diff --git a/edsl/inference_services/GoogleService.py b/edsl/inference_services/GoogleService.py
index cef74b01b..dd0427e7a 100644
--- a/edsl/inference_services/GoogleService.py
+++ b/edsl/inference_services/GoogleService.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
     },
 ]
 
+
 class GoogleService(InferenceServiceABC):
     _inference_service_ = "google"
     key_sequence = ["candidates", 0, "content", "parts", 0, "text"]
@@ -40,14 +41,14 @@ class GoogleService(InferenceServiceABC):
     # @classmethod
     # def available(cls) -> List[str]:
     #     return ["gemini-pro", "gemini-1.5-pro", "gemini-1.5-flash", "gemini-1.0-pro"]
-    
+
     @classmethod
     def available(cls) -> List[str]:
-        model_list = [] 
+        model_list = []
         for m in genai.list_models():
             if "generateContent" in m.supported_generation_methods:
                 model_list.append(m.name.split("/")[-1])
-        return model_list 
+        return model_list
 
     @classmethod
     def create_model(
@@ -87,7 +88,9 @@ def initialize(cls):
                             "GOOGLE_API_KEY environment variable is not set"
                         )
                     genai.configure(api_key=cls.api_token)
-                    cls.generative_model = genai.GenerativeModel(cls._model_, safety_settings=safety_settings)
+                    cls.generative_model = genai.GenerativeModel(
+                        cls._model_, safety_settings=safety_settings
+                    )
 
             def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
                 super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
@@ -103,33 +106,45 @@ def get_generation_config(self) -> GenerationConfig:
                 )
 
             async def async_execute_model_call(
-                self, user_prompt: str, 
-                system_prompt: str = "", 
-                files_list: Optional['Files'] = None
+                self,
+                user_prompt: str,
+                system_prompt: str = "",
+                files_list: Optional["Files"] = None,
             ) -> Dict[str, Any]:
                 generation_config = self.get_generation_config()
 
                 if files_list is None:
                     files_list = []
 
-                if system_prompt is not None and system_prompt != "" and self._model_ != "gemini-pro":
+                if (
+                    system_prompt is not None
+                    and system_prompt != ""
+                    and self._model_ != "gemini-pro"
+                ):
                     try:
-                        self.generative_model = genai.GenerativeModel(self._model_, 
-                                                                    safety_settings=safety_settings, 
-                                                                    system_instruction=system_prompt)
+                        self.generative_model = genai.GenerativeModel(
+                            self._model_,
+                            safety_settings=safety_settings,
+                            system_instruction=system_prompt,
+                        )
                     except InvalidArgument as e:
-                        print(f"This model, {self._model_}, does not support system_instruction")
+                        print(
+                            f"This model, {self._model_}, does not support system_instruction"
+                        )
                         print("Will add system_prompt to user_prompt")
                         user_prompt = f"{system_prompt}\n{user_prompt}"
-                    
 
                 combined_prompt = [user_prompt]
                 for file in files_list:
-                    gen_ai_file = google.generativeai.types.file_types.File(file.external_locations['google'])
+                    if "google" not in file.external_locations:
+                        _ = file.upload_google()
+                    gen_ai_file = google.generativeai.types.file_types.File(
+                        file.external_locations["google"]
+                    )
                     combined_prompt.append(gen_ai_file)
 
-                response = await self.generative_model.generate_content_async(combined_prompt,
-                    generation_config=generation_config
+                response = await self.generative_model.generate_content_async(
+                    combined_prompt, generation_config=generation_config
                 )
                 return response.to_dict()