---
title: Upload course materials
description: Which file types work, how uploading works, and how your assistant turns documents into answers.
sidebar:
  label: Upload materials
  icon: upload
---

This is where your assistant actually learns. Upload the documents you want it to answer from, and it reads every page so it can find the right passage when a student asks.

## What you can upload

**PDF**

Readings, articles, textbook chapters, problem sets.

**Word**

`.docx` documents — notes, handouts, syllabi.

**PowerPoint**

`.pptx` slide decks, including your speaker notes.

**Text & Markdown**

Plain `.txt` and `.md` notes.

**Spreadsheets & data**

`.csv` and `.json` files.

:::note[File size and format notes]

- Each file can be up to **100 MB**.
- Word and PowerPoint must be the newer `.docx` / `.pptx` formats. If you have an older `.doc` or `.ppt` file, open it and choose **Save As → .docx** (or **.pptx**) first.
- Scanned PDFs that are just images of text do not work. Please put them through the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) process first.
  :::

## How to upload

1. **Open your assistant**

    From the dashboard, click the assistant you want to add materials to.

2. **Add files**

    Go to the materials area and click **Upload**, then choose your files. You
    can select several at once.

3. **Wait for processing**

    After uploading, each file is read and indexed in the background. You'll see
    its status change to ready when it's done. Large files take a little longer.

:::tip[You can keep working]
Processing happens in the background, so you can upload a batch and come back later. You don't need to keep the page open.
:::

## What happens behind the scenes

You don't need to understand this to use it, but here's the gist:

1. **It reads the text**

    The assistant pulls the readable text out of your document — including slide
    boundaries and speaker notes for PowerPoint.

2. **It breaks it into pieces**

    Long documents are split into smaller passages so the assistant can pinpoint
    the exact relevant part later.

3. **It builds a searchable memory**

    Each passage is indexed so that, when a student asks a question, the
    assistant can instantly find the passages that matter and answer from them.

This is why answers can cite the specific file (and part of the file) they came from.

## Managing your materials

- **Remove a file** any time — the assistant immediately forgets it.
- **Add more** whenever your course evolves. New uploads are available as soon as they finish processing.
- The same file can be shared across multiple assistants if you teach related courses.

**[Next: Add website content](/instructors/add-website-content)**

Point your assistant at a course website instead of downloading pages.