Google is replacing Gems with skills. Here is what Workspace businesses should do.
November 2026
If your team uses Google Workspace, you may have built a Gem or two: a saved assistant with its own instructions and files, for writing proposals, answering policy questions or drafting replies. Google is replacing Gems with skills, and the dates are now set.
The timeline
Skills started rolling out in the Gemini app on 13 October, finishing around mid-November. For now, people can use both Gems and skills.
On 17 November, Gems move into Settings in the Gemini app. They still work, and people can still create and edit them.
From no sooner than 1 March 2027, business and enterprise users can no longer create, edit or use Gems. Any left over are migrated to draft skills, which their creators then have to review and switch on.
Skills inside Workspace itself (Gmail, Docs, Drive) were due in October but are delayed, with no new date yet.
The catch
Skills do not sync between the Gemini app and Workspace. A skill you want in both places has to be set up twice. And migrated Gems arrive switched off, so anything nobody checks quietly stops working.
What we would do now
List the Gems your team actually uses, and who owns each one. Most businesses find a few that matter and a lot that were tried once.
Rebuild the ones that matter as skills now, rather than waiting for the automatic migration. Copy the instructions, re-upload the files and test them on real work.
Keep the instructions in a document you own, not only inside Google. That way the next change, or a move to another tool, is a copy and paste rather than a rebuild.
If you use Workspace Studio flows with an “Ask a Gem” step, swap those out too. New flows can no longer add that step.
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