Answers from a PDF, a scanned book or a link
How much of a PDF, a scanned book or a link does the chat read?
It reads the first 30,000 characters of a PDF with text or a .txt file, and the first 15,000 of a web page. A scanned PDF goes whole, as one file, up to 12 pages a message, and a Model that reads pictures reads every page. No need for the Link button: paste the address into your message and it is read when you send, on any Model.
How much the chat reads
You can ask questions of a book, notes or a web page. How much of each it reads:
| What you give | How much it reads |
| A PDF with text in it, a .txt or a .md file | The first 30,000 characters |
| A web page link | The first 15,000 characters |
| A YouTube video link | The video's subtitles, only if it has captions |
| A scanned PDF, or one made from photos | Up to 12 pages a message |
A PDF with text in it
Press the File button under the message box and give it the PDF. The PDF is read inside your browser and the file is not uploaded to our servers; only the text taken out of it goes with your message.
With a very long book the last part gets left out. Give it chapter by chapter in separate messages, and the result is far better.
A scanned book or old papers
In a PDF made by a phone's scanner app, the text sits inside pictures. The chat notices and attaches the whole PDF as one file: each page becomes a picture, and a Model that can read pictures answers from every page.
- One message carries up to 12 pages across all its scanned PDFs. They do not take the places of photos you attach separately.
- With more pages than that, the first 12 go, and the chat tells you how many were left out. Send screenshots of the rest in your next message.
- A PDF with text is not uploaded, but a scanned PDF's pages are uploaded as pictures, like any picture you give the chat.
- A blurred or skewed page can make it misread some words. Check names, numbers and dates.
- Reference files in the builder or a folder cannot take such a PDF; copy the text into a .txt there instead.
Links: press the button, or just paste
Give an address to the Link button and it reads the page's text. No need for the button: paste the address into your message and it is read when you send, on any Model, your own API key in Settings included.
- If a page cannot be opened you are told, and the message still goes.
- A page you have to sign in to see cannot be read. Copy its text into your message instead.
- A YouTube link is read from the video's subtitles. Without captions it tells you so plainly.
How to use it
Give the file or the link and say straight out what you want:
Make 10 short exam questions with answers from this chapter.
Tell me this news article in 5 lines of simple Bangla.
More ways with notes and flashcards are in Study notes and flashcards, and for research work, Research papers and theses: step by step in the chat.
Who sees it
What you give stays in your chat, and the Model that answers reads it. Who can see what is set out in Who can see it, what the AI sees.