Attach files to a chat
Open the attach menu
Click Attach images and documents, the + button in the composer.
Choose a file
Pick Upload document or Attach image. You can also drop files onto the composer.
Documents
Chat accepts PDF, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), CSV and plain text files up to 25 MB each. A chat can hold up to 16 attached documents.
Each upload shows a chip that reads Processing…, then Ready · citable. If processing fails, the chip shows the reason. You can send before a document is ready; it becomes searchable once it is.
A document stays attached to each message you send until you remove its chip with ✕ or open another conversation. Every upload also lands in the Library, where @ can attach it again.
Images
Chat accepts PNG and JPEG images up to 10 MB, at most four per message. An image belongs to the message you send it with and clears afterwards.
Reading an image needs a model with vision. With a model that lacks it, the composer will not send until you change model or remove the image.
The agent composer takes the same files and clears every attachment when the message is sent. When you message one agent directly, you can send only once each document is ready.
How Chat reads a document
Chat searches a document's passages and cites the ones it uses. A citation names the file and the page or section, or a spreadsheet's sheet and cell range. Click it to see the quote; Open at, such as Open at p.3, opens the document with the passage highlighted.
A PDF with under 100 characters of selectable text a page is treated as a scan and read with a vision model, which uses credits. Scans of up to 100 pages work; a longer one fails and asks you to split the file. A scan also fails when more than half of its pages cannot be read.
With a document attached
The Library
Open Library in the sidebar. Documents lists this project's documents plus workspace-wide ones, and Artifacts lists what your agents made.
Click Upload documents, or drop files onto the page. Each row's actions menu offers Download and, for the uploader or a workspace owner or admin, Delete.
Switch AI Processing off to stop Chat citing a file without deleting it. Only the uploader or a workspace owner or admin can change it.
Upload a file with the same name to add a new version.
To delete a file, choose Delete, then Delete document: it moves to Trash for 30 days, and quotes in existing answers keep rendering.
On a plan without the Library, the page shows an upgrade card instead of the list, and Chat searches only the documents attached to the message you send.
The Google Drive plugin can keep one Drive folder in sync with the Library. See Google Drive.
Mention a document
Open the picker
Type
@in the composer, or click Mention a document or workflow. A Documents list shows the Library documents that are ready.Choose a document
Keep typing to filter, then pick a row. It is attached as a context chip.
Search the web
Where web search is available, Chat searches the public web when a question calls for it, such as recent news. There is no switch: Chat decides when to search, and you can ask it to. Chat prefers platform data when both can answer, and says so when they disagree.
A search takes a query only; Chat cannot open a specific URL.
Narrow a search in plain words. Ask for particular sites, such as sec.gov, or to leave some out. Ask for recent results and Chat limits them to the past day, week, month, quarter or year.
A reply that searched shows a Searched the web line. Expand it to see each search, such as Searched for “…”, and how many sources it returned. Web claims are cited by domain: they are third-party pages, not verified platform data.
When a search returns nothing, Chat says so rather than answering from memory. When the search service cannot be reached, Chat says the web is unavailable.
Your plan includes a fixed number of web searches a day, shared by everyone in the workspace. Each search also uses credits. When the day's searches are used up, Chat tells you and names the reset time, midnight UTC. Everything else keeps working.
Searching the web
Chat from your phone
You can message Orbital from Telegram. It needs a personal Telegram notification channel your account already has; you cannot add a notification channel in Orbital.
Set it up
Open your notification settings
Click your avatar and choose Notifications under Account. Under Where we can reach you, find your Telegram channel. It must be your own and enabled: one with a shared or disabled badge cannot chat.
Switch on Chat
If the switch is disabled, hover it to read why.
Send a message
Message the channel's bot in a private chat, not a group; a message from any other chat is ignored without a reply. The answer comes back in the same chat when the turn finishes, which can take up to 3 minutes.
What works from a phone
Phone turns are read-only: ask about your dashboards, workflows, agents, watchlists, notes, market data or why an alert fired, but Chat cannot create, change or delete anything. Documents are searchable from a phone only on a plan that includes the Library.
Each channel keeps one private thread in Chat, titled with the transport and the channel's name, such as Telegram · Telegram, so you can carry on from the web. The thread starts on the workspace's default model; to change it, send a message on that thread in the app with another model selected.
Each phone turn counts as a request against your plan's daily request limit. Orbital answers at most six of your messages a minute and 60 an hour. Messages past that get no reply.
A long answer arrives as up to six numbered messages, then is cut short with a note that the full answer is in Orbital. If a reply says the thread is busy with another message, wait a moment and send it again.