Assistant

Ask August Assistant

Ask August is the quick-access entry point for Assistant queries. Type a question directly into the input field or select text in chat to ask follow-up questions without opening a new conversation. It's part of the Assistant workspace, not a separate feature.

How to Access Ask August

Ask August is built directly into the Assistant interface:

Type Directly in the Input Field

  1. Open Assistant from the left navigation.

  2. The input field shows the placeholder "Ask August anything. Use @ to add context, and / to use skills."

  3. Type your question and press Enter.

Composer expansion: As your input grows longer, the composer expands smoothly without pushing earlier messages out of view. The conversation stays anchored where you were reading.

Select Text and Ask Follow-Up Questions

When you're reading a response in Assistant:

  1. Select any text within the chat.

  2. A floating "Ask August" button appears over your selection.

  3. Click the button to insert the selected text into the input field.

  4. Add your follow-up question and press Enter.

This selection workflow is useful when you want to drill into a specific claim or citation without retyping context.

Ask August vs. Full Assistant Workflows

Ask August is the entry point for all Assistant queries. Whether you're asking a quick question or building a sustained workflow, you start the same way. The difference lies in how you continue:

Ask August (Quick Query)

Full Assistant Workflow

Single question, single answer

Iterative refinement across multiple turns

Minimal context attachment

Multiple documents, folders, or playbooks attached

Fast orientation on a document or issue

Sustained drafting, analysis, or review work

One-off research or extraction

Building toward structured outputs like playbooks or tabular reviews

Both use the same underlying Assistant capabilities and the same modes. Questions start in Auto unless you pick another mode; see Choosing the Right Mode.

Working with Context

Ask August works best when you attach relevant materials:

  • Documents: Click Add to upload files, or type @ followed by the document name to reference materials already in your project.

  • Folders: Attach entire folders when you need analysis across document sets.

  • Web: In Auto, August searches the web when your question needs it. In Manual, turn on Web Research in the Research menu.

For detailed guidance on attaching context, see the Assistant Overview.

Dropbox folders and zip archives: When you pick a Dropbox folder or zip archive in chat, August imports it into a folder and extracts it there instead of attaching it. Add the extracted files to your query once they appear. See Dropbox Integration for details.

Verifying Answers

Every Ask August response includes inline citations. Click any citation to jump to the source material. This lets you confirm that the answer matches the underlying document before you rely on it.

For more on how August surfaces sources, see How August Handles Sources and Citations.

Finding Past Queries

Every Ask August conversation is saved to chat history. Use chat history to search across past queries by keyword, reopen conversations, and continue where you left off.

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