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Mainbranch

AI Assistant

The AI Assistant is the central feature of Mainbranch. It provides an intelligent interface for searching, analyzing, and working with your organization’s knowledge base.

Overview

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The AI Assistant is more than a search engine. It understands natural language, searches across all your connected data sources, and provides synthesized answers with citations. You can use it to:

  • Ask questions and get informed answers
  • Search for specific documents
  • Summarize lengthy content
  • Draft documents and emails
  • Generate charts and visualizations
  • Get help with everyday tasks

Using the AI Assistant

Section titled “Using the AI Assistant”

Asking Questions

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Type your question in the chat input at the bottom of the Dashboard. Write naturally, as if you were asking a colleague:

"What is our vacation policy?"
"Who handles IT support requests?"
"When was the last budget meeting?"

The AI Assistant will search your connected data sources, analyze the relevant content, and provide an answer with source citations.

Viewing Responses

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AI responses include several components:

  • Answer text — The main response to your question
  • Source citations — Links to documents that informed the answer
  • Follow-up suggestions — Related questions you might want to ask

Exploring Sources

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Click on any source citation to view the original document. This allows you to:

  • Verify the information
  • Read additional context
  • Access the full document

Capabilities

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Section titled “Knowledge Base Search”

The AI Assistant searches across all connected data sources:

  • Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive documents
  • Emails from Gmail and Outlook
  • Calendar events and meeting notes
  • The Vault document repository
  • Support tickets from connected systems

Document Summarization

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Ask the AI to summarize lengthy documents:

"Summarize the Q4 financial report"
"Give me the key points from this meeting transcript"
"What are the main findings in the attached document?"

Document Creation

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The AI can help create new documents:

"Write a memo about the upcoming policy change"
"Draft a summary of the project status"
"Create an outline for the annual report"

When you request a document, the AI creates it in a side panel where you can review, edit, and export it.

Section titled “Web Search”

When internal data is insufficient, the AI can search the web for additional information. This is useful for:

  • Finding external references
  • Researching topics not covered in your internal documents
  • Getting current information about events or regulations

Chart Generation

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Ask the AI to visualize data:

"Create a chart showing monthly expenses"
"Visualize the budget allocation by department"

The AI will generate appropriate charts based on your data.

Attaching Files

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You can attach files directly to your queries for the AI to analyze:

  1. Click the Attachment Icon

    In the chat input, click the paperclip icon.

  2. Select Files

    Choose files from your computer. Supported formats include:

    • PDFs
    • Word documents (.doc, .docx)
    • Spreadsheets (.xls, .xlsx, .csv)
    • Images
    • Audio and video files

  3. Ask Your Question

    Type your question about the attached files:

    "Summarize this document"
    "What are the totals in this spreadsheet?"
    "Transcribe this audio file"

Conversation Context

Section titled “Conversation Context”

The AI Assistant maintains context throughout your conversation. This means:

  • You can ask follow-up questions without repeating context
  • The AI remembers what documents you have discussed
  • You can refine results by providing additional information

Example Conversation

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You: "Find the IT security policy"
AI: [Provides the policy document]


You: "When was it last updated?"
AI: [Provides the update date from the document]


You: "Summarize the password requirements"
AI: [Summarizes the relevant section]

Starting Fresh

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If you want to start a new conversation without previous context, click the new chat button in the sidebar.

Chat History

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Your conversations are automatically saved. You can:

  • Access previous chats from the sidebar
  • Search through chat history using ⌘K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows)
  • Continue conversations where you left off

Best Practices

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Be Specific

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Include relevant details in your questions:

  • Less effective: “Find the report”
  • More effective: “Find the Q3 2024 budget report from the Finance department”

Use Natural Language

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Write as if you were asking a colleague. The AI understands conversational language better than keyword searches.

Ask Follow-Up Questions

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Do not hesitate to ask for clarification or more detail:

"Tell me more about that"
"What else does the document say about this topic?"
"Can you explain that in simpler terms?"

Verify Important Information

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For critical decisions, always verify information by checking the source documents. The AI provides citations for this purpose.

Limitations

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Be aware of these limitations:

  • Access-based results: You only see results from content you have permission to access
  • Not real-time: Recently created or modified documents may take a short time to be indexed
  • Knowledge cutoff: The AI’s general knowledge has a training cutoff date for information not in your documents

Troubleshooting

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Not Getting Expected Results?

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  • Try rephrasing your question
  • Add more specific details
  • Check if the data source is connected
  • Verify you have access to the relevant documents

AI Not Finding Recent Documents?

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New documents may take a few minutes to be indexed. Try again shortly, or contact your administrator if the issue persists.

Next Steps

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