Ask about uploaded documents and scans
What it does
The assistant can read a file you attach and answer a question about it: the total and number on a PDF invoice, a figure in a Word report, or the time and place on a photo of a schedule. It answers from what the file contains. It does not change the file, and a page it could not read is not available to it.
How to ask
Attach the file to the same message as the question: click the + button in the composer, select Add files or photos and choose the file. Ask for one fact at a time. Below are three prompts you can copy and adapt. Each prompt was run on the three Myra-hosted models, ten runs each, with the test file attached. A run counts as passed when the answer contains the facts from the file (names, numbers); the language of the answer, English or German, is not part of the check; the table shows how many of the ten runs passed.
Attach a PDF invoice with a table of three items to this message.
Total and number of a PDF invoice
Tested on: qwen3.8-27b, gemma-4-31b-it, mistral-small-4
Returns the grand total and the invoice number.
Attach a Word report with a table of revenue by region to this message.
Figure from a Word report
Tested on: qwen3.8-27b, gemma-4-31b-it, mistral-small-4
Returns the region with the highest revenue and its figure from the table.
Attach a photo of a printed schedule (a JPEG image) to this message.
Time and place from a photo
Tested on: qwen3.8-27b, gemma-4-31b-it, mistral-small-4
Returns the start time and the room printed on the photo.
| Prompt | Test case | qwen3.8-27b | gemma-4-31b-it | mistral-small-4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total and number of a PDF invoice | Grand total and invoice number from a PDF invoice | 10/10 | 10/10 | 10/10 |
| Figure from a Word report | Region with the highest revenue in a Word report | 10/10 | 10/10 | 10/10 |
| Time and place from a photo | Start time and room from a photo of a schedule | 10/10 | 10/10 | 10/10 |
Tips
- Attach the file to the same message as the question.
- Ask for the facts you need: a total, a number, a time, a place.
- You can attach up to 10 files to one message.
Limits
- The formats
.pdf,.docx,.doc(old Word format),.eml(e-mail) and the common image formats are accepted. See Chat: Importing a file for the full list, the size limit per file and the error messages. - A PDF is read page by page until its text reaches the inline text limit (512 KB), so a long PDF with little text per page, such as 400 pages, is read completely. For a PDF with more text than that, a notice under the attachment says how much reached the model, and the model is told the same.
- The 7.4 MB rule applies only to a model that reads PDF pages itself, on a gateway without data protection: there, a PDF larger than about 7.4 MB is read as extracted text instead of as page images, and a notice says the model then sees the text but not the layout or the images. In every other case the model reads the extracted text.
- A scanned PDF is read through text recognition. A photo is read through text recognition only on a gateway with data protection or with a model without image input; otherwise the model sees the picture itself. Reading a long scanned PDF can take a few minutes.
- A very large photo is shrunk before it is sent, which can make small print harder to read. If the assistant could not read a photo, attach a clearer photo or scan; if you have the original as a PDF with selectable text, attach that instead.
- The prompts above were checked on Myra-hosted models with one example each: a PDF with selectable text, a Word report and a photo of a printed schedule. A reworded prompt, a poorer scan or another model can behave differently, so check numbers that matter against the document.
When something goes wrong
- The message says the file is password-protected. Remove the password or attach an unlocked copy.
- The message says the file appears to be damaged. Export it again, or use "Print to PDF".
- The message says that no readable text was found. Attach a clearer scan or a PDF with selectable text.
- The message says the file could not be processed right now. The file is fine. Send it again in a moment; the attachment stays in the message box.
- A notice says only the first pages were read. Content on the remaining pages is not available to the model. Split the document and ask about each part.