Google rolls out ‘Ask about this PDF’ for Gemini on Android: How it works

Google is rolling out a new feature for the Gemini Assistant on the Android app, allowing users to ask the AI assistant questions about a PDF file opened on their screen. The new “Ask about this PDF” option in the Gemini overlay is rolling out gradually in India, starting with the Pixel 9 series smartphones.

Upon testing the feature on the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, the new “Ask about this PDF” floating bar appears above the Gemini Assistant overlay, accessible by long-pressing the power button. It should be noted that this floating button currently only appears if the PDF file is opened on the Google Files app and not on the Google Drive’s PDF viewer.

Tapping on the new “Ask about this PDF” button uploads the entire PDF file to Gemini AI, unlike the “Ask about this screen” floating button that only uploads a screenshot of what’s on the screen at that particular time. This allows Gemini Assistant to get access to all the data available within the document, for a better response to the user’s query.

While the file is uploading, users can type in their file-based query in the “Ask Gemini” field. However, the button to send the question to Gemini remains inaccessible until the PDF upload is complete.

The “Ask about this PDF” button only appears for Gemini Advanced subscribers as document upload is not available in the free tier. For other users, Gemini still shows the “Ask about this screen” option.