Your First Question

You've uploaded documents - now let's ask your first question and understand what you get back.

Before You Start

Make sure you have:

1. At least one collection created
2. At least one document uploaded
3. Document status showing "Completed" (not "Processing")

If your document is still processing, wait a few moments and refresh the page.

Step 1: Open the Chat

1. Go to your collection
2. Click the Chat button

You'll see a chat interface with an input field at the bottom.

Step 2: Ask a Question

Type a question about your document content. For example:

If you uploaded an employee handbook:

"How many vacation days do employees get?"

If you uploaded product documentation:

"What are the system requirements?"

If you uploaded a policy document:

"What is the approval process for expenses?"

Press Enter to send your question.

Step 3: Wait for the Response

IntelliRepo will:

1. Search your documents for relevant content (instant)
2. Find the most matching passages (instant)
3. Generate an AI answer (2-3 seconds)

You'll see a loading indicator while the AI thinks.

Step 4: Understand the Response

The response has three parts:

The Answer

A natural language answer based on your documents. The AI synthesizes information to directly answer your question.

Example:

"Employees receive 15 days of paid vacation per year, which accrues at 1.25 days per month. Up to 5 unused days can be carried over to the next year."

The Sources

Below the answer, you'll see citations:

• Document name: Which file the information came from
• Page number: The specific page (for PDFs)
• Relevance: How closely this content matches your question

Example:

Sources:
- Employee Handbook.pdf (Page 12) - 89% match
- Benefits Summary.pdf (Page 3) - 76% match

Expanding Sources

Click on any source to see the exact text passage that was used. This helps you:

• Verify the answer is accurate
• Find additional context
• Navigate to the original document

What Makes a Good Question?

Good Questions

Specific:

"What is the return policy for electronics?"

Clear:

"How do I reset my password?"

Focused:

"What are the requirements for expense approval over $500?"

Questions That May Not Work Well

Too vague:

"Tell me about the policy"

Outside your documents:

"What's the weather today?" (not in your docs)

Multiple questions at once:

"What's the vacation policy and how do I submit expenses and what are the holidays?"

If You Don't Get a Good Answer

"I couldn't find information about that"

• The topic might not be in your documents
• Try different keywords
• Check if the document is fully processed

Answer seems incomplete

• Ask a more specific question
• Check if there are other relevant documents to upload
• Click on sources to see what content was found

Answer seems wrong

• Click sources to verify the AI's interpretation
• The source text might be unclear or ambiguous
• Rephrase your question with more context

Try These Exercises

Practice with these question types:

1. Factual lookup: Ask about a specific number, date, or requirement

   "What is the maximum reimbursement amount?"

2. Process question: Ask how to do something

   "How do I request time off?"

3. Comparison: Ask about differences

   "What's the difference between sick leave and personal leave?"

4. Summary: Ask for an overview

   "Summarize the key benefits available to employees"

Next Steps

Now that you've asked your first question:

Get better answers

Learn techniques to improve response quality: → Tips for Better Answers

Understand citations

Learn more about how sources work: → Understanding Citations

Add more documents

The more relevant content you have, the better the answers: → Uploading Documents

Invite your team

Let others ask questions too: → Inviting Users

Need Help?

If you're not getting the results you expect, check our troubleshooting guide or contact support.