Google Drive’s new AI summary cards give you the gist of PDFs before you even ask

We’ve been big fans of Gemini’s integration into Google Drive, especially its ability to help you interact with and understand long, complicated PDFs. Asking Gemini for a summary or to pull out key points from a document in the side panel is a fantastic time-saver. But until now, you still had to take that first step and ask. Today, Google is rolling out an update that makes this process even faster and more intuitive by introducing proactive PDF summary cards.

Gemini gives you the gist automatically

With this new feature, the moment you open a PDF file in Google Drive, Gemini will get to work. It will proactively analyze and summarize the contents of the file and present that overview in a clean summary card that appears alongside your document.

This means for many of your PDFs, the key information will be available to you instantly, without you needing to type a single prompt. It’s a smart shift from reactive to proactive AI assistance.

Clickable actions

What makes this feature even more powerful is that these cards aren’t just static summaries. They also include relevant, clickable actions that Gemini suggests based on the content of the PDF.

For example, after summarizing a resume, the card might offer a button to “List interview questions based on this resume.” Or, for a project document, it might suggest you “Draft a sample proposal.” Clicking one of these smart suggestions will automatically open the Gemini side panel and get the process started for you. It’s a clever way to not only give you a summary but also help you figure out what to do next.

A small change to how PDFs open in Drive

This is a helpful heads-up for all users. To enable this new summary card feature, Google is changing the default behavior for opening PDFs in Drive. Files will now open in the “overlay file previewer” (where these new cards can appear) instead of a new browser tab.

If you strongly prefer the old method of opening PDFs in a new tab, don’t worry – you can easily change it back. Just head into your Drive settings and update your preferred PDF opening behavior.

Availability and rollout

This is rolling out now to eligible users. You’ll need to have one of the following subscriptions to see the new PDF summary cards:

• Google Workspace: Business Standard/Plus, Enterprise Standard/Plus
• Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-ons
• Google One AI Premium or Google AI Pro/Ultra plans

The feature is available in over 20 languages and the rollout for all users should be complete within the next few weeks.

This is exactly the kind of AI integration we love to see. It’s not just about adding a button; it’s about thoughtfully reducing clicks, anticipating user needs, and making powerful tools easier and faster to use. It’s a small change that could have a big impact on daily productivity.