Uploading PDFs and files

The file source is for content that lives in documents rather than web pages — product manuals, internal SOPs, policy PDFs, sales brochures, training guides, and more.

Adding a file

1. Open your assistant and go to Sources → Files.
2. Click Upload file and pick the document from your computer.
3. Wait for the status to change from “Processing” to “Ready”.

The file is read, split into chunks, and indexed alongside any other sources you have connected. Visitors never see the file directly — they see answers composed from its contents.

Supported formats

• PDF — including text-based and most scanned PDFs.
• Plain text (.txt).
• Markdown (.md).
• Word documents (.docx).

If you have a format that is not listed, the simplest workaround is usually to export to PDF first.

What works well in a file source

• Text-based PDFs are extracted cleanly.
• Documents with clear headings and short paragraphs chunk much better than walls of text.
• Tables are extracted, but very wide or visually formatted tables can lose meaning. If a table is critical, also add a Q&A entry summarising the key rows.

What does not work well

• Image-only PDFs — PDFs that are scans of paper without an OCR layer are not readable. Run them through an OCR tool first or replace them with the original document.
• Heavily designed PDFs — brochures with text laid over images, sidebars, and multi-column flowing layouts can be extracted in the wrong reading order. Plain layouts work best.
• Huge files — extremely large documents take longer to process and are harder to search. Split them into logical chapters and upload each separately.

Updating a file

Files do not auto-update. When the underlying document changes, upload the new version and remove the old one. The assistant will use the new file the next time it answers.

If you find yourself updating the same file every week, consider whether a Q&A entry or a website source would be a better fit — both are easier to keep current.

File limits

Each plan has a limit on:

• The total size of all files uploaded to a single assistant.
• The total amount of indexed content across all sources.

You can see usage on the Sources page and on the workspace Usage page.

Tips

• Give files clear names. They show up in your source list — returns-policy-2026.pdf is easier to manage than final-final-v3.pdf.
• Remove what you do not need. A retired product manual is not just dead weight — it can pull the assistant into the wrong answer. Delete sources you no longer want the assistant to use.
• Combine with Q&A. Use the file for the long-form content and Q&A for the most-asked questions about that file.

Next steps

• Building a Q&A list
• Knowledge sources overview