Files and documents

Most knowledge work lives in documents: contracts, spreadsheets, decks, reports. Lucy works with them directly. You do not paste text into a chat window. You attach the file, say what you need, and get a finished file back.

Why work with files in Lucy

No copy and paste

Lucy reads the file itself, including tables, formulas and layout, so nothing is lost on the way in.

Real output, not a description

You get a Word, Excel, PowerPoint or PDF file you can open, edit and send, not a paragraph telling you how to make one.

Your original stays untouched

Lucy works on a copy and delivers a new file. A change log or a flagged table shows what it did.

Checkable work

Every answer lists the steps Lucy took and, for figures, where they came from, so a reviewer can verify instead of trusting.

What you can do

Read and extract

• Summarise a 60 page report into one page
• Pull every date, amount or obligation out of a contract into a table
• Answer questions about a PDF with the page it found the answer on

Why it matters: the slow part of document work is finding things. Lucy finds them in seconds and shows you where.

Compare and check

• Compare an invoice to a fee schedule, or two versions of a contract
• Check a spreadsheet against a rule and flag every line that breaks it
• Cross-check figures across several files

Why it matters: this is the work that costs hours and is easy to get wrong when you are tired. Lucy checks every line the same way.

Create and transform

• Turn notes into a Word memo, a five-slide deck or a one-page PDF
• Turn a messy spreadsheet into a clean one with a change log
• Build charts from your own data
• Convert between formats, for example Word to PDF

Why it matters: you start from a solid draft instead of a blank page, and spend your time on judgement, not formatting.

Build and share

• Ask for a small web page or tool and see it live next to the chat
• Share a preview link with a colleague if you choose to

Why it matters: an idea becomes something people can click, which settles discussions faster than a description.

Typical use cases by team

Team	Typical jobs
Finance and operations	Invoice and fee checks, reconciliations, variance explanations, month-end packs
Legal and compliance	Clause extraction, notice period tables, policy comparison, first-pass reviews
Risk and audit	Control testing across files, evidence summaries, finding lists with sources
Sales and client teams	Proposals from notes, tailored decks, meeting follow-ups
HR and admin	Contract and expiry tracking, document checklists, standard letters

See ready-made prompts in Things to try.

How it works, step by step

1. Attach Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, text or image files. Wait until the file shows ready.
2. Describe the result you want, including the format and who it is for.
3. Review the answer. Open the steps Lucy took. Check the flagged items first.
4. Preview and download. Word and PowerPoint files get a PDF preview, and spreadsheets open in a viewer, so you can look before you download.
5. Refine. Ask for changes in the same conversation: “shorter”, “add a column for owner”, “use last year’s schedule”.

Review before you rely on it

Lucy is fast, but you are accountable for what you send on. Build a short review habit:

1. Check the flagged items first. Findings come with the line or page they came from. Open the source and confirm.
2. Spot-check the unflagged. Pick two or three items Lucy did not flag and verify them yourself.
3. Read the steps. If a step surprises you, ask Lucy why.
4. Ask for doubts. “List anything you were unsure about” gives you the review points directly.
5. Never send unseen. For anything that leaves your organisation, read the final file, not just the summary.

For teams

Agree one simple rule in your team, for example “a second person checks every dispute before it is sent”. Your admin can also add it to the organisation rules so Lucy reminds everyone.

Limits and good to know

• Size limits depend on your plan. If a file is rejected, the message says why.
• Scanned PDFs work best when the text is clear. For poor scans, expect to check more carefully.
• How Lucy computes. For analysis and file building, Lucy runs code in an isolated sandbox: a short-lived virtual machine with no route to your company network or to anyone else’s sandbox. Your admin decides whether it can reach the internet at all. See Sandbox and internet access.
• How long files are kept is set by your organisation, and you can only shorten it. See Privacy settings.