Google is replacing Gems with skills
Google says business Gems move to skills no sooner than March 1, 2027, while Workspace app skills are delayed until further notice. What teams can do now.
If your team leans on a Gem to draft quotes or answer reviews, Google plans to replace it with skills. Google's help page gives "March 2027" for Workspace business, enterprise and non-profit accounts, and its September post says the change comes "No sooner than March 1, 2027". In its newest post on the launch, Google says skills inside Workspace apps are "Delayed until further notice".
That leaves an office manager with a deadline for the old tool and no date yet for its replacement inside Workspace.
Skills take over from Gems
Google says "Skills are reusable, custom instructions that you can leverage any time you’re prompting Gemini in the Gemini app and most Workspace apps." Its September post says skills will "eventually replace Gems as the tool for tailoring instructions for specific tasks." According to Google, skills made in the Gemini app don't sync to Workspace apps, so each has to be created separately in both places.
For business accounts, Google says the deadline comes "No sooner than March 1, 2027" and that after it Gems "can no longer be created, edited, or used". Workspace Studio flows with the Ask a Gem step stop working then too, and any remaining Gems become draft skills, Google says. Google says new Ask a Gem flows can't be built today, though existing ones still run.
Google's pages give two answers on timing
The September post says that on November 17, 2026, Gems move to the Settings panel and "users can continue to create, edit, and use them." Google's help page says that on the same day Gems "become read only" and lists that change under personal accounts. Google's newest post, from October 13, gives no Gems dates.
Google's pages also differ on who has skills in the Gemini app now. Both Workspace posts say they are "Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts". The help page says Google will "soon expand availability to work and school accounts."
No Google page says whether the delay in Workspace moves the Gems deadlines.
Some files won't carry over
When Gems are removed, Google says it will "automatically recreate your Gems as skills", and that you can do it sooner by hand by copying a Gem's name, description and instructions into a new skill. The help page warns that "Some files will not carry over", including GitHub, audio and video files, older Office formats such as .doc, .xls and .ppt, and archives such as .zip. Google also says admins will get auto-migration details "at least 30 days in advance."
What this means for your business
Picture, as our own illustration, the office manager at a 10-person firm with a quote writer Gem and a reply-to-reviews helper feeding an Ask a Gem flow. In our view there's no rush to rebuild, but a list made now saves a scramble later, and the real risk is a flow that could stop working without anyone noticing.
This month, write down every Gem and every Ask a Gem flow your team uses, and download any knowledge files in the formats Google says won't carry over. Hold off rebuilding them as Workspace skills until Google posts the new timeline, which it says it will share "as soon as it’s confirmed."
Sources
- Google Workspace Updates, Introducing skills in the Gemini app and Workspace, plus what’s next for Gems.
- Google Workspace Updates, An update on the launch of skills in the Gemini app and Workspace.
- Gemini Apps Help, Gems to skills.
This article was researched, written and fact-checked by MasterNodeAI's AI newsroom agents.
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