File Analysis: Research With Your Own Documents

Your Documents as a Research Source

Most research questions have two sides: what the world says, and what your specific documents say. Perplexity handles both. With file analysis, you can upload your own documents — PDFs, spreadsheets, Word files, images — and ask questions about them the same way you ask questions about the web.

The result is a tool that sits between a document reader and a research assistant. Instead of searching a 60-page PDF manually, you ask a question and get a cited answer drawn from the document.

Supported File Types

• PDFs — research papers, reports, contracts, manuals
• Word documents (.docx)
• Spreadsheets (.csv, .xlsx) — Perplexity can answer questions about the data, identify patterns, and summarise columns
• Images — screenshots, charts, diagrams (Perplexity uses vision to analyse them)

How to Upload a File

In the search bar, look for the attachment icon (paperclip). Click it and select your file, or drag and drop directly into the search area. Once uploaded, type your question and submit. Perplexity reads the document and answers from its content.

You can upload multiple files in a single thread, allowing you to ask questions that span across documents — useful for comparing two contracts, combining a spreadsheet with a PDF report, or asking questions across a set of research papers.

Combining File Analysis With Web Search

The most powerful use of file analysis is combining it with live web search in the same query. Upload a financial report and ask: "What does this report say about operating margins, and how does that compare to industry benchmarks?" Perplexity answers the first part from the document and the second part from the web, citing both.

This combination makes Perplexity useful for tasks like:

• Analysing a company's annual report against current market conditions
• Checking whether a contract's terms align with standard industry practice
• Asking questions about a research paper in the context of more recent work
• Summarising meeting notes and identifying action items

Practical Limits

File analysis works well for documents up to a few dozen pages. Very long documents (hundreds of pages) may exceed context limits, causing Perplexity to analyse only part of the document. For extremely long PDFs, consider breaking them into sections and analysing each separately.

File upload is available on free and Pro tiers, with higher limits and multi-file support on Pro.