You can now edit PDFs and Google Docs directly in the Gemini chat

Documents, PDFs, presentations, spreadsheets and code that Gemini creates for you can now be opened as a preview in the chat and edited there, without first downloading the file. Google announced the change on the Gemini app blog. The editor is available to all users and in all languages in which the Gemini app is available, including German.

How do you edit a file in the chat?

The generated file appears in the chat history as a preview. In full-screen view, you type corrections directly into the text. Alternatively, you highlight a passage and ask a question about it, or you have Gemini revise the entire file.

Google demonstrates this using handwritten lecture notes: a study sheet is created as a PDF from the uploaded notes. Afterwards, you correct the PDF by hand, highlight individual sections and have text or graphics changed there.

Which formats can you change, and where?

You edit PDFs in the browser and in the mobile app. The editor opens Google Docs, Google Sheets, presentations, Markdown and TXT files, as well as code, only in the browser version of Gemini.

Word and Excel files are missing from this list, even though Gemini has been creating both formats since an update from April 29, 2026, alongside CSV, LaTeX, RTF, Markdown and the Google formats. For most formats, Gemini offers the download or the export to Google Drive. Accordingly, Word and Excel files can still only be changed via a new prompt or after downloading.

What is new compared to Canvas?

In Canvas, the workspace next to the chat, you have long been able to edit text and code directly, rewrite highlighted passages via prompt, and adjust length and tone. To do so, you start Canvas specifically via "Add files" below the input field, as the German Gemini help shows. The new editor starts with the finished files that Gemini creates in the normal chat; until now, Gemini only provided these files as a download or as an export to Drive.

What this means for you

If you ultimately need a Word file, it's best to have Gemini create the draft as a Google document and finish editing it in the browser. After exporting to Drive, you save the document in Google Docs via File, Download, Microsoft Word as .docx, as heise describes.

If Gemini transfers notes, tables or formulas into a file, it's best to check every number and every formula against your original right away, before you share the result. When on the move, only plan for PDF corrections; for spreadsheets and presentations, you need gemini.google.com in the browser. How to steer Gemini with precise prompts is shown in the Gemini crash course on TutKit.

Google presented the change on October 29, 2026.

Sources

• Google Blog: You can now generate, preview, and edit documents, PDFs, presentations, spreadsheets, and more directly in Gemini.
• Google Blog: You can now easily generate files in Gemini.
• Gemini Apps Help: Create documents, apps and more with Canvas
• heise online: Opening Google Docs in Word – here's how