Chat with PDF and see the passage behind every answer
Search+ lets you chat with a PDF and see where each answer comes from. Upload a PDF to a workspace, ask a question in plain language, and the reply arrives with inline citations that point to the document and the excerpt that supports it. When the PDF carries page or section information, the citation shows it, and Search+ does not invent a location the file does not contain. You can create an account without entering payment details, then start with one file and add more later.
No payment details needed to create an account.
What a PDF chat in Search+ looks like
These are the kinds of questions people put to a single PDF, and what comes back. The answer text depends on your file; the shape of the reply does not.
A short answer in prose, followed by inline citation markers. Each marker names the PDF and opens the excerpt the sentence relies on, so you can read the original wording next to the summary.
A list built from the passages that mention dates, with a citation on each item. If a deadline appears in two places, you see both excerpts rather than a merged guess.
A plain-language explanation of the section, with citations back to the paragraphs it paraphrases. If the PDF has no heading called section 4, the answer works from the text it can find and does not make up a heading.
Either cited passages that discuss refunds, or a reply that says the document does not appear to cover it. A clear no is a useful answer when you are checking a file.
What does it mean to chat with a PDF?
To chat with a PDF is to ask a document questions in ordinary sentences and get written answers drawn from its text, instead of scrolling and searching for keywords yourself. Behind the conversation, the tool splits the PDF into passages, finds the passages most relevant to your question by meaning, and writes an answer from them. The quality of a PDF chat depends on one thing more than any other: whether you can see which passages the answer came from. Search+ attaches inline citations to its answers, and each citation opens the supporting excerpt, so the conversation stays tied to the file you uploaded rather than to the model's general knowledge. The chat also lives inside a workspace, which means the PDF, the questions you asked and the answers you got are saved together and are still there when you come back.
How to chat with a PDF in Search+
- Create a workspace for the file
Sign up, then create a workspace and give it a name that matches the job, such as the supplier agreement or the grant guidelines. The workspace is where the PDF and every conversation about it will live.
- Drop the PDF in
Drag the file onto the upload area. Search+ processes it in the background and shows its status as it moves from queued to processing to indexed. Larger and more complex files take longer.
- Ask your first question
Once the file shows as indexed, open a chat and type a question as you would ask a colleague who has read the document. Answers stream in as they are written.
- Open the citations before you rely on the answer
Click a citation marker to read the excerpt behind a sentence. If the answer matters, read the excerpt before you quote it, since AI answers can be incomplete or inaccurate.
What you get when you chat with a PDF in Search+
Answers carry citations that point to the source document and the supporting excerpt, not just a file name at the bottom.
If the file provides page or section information, the citation shows it. If it does not, no location is invented.
Each citation opens the passage it relies on, so checking a claim takes one click instead of a search through the file.
Ask the way you would ask a person. You do not need keywords, operators or the exact wording the document uses.
Search+ finds relevant passages by meaning, not only by exact words, so a question about "ending the contract" can reach a clause headed "termination".
The PDF and the chat are saved in the workspace. Reopen the thread later from your history instead of uploading the file again.
What PDF chat in Search+ does not do
A citation opens the supporting excerpt. It does not jump to a page inside a full PDF viewer.
The citations exist so you can check. Read the excerpt before you rely on an important claim.
Answers stay in the conversation. There is no export to a file, so copy what you need into your own document.
Chatting with a PDF vs searching it yourself
| Task | Ctrl+F and reading | Search+ PDF chat |
|---|---|---|
| Finding a clause when you do not know its wording | Guess keywords until one matches | Ask in your own words; passages are found by meaning |
| Answering a question that needs two separate passages | Read both, then write the answer yourself | One answer with a citation on each part |
| Checking where a statement came from | Scroll back to find it | Open the citation to read the excerpt |
| Picking up the work next week | Start the reading again | Reopen the saved conversation in the workspace |
Questions about chatting with a PDF
Can I chat with a PDF for free?
Is this an online PDF chat, or do I need to install something?
Does the AI answer from my PDF or from the internet?
Can I chat with more than one PDF at a time?
Will the citation show me the page number?
How accurate are the answers?
Can I chat with a Word file or a scanned PDF too?
Ask your PDF the question you opened it for
Create a workspace, drop in the file and read the cited answer.
Start a workspace