Are Becoming Skills: What to Do Now
Google is replacing Gems in Gemini with skills. On personal Google accounts, Gems become read-only on November 17, 2026 and are removed on December 17, 2026. Google turns them into skills automatically, but not every file makes the move. What happens, what to save and what is different about skills, all according to Google's help pages.
The short version
- From November 17 you can still open your Gems, but you can't use or edit them or create new ones. On December 17 they are gone. This applies to personal Google accounts for users 18 and over.
- You don't have to convert anything. Google turns each Gem into a skill automatically, along with its supported knowledge files.
- Only some files need saving: in the automatic move, audio, video, GitHub files, legacy Office formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt) and archives such as .zip don't carry over. If a Gem is larger than 100 MB, Google removes the largest files first. Download those files before December 17.
When are Gems going away?
At different times depending on the account, according to Google's help page, as of October 27, 2026:
| Account | What happens when |
|---|---|
| Personal account, 18 and over | Read-only on November 17, 2026, removed on December 17, 2026 |
| Personal account, under 18 | Later, Google has not named a date yet |
| Workspace: business, enterprise, nonprofit | March 2027 |
| Workspace: education | June 2027 |
Google does not name an exception for any country. Opal, Google's experiment for building mini apps, and Gems by Google Labs also end in November.
What happens to your files
When it moves a Gem, Google takes along the files that skills support. Google names two limits:
- 100 MB per skill. If a Gem is larger, Google removes the largest files first until it fits.
- Unsupported file types stay behind: GitHub files, audio, video, the legacy Office formats .doc, .xls and .ppt, and archives (.zip, .tar, .7z, .rar, .gz, .tgz).
You can download files from your Gems until December 17. After that, Gems and their files are no longer available. Google's way to find gaps: open the Gem and the new skill side by side and download what is missing.
Turn a Gem into a skill yourself
If you don't want to wait for November, create the skill yourself. This is how Google describes it for gemini.google.com on a computer:
Open the Gem and save its files
Open “Gems” in the sidebar (click “More” first if you don't see it), then “Edit” next to the Gem. Download the files under “Knowledge” one by one and put them in a folder named like the skill: lowercase, words joined by hyphens, such as write-proposals.
Create the skill
In a second tab, open “Customize” and “Skills”, then “Create” and “Create manually”. Paste in the Gem's name, description and instructions and click “Create”. Without files, you're done.
Add the files
Next to the new skill, click “More options” and “Download”. Move the SKILL.md from the .zip into your folder, then click “More options”, “Replace skill” and upload the whole folder. The folder name must match the skill name.
For files you upload yourself, the skills help page has a stricter list: binary files such as .docx, .doc and .xlsx aren't supported, while PDFs, images and text formats such as .txt or .csv are. So save Word and Excel files as PDF or text first.
What is different about skills
- No separate tab. You call a skill in any chat by typing “/” and its name, soon “@”. Gemini also applies relevant skills on its own.
- Several at once. You can combine skills in one chat. You can create as many as you like, but only 100 can be active.
- No list of chats per skill. Gems had their own page for that; with skills, the chats sit in the side panel.
- Not every tool. Skills work with Connected Apps such as Workspace apps, but for now not with Canvas, Deep Research, Create video, Create music or Guided learning.
- Not there yet: sharing, files from Google Drive and notebooks from Gemini Notebook. According to Google, they arrive “in the coming weeks”.
You can import skills from other platforms through their SKILL.md file, for now only in the Gemini app on Mac and at gemini.google.com, according to Google.
What makes a good skill
Google gives three tips: describe the situations in which Gemini should use the skill on its own, limit the instructions to what is specific to the task, and include examples of the output you expect. A five-part briefing that fits a skill exactly is in the guide Create your own AI assistant.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. On December 17, 2026, Google removes them from Gemini (personal accounts, 18 and over). Before that, Google turns them into skills automatically. Anything that doesn't carry over, such as audio, video or legacy Office files, is gone afterwards.
No. Google turns each Gem into a skill automatically. Doing it yourself only makes sense if you want to use skills sooner or have files that won't carry over.
According to Google, yes: skills are available without a Google AI subscription. You need a personal Google Account, be 18 or over and have Keep Activity on; work and school accounts are to follow soon, per Google. You can use them in the Gemini mobile app, the Gemini app on Mac and at gemini.google.com.
Yes, but later: Workspace business, enterprise and nonprofit accounts in March 2027, education accounts in June 2027.
Sources
Retrieved on October 27, 2026.
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