#Documents — Receipts, Manuals & Files

Your paper trail, digitized and searchable. Never rummage through a drawer looking for a warranty again.

#What It Does

Documents in ambientChat are digital copies of the real-world paperwork that accumulates around your life — receipts, product manuals, warranties, certificates, contracts, and anything else worth keeping. When you upload a document, the AI reads it, extracts the important details, generates a summary, and tags it for easy searching later.

The magic is in the connections. A receipt doesn't just sit in a folder — it links to the inventory items it created. A warranty knows which product it belongs to. Your AI assistant can search across all your documents when you ask about purchases, coverage, or that thing you bought six months ago whose name you can't remember.

#Document Types

The system recognizes and handles several document types, each with tailored AI extraction:

Type What It Is What AI Extracts
Receipt Proof of purchase Store name, items, prices, date, payment method, tax, subtotal, total
Manual Product documentation Product name, key instructions, specifications
Warranty Coverage information Product, coverage period, terms, provider
Certificate Certifications, diplomas Issuer, date, subject, validity
Contract Agreements, terms of service Parties, dates, key terms, obligations
Scan General scanned documents Text content, summary
Help Guide Built-in guides (like this one) Title, content, tags
Note Your own written documents Content, summary

#How to Use It

#iOS App

Uploading a document:

  1. Open the Documents tab in My Things
  2. Tap the Upload button (plus icon)
  3. Choose your source:
    • Camera — take a photo of a receipt, document, or label
    • Photo Library — select an existing image
    • File Browser — pick a PDF or other file from your device
  4. The AI processes the document automatically — extracting text, generating a summary, and assigning tags
  5. Your document appears in the current folder, ready to view

Viewing a document:

  • Tap any document to open it
  • Images display with pinch-to-zoom
  • PDFs open in a built-in viewer
  • Markdown files render with full formatting
  • The document detail screen shows the AI summary, extracted data, tags, and any linked inventory items

Linked items:

When a receipt or product scan creates inventory items, those items are linked back to the source document. You'll see a Linked Items section on the document detail screen. Tap any linked item to jump straight to it in your inventory.

#Admin Web

  1. Go to the Documents section
  2. Click the Upload button
  3. Select one or more files — images, PDFs, or .md markdown files are all supported
  4. Documents are processed and appear in the current folder
  5. Use drag-and-drop to move documents between folders — just drag a document card onto a folder

#Via Chat

Your AI assistant can search and retrieve documents on your behalf. Try:

  • "Show me my receipts from Costco."
  • "Find my laptop warranty."
  • "What did I buy at Target last month?"
  • "Do I have a manual for my air fryer?"
  • "How much did I spend on groceries this week?"

You can also attach files directly in chat. Tap the attachment button, select a file, and choose which folder to save it to. The AI will process the document and include its contents in the conversation.

#Via Claude Desktop (MCP)

If you've connected ambientChat to Claude Desktop via MCP, you can access your documents with these tools:

  • ambientchat_get_documents — search documents by query or type
  • ambientchat_get_document_content — get full content, AI summary, and download URL for a specific document

Example: Ask Claude Desktop "Search my ambientChat documents for appliance warranties" and it will use these tools to find and display them.

#Tips & Tricks

  • Scan receipts sooner rather than later. Thermal paper receipts fade over time, and once they're too faint, even AI can't read them. Snap a photo while the ink is still fresh and you'll have a permanent, searchable record.
  • The AI summary is often enough. You don't always need to open the full document. The summary on the document card captures the key details — store, total, date — so you can find what you need at a glance.
  • Use folders to stay organized. A few well-named folders (Receipts, Warranties, Medical, Home) go a long way. See the Folders guide for more on organization.

#Options

Setting What It Does Default
Auto-tag AI automatically assigns tags to uploaded documents On
Default folder Where new documents are saved when no folder is selected My Documents

#Known Limitations

  • Maximum file size is 20 MB per upload. If you have a massive PDF, consider splitting it or uploading key pages.
  • Handwritten documents have lower AI accuracy. The AI does its best with handwriting, but typed or printed text is significantly more reliable. If the AI misreads something, you can edit the extracted text manually.
  • PDF text extraction depends on PDF quality. Scanned PDFs (essentially images) are processed through OCR, which works well but isn't perfect. Native-text PDFs extract cleanly.
  • Receipt extraction is optimized for US retail formats. Receipts from other countries or highly stylized formats may have lower extraction accuracy.

#Version History

Version Date What Changed
1 2026-03-01 Initial guide