Add files to a project
Project files give every chat in a project access to the same source material. They are useful for a client brief, a research library, a set of reports, or any collection you expect to revisit across conversations.
Upload files
Writers and owners can add and remove project files. Readers can view the files and use them in project chats. Your organization may turn project files or uploads off.
- Expand the project in the chat sidebar and select Docs & Data.
- Select Upload and choose one or more files. You can also drag files onto the page on a computer.
- Keep the page open while the Uploading area shows each file as Waiting…, a percentage, Complete, or Failed.
- After upload, Bearly analyzes supported content so it can be found and used in project chats. A spinner beside a file means analysis is still running.
If the project is empty, Upload Your First File opens the same file picker. You can cancel an upload in progress or dismiss a failed upload from its row.
What works best
Document search is best for PDFs, Word documents, presentations, Markdown, plain text, and similar text-rich files. CSV and spreadsheet content can be searched as extracted text, but Bearly does not preserve it as an interactive table during document search.
Images, audio, video, and other files can still live in the project and may have their own preview or analysis tools, but they are not searched as ordinary document text. Bearly keeps the original file even when it cannot fully preview or analyze its contents.
Find and inspect a file
Use Search files… to filter by filename. Select Grid view or List view to change the layout.
Select a file to open File Details. Depending on the file and completed analysis, this panel can show:
- its name, size, type, and date added;
- a description, topics, people, date, or amount of extracted text;
- the status of each analysis step; and
- directory-sync information for files added from a desktop folder.
A warning icon means analysis failed or is incomplete. Open File Details to read the user-facing error. If Rerun Analysis appears, select it to try again. Get help opens a support request with the relevant diagnostic details.
Use project files in a chat
Start or open a chat inside the project and ask a specific question, naming a file when that helps. For example:
Compare the renewal terms in the 2025 and 2026 agreements, and cite the relevant passages.
Project files are available to the chat without attaching them again. To make every response consult the collection, expand the project, select Settings, enable Project Chat Settings, and turn on Always Search Documents. Leave it off when most questions do not depend on the files.
Files that you explicitly ask Bearly to save to the project also appear in Docs & Data.
Delete files
Deleting a project file is permanent.
- For one file, open File Details, select Delete File, then confirm Delete.
- For several files, select Enter Select Mode, choose the files or Select All, then select Delete (number) and confirm Delete.
If the delete controls do not appear, you have read-only access or your organization’s policy prevents changes to project files.
Sync a desktop folder
The Bearly desktop app can keep a local directory in sync with a project. Open the project’s Settings page and find Local Directory Sync, then select Add Directory.
Choose Browse, review Auto-remove, Max file size, and the optional File types filter, then select Create Sync. Bearly shows the source as Pending, Syncing, Synced, or Error and identifies which device owns it.
Auto-remove removes the project copy when the source file disappears from the directory. Deleting the sync itself leaves files that were already added in the project. Directory sync requires the desktop app, writer access, and permission to add project files.
Related: Set project-wide chat defaults