Ask AI a Question About Your Files

Purpose: ask a question in plain English and get an answer that names the files it came from. Only Full Administrators can use it.

1. Open Records, then Ask AI a Question. The page is headed "What would you like to know?".
2. Type your question in the box, in your own words. For example: "Find all documents relating to Project Falcon, summarise the key findings, and identify any outstanding issues." If you are not sure what to ask, look under Try one of these and select an example question. It goes into the box, where you can change it before you ask.
3. Choose one of the three cards:
   • Quick answer reads the passages of the files that match your question best.
   • Read every matching file reads every matching file in the background, up to a set number of files for one question. Choose it for a bigger question, where you want the answer based on every file that matches. You can leave the page while it works. A second question of this kind waits its turn, and quick questions you ask meanwhile are still answered.
   • Find every matching file is for when you want the files rather than an answer. The AI assistant turns your question into a search, and Forage lists every file the search finds, however many there are, without reading them. See step 9.
4. Under the email box, check the address. It is filled in with the address you last used in your browser, or the one you signed in with. Once SmiKar support has set up emails, the page asks for an address before your question goes, and Forage emails you when the answer is ready, so you need not keep the page open. The email holds your question, how it ended, a short summary of the answer, how many files were read, the whole answer as an attached PDF with a table of the files it came from, and a link to the answer on the portal. For a list of files, the email gives how many files match and a link, without their names. If emails are not set up, the page says the answer will only be on the page.
5. Press Enter, or select Ask. Shift and Enter adds a new line. The AI assistant, which runs inside your own deployment, searches the files Forage has read, reads what it finds, and writes the answer. The first question after a quiet spell waits a little longer while the AI assistant starts. Reading slows down while an answer is written, and returns to normal speed by itself.
6. Follow the steps. The question shows Waiting, Searching, Reading and Writing as it goes. A Read every matching file question also shows a progress bar, how many files have been read and about how long is left. To stop a question that is waiting or being answered, select Cancel.
7. Read the answer. Each statement gives the number of the file it came from. Select a number to open that file and check the statement against it. If the files do not answer your question, the answer says so. Under the answer, figures show how many files matched, how many were read, how many were relevant (for Read every matching file), how many the answer cited, and the time taken. A line says what the AI assistant searched for, and Show every matching file in Search opens all the matching files in Search. List every matching file lists every file that answer's search found, in the same way as Find every matching file.
8. If a quick answer left matching files unread, the page says so and offers to read every matching file. Select the offer for an answer based on all of them.
9. For Find every matching file, the page says how many files match and what the AI assistant searched for, and lists the files a page at a time with each file's name, site, folder and date changed. Select a name to open the file. Select Export the list (CSV) to save the list as a spreadsheet file. You can then ask for an answer from the same files. The list holds the files whose words, or names, match the search, so a file that uses other words for the subject is not listed, and one that uses the same words about something else is. Every copy of a file is listed.
10. To keep an answer, use Export the findings under it: PDF to print or save, CSV as a spreadsheet file, or copy it as text. Each export is recorded in the Log.
11. Check the sources. Under the answer, the files it used appear as cards, the cited ones first. A file the answer did not cite is marked Not cited. Select a card to open the file.
12. To come back to a question, find it under Earlier questions, which lists every question, who asked it and when, with its status, and select it: it opens in a window over the page, with its answer and sources, and closing the window brings you back. You can bookmark the page address of a question, or send it to a colleague who is a Full Administrator. Every question, who asked it, when, the answer and the files it used are kept, and administrators can reopen them.
13. To see who asked what, open Records, then Log, and choose the type AI questions. It lists each question asked, opened, cancelled, answered, listed or stopped, and each email sent, with who and when. It names the question, and holds neither the answer nor anything the files say. Each export is listed there too.

Good to know: the AI assistant finds files by the words in them, not by their meaning, so a file that uses quite different words from your question can be missed. Try other words for the same thing. It uses only files Forage has read, so a file Forage could not read is not in the answer, and it can misread a figure, so check important figures against the cited file. There are no follow-up questions: each question stands on its own, and you cannot yet choose which sites or labels a question covers. It does not decide which label a file gets, and it does not learn from or train on your content. No document content goes to an external AI service. Only Full Administrators can use it, because Forage does not yet check each person's own access to files in SharePoint.

See the AI assistant for the three places it helps, and product features.

Questions go to sales@smikar.com.