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Training with Files

Upload documents to your knowledge base so your chatbot can reference them when answering questions. This is ideal for product manuals, guides, reports, and any content you already have in document form.

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Supported File Types

  • PDF files (.pdf) — The most commonly used format
  • Documents — Other supported document formats

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How to Upload Files

1

Go to your Knowledge Base

Open your agent’s dashboard and click the Knowledge Base tab.
2

Select the Files tab

Click on Files to see your uploaded documents and the upload area.
3

Upload your file

Click the upload button or drag and drop your file into the upload area. You can upload multiple files at once.
4

Wait for processing

Chatref will process your file and extract the content. You’ll see the training status change from Pending to Processing to Completed.

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What Happens During Processing

When you upload a file, Chatref:
  1. Reads the content from your document
  2. Breaks it into meaningful sections
  3. Processes the text so your chatbot can search through it efficiently
  4. Makes the content available for your chatbot to reference
This process usually takes a few moments, but larger files may take longer.

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Managing Your Files

From the Files tab, you can:
  • View all uploaded files — See a list of all documents with their name, size, and format
  • Check training status — See whether each file is pending, processing, completed, or failed
  • Delete files — Remove files you no longer need by clicking the delete button

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Tips for Better File Training

  • Use well-formatted PDFs — Documents with clear headings, paragraphs, and structure produce better results
  • Avoid scanned images — PDFs that are just scanned images of text may not process correctly. Use text-based PDFs when possible
  • Break up very large files — If you have a very long document, consider splitting it into smaller, topic-focused files for better accuracy
  • Name files descriptively — Use clear file names so you can easily identify them later

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Troubleshooting

If a file shows a Failed training status:
  • Check that the file is not corrupted
  • Make sure it’s a supported format
  • Try re-uploading the file
  • If the problem persists, try converting the file to a different format (e.g., save as a new PDF)
Learn more about training statuses on the Training Status page.