# Ask HN: How useful is Gemini for Google Apps?

> Source: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48913970>
> Published: 2026-07-14 22:55:13+00:00

I recently wrote a Google doc to describe a presentation. I used a Heading 1 style for each "Slide N: Description" section, and it was otherwise cleanly formatted.

Then I hit the magic Gemini button and asked (more or less) "Make me a Google Slides presentation based on this document"

Gemini (paraphrasing): "Oh, sorry, I can't create new documents in Google Drive".

OK, I create a new blank Google Slides document. I press the magic Gemini button. After some preamble prompt BS, I paste my "Slides" document content, and ask it to create me some slides.

Gemini (paraphrasing): "Oh, sorry, I can only work on one slide at a time".

WTF? I go to a different frontier LLM, I ask it to make me a PPTX file from my description (which I downloaded from Google docs as markdown). After a few minutes I have a nice PPTX file. I upload that to Google Drive and open it. Google converts it to Slides. NOW, finally, I have the joy of improving one slide at a time with Gemini.

Why does my workflow suck so bad here? There must be a better way! Please help me HN.

I'm also keen to hear what are some actual cool tricks that do work with Gemini and/or frustrations others have had. Let loose.

Comments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48913970](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48913970)

Points: 3

# Comments: 1