Google is turning the Gems in the Gemini app into Skills. On November 17, 2026, existing Gems in personal accounts for users aged 18 and older will be converted and will be read-only afterward; on December 17, 2026, Google will remove Gems entirely. This is stated in the Gemini Help. Files that Skills do not support will be lost in the process.
What happens to your Gems?
The conversion runs automatically, and Gems and files with a compatible format are carried over. Until November 17, you can use a Gem as usual. After that, you can view the Gem, but neither use nor edit it, and new Gems can no longer be created. You will then work with Skills, which, according to TechCrunch, you call up in the chat using a slash. Up to 100 Skills can be active at the same time.
Gems become Skills
Timeline according to Google's Gemini Help, depending on account type
- November 17, 2026Personal accounts 18+: Gems become Skills and are read-only
- December 17, 2026Gems are removed, files not carried over are gone
- March 2027Workspace for businesses and nonprofit organizations
- June 2027Workspace for Education
Accounts under 18 follow later, Google does not name a date
Sources: Gemini Apps Help, TechCrunch
Google Workspace accounts for businesses and nonprofit organizations follow in March 2027, education accounts in June 2027. For accounts under 18, Google names no date. Google is discontinuing Opal and Gems by Google Labs as early as November. The help page says nothing about a restriction to specific countries.
Skills cannot do everything that Gems could. According to the help page, Canvas, Deep Research, Guided Learning, as well as the generation of videos and music are missing from Skills. Google plans to add the sharing of Skills and the adding of files from Google Drive or Gemini Notebook later.
Which files will be lost?
All files of a Skill together may be at most 100 MB in size. If a Gem is larger, Google removes the largest files first. Not carried over are GitHub files, audio and video files, the old Office formats .doc, .xls, and .ppt, as well as archives such as .zip, .tar, .7z, .rar, .gz, and .tgz. The help page advises downloading files before December 17.
How do you convert a Gem manually?
Manual conversion is suitable if you want to take files along into the Skill. The help page describes three steps:
- Open the Gem, click Edit, and download the knowledge files. Put the files in a folder whose name consists of lowercase letters and hyphens, for example sample-skill-name.
- Select Customize, then Skills, Create, and Create manually. Paste in the name, description, and instructions of the Gem and click Create.
- If needed: Download the Skill's ZIP file, move the SKILL.md file into your folder, and upload the folder with Replace skill. The folder name must match the name of the Skill.
What this means for you
Go through your Gems before November 17 and note which ones you really need. Look at the knowledge files of each Gem and download everything that exists as ZIP, audio, video, or an old Office document, because Google deletes these files on December 17.
Also check whether a Gem depends on Canvas or Deep Research. As a Skill, the Gem runs without these functions. If you work with a Workspace account, you have time until March 2027 for businesses and until June 2027 for education accounts.
Our assessment: Gems without files move over automatically. The ones that will take work are mainly Gems whose knowledge files contain archives, audio, or video.
TechCrunch reported on September 28, 2026, about the notice in the Gemini app.
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