Gemini: a tour of the screen

Where the main parts sit in Gemini: chat history down the side, the message box along the bottom with the attach button, and the model picker near the top.

Two places you'll meet Gemini

Before the tour, one idea clears up most of the confusion: Gemini shows up in two forms.

The Gemini app. A website you open on its own at gemini.google.com, much like the other chatbots you've met. Anyone with a Google account can use it.
Gemini inside Google apps. A helper built into Gmail, Google Docs and Sheets. This is Gemini's real speciality, but how much of it you get depends on your account type and plan.

We'll tour the standalone app first, because it's the simplest place to start and it works the same for everyone. The in-app side panel we'll only meet at awareness level here. You'll dig into it properly in Level 2.

Throughout this level we'll use the Fernway Group, our fictional practice company. Imagine you're Tom Elliott, Fernway's Sales Lead, opening Gemini for the first time to get on top of a busy week.

Getting to the app and signing in

The Gemini app lives on a website. Open your web browser and go to gemini.google.com.

To get the most out of it, and to save your chats so you can return to them, you sign in with a Google account: the same free account you'd use for Gmail or YouTube. If you already have one, you're ready; if not, you can create one at no cost, and there's no card required to start. You can sign in with a personal account, or with a work or school account if your organisation has switched Gemini on. For the current sign-in requirements, see Google's Gemini Apps help.

Once you're in, you land on a fairly plain screen with a large box to type in. That box is home.

The screen, part by part

Four things are worth knowing by name, because the rest of this level refers to them.

The prompt box. Usually near the bottom or middle of the screen, this is where you type your message, your prompt, the instruction or question you give the tool. You send it with Enter or the arrow button. Near the box you'll often find buttons to attach a file or an image, because Gemini is multimodal, so it can work with more than just text.
The reply area. Above the box, Gemini's answer appears. You can copy it, or type a follow-up underneath to refine it. The whole basic loop is: type, send, read, type again.
The chat history. Down one side sits a list of your recent conversations, so you can reopen an earlier chat where you left off. Each new topic can be its own chat.
The model switcher. Near the top you'll usually see a control naming which model you're using. Gemini offers a quick everyday model and a more capable "thinking" model for harder tasks. The most capable models, and higher usage limits, come with the paid plans. More on that below.

Here's the very first thing to try once you're oriented, so the screen stops being abstract.

A gentle first promptGemini

In three short bullet points, explain what you can help me with at work. Keep it plain and non-salesy.

Why this works: A simple, concrete request gets you a reply straight away, so you see the type-send-read loop in action and confirm you're signed in and working before anything harder.

You'll get a short, readable answer in the reply area, and the chat will appear in your history down the side. That's the entire core loop. Everything else is variations on it.

Free versus paid: the tier map

Gemini has a free level, and Google also sells paid plans that raise the limits and add more. Google renames and re-prices these often, so rather than quote a figure that may already be stale, the durable picture is this, and the live detail is on Google's AI plans page:

Free. Sign in with any Google account and use the Gemini app at no cost. You get the everyday model and sensible daily limits. This is where everyone should start.
Google AI Plus. A lower-cost paid tier that lifts limits and opens up more capable models and more storage.
Google AI Pro. More generous access again: higher limits and Gemini's stronger models, plus extras bundled in.
Google AI Ultra. The top consumer tier, with the highest limits and the most capable models.
Google Workspace business plans. If you use Gmail and Docs through a work or school account, Gemini is now generally folded into the Workspace plan itself rather than sold as a separate add-on. What you get depends on which Workspace edition your organisation runs and how the admin has set it up. Google's Using Google Workspace with Gemini is the page to check.

Two honest points to hold on to. First, the plan names and prices change, so treat the list above as the shape of things, and click through for today's specifics. Second, which in-app features you see depends on your account, not on whether anything is working. If Tom opens Gmail on his Fernway work account and sees a helper his friend on a personal account doesn't, neither is broken; they're simply on different plans.

The in-app side panel, at a glance

You'll meet this properly in Level 2, so just know it exists. Inside Gmail and Google Docs, if your account includes it, you may see a "Help me write" button when composing, and an Ask Gemini side panel that can summarise or draft using the email or document already open. The key difference from the app: the side panel can see what's in front of you, so you don't paste anything in. For now, if you don't see it, that's expected. The standalone app does the same jobs and works for everyone.

Orient yourself to a taskGemini

I'm a sales lead with a busy week: a big account renewal, three new starters joining, and a backlog of emails. Help me think about how to prioritise. Ask me one clarifying question if you need to.

Why this works: Asking Gemini to lay out a plan before you start turns a vague, busy day into concrete steps, and shows how the app is useful even before you learn any advanced features.

Check what your account includesGemini

I'm signed in to Gemini. In plain steps, how do I tell whether my Google account includes the Gemini side panel inside Gmail? What exactly should I look for on the screen?

Why this works: Rather than hunting for a missing button, ask Gemini to tell you what to look for and where. A faster way to work out whether your account has the in-app features.

Try it now

Common mistakes

Assuming you must pay. The Gemini app is free with any Google account. Try it before you think about a plan.
Expecting the in-app side panel for everyone. Whether you see "Help me write" in Gmail depends on your account and plan. A missing button means "not included", not "broken".
Signing in with the wrong account. If you have both a personal and a work Google account, they can show very different features. Check which one you're in before drawing conclusions.
Over-trusting the screen tour as the whole tool. Knowing where the buttons are isn't the same as knowing when to believe the answers. A confident, well-laid-out reply can still be wrong. The later lessons build the judgement that matters more than the layout.

Keeping current

Gemini's screen, plan names and buttons change often, more often than most tools in this course. The default everyday model changes too: as of writing it is Gemini 3.5 Flash (announced at Google I/O in May 2026), which replaced Gemini 3 Flash, and a more capable Gemini 3.5 Pro has been announced but is not yet generally available. Version numbers like these date fast, so trust the model switcher on your screen over any name here. When something doesn't match what you see, trust your screen and check Google's Gemini Apps updates and Gemini Apps Help for the current picture. Accurate as of 14 July 2026.

By the end, you'll be able to…

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