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AI with citations · Ask & summarize

Ask questions about a PDF and check the cited pages

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.

Updated 2 min read Counts toward ai credits

On this page (3)
  1. How citations work
  2. Stopping and failures
  3. Scans, photos and images
  1. Step 1: Open the Ask tab

    In the editor, click the yellow ✨ AI assistant button in the top bar (or More (⋯) → AI assistant). From the dashboard, click ✨ AI assistant → Chat with a PDF and pick a document. The panel opens on Ask this document.

  2. Step 2: Ask a question

    Type in Your question, or click a suggestion like What are the key dates and deadlines?. Click Ask.

  3. Step 3: Read the answer

    The answer streams in. Page numbers in the text and the chips under Sources link to the pages it quotes.

  4. Step 4: Check the page

    Click a p. 4 chip (Go to page 4). The editor scrolls to that page so you can read the quote in context.

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How citations work

Every quote in an answer is checked word for word against the text of the page it names. Quotes that don't match are removed, and the answer tells you how many ("1 quote couldn’t be matched word-for-word to the page and was removed"). If no quote survives, you'll see No verified page quote for this answer — check it against the document.

If the answer isn't in the document, it says Not found in this document. instead of guessing. When an answer was drafted but couldn't be verified against the page text, it is withheld and says so.

Stopping and failures

Click Stop while an answer is streaming to cancel it. A stopped or interrupted answer shows Nothing was charged. with a Try again button.

Scans, photos and images

A document with a text layer is always answered from its text. A short file with no text at all (a scan, a photo converted to PDF) is read from page images: up to 5 pages on Free and 10 on Pro and Business. Those sources show Read from the page image — no text layer to quote. Longer scans need OCR first; use the Scan tab or OCR PDF.

To ask about a photo, screenshot or chart, use Chat with an image. The image is saved to your documents as a one-page PDF and answers cite it as page 1.

Can I ask across several PDFs at once?

Yes, in a workspace. Add the documents, then use Ask across documents. See Ask across several documents.

The answer ignores the end of my document.

Your plan reads up to 100 pages per document on Free (600 on Pro, 2,000 on Business). The panel lists pages that weren't included.

Is my chat saved?

In Standard AI mode, yes. Turn off AI history in Data & privacy if you don't want that; see What happens to your documents when you use AI.

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