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Start a new chat, choose the Brains you want answers from, type your question and press Return (Enter on Windows). Elephas searches your documents on your computer, writes an answer from what it finds, and lists the sources it used. It answers from your documents, not the internet.

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Before you start

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Steps

1

Start a chat

Click New Chat at the top of the sidebar, press ⌘N on Mac or Ctrl+N on Windows, or choose Chat › New Chat. The sidebar is shown on every page.You can also start from where you are:
  • On a Brain’s page, New Chat starts a chat with that Brain chosen.
  • On Home, click Ask on a Brain card under Continue Working.
  • On a file, use Ask This Document.
2

Choose what to ask about

The box at the bottom shows what the answer may come from as chips, one per Brain. Elephas picks the Brains you last used in this workspace. If you have only one Brain, it is chosen for you.To change it, click Choose Brains & files and tick the Brains you want. You can choose up to 8 Brains for one question. To narrow the question to particular files, pick them from the same menu. See Ask about specific documents only.If nothing is chosen, the box says Nothing chosen yet. Choose a Brain or file to ask about. and you can’t send.
3

Type your question and send it

A new chat shows What do you want to know?, a line Answers come from followed by your chosen Brains, and three Tips for asking well. The tips are plain text and change with each new chat.Type in Ask anything about your documents… and press Return (Enter on Windows) to send. Press Shift+Return (Shift+Enter) for a new line.
A new chat showing What do you want to know?, the line Answers come from Tony, three tips, and the question box with the Tony Brain chip and Choose Brains & files
4

Follow the progress panel

A progress panel appears under your question while Elephas works. Its title shows the stage: Looking through your files, Reading closely, Writing your answer, and Double-checking your answer when Double-check is on. Step pills (Inspect, Read, Summarise, and Check when Double-check is on) and one live line, such as “Reading” followed by a file name, show what is happening.When it is done, the panel reads Answered from N sources (or Answered, no quotes linked). Click Show Steps to see what Elephas did, for example “Looked through 12 files, read 4”. If something goes wrong, the panel reads Couldn’t finish.
The progress panel titled Looking through your files, on the Inspect step with three of your files listed, Read and Summarise still to come, and the Stop button in the question box
5

Read the answer and check the sources

The answer appears with source cards above it, one per file, and an N sources button under it. With Elephas AI or your own API key, the finished answer appears all at once. With Local AI, it appears as it is written.Click a source card or the N sources button to read the exact passages. Numbers inside the answer text appear only if Settings › AI › Show inline citations is on. See Check every answer with citations.
A finished answer headed Answered from 3 sources, with Looked through 3 files, read 3 and Show Steps, three source cards for a PDF, a Word document and a Markdown note, the answer text, and the 3 sources button
6

Follow up

Type your next question in the same chat. Elephas keeps the last few messages of the conversation in mind, so “And what about the renewal date?” works after a question about a contract. Start a new chat with New Chat when you change topic.
The steps are the same on Mac and Windows. Only the shortcut keys differ.

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Your first question and the free trial

If you have no AI set up yet, your first question shows Start your free trial to get this answer, with Start Free Trial and Not Now. No card is needed, nothing is charged, and your question is kept. See Free trial.

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Stop an answer

While Elephas works, the Send button turns into a square Stop button. Any of these stops the answer:
  • Click Stop.
  • Press Escape while the cursor is in the question box.
  • Press ⌘. (Command and period) on Mac or Ctrl+. on Windows, or choose Chat › Stop Answer.
The panel then shows Stopped and “Stopped before an answer was written. What finished is kept above.” Click Retry to ask again.
The progress panel showing Stopped, with Inspect finished, Read stopped partway through your files, and the message Stopped before an answer was written. What finished is kept above, next to a Retry button

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Under each answer

  • N sources opens the Sources panel for that answer.
  • Try Again asks again and adds the new answer below. The old answer stays.
  • The ⋯ menu has Copy, and Double-check This Answer on answers that weren’t double-checked. That asks again with checking on, as a new answer below.
Your own questions have a ⋯ menu with Copy. You can’t edit a question after sending it. Ask a new one instead.

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How it works

  • Answers come only from what you chose. Ask searches the Brains and files in the chips and nothing else. It never browses the web and never reads Brains you did not choose. See Why Elephas says an answer isn’t in your documents.
  • Searching happens on your computer. Elephas finds the matching passages in its local index. Indexing happens on your computer. Always.
  • What goes to the AI depends on your setting. With Elephas AI or your own API key, your question, a few recent chat messages and the matching passages are sent to get the answer. With Local AI, nothing is sent to an AI provider. See What data is sent to AI.
  • Answers can be double-checked. Turn on Double-check answers in Settings › AI to check every sentence against your sources before the answer is shown. It is off by default, slower, uses more of your AI allowance, and isn’t used with Local AI.
  • One question at a time per workspace. If another chat in the same workspace is still being answered, Ask says Another question is still being answered in this workspace. Wait for it, or stop it.
  • Questions can be up to 8,000 characters long.

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Troubleshooting

Check three things. The question box must have text in it. At least one Brain or file must be chosen. If you use Local AI, it must be ready: Send stays off while the model is downloading or starting. See Local AI troubleshooting.
Elephas does not have a way to answer yet. Click Open Settings and choose an option under How Elephas answers. See Choose how Elephas answers.
You don’t have a Brain yet. Click Go to Brains, create a Brain and add documents first. See Add files and folders.
The passages Elephas found don’t support an answer. Check that the right Brains are chosen and that your files finished getting ready. See Why Elephas says an answer isn’t in your documents.

Check every answer with citations

Ask about specific documents only

Tips for better answers

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