All guides

Assistant

Ask questions about your library in a chat pane on Mac, and get answers that cite the captures they used.

Open
⌘J
Ask about a capture
A
On
Mac

Open it

The Assistant needs AI features on and a connected provider; see AI providers. If AI features are off, the pane says Assistant is off; click Open AI settings.

  1. Press ⌘J, click the sparkle button in the window header, or run Ask Assistant from the command bar. It opens in the right pane.

  2. Press ⌘J again, or click Hide Assistant, to close it.

The Assistant isn't available while the Inbox list is showing. Switch to another view first.

Ask about a capture

  1. Select one capture and press A, or right-click it and choose Ask Assistant.

  2. With a capture open, press ⌘J to attach it. With a capture open beside the list, click the sparkle button in its header, Ask about this capture.

  3. Click Summarize, Explain, Analyze or Find related above the composer, or type your own question.

A acts on the selected capture, not the one under the pointer, and takes one capture at a time. In the Inbox, A archives instead.

Chat

  1. In an empty chat, click a starter under Suggestions, or type in Ask anything… and press Return.

  2. To change the model, click the button at the left of the composer. Your pick becomes the default for new chats.

  3. Click a tile under Sources to open a capture the answer used.

  4. Hover a reply to Copy it or Save as note. On the last reply, Retry asks again.

  5. Click + for a new chat, or History to reopen or delete past chats.

Save as note adds the reply to your library as a new note. Chats are kept on this Mac.

What it reads and sends

To answer, the Assistant searches your library, reads captures in full, finds related ones and lists what you've saved. It never changes your library; the only thing it saves is a reply you choose to Save as note.

With each question it sends your provider the conversation so far, the text of attached captures, short summaries of related captures, what its searches and reads return, and attached images, only to models that can see them. See What AI sends.

Questions

Pressing A does nothing.

Select the capture first: A acts on the selection, not the card under the pointer. In the Inbox, A archives instead.

Is the Assistant on iPhone or iPad?

No. It's on Mac only.

Does it see my whole library?

Only what its searches, lists and reads return while answering, plus anything you attach.