Chat & AI
Generating a document, spreadsheet or slide deck in chat
Ask for something document-shaped and it opens in the editor panel, where you refine it by chatting, fix single slides, swap images and keep versions.
Step 1
Ask for it
Say "write a report on our Q3 results", "make a spreadsheet of these figures" or "put together a ten slide deck on this". The AI picks the format, Word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, CSV or Markdown, or you can name one. Documents use your organisation's brand kit.
Press Enter to send, Shift+Enter for new line
Step 2
Watch the progress
A card under the reply shows the stage and a step counter that fills as it goes. View progress above it expands the steps done so far.
Writing slides
Step 2 of 4Step 3
The document card
When it finishes, a card with the file name and format sits under the reply, and the file opens in the editor panel on the right. Press the card any time to open that document again.
Q3 Results.pptx
Presentation · PPTX
Step 4
The editor panel
The panel shows the real file: slides, pages, or a grid with sheet tabs. Drag its left edge to resize it. It is a preview, not a text editor: to change the content, say what to change in the chat and the document is rewritten in place. Each change is a version; the badge in the header names the format and version.
Step 5
Fix a single slide
On a slide deck each slide has Regenerate, Replace image and Delete in the strip under it, and Change theme sits at the top. Each one sends a precise instruction straight away, with no confirmation, so the rest of the deck stays as it was.
Step 6
Images in the document
Replace image on a slide, or Insert image in the header of a saved Word or PDF file, opens a small menu asking where the picture should come from: an image already in this chat, a file from your computer, your Documents library, or a web search where you say what the photo should show.
Step 7
Save or download
Save to Docs in the footer puts it in your library and the card under the reply gains a green tick and reads Saved. Download gives you the file without saving it anywhere in Secretary; the card then reads Not saved to Documents with an amber arrow. When a reply made several files, a Download all button fetches them in turn.
Q3 Results.pptx
Saved · Presentation · PPTX
Q3 Figures.xlsx
Not saved to Documents · XLSX
Step 8
Several documents, and starting over
A chat can hold more than one document; the editor shows them as tabs, up to the last five, and each card reopens its own. New doc in the footer starts fresh; if the current document is unsaved it first asks whether to save it, discard it, or cancel. Deleting a document from Documents breaks its card until you restore it from the Documents trash.
Try it in Secretary, or create an account to get started.
Related guides
Starting a new chat
The start screen, starter prompts, temporary chats, and what New chat does once you are already in a conversation.
Attaching files to a chat message
Add a file from your computer so the AI can read it: press the paperclip, drag it in, or paste it.
Scoping a chat to specific documents or folders
Point the AI at exactly the files in your library it should answer from, and choose how deeply it reads them.