What the Retrieval area shows
Retrieval lists the items an application manages for retrieval and RAG paths. It is a filtered view of your files, not a place to run a query.
Cet article est actuellement disponible en anglais. Le lire en anglais.
- Drive
- Web
Retrieval lists the items in Drive that an application manages, rather than ones a person uploaded by hand. Those items are what retrieval and RAG paths read. The area is a filtered list of files: you can browse, filter, preview and select them exactly as anywhere else in Drive.
What lands there
An item appears in Retrieval when it is marked as application-managed. Items that arrived through an API rather than the upload panel are the usual case. The area's own empty state says so: No app-managed items found. Items retrieved via the API appear here.
Your own uploads do not appear here. They are in My Drive.
What you cannot do here
There is no query box, no answer panel and no citation view in this area. Asking a question against your content happens in AI Studio, not in Drive. Retrieval is the inventory of what the retrieval path can read, so it answers "is this file indexed and reachable" rather than "what does this file say".
Why an item might be missing
- The file is not application-managed. It will be under My Drive or in a managed folder.
- Processing has not finished. A file gains its extracted text after the upload completes; see What Drive makes from your files.
- The extraction failed. The file is usable but carries no text, which keeps it out of retrieval paths.
Related
Pages associées
- Find your way around Drive — Drive holds your files in one place. Home lists recent items and what needs your action; the left rail reaches every area and your managed folders.
- Find the files you uploaded — My Drive lists the files and folders you uploaded or created. Open it from the Content group in the left rail or from the pinned row under My managed folders.
- Accepted file types — Drive accepts what the administered catalogue lists. Supported files shows the live list; this page carries the default set and the size rules.