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You can point a question at one file, or a handful of files, instead of a whole Brain. Elephas then searches and cites only the documents you picked. Use Ask This Document on a file, or pick files from Choose Brains & files in the Ask box.

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Before you start

  • The documents must be in a Brain and finished getting ready. A file that is still being prepared shows (not ready) and can’t be picked yet.
  • Works the same on every plan and with every AI option.

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Steps

1

Open the Brain

Click Brains in the sidebar, or press ⌘3 on Mac or Ctrl+3 on Windows, and open the Brain that holds the file.
2

Choose Ask This Document

Click the ⋯ button on the file’s row, or right-click the row, and choose Ask This Document.Elephas opens a new chat in Ask with only that document chosen. Its name appears as the only chip in the question box.
3

Ask your question

Type your question and press Return (Enter on Windows).
The steps are the same on Mac and Windows.

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Go back to the whole Brain

  • Click the × on a document chip to remove it. When you remove the last document, the question goes back to covering every ready document in the chosen Brains.
  • Or open Choose Brains & files and choose All sources in the selected Brains.

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How it works

  • Documents narrow Brains, they don’t replace them. You pick documents from Brains you have chosen. If you untick a Brain, the documents you picked from it are dropped too.
  • No documents picked means all of them. With no documents picked, Ask uses every ready document in the chosen Brains. It never means “none”.
  • The answer can’t reach outside your pick. Elephas searches, reads and cites only the documents you picked. The Sources panel and the coverage line count only those documents. See Check every answer with citations.
  • Each chat remembers its own choice. The Brains and documents you pick are saved with the chat. A change you make while an answer is being prepared applies to your next question.
  • Very large Brains. One question can search a large but limited number of documents. If a Brain holds more, Ask tells you how many it holds and how many can be searched at once, and asks you to pick specific documents.

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Troubleshooting

It shows (not ready) because Elephas is still reading it, or because it couldn’t be read. Wait for it to finish, or check the file in its Brain. See File import errors.
The menu lists documents from the Brains you have ticked. Tick the Brain that holds the file first. To add a file that isn’t in Elephas yet, see Add files and folders.
Pick the documents you need from Choose Brains & files, or ask across fewer Brains. See Performance and large libraries.

Ask questions about your documents

Tips for better answers

Create and manage Brains

Check every answer with citations