--- title: "Open the AI assistant and what each tab does" description: "Open the AI assistant from the editor or the dashboard, what its nine tabs do (Ask, Summary, Translate, Edit…), and how page limits and scans affect it." url: https://help.pdfbetter.com/ai/ai-assistant-overview/ collection: "AI with citations" section: "Basics" updated: 2026-10-18 publisher: "PDFBetter (AI Generated Inc.)" --- # Open the AI assistant and what each tab does > In the editor, click the yellow ✨ **AI assistant** button in the top bar (or **More** (**⋯**) → **AI assistant**). From the dashboard, use the ✨ **AI assistant** menu and pick a document. The panel has nine tabs, from **Ask** to **Scan**. - Counts toward: AI credits Do it in PDFBetter: https://pdfbetter.com/app/tools/ The AI assistant is a side panel in the editor. Everything it does works on the document you have open, and every paid action shows its credit cost on the button before you run it. ## Open it in the editor With a document open, the panel is always one click away, in every mode: - **Top bar:** click the yellow ✨ **AI assistant** button at the top right. On narrower windows it shows only the sparkles icon. Click it again to close the panel. - **More menu:** click **More** (**⋯**) at the top right and choose **AI assistant**. - **Phone:** tap the **⋯** button in the editor's top bar to open the **More** sheet, then tap **AI assistant**. Each of these opens the panel on the **Ask** tab. Two other buttons open it on a specific tab: **More** → **Check spelling** in the tool toolbar opens **Proofread**, and **Detect fields** (in **Create form** mode) opens **Fields**. Close the panel with **Close AI assistant**. ## Open it from the dashboard 1. **Open the AI menu**: In the dashboard top bar, click the ✨ **AI assistant** button. 2. **Pick what you want**: Choose **Chat with a PDF** or **Summarize a PDF**. To start from nothing, choose **Create a document** instead. 3. **Choose the document**: Pick one from **Your documents**, or click **Upload a new file**. PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and images work. 4. **Use the panel**: The editor opens with the **AI assistant** panel on the right. Switch tabs at the top of the panel. You can also start from [All tools](https://pdfbetter.com/app/tools/): each AI tool, such as [Chat with PDF](https://pdfbetter.com/tools/chat-with-pdf/) or the [AI PDF translator](https://pdfbetter.com/tools/ai-pdf-translator/), opens the same panel on the right tab. ## The tabs | Tab | What it does | Credits | | --- | --- | --- | | **Ask** | Answers questions from this file only, with quotes linked to their pages. | 1 per message | | **Summary** | Key points with page links, in **Brief**, **Standard** or **Detailed** length. | 2 | | **Search** | Finds passages by meaning, even when they use different words. | 1 | | **Translate** | Makes a new translated copy; the original stays untouched. | 1 per page | | **Edit** | Turns an instruction into edits you accept one by one. | 2 | | **Fields** | Proposes fillable form fields for blanks, boxes and signature lines. | 3 | | **Proofread** | Lists spelling, grammar and style issues to accept or dismiss. | 1 per page | | **Signers** | Suggests who signs and where, then opens the send dialog. Nothing is sent. | 3 | | **Scan** | **AI OCR** and **Restore a scan** for pages with no text layer. | 2 / 2 per page | The top of the panel shows how many credits you have left (**# credits left**), including purchased ones. Results from most tabs are saved under **Previous results** so you can reopen them without paying again. ## Long and scanned documents The AI reads a set number of pages per document on each plan: 30 without an account, 100 on Free, 600 on Pro and 2,000 on Business. When a document is longer, the panel says so ("AI reads the first … pages on your plan") and answers say which pages were skipped. Pages are never dropped silently. A large document is read in the background the first time you open the panel. You'll see **Reading this document…** with a percentage; you can start typing and AI actions wait until it's ready. Pages with no text layer (scans, photos) get a warning with a **Scan tools** link, because the AI can't read them until you [run OCR](https://help.pdfbetter.com/editing/make-scanned-pdf-editable-ocr/). ### I closed the panel. How do I get it back? Click the yellow ✨ **AI assistant** button in the editor's top bar, or choose **More** (**⋯**) → **AI assistant**. On a phone, tap **⋯** → **AI assistant**. Your chat and **Previous results** are still there. ### The panel says "AI isn’t available right now". The AI provider can't be reached. Your document is safe and nothing was charged. Try again later. ### Can I use AI without an account? Yes. Guest drafts include 5 AI credits. A free account adds 20 every month, and your draft comes with you when you sign up. ## Related articles - [How AI credits work](https://help.pdfbetter.com/ai/ai-credits.md): Every AI action costs a fixed number of credits, shown on its button before you run it. Your plan includes credits every month; an AI credit pack adds 500 credits for $5 that never expire and are used after the monthly ones. - [Ask questions about a PDF and check the cited pages](https://help.pdfbetter.com/ai/chat-with-pdf-citations.md): Open the document, go to the Ask tab of the AI assistant, type a question and click Ask. Answers come only from that file and list Sources: click a p. 4 chip to jump to the quoted page. Each message costs 1 credit. - [How accurate AI answers are, and how to check them](https://help.pdfbetter.com/ai/ai-privacy-accuracy.md): AI answers can be wrong or miss nuance, so every result links to the pages it came from and chat quotes are checked word for word against the page. Check numbers, dates and obligations against the cited page before you rely on them. - [What happens to your documents when you use AI](https://help.pdfbetter.com/privacy-security/ai-and-your-data.md): AI features send your document's text to OpenAI's API with storage turned off; scan restoration sends page images to fal.ai. Your documents aren't used to train models. In Settings → Data & privacy you can choose Private AI or delete stored AI data. - [Make a scanned PDF editable and searchable with OCR](https://help.pdfbetter.com/editing/make-scanned-pdf-editable-ocr.md): Open the OCR PDF tool, upload the scan, pick the Languages and pages and click Recognize text. The result looks identical but has a searchable text layer; click Open in the editor to change its text. OCR is counted per page recognized. --- Source: https://help.pdfbetter.com/ai/ai-assistant-overview/ · PDFBetter Help Center · Last checked against the product 2026-10-18. Questions: support@pdfbetter.com