Upload files and documents
Attach PDFs, Word documents, Excel workbooks, presentations, CSVs, Markdown, and images to a conversation. Scanned PDFs are read with OCR. Supported formats, limits, and how the content reaches Dropstone.
Attach a file with the paperclip in the composer, or drag it into the conversation. Dropstone reads it, and you can ask about it, change it, or build something from it.
Supported formats
| Type | Formats |
|---|---|
| Documents | PDF, Word (.doc and .docx), OpenDocument (.odt), Markdown (.md), plain text (.txt) |
| Spreadsheets | Excel (.xls and .xlsx), OpenDocument (.ods), CSV |
| Presentations | PowerPoint (.ppt and .pptx), OpenDocument (.odp) |
| Images | PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, and screenshots pasted from the clipboard |
Each attached file shows as a chip in the composer, numbered by type: [PDF 1], [Excel 1], [Image 2]. You can refer to them that way in your message.
Scanned PDFs
A PDF that is a scan, an image of a page with no text layer, is read with optical character recognition. Ask about it the same way as any other document. Up to 30 pages of a scanned document are processed.
How file contents reach Dropstone
Document formats are converted to text before they are sent, so Dropstone works from the actual content of a Word file or a spreadsheet, not a description of it. Spreadsheets keep their structure: sheets, rows, and columns, including hyperlinks stored in cells.
Images are sent as images. Dropstone can read text in a screenshot, describe a diagram, or work from a design mockup.
What you can do with an attached file
- Ask about it. Summarise it, pull numbers out of it, find a clause, or compare it with another attachment.
- Change it. A Word document or an Excel workbook can be edited in place, keeping its formatting. See Edit an attached Word or Excel file.
- Build something from it. Ask for a PDF, a Word document, a spreadsheet, or a deck made from what is in the file. See Create a PDF, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file.
An attachment stays available for the rest of the conversation, so a follow-up question about it works without attaching it again.
Files in a conversation versus files in a project
A file attached to a message is available in that conversation.
A file uploaded to a project is available in every conversation inside the project, without re-attaching it. For reference material you will come back to, put it in a project.
Limits
There is a per-file size limit, and a limit on the number of images that can be in one conversation's history at a time. If you hit either, Dropstone tells you which. For a conversation with many screenshots, the oldest images are set aside so the conversation can continue; Dropstone will ask you to re-attach one if it needs it.
Privacy
Uploaded files are stored with your account so the conversation can keep using them. They are not part of Dropstone's memory: what it learns from a file can become a lesson, the file itself does not. See How Dropstone handles your data.
In an incognito chat, attached files are used for that conversation only.
Related articles
- Edit an attached Word or Excel fileAttach a Word document or an Excel workbook and ask for the change. Dropstone edits the file you attached, so its formatting, styles, charts, and images survive, and you get a new file back. The original is left untouched.
- Create a PDF, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint fileAsk for a report, a spreadsheet, or a deck and download it as a real file. PDF, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), CSV, PowerPoint (.pptx), PNG, or Markdown, one file or several, each with its own design.
- ArtifactsWhen you ask Dropstone for something you can see, a page, a chart, a document, a diagram, a small app, it builds an artifact beside the conversation that you can view, refine, and share.
- Projects and project filesA project groups conversations and files around one piece of work. Upload documents once and every conversation in the project has them. Here is how to create, organize, and use projects in Dropstone Chat.
- Incognito chatsAn incognito chat writes nothing to your memory: nothing you say or correct is kept, and no summary is made. What Dropstone already knows about you is still available to it, so the work gets the same assistant without leaving a trace.