Ask your own documents and get answers with sources

Processes that need more than one tool

Each process below uses several tools, each for the job it does best. Any AI chat assistant works where one is named.

1. Prepare the documents

   Tools, in order: your file storage → any AI chat assistant

   1. Collect the current files in one storage folder, rename them with dates and remove old versions.
   2. Ask the chat assistant to turn tables and scanned pages into clean text, then compare a few lines with the original.

   The prompt for this process

   Act as an editor preparing business documents for a document assistant.
   
   Document: [paste the text or table, without confidential client data]
   What it is for: [e.g. price list for staff questions]
   Date it is valid from: [date]
   
   Turn it into clean text: one heading per topic, tables kept as simple tables, no repeated passages. Do not change any price, date or rule. At the end, list every place where the original was unclear or where two parts disagree, so I can fix it in the source file.
   
   Start with the cleaned text.

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2. Chat with them and log the answers

   Tools, in order: a document chat tool → a document

   1. Upload the cleaned files to a document chat tool and ask questions that need a source.
   2. Copy each question, answer and cited passage into an answer log in a document.

   The prompt for this process

   Answer only from the sources in this notebook.
   
   Question: [the question a customer or staff member asked]
   Who is asking: [customer or staff]
   
   Give a short answer of at most 60 words, then quote the passage you used and name the source. If the sources do not answer it, say "not in the documents" and do not guess. If two sources disagree, show both passages and say which looks newer from its title or date. End with one line for my answer log: question, answer, source.
   
   Start with the answer.

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3. Keep them in a project

   Tools, in order: a project in an AI chat assistant → your file storage

   1. Create a project in your chat assistant, add the same cleaned files and paste the project instructions.
   2. Keep the master copies in the storage folder and replace both copies on the same day when something changes.

   The prompt for this process

   These are the instructions for my document project. Follow them in every chat.
   
   Business: [one sentence]
   Files in this project: [list name, topic and date of each]
   Who uses the answers: [staff, me]
   
   Answer only from the project files and name the file and section each time. If the files do not cover the question, say so and suggest which file is missing. Never give legal, tax or medical advice; say "check with a professional". Before each answer, check the file date and warn me if a file is older than [months].
   
   Start with a one-line summary of each file.

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4. Spot-check ten answers

   Tools, in order: Typeform → a spreadsheet → a document chat tool

   1. Collect real questions from your team with a short Typeform.
   2. Pick ten with known answers, put them in a spreadsheet and ask each one in the document chat tool.
   3. Mark each answer right, partly right or wrong and fix the document behind every wrong one.

   The prompt for this process

   Act as a strict checker for my document assistant.
   
   Question: [paste]
   The correct answer I know: [paste]
   The assistant's answer and the source it cited: [paste]
   
   Judge it on three criteria, each pass or fail: the answer matches the correct one, the cited passage really says it, nothing was added that the documents do not say. Then mark it right, partly right or wrong. If it failed, say whether the fix belongs in the document or in the question. Give one row for my sheet.
   
   Start with the three criteria.

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