Conversations
Talk to assistants in Conversations: pick one, attach a file, approve the actions it wants to run, and find past conversations with search and pins.
Start a conversation#
Click Conversations in the console's left rail. With no conversation open, the right side of the page is a message box: type, send, and a new conversation starts.
- Check which assistant gets it Under the box it says Sends to … Change assistant. Click Change assistant, or type
@and an assistant's name in the message. - Type the message Up to 4,000 characters. Type
/and a skill's name to put that skill's text into your message; you see what was added before sending. - Click Send The conversation appears in the list on the left. Its name is generated for you, and you can change it later.
A conversation holds at most 100 messages. When it is full you see This conversation is full. Start a new one to keep going.
Choose an assistant#
You can talk to two kinds of assistants: shared ones published to the workspace, and your own private ones. A draft has to be published first.
- While the workspace's General assistant switch is on, a new message goes to the general assistant unless you pick another. The switch is in AI settings and is managed by owners and admins.
- With it off, the only assistant is chosen for you; with several, the console asks you to Choose an assistant. An assistant missing from that list can still be found by typing
@in the message. - If there is nothing to talk to yet, the page offers Go to assistants.
A conversation stays with one assistant. To switch, start a new conversation.
Each message can also use its own Model and Thinking effort. Without a choice it Uses the model set on the assistant. A model your plan doesn't include is refused.
To create and publish assistants, see Assistants.
Attach a file#
Click Attach a file in the message box to have the assistant read a document.
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| File type | Text (.txt), Markdown (.md), PDF |
| Size | Text or Markdown up to 2 MiB, PDF up to 5 MiB |
| Count | One file per message |
A PDF needs selectable text; a scanned image PDF can't be read. If a file is longer than the model can take in, shorten it or choose another model.
Files belong to the workspace and stay after the person who uploaded them leaves. Open Conversation details from the menu at the top right of a conversation to export a file under File export and retention. Exports are recorded in the audit trail.
Approve what the assistant wants to do#
Some tool actions need a person's go-ahead first. The conversation then shows a card, The assistant wants to run an action, listing what it will send.
| Label on the card | Who can approve |
|---|---|
| Read-only | You |
| Writes to an external system | A workspace owner or admin |
| Undeclared risk — treated as destructive | A workspace owner or admin |
Approve and run runs the action and the assistant carries on with its reply. Decline has it answer without the action. Declining needs no admin rights.
On a card that needs an owner or admin, a member sees only Decline, with the note Only a workspace owner or admin can approve this action. Ask one of them to approve it here, or decline it. The card waits until an owner or admin opens the conversation and approves it, or you decline. Owners and admins see Approve and run on the same card, without the note. Once approved, the action still runs as you, with your account.
Other things you may see:
- Search the web and Read a web page: the query or address goes to the public web only after you approve.
- Ran automatically (this workspace lets this tool run without approval) means the workspace lets this tool run without anyone approving it.
- Not run — a rule in this workspace does not allow it. A workspace rule stopped the action. Read the rule shows which one.
- This assistant can reach a service you have not connected: the assistant's tools act with your own account. For a service you connect with a token, click Connect my account and paste it; the conversation then continues with the tools available. For a service that signs you in on its own page, click Connect in Integrations, connect there, then come back and send your message again. See Integrations.
For tools and accounts, see Integrations.
The conversation list#
Above the list, switch between three views:
| View | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Recent | Conversations you started, newest first, with your pins in a Pinned section on top |
| Put away | Conversations you put away |
| Automatic | Conversations your automations produced, with the schedule that ran and how it ended |
The list loads in pages; Show older conversations loads more.
Automations are work an assistant runs on a clock. See Automations.
New-result marks#
An automation leaves its result in a new conversation, often while you are away from the console.
- A dot next to a conversation means New since you last opened it.
- The Automatic button and the Conversations entry in the left rail show how many results you haven't opened, up to "99+".
- Opening the conversation counts as seeing it, and the mark goes away.
Marks are about your own conversations only. An admin opening your conversation doesn't clear your mark.
Search conversations#
The search box above the list finds conversations by what was said in them. Press Enter or the magnifier.
- A conversation matches only when it contains every word you typed.
- Each result shows the passage that matched.
- Put-away conversations are searched too.
- Search covers your 200 most recent conversations.
Organize a conversation#
Open a conversation and use the menu at the top right:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Rename | Up to 80 characters. Use the original name restores the generated one. |
| Pin / Unpin | Up to 20 pinned conversations. A put-away conversation can't be pinned. |
| Put away / Bring back | Moves it to Put away and removes its pin. Bringing it back doesn't restore the pin. |
| Conversation details | Shows the assistant, the conversation's Tasks checklist, and File export and retention. |
Only the person who started a conversation can do these. The console has no way to delete a conversation; put away the ones you don't want to see.
Tasks in Conversation details is a checklist for that one conversation. Add an item with Add, then mark it Start, Done or Skip. It is separate from the Tasks page in the left rail; for that, see Tasks.
After a reply, Save as a test question under the message turns that exchange into a test question for the assistant, checked before every future publish.
Who can see a conversation#
Conversations can't be shared.
- Only you see the conversations you started, in the list and in search.
- Workspace owners and admins can read any member's conversation. Each such read and search is recorded in the audit trail.
- A conversation that started in Slack is read-only here; continue it in Slack. You can still approve its pending actions here.