Work with Files and Canvas

Files bring source material into a task. Canvas is the built-in editor where Work produces, previews, and refines outputs.

Together, they let you go from a raw upload (CSV, PDF, screenshot, document) to a polished, editable deliverable without leaving the chat interface.

Upload documents, images, and spreadsheets directly into a chat. Work reads the content and uses it as context, so you can ask questions, extract information, and get answers based on your data.

Two ways to get files into a chat:

• Drag and drop: drag one or more files into the chat window.
• + button: click the + icon in the chat toolbar then select Upload Files and select files from your device.

You can upload multiple files at once (or even a folder). Work keeps them in context for the full chat, so you can ask follow-up questions without re-uploading.

Upload a PDF, Word file, or presentation and ask Work to focus on what matters to you. Answers come directly from the uploaded content, not from general knowledge.

Typical prompts:

• "Summarize this annual report with a focus on financial risks."
• "Extract all dates, parties, and obligations from this contract."
• "List the key security findings in this audit report."
• "Compare slide 3 and slide 7 and list the differences."

Follow up to go deeper. Work remembers uploaded files throughout the chat, so you can refine, drill into specifics, or ask for translations without re-uploading.

Work can interpret photos, diagrams, screenshots, and scanned pages. Upload an image with the + button and ask your question.

• Text extraction: "Extract all the text from this scanned invoice." Works with handwritten notes, printed forms, and photographed whiteboards.
• Diagram interpretation: "Describe the architecture shown in this diagram."
• Screenshot analysis: "What error is shown in this screenshot?"

For tabular files like CSV or Excel, Work can answer questions, summarize, and extract data directly from the upload.

Typical prompts:

• "Show me all sales from the North region."
• "What's the average deal size by quarter?"
• "List the top 10 customers by revenue."

Canvas is the built-in editor where Work produces and refines text, data, code, and presentations. You go from a raw upload to a polished deliverable without leaving the chat.

1. Click the + icon or type / in the chat window.
2. Select Tools then enable Canvas.

Once activated, Canvas opens automatically when Work determines it would be useful. You can also trigger it manually by typing /canvas in the message box or asking Work to "open in Canvas" in your prompt.

Typical prompts that open Canvas:

• "Create a presentation outline for our Q3 results."
• "Analyze the attached CSV and show it as a table."
• "Write a Python script to parse JSON logs."

• Quarterly reports: upload financial data, generate tables and summaries, export as slides.
• Project briefs: draft structured documents with inline AI editing.
• Contract review: extract clauses, parties, dates, and obligations from PDF uploads.
• Data exploration: query CSVs and spreadsheets with direct editing.
• Image and screenshot analysis: extract text, interpret diagrams, debug error screens.
• Presentations: build and preview Marp slide decks without leaving Work.
• Code prototyping: write and iterate on Python scripts or React components.
• Email and content drafts: compose, refine, and translate written content with inline prompts.

Files and Canvas shine when chained together. Here's a typical sequence for turning a raw upload into a shareable deliverable.

Import a CSV or spreadsheet using the + button and select Upload Files, then ask:

Analyze the attached CSV and open it in Canvas.

Analyze the attached CSV and open it in Canvas.

Canvas displays your data as an editable table. Click into cells to fix headers, rename columns, or remove empty rows.

Once your data looks right, ask Canvas to produce a text summary:

Transform this table into a concise executive summary.

Transform this table into a concise executive summary.

Canvas drafts a write-up based on your data. You can edit the result directly or use inline prompts to refine specific sections.

Turn your analysis into presentation-ready slides:

Create slide-ready bullet points with the key insights and recommendations.

Create slide-ready bullet points with the key insights and recommendations.

Canvas generates slides using Marp syntax, a text-based format for presentations. Click the eye icon to preview the rendered deck.

When the slides look good, use the export button to save the deck as a PowerPoint file for final adjustments in your preferred tool.

• Be specific. Tell Work what to focus on: "Summarize this contract for a compliance officer" gives better results than "Summarize this file."
• Use action verbs. Summarize, extract, compare, explain, highlight, list, convert.
• Reference files explicitly. When you have several uploads, mention the filename: "In AnnualReport_2024.pdf, page 14, extract the revenue breakdown."
• Iterate. Follow up with requests to refine, translate, or reformat the output.
• Verify before sharing. Treat generated content as a draft. Check facts, numbers, and citations against the source.