Google Docs can now make sure Gemini takes its cues from your sources

Gemini made its way to Google Docs via a dedicated side panel back in June last year, essentially changing the way we, as users, utilize the platform.

Not only does the integration help you with writing and refining content related to the document in question, it also allows you to summarize files, generate images, get answers from the web, get creative ideas, and a lot more. Now, in a bid to fine-tune some of those benefits, Google is giving users the option to ground Gemini in their own sources.

Announced by the tech giant in a new Workspace updates blog post, Gemini in Google Docs can now offer source-grounded writing help. That essentially means that you can tell Gemini to only pull information from a certain source or sources.

Gemini in Google Docs’ side panel will automatically curate a list of sources from your documents, giving you the choice of using a specific one from the list as the ultimate source for writing assistance.

Widely available already

According to the tech giant, this should not only help you with getting contextual and reliable output from Gemini, it should also allow you to “query available knowledge on a topic, getting accurate answers that are tailored to your needs.”

This means that the AI tool’s suggestions and the content that it generates will only be informed by the source you’ve provided. Not only will this ensure that the AI tool’s answers are relevant, it will also save you time, with “no guesswork or tab switching required.”

For reference, users previously had the option to ground Gemini in specific sources, though that required sending said files/sources in the prompt field. Now, all that a user needs to do is to link files in their document, and then select “Document links” to ground on those files, as seen in the GIF above.

It’s worth noting that for files not linked in the document, users will still have the option to add files/sources individually via the prompt field.

There’s no toggle for the feature. It has already rolled out widely to Google Workspace users, including those who pay for Google One AI Premium.