Gemini in Chrome gets a productivity hack that you must absolutely try

Google has a clear mission: to make Gemini accessible through as many touchpoints as possible. And as one of the most-used Google products, Google rightly deserves a spot on that table. Justifying its prominence, Google added Gemini to Chrome on desktop last May, and then enhanced it with a sidebar that not only allows quicker access to Gemini but also unlocks some agentic browsing features.

Today, Google is further improving Gemini in Chrome by making the existing functionality more efficient.

The Gemini sidebar in Chrome is now becoming more useful with a new feature called “Skills.” As Google describes it, Gemini Skills can be used as a replacement for long prompts that you use frequently, so users can instantly trigger an action rather than retyping a verbose prompt. Think of Skills as a simpler, more rudimentary version of Gems in Gemini.

The next time you type a long and detailed prompt for Gemini in the Chrome sidebar, you will see a prompt to save it as a Skill. You can also add specific instructions to complement the prompt to get better results.

Subsequently, when you want to use one of the saved skills, you can start by typing a forward slash ( / ). A pop-up menu will display the list of available Skills, where you can either start typing the Skill’s name or choose the one you need. In addition to analyzing the tab where the sidebar is open, you can add more tabs for additional context using the plus icon (+).

If you just want to explore the functionality and save yourself the labor of actually creating those lengthy prompts to begin with, Google is now also offering a Skills library within Chrome, where you can choose from preexisting options. You can also customize the Skills you add to your favorites for quicker access.

Skills are available for users running Chrome on their desktops. Google hasn’t specified where Skills will be available or whether they require a Pro subscription, so we can assume they will work for Chrome users across the world, so long as they have not disabled Gemini in Chrome.