How to create documents (and more) with Gemini Canvas

People with Google Workspace or Google AI Pro accounts can use Google’s Gemini AI assistant to generate documents in Docs and other Workspace apps. But anybody can use the Canvas tool in the Gemini web or mobile app (for Android or iOS) to create documents — without a paid subscription.

Using Canvas, you can prompt Gemini to generate a document such as a business plan, essay, outline, proposal, report, study guide, or any other document type. There’s a lot more you can do with Canvas as well, such as creating apps and games, but for the purposes of this tutorial we’ll focus on business documents and related materials.

In this quick guide, we’ll go over how to have Gemini generate a document with the Canvas tool, how to edit the Canvas document with Gemini, how to export it to Google Docs, and how to create additional materials from it, such as infographics and interactive quizzes. We’ll focus mainly on the Gemini web app since it has more features than the mobile app.

How to create a document with Gemini Canvas

In the Gemini web app, sign in with your Google account if you haven’t already, then click Tools at the bottom of the chat window. On the menu that opens, select Canvas.

Select Canvas from the Tools menu to get started.
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With the Canvas tool now activated, you may see four suggested document types below the chat window. You can select one of these or type a prompt in the chat window describing the type of document you want Gemini to create, such as: Create a business plan for a tax consulting business aimed at Gen Z customers.

With Canvas activated, type in your prompt.
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Optionally, you can upload one or more documents or images stored in your Google Drive or on your PC for Gemini to reference as it creates the Canvas document. (Be careful not to upload confidential data.) Click the + icon at the bottom of the Gemini chat window, and on the menu that opens, select Upload files or Add from Drive.

You can upload files for Gemini to base a generated document on.
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In the Gemini mobile app: Activate the Canvas tool by tapping the icon below the chat window that looks like two slider controls, then select Canvas. To upload a file or photo for Gemini to base the generated document on, tap the + icon and then Files (to select a file on your device), Gallery (to access your photo library), or Camera (to take and upload a photo).

How to format and edit the Canvas document

After Gemini creates a document based on your prompt, it appears in a large pane on the right side of the Gemini web app. In this pane, you can scroll through the entire document to read it.

Your conversation with Gemini is on the left; the canvas containing the generated document is on the right.
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Formatting your Canvas document

Along the top of the document is a toolbar. (If it doesn’t show up automatically, click the three-dot icon to open it.) You can use this toolbar to format portions of text in the document that you select. This includes adding bullet points or headlines to it.

Editing your Canvas document with Gemini

Along the right of the document is a vertical mini-toolbar that has three icons on it. Each prompts Gemini to perform a particular action to the Canvas document.

Change length: Opens a vertical scale that lets you trigger Gemini to adjust the length of the Canvas document, ranging from Very short to Very long.

Change tone: Opens a vertical scale that lets you trigger Gemini to rewrite the tone (writing style) of the Canvas document, ranging from Very casual to Very formal.

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Howard Wen / Foundry

Suggest edits: Triggers Gemini to scrutinize the Canvas document and suggest improvements. These suggestions will appear in notecards along the right side of the document, with the text they’re referring to highlighted in the document. Click Apply on a note card to have Gemini apply its suggestion.

Gemini’s suggestions for improving the document appear on cards to the right of the highlighted text.
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To limit any of these tools to a particular section of the Canvas document, select the text in the document that you want Gemini to take action on, then select one of these three editing actions from the vertical toolbar.

Remember that all AI-generated text may contain errors and hallucinations. Always check Gemini’s output for accuracy, including when you ask it to refine text.

In the mobile app: The generated Canvas document is embedded in your Gemini chat. Tap Open to open it in a separate pane. However, you can’t format or edit the Canvas document in the Gemini mobile app.      

How to export or share Canvas documents

Once you’ve done your initial formatting and editing to a Canvas document, you can send it to Google Docs for further editing or share it online for others to view.

Exporting your Canvas document to Google Docs

With the Canvas document open in the main pane, click the Share & export icon to the upper right of the document, next to the print icon. On the menu that opens, select Export to Docs.

Exporting a Canvas document to Google Docs.
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The Canvas document will be exported as a Google Docs document and open immediately in a new browser tab. You’ll find it listed in your Google Docs and Google Drive, and you can open it any time in Google Docs to view and edit.

In the mobile app: You can send Canvas documents to either Google Docs or Gmail. With the document open, tap the three-dot icon at upper right and choose Open in Docs or Draft in Gmail.

Sharing your Canvas document as a public web link

You can generate a web link to your Canvas document. Anyone will be able to click this link to view it in the Gemini web app (not the mobile app).

To the upper right of the document, click the Share & export icon (a < shape with circles at each point). On the menu that opens, select Share. A panel will open that shows the web link that was generated for this chat session. Click the Copy link button. The link will be copied to your PC clipboard.

Generating a public link for a Canvas document.
Howard Wen / Foundry

Note: Users with work or school accounts can’t create publicly shareable links. Instead, you can export the Canvas document to Google Docs, as detailed above, or click Share & export > Copy contents to copy the document text.

To delete public web links to your Canvas documents: Toward the bottom of the left sidebar, click Settings & help (a gear icon). On the menu that opens, select Your public links.

A page showing all the public web links to your Canvas documents will open in the main window. You can then delete any of these links.

How to convert your Canvas doc to another format

Canvas documents aren’t limited to a text-only format. With a Canvas doc open in the main pane, you can create different types of materials from it.

To the upper right of your document, click the Create button and choose a format to convert it to: Web page, Infographic, Quiz, Flashcards, or Audio Overview. Or you can type in the kind of material you want Gemini to create.

Choose the type of content you want Gemini to create from your Canvas document.
Howard Wen / Foundry

Most of these are self-explanatory. The Audio Overview selection will generate a podcast-style audio production in which a pair of AI voices summarize the information in the Canvas document. (This feature is the same as in Google’s NotebookLM app.)

Note that Gemini may be able to render an infographic based on the information in the Canvas document — but this isn’t always a given.

Once you’ve selected a new format, Gemini will churn for some time as it assesses the document and creates the new material form it — how long depends on the complexity of the material being created. Then the converted Canvas document will appear in the main pane and as a card in your chat session with Gemini. You can click this card to re-open it later.

An infographic generated from a Canvas document.
Howard Wen / Foundry

More complex formats like web pages and infographics initially appear in the main window as HTML code. Click the Code and Preview buttons at the upper right to toggle between back-end and front-end views.

How to manage Canvas documents in Gemini chats

In your chat session with Gemini, the document that Gemini created is represented by a card that’s embedded within its response. If this Canvas document isn’t already open to the right of the chat session, clicking its card (or the blue Open button on the card) will open it.

Click the card for a generated Canvas document to open it.
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In a single chat session, you can have Gemini create multiple Canvas documents, prompting it to do so one after another. Thus, a single chat session can have multiple document cards, each representing a document that you prompted Gemini to create.

By clicking New chat (a pencil and paper icon) at the top of the left sidebar, you can start a new chat session with Gemini and prompt it to create Canvas documents within that chat.

Managing your chat sessions

You can expand the left sidebar so that you can see a list of your chat sessions with Gemini. Click the three-bar icon at the top of the sidebar to expand it, and again to close it.

Each chat session containing one or more Canvas documents that you had Gemini create is listed on the left sidebar under the heading “Recent.”

Options for managing a Gemini chat session.
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To pin, rename or delete a chat session: On the left sidebar, move the pointer over the title of the chat session that you want to manage. Click the three-dot icon that appears to the right of its title. On the menu that opens, select Pin, Rename, or Delete.

When you pin a chat session, it moves to the top of the list under “Recent.”

In the mobile app: Tap the three-bar icon at the upper left of the screen. You’ll be taken to a page where you can initiate a new Gemini chat or view your recent chats. Tap a chat to open it, or press and hold it to see a menu where you can pin, rename, or delete it.