Working with files and knowledge

Why Use Files in a Conversation?

LibreChat allows you to bring your own documents into a conversation and ask the AI questions directly about the content. This is useful when you need to analyse a report, summarise a policy document, extract key information from a contract, or work through any material that would take time to read and process manually.

Because LibreChat runs within the GLBNXT environment, the files you upload stay inside your organisation's infrastructure and are not sent to external services.

Uploading a File to Your Chat

To upload a file, click the attachment icon in the message input bar at the bottom of the chat window. Select the file you want to use from your device. Once uploaded, the file appears above your message input and is included in the conversation context.

You can then ask the AI questions about the file directly, for example:

• "Summarise the key findings in this report."

• "What are the payment terms mentioned in this contract?"

• "List all action items from this meeting transcript."

LibreChat supports common file formats including PDF, Word documents, plain text files, and images. If you are unsure whether your file type is supported, try uploading it and LibreChat will indicate if it cannot process the content.

What Happens When You Upload a File?

When you upload a document, LibreChat reads the content and makes it available as context for your conversation. The AI can then reference specific sections, quote relevant passages, and answer questions based on what is in the document.

For longer documents, LibreChat uses a file search capability that retrieves the most relevant sections of your document in response to each question you ask. This means you do not need to worry about document length in most cases.

Using Web Search

LibreChat can also search the web to supplement its responses with current information. This is useful when you are asking about recent events, looking for up to date figures, or want the AI to ground its answer in publicly available sources.

To use web search, look for the web search toggle in the message input area or the settings bar at the top of the chat window. When enabled, LibreChat will search the web as part of generating its response and will reference the sources it used.

When web search is useful:

• Researching topics where recent information matters

• Fact-checking claims against public sources

• Getting current data such as market figures, news, or regulatory updates

When web search is not needed:

• Working with documents you have already uploaded

• Tasks based on your own content or internal knowledge

• General writing, drafting, or reasoning tasks

Combining Files and Web Search

You can use both file uploads and web search in the same conversation. For example, you could upload an internal strategy document and ask LibreChat to compare it against recent industry trends, with web search providing the external context.

A Note on File Privacy

Files you upload are used only within your current conversation. GLBNXT does not use your uploaded content to train AI models or share it outside your environment. If you are working with confidential documents, LibreChat within GLBNXT is the appropriate place to do so.

Ready to Continue?

In the next chapter, you will learn about Agents and Presets, which allow you to work with purpose-built AI assistants and save your preferred settings for different types of tasks.