Bard is one of the few chatbots that can access real-time information from the internet, and that too, for free. While Bard can search the internet, it cannot access the services or perform tasks like booking hotels and flights, checking emails, etc. However, that’s about to change with Google Bard extensions. With extensions, you can connect different services to Bard and complete tasks and functions like booking tickets directly from Bard. In this article, we will explain what extensions are and how to enable and use them on Google Bard.
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What are Extensions on Google Bard
Extensions allow Google Bard to connect with various third-party services to improve its overall functionality. For example, you cannot ask Bard questions like summarize my latest emails as it cannot access your emails by default. But with the Google Workspace extension enabled, Bard can access your emails and summarize the latest unread emails. Similarly, it can book flights, hotels, etc..
However, at the time of writing this article, Bard has only 5 extensions and they are all Google extensions. The number of extensions supported by Bard should increase when Google opens up the platform to third-party developers.
How to Enable/Disable Extensions on Google Bard
Before enabling the extensions, remember that Bard can access any information from the app you are connecting the extension to. For example, when you enable the Google Workspace extension, Bard can access your emails, documents, and other files in your Google Drive. Google claims that they do not use any of that data for ads or improving Bard.
1. To enable/disable extensions on Google Bard, open Google Bard and click on the Extensions icon (Puzzle piece icon) in the top bar.
2. Now on the extensions page, you should see all the extensions supported by Google Bard. Just enable/disable the toggle beside the extension you want to enable. It looks just like Chrome extensions.
3. You will see a pop-up if the extension needs to share your data with Bard. Here just click on the Connect option to connect the service to Bard.
There is no limit to how many extensions you can enable on Bard.
How to Use Extensions on Google Bard
Unlike ChatGPT Plugins, using extensions on Google Bard is seamless and works as intended. Start a new chat or open an existing one and ask any question that may require Bard to use one of the extensions.
For example, you can ask Bard “Find hotels for a 4-day trip to San Francisco for New Year’s Eve”. Bard will automatically use the Google Hotels extension to show results. Once enabled, Bard will automatically use extensions as and when needed.
However, you can also tag the extension in your prompt for Bard to use it. Just type the @ symbol in the chatbox and select the extension from the pop-up. Then you can ask a specific question and Bard will use the mentioned extension to give you the results.
For example, you can say “@Google Drive find the file named Resume 2023 and summarize it in simple sentences”. Mentioning the extension in the prompt will make sure that Bard uses the exact same extension to provide the result.
Also, you can use multiple extensions in a single prompt. For example, you can ask something like “@Google Maps Find some of the best beaches in Chennai and book a hotel near the beach using @Google Hotels“. This prompt will use Google Maps to find the best beaches in Chennai and then it will use Google Hotels to recommend hotels near each beach.
Unlike ChatGPT where you can only use 3 plugins in a conversation, you can use as many extensions as you want in a conversation on Bard. You can also use as many extensions as you want in a single prompt and Bard will use them all as needed to answer the prompt. Google Bard is better than ChatGPT in a few other notable ways too.
One small nifty feature is that you can check which extensions Bard used to answer the prompt by clicking on the drop-down at the top of the result.
In case, you don’t want Bard to use extensions to give results for a particular prompt, click on this drop-down at the top of the result and then select Try again without extensions option. So you have complete control over how answers are generated by Bard.
FAQs
1. Why am I not able to view multiple drafts on Google Bard?
Google Bard normally provides up to 3 drafts for each prompt. However, sometimes when it uses extensions, it will only provide a single draft and give the option to regenerate the draft if needed.
2. How many extensions can be used in a single conversation?
As of now, there is no limit on the number of extensions you can use in a single conversation. Also, you don’t have to select the needed extensions before starting the conversation. Bard can automatically take advantage of the extensions that are enabled when required.
Bringing Extensions to Google Bard
The ultimate purpose of these chatbots is to act like your personal assistant. For that, these bots should be able to access various services and data to perform specific tasks for you.
These extensions will help Google Bard to get everything it needs. You don’t have to research on Google Search, book tickets on another platform, etc. Everything can be done directly from one single chat interface. However, the extensions marketplace looks dry and needs a lot more submissions as we saw on the Chrome Web Store.
Once a conversation is over, you can share that Google Bard conversation with others if you want. The process is simple and quick.
