AI CTRL User Guide

# AI CTRL user guide

AI CTRL is your organization’s private AI workspace. Use it to ask questions, work with files, and save or share useful conversations. The models, tools, and sharing options you see depend on what your organization has made available to you.

New to AI CTRL? Start with the quick start guide.

Sign in and find your way around

Open the workspace URL your organization gave you. Select Sign in and follow the prompts to use your work account. You’ll return to AI CTRL when sign-in is complete. Open the account menu at the bottom of the sidebar to check your organization or Sign out.

Pinned chats appear under Pinned Chats. A pulsing dot next to a chat means AI CTRL is still working on a reply. A solid dot means a reply arrived while you were away. Drag the sidebar edge to resize it, or use the sidebar button to collapse it.

Start a chat

1. Select New chat.
2. Check the model or agent shown below the message box. Keep the suggested choice, or open its menu to change it.
3. Write your request and select the Send arrow. For example: “Turn these meeting notes into a short recap and list the next steps. Flag any owners or dates that are missing.”
4. Review the answer and ask a follow-up in the same chat. Select Stop if you want to interrupt a reply, including while tools are working.

AI CTRL gives a new conversation a title as the first reply comes in. Select the title at the top of the chat to rename it.

Choose a model or agent

• Auto lets AI CTRL choose a model for the request. The reply identifies the model that answered. Turn Auto off to pick a specific model or agent.
• Favorites shows models and agents you’ve starred. Choose All models to browse or search the Models and Agents tabs.
• Effort or Reasoning appears for models that offer a choice. AI CTRL remembers your choice for that model. Auto handles that choice for you.

To change what new chats start with, open Settings → Preferences → Default model. Choose Use organization default, Auto, or a specific model you can use. If a saved choice is unavailable, AI CTRL uses another available model and keeps your preference for when your choice returns. Changing models in one chat does not change this setting.

Give the chat what it needs

Open Add to chat (the + beside the message box):

Tell AI CTRL what you want from an attachment, such as “Use this spreadsheet to summarize totals by month and flag missing values.” Open a sent attachment from its message. If the upload fails, check the file type and size shown in the error.

You can format prompts with headings, lists, bold text, links, and code blocks. Enter usually sends, but continues a list when you’re typing in one. Use the Send arrow or Ctrl+Enter (⌘Enter on Mac) to send from inside a list.

Work with answers and files

Under a finished reply, use Copy response to copy the text or Regenerate to ask for another answer. Use the arrows to switch between versions when they appear. You can also mark a reply Good response or Bad response.

To change an earlier question, choose Edit message on your message. In the editor, Enter adds a line and Ctrl+Enter (⌘Enter on Mac) sends the edit. The conversation continues from the revised message. Use the version arrows to return to the earlier path.

When AI CTRL creates a file, diagram, or other output (called an artifact), it can open beside the chat. The same panel opens when you select a file or a document citation. Reopen it from the chat header when it’s closed. The controls depend on the file:

• Use Preview to read it and Code, when available, to see or edit its source.
• Use Download to save a copy. For a generated Word document, you can preview it as PDF and choose Download Word or Download PDF.
• When editing is available, save your changes as a new version. Use the version menu to revisit an earlier version or make it the active one for the next message.

Find and organize chats

Use Search chats in the sidebar and enter at least two characters. Title matches come first, followed by matches from inside conversations. You can also search by tag.

Use the ⋮ menu beside a chat or in its title bar:

Use Projects for ongoing work

Open Projects and create a project with a unique name. Add optional Instructions for every chat in that project. For example: “Write for a nontechnical audience and put decisions before background.” Open the project to start a chat or revisit an existing one. You can also move a chat in from its menu or drag it onto the project in the sidebar.

Deleting a project removes the folder. Its chats stay in your main chat list.

Share a chat

Open the chat, wait for a reply to finish, then select Share at the top. The link opens a read-only snapshot of the conversation, including files and other outputs it contains. Check what’s in the snapshot before you choose an audience.

• Public lets anyone in your organization open the link, including people who join the organization later.
• Private limits access to the people and groups you add. Add at least one. If someone has access through a group, remove the group to remove that grant.

Create the share and copy the link. Later replies stay in your own chat until you choose Update shared chat, which replaces the snapshot and keeps the same link. Use Save changes when you change the audience, or Stop sharing to turn off the link. You can find the chats you’ve shared under Data → Shared.

A recipient can choose Clone chat to make a separate copy and continue from there. Stopping the share turns off access to the link; it does not remove copies people already made.

Build a collection of documents

Use Collections when you want to ask questions about the same documents across chats.

1. Open Collections → New collection, give it a name, and create it.
2. Open the collection and choose Upload files. If a name already exists, decide whether to replace the earlier file or keep both.
3. Wait for the file to show Indexed before asking AI CTRL to search it. You can leave the page while it processes and return to check progress. If processing fails, check the explanation and choose Retry.
4. In chat, open Add to chat → Collections and select the collection. Ask a question about its contents and open the citations in the reply to check the sources.

Use My Collections and Shared With Me to find collections. When you have permission to share, open the collection’s Share menu and choose an audience. Read access lets others open, search, and use the collection in chat. Give edit access only to people who should be able to change its files or delete the collection.

Create a custom agent

Use an agent when you want to reuse the same model, instructions, and optional resources across chats.

1. Open Agents → Custom → New agent.
2. Give it a name, choose a model, and write instructions (up to 4,000 characters). For example: “Draft replies in plain language. Ask a question when the request is missing a detail.”
3. Add any extension tools or collections it should use. You can also add them later.
4. Select Create agent. In a chat, open the model menu and choose your agent from All models → Agents, or star it to find it under Favorites.

Turn Enabled off on the Custom tab to hide an agent from your picker. On the Base tab, you can also star models or hide them from your picker without changing anyone else’s access.

If Share is available, choose who can use or edit your agent. Sharing an agent does not grant access to its model, extensions, or collections. If someone loses access to one of those later, the agent editor shows what needs attention. If you received the agent, contact the person who shared it.

Use extensions, approvals, and skills

Connect a tool and review its actions

Open Extensions to browse tools your organization offers, such as web search. Open a card to see what the extension does. Turn it on for your account or choose Request access if permission is required. You can turn off a connected extension for just one chat from Add to chat → Extensions.

When an action needs your approval, review the details above the message box and choose Approve or Decline. Always allow, when offered, approves the action and remembers your choice for that tool. Change it later in Extensions → Tool permissions, where you can set tools to Always allow, Needs approval, or Blocked. Your organization can require approvals regardless of your preference.

Save or add a skill

A skill is a set of instructions for a repeatable task, such as turning notes into a weekly update. Unlike an agent, a skill can be used with the model or agent you already selected.

• In Extensions → Skills, choose Create manually to write your own skill, Create with agent to draft one in chat, or Import to bring in a saved skill. A skill needs a name, a short description, and instructions. If sharing is available to you, use Share on your skill to choose who can use it.
• Go to Extensions → Marketplace to browse skills people have shared with you or your organization. Add Skill puts the skill under Added Skills and follows the owner’s updates. Clone makes your own editable copy.
• To use a skill for a message, choose Add to chat → Skills, select it, then write and send your request.

Manage your settings and chat history

Open Settings from the account menu. Preference switches save as you change them.

Get help and send feedback

If feedback is enabled, select Feedback at the bottom right of the page, or in the account menu on smaller screens. Choose General Feedback, Feature Request, or Bug Report. For a bug, say what you were trying to do, what happened, and how to repeat it. You can attach one PNG, JPEG, PDF, or Word file up to 5 MB. Keep passwords, keys, and sensitive records out of the note and any attachment. Copy the confirmation reference if you may need to follow up.