If you use Google’s productivity tools at work, you know tracking changes to files can be a hassle. Google has put Gemini up to the task, and it seems to be great at it, at least in theory.

Gemini Can Now Summarize Changes Made to Your Files

Google Drive’s new Catch me up feature can summarize the changes made to your files since you last accessed them. It’s incredibly easy to use as well—Just click the Gemini icon in front of a file, or select it and click the Catch me up button that appears in the options bar above, and you’ll have a summary of all major changes made to the file.

The feature works beyond individual files as well, meaning you can get summaries of changes to multiple files in a single response from Gemini, all in a single click. The changes shown by the feature include file edits on Google Docs and file comments on Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

In theory, it’s a great way of getting a bird’s eye view of how your files have changed, but don’t start relying on it too much just yet. The feature took several tries to work properly, with Gemini complaining that it encountered an error when accessing my files. I’m not too concerned about this as the feature is still rolling out, but Google needs to fix this quickly.

More importantly, the summaries Gemini provides might not be as detailed as you want. Google’s announcement clarifies that the summary isn’t meant to be comprehensive. Instead, the feature “aims to highlight changes that may be helpful and important.” In its own words:

“Catch me up” provides a high-level overview of important changes across documents from your Drive, or a synopsis of the main changes and comments in a particular file since it was last opened to ensure users are always up to date.

If you use Google Workspace and tools like Docs, Sheets, or Slides, I can see this being quite useful. Google tools save version histories, which make it easy to see what changes have been made to a file over time, in addition to comments and suggested edits that your coworkers can mention within the document.

However, this approach is rather time-consuming, and you will have to open individual documents to see what changes have been made. Catch me up, on the other hand, will provide everything you need to know, write on the Google Drive homepage.

Is It Time to Get a Google Subscription?

The feature is available for the following Google Workspace plans:

• Business Standard and Plus
• Enterprise Standard and Plus
• Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on
• Google One AI Premium

Keep in mind that your account admin will have to enable personalization settings in the admin console before you can see the features. Even then, it can take up to 15 days for the feature to fully roll out.

It might well be time to consider getting a Google subscription, whether you’re simply interested in extra Google Drive space or want to try out its latest AI features.

Google is currently running a limited trial of Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Slides, and Sheets—and based on my experience so far, it works wonders. With Google Search slowly being replaced with AI Mode and a next-gen AI assistant that can control your phone, Google certainly has more than enough AI features on offer to justify at least some of its cheaper subscriptions.