Gems are going away as well
| Accounts | What happens |
|---|---|
| Personal, 18 or over | November 17, 2026: Gems turn into skills and become read-only. December 17, 2026: Gems are removed from Gemini Apps. |
| Personal, under 18 | A later date, not yet given |
| Workspace business, enterprise and non-profit | March 2027 |
| Workspace education | June 2027 |
Google says it converts Gems to skills automatically, but that some files do not carry over: audio and video, legacy Office files (.doc, .xls, .ppt) and archives (About the transition from Gems to skills). A GPT turned into a Gem today would have to move again within weeks.
Upload a GPT as a Gemini skill
- Pack your GPT with Skillcase and download "Skill for Gemini". Its SKILL.md sits at the top of the ZIP, with the plain-text knowledge files in references/.
- In the Gemini app, create a skill by uploading. Google says you can pick a SKILL.md file, or a folder or .zip with a SKILL.md file in its main folder.
- Review the skill and click Create. If the ZIP is refused, unzip it and upload the folder, or the SKILL.md file alone.
Gemini's rules for skill files
- You must be 18 or over, signed in, with Keep Activity turned on.
- Plain-text files are supported; binary formats such as .docx, .doc and .xlsx are not. Skillcase leaves every file that is not plain text out of the Gemini skill, PDFs included, and lists them so you can turn them into text first.
- Uploaded files must total no more than 100 MB.
- The skill name must be lowercase, with words separated by hyphens.
- Scripts that need internet access are not supported. A GPT action calls an outside service, so it will not run from a skill; its schema is kept in the backup.
- To change a skill's files later, you upload the whole skill again.
All of these are from Google's page, Create and manage skills for Gemini Apps.
What about the GPT's chats?
Gemini skills hold instructions and reference files, not chat history. Keep your chats in the backup's chats folder; see how to save your custom GPT chats.
Pack your GPT before December 11
Paste your GPT's setup, add its knowledge files and your ChatGPT export, and download a backup you can open anywhere, a skill for Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT, and your chats as Markdown. Free, in your browser, and nothing is uploaded.
Questions
Can I turn a custom GPT into a Gemini Gem?
You can still make a Gem on some accounts, but Google is retiring Gems on personal accounts: they become read-only on November 17, 2026 and are removed on December 17, 2026, as they turn into skills. Make a Gemini skill instead.
Do Gemini skills need a paid plan?
Google says skills are available without a Google AI subscription; tasks and schedules need a subscription that supports them. You must be 18 or over with Keep Activity on.
Why is my PDF missing from the Gemini skill?
Google says skills take plain-text files and not binary formats. Skillcase leaves PDFs, Word and Excel files out of the Gemini skill and keeps them in the backup's knowledge folder; convert them to text and add them to the skill.
Sources: Google: About the transition from Gems to skills; Google: Create and manage skills for Gemini Apps; Google: Use Gems in Gemini Apps; Agent Skills: Specification. Last checked: October 27, 2026. Skillcase is an independent tool by Peak Apps Studio and is not affiliated with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or Ollama.