Create and edit documents and slides in Canvas

Canvas is a dedicated, interactive tool within Gemini Enterprise that helps you create AI-generated documents and slide presentations from your conversations. You can work on your documents and slides side-by-side with your chat, without needing to switch between applications.

Before you begin

Before you can use Canvas in Gemini Enterprise, an administrator must enable the feature toggle and configure any necessary permissions. For more information, see Configure Canvas.

Create a document or a slide in Canvas

To create a document or a slide in Canvas:

1. Sign in to the Gemini Enterprise web app.

2. Start a new chat.

3. Click Tools in the chat box. A list of shortcuts appears.

4. Select Canvas, or enter a prompt that implies creating a document or slide.

5. Enter a prompt.

   Note: Your chat conversation history, content from enabled connectors, and explicitly added sources are used as input.

6. (Optional) To upload files or an image with your prompt, click + Add files.

7. Click Submit. The document or the slide presentation opens in the Canvas editor on the right.

Source citations

To view the references and search results used to generate documents, click Sources directly under the AI's response.

For slides, a final Image Sources slide is automatically included, containing all the metadata for the images used in your deck.

Edit a document in Canvas

You can edit a document in the following ways:

• Direct edits: In the Canvas space, you can manually add, edit, or delete text, change formatting like headings, bold, and italics, and create bulleted and numbered lists. Changes are auto-saved.

• AI-powered edits: At the bottom right of the Canvas panel, use the Change length and Change tone sliders for global adjustments to tone and length, or provide detailed chat feedback for more specific edits.

• Highlight to edit: To refine a specific section of text, highlight it and enter your instructions in one of two ways. You can type directly into the Ask Gemini box that appears next to your selection, or use the main prompt box to tell Gemini Enterprise how you want that section rewritten.

You can also use the undo and redo options on the toolbar to navigate between different saved versions of your document.

Note: Canvas supports editing content generated during your active session. To edit further, export your content to another application.

Edit a slide in Canvas

To open and edit a slide presentation in Canvas:

1. Go to the chat where you generated the slides.
2. Click Open.
3. In the chat box, enter your suggestions to update the slides.

4. Click Submit.

   Note: Each update generates a completely new Canvas artifact. The existing artifact is not modified or versioned.

Export documents and slides from Canvas

You can export documents and slides from Canvas to download and edit it in your preferred application.

Export a document

To export a document from Canvas:

1. Open the chat with the Canvas document that you want to export.
2. At the top right of the Canvas panel, click Export. You can export to Google Docs, DOCX, or PDF.
3. You can also copy all text to your clipboard. To copy all text, at the top right of the Canvas panel, click Copy.

Export a slide presentation

To export a slide presentation from Canvas:

1. Open the chat with the Canvas slides that you want to export.
2. At the top right of the Canvas panel, click Export. You can export to Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint, or PDF.

Limitations

Canvas isn't supported on the mobile app. It is only available on the web app.

Best practices

When generating content in Canvas, follow these best practices:

• For complex documents and presentations, provide clear and detailed prompts, with other Gemini Enterprise knowledge artifacts as sources and template references.

• Always review and edit the AI-generated content to ensure that it meets your requirements.