Uploading files during a conversation

When you upload one or more documents directly into watsonx Orchestrate chat thread, the agent retrieves information or answers questions based on the uploaded content. By grounding the agent's responses in actual file content, the system improves factual accuracy.

This feature is currently available only through the IBM® watsonx Orchestrate® ADK.

Before you begin

Uploading documents in the watsonx Orchestrate chat is not enabled by default. You can enable this feature by using ADK. For more details, see Chat with documents using ADK.

Know about the file size restrictions and supported file types before you upload the documents:

File size restrictions

  • Each file must have a unique and meaningful name.
  • The maximum file size is 8 MB.
  • The maximum files in one batch are 20.
  • The maximum file size of a batch is 8 MB.

Supported file types

You can upload only the files with the formats: .txt, .pdf, .csv, .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, and .html.

Uploading the files

You can upload a single file or multiple files in a batch.

  1. Click the File Upload icon File Upload icon from the watsonx Orchestrate chat.
  2. Drag the files in the chat or upload the files by doing a Search and upload from your system. Selected files appear immediately in the chat prompt bar.
  3. Click Send Send icon to upload your files to the server.

See the successfully uploaded file name in the chat prompt. Hover over the file chip to see the complete file name.

Note: If a tool requires a document, it must be uploaded through the tools interface. Documents that are uploaded through watsonx Orchestrate chat are used only for interactive chat purposes and not for document processing or tool-related uploads.

Validating the files before sending

Each file is validated individually in the chat prompt bar before it is uploaded to the server.

You can see the error messages in the chat prompt bar when the requirements from Before you begin are not met.

For single file

  1. Rectify the errors or remove the affected file for smooth uploading.
  2. Click Send Send icon to upload your validated files in the server.

For multiple files

  1. The chat prompt bar queues the successfully validated files.
  2. For the files that fail validation:
    • You can see a default error message in the chat prompt bar stating the overall problem.
    • Click the error icon in the file chip to know the specific reason.
    • Rectify the errors or remove the affected files for smooth uploading.
  3. Click Send Send icon to upload your validated files in the server.

Validating the files after sending

On successful uploading of the documents, the agent gives responses to your queries based on the uploaded documents.

You can see error messages in the chat stream when the system:

  • Failed to load the document.
  • Failed to process the document.

Removing the files

Click the File remove icon File remove icon to remove the uploaded file before sending.

You can’t remove the uploaded file after it is sent to the server.

Providing security for uploaded documents

Your uploaded document is available only in the specific chat or thread. The document is not visible to any other thread within the agent. Hence, the agent doesn't get responses from those documents from other chat threads.

Data retention policy

  • You can retain the chat history in the tenant for a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of 365 days.
  • Your uploaded documents are deleted after four hours from the last upload in a thread.