InsiteChat document upload lets you train your AI chatbot on files from your existing content library — PDFs (with OCR for scanned documents), Word documents, PowerPoint decks, Excel sheets, CSVs, Markdown, and plain text. InsiteChat extracts the text and indexes it alongside any other sources you’ve added — website crawls, Google Drive, Notion, and Dropbox.
| Format | Extensions |
|---|
| PDF | .pdf |
| Word document | .doc, .docx |
| PowerPoint | .ppt, .pptx |
| Plain text | .txt |
| Markdown | .md |
| CSV | .csv |
| YouTube transcript | Paste a YouTube URL |
| Zendesk articles | Connect via integration |
Upload a document
Open your dashboard
Log in to InsiteChat and select the chatbot you want to train.
Go to sources
Click the Sources tab, then click Add source.
Choose file upload
Select File upload from the list of source types.
Select your file
Click Choose file and select the document from your computer.
Confirm the upload
Click Upload. InsiteChat processes the file and indexes its content. The source card shows a progress indicator and changes to Ready when indexing is complete.
Documents with clear, descriptive headings produce better chatbot answers. InsiteChat uses headings to understand document structure and organize relevant content.
Best practices for document quality
The quality of your chatbot’s answers depends heavily on the quality of the documents you upload. Follow these guidelines to get the best results:
- Use clear headings — Structure documents with descriptive H1, H2, and H3 headings to help InsiteChat organize content effectively.
- Avoid scanned images without OCR — InsiteChat extracts text from documents. Scanned PDFs containing image-based text cannot be indexed; use selectable text or run OCR first.
- Keep formatting clean — Complex tables and multi-column layouts reduce extraction accuracy. Simplify or convert to plain text/Markdown before uploading.
- One topic per document — Focused documents are easier for AI analysis. Split large multi-topic documents into separate files.
- Check for accuracy — Remove outdated information, correct errors, and delete obsolete sections before uploading.
File size limits
InsiteChat supports most standard document sizes. For unusually large files, consider splitting them into smaller sections to ensure reliable processing. Specific limits appear in the upload interface.
YouTube transcripts
To index a YouTube video, select YouTube as the source type and paste the video URL. InsiteChat retrieves the transcript and indexes the spoken content for videos with captions.
Zendesk articles
Connect your Zendesk account from the Sources tab to import help center articles directly. InsiteChat indexes article content immediately after import. 