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Upload documents

To add a document, select New document in the action bar. The window that opens offers three ways to create one: Upload document, Create from template (when templates are enabled for your team), and Create text document.

Upload document files

  1. Select New document in the action bar.
  2. On the Upload document tab, select Select files and pick one or more files of a supported type. Until you do, the window reads "No files selected." and Upload stays unavailable. Each file you pick appears with its title, filled in from the filename; change it here if you want a different one. To add more before uploading, select Select additional files. Each new selection is added to the existing list.
  3. Optionally choose a collection in Add to collection. Matters carry a Matter tag — uploading into one starts contextualisation automatically. If the collection you want does not exist yet, select + Create new collection, give it a name and an optional description (tick This collection is a matter to make it one), and confirm — the documents you are uploading are added to it.
  4. Select Upload.

The window closes as soon as you select Upload, leaving you free to carry on working. A compact status in the action bar reads Uploading 1 file… or Uploading N files… while your browser transfers them. Select it to open Upload details, where each file moves from pending, to queued, to uploading, to uploaded. Leaving the page before the transfer finishes would interrupt it, so your browser asks first.

Every document appears in the table straight away with a processing indicator. Uploaded means the file has reached Tiro Pro; the document may still be processing before it is ready to use. When every file has uploaded, the action-bar status clears and a message confirms that processing continues. If a file fails, a red status and a View details message remain so that you can see why; the other files carry on.

Each document joins the collection you chose as soon as its own file finishes uploading, so a document that has uploaded is already in place even if a later file fails or the upload is interrupted.

Uploads run one at a time. While one is running you can open New document again and pick the files for the next, but Upload stays unavailable until the first finishes; View details in the notice at the top of the window opens the current upload's details. Nothing you change in the window affects the upload already running.

Advanced options

When Advanced mode is turned on in Settings, the upload window offers a Show advanced tick box. Checking it reveals:

  • Description and Role for each file, beside its title.
  • Tags, when tags are turned on (see Turn tags on). Type a tag and press Enter for each one. Each appears as a removable pill, and every document in the upload carries those tags from the start. A tag your team has not used before is added to the team's tags.
  • Initial processing. The default processing works out the clause structure of a Word document as well as extracting its text. A plainer option skips that step. Choosing the plainer option for a file that is not a Word document makes no difference, because the clause step is skipped for those files either way.
  • Related documents. Create relations between the new document and any number of existing documents.

Supported file types

You can upload these file types:

  • Word documents (.docx)
  • Older Word documents (.doc) — converted on a best-efforts basis, see below
  • Word templates (.dotx, and the older .dot) — saved as Word documents, see below
  • PDF files (.pdf) — read only: searchable and usable in discussions, extractions, and flying minutes, but not reviewable or editable, see below
  • Excel workbooks (.xlsx)
  • Older Excel workbooks (.xls) — converted on a best-efforts basis, see below
  • CSV files (.csv)
  • PowerPoint presentations (.pptx)
  • HTML files (.html, .htm)
  • Plain text files (.txt)
  • Markdown files (.md, .markdown)

Every type has its text extracted and indexed, so the document can be searched and used across the app. Word documents are also broken down into their clause structure — see About documents. HTML pages saved from a website have their menus, sidebars, and footers removed where that can be done without losing content; HTML exported from Word or Google Docs is kept whole.

A file can be up to 50 MB. A larger one is left out when you select it, with a message saying so; any other files in the same selection still upload.

The file picker offers only these types. If a file of another type is selected anyway, it is left out: a message tells you the file "is not a supported file type" and lists the accepted extensions. Any supported files in the same selection still upload.

The contents of each file are checked against its extension as well. A file that has simply been renamed rather than converted is recognised and offered under its real type: an older Word document renamed to end in .docx, for example, stays in the list with a marker beside its name and is uploaded as a .doc, with the older-format notice below applying; a PDF renamed .docx is uploaded as a PDF. Select the marker to read what was found. On Upload new version, the same information appears as a prompt with an Upload as button. A file whose contents cannot be placed, or are a type Tiro Pro does not read, is left out with a message saying what was found — an older PowerPoint file, say, or a rich-text file. An empty file is refused too.

Scanned PDFs are read too: a PDF that is only pictures of pages, or that mixes scanned and ordinary pages, has its text recognised on a best-efforts basis, so a clean, straight scan reads well and a faint or skewed one may not. Scanned documents are limited to 300 pages; a longer one is refused with a message saying so, so split it or upload a version with selectable text. Text in images inside other file types is not recognised.

PDF files

A PDF is a source you read from, not one you work on. Its text is extracted with its headings and tables and indexed, so you can search it, discuss it, run extractions over it, and use it as a source for flying minutes. Pictures and diagrams in a text-based PDF are kept and shown in the extracted-text view, though search and discussions work on the text; a scanned PDF's pages are read as text only. A scanned PDF is read with text recognition on a best-efforts basis (see above), which takes a few seconds a page. Contract review and document editing work on Word documents only, so a PDF cannot be chosen for a review and has no edit option. On the Documents page, Show latest version opens the PDF's extracted text, and Download latest version returns the PDF itself.

Older Word and Excel files

Files in the older .doc, .xls, and .dot formats are accepted, but Tiro Pro converts them to the current .docx or .xlsx format before reading them, and formatting, styles, numbering, and layout carry across on a best-efforts basis. In the New document window, each such file shows an amber warning icon next to its name; select it to read the notice. On Upload new version, the same notice appears as a prompt with an Upload anyway button. Uploading as-is means you are happy to proceed on that basis. An older file that has been renamed to end in .docx or .xlsx rather than converted is recognised and treated the same way: it is uploaded as a .doc or .xls, the notice says so, and the conversion follows.

After the upload, the converted file becomes the document's latest version and the original is kept alongside it, so the document shows two versions. If the file cannot be converted, for example because it is password-protected, the processing failure says so and suggests saving it as .docx or .xlsx yourself. If formatting matters to you, do that conversion in Word or Excel before uploading. Tiro Pro never produces files in the older formats.

Word templates

A Word template (.dotx) is accepted and saved as a Word document (.docx) before it is read. Nothing is lost: a template and a document differ only in how Word labels the file, so the contents and formatting carry across unchanged. In the New document window, each template shows a blue information icon next to its name; select it to read the notice. On Upload new version, the same notice appears as a prompt with an Upload button. As with older formats, the saved document becomes the latest version and the original template is kept alongside it. An older template (.dot) is converted like an older Word document, on a best-efforts basis, and shows the amber warning instead. A template that has been renamed to end in .docx is recognised and uploaded as a .dotx. Tiro Pro never produces template files.

Every upload creates a new document

An upload always creates a new document, even when a document of the same name already exists. Nothing is merged or overwritten. If what you want is to add a file as a new version of an existing document, use Upload new version on that document's row instead — see below.

Closing without uploading

Before an upload starts, you can close the window with Cancel, the Escape key, or by selecting outside it. In such a case, nothing is uploaded.

Create a document from a template

The Create from template tab appears when templates are enabled for your team. See Generate a document from a template.

Create a text document

The Create text document tab lets you write a document directly rather than uploading a file.

Upload a new version of an existing document

  1. Find the document's row in the documents table.
  2. Select Upload new version in its Actions cell, and pick the file.

The same supported file types apply as for a first upload. The file joins the versions the document already has. The document keeps its title, its tags, and its collections, and its Versions count goes up. Processing runs on the new version exactly as it does on a first upload, and the Status column tracks it.