Convas

Workspace

Brief

The Brief tab is where you gather sources for your deck: upload files, review extracted summaries, or ask the Agent to organize key points in chat.

Brief tab: chat and image attachments on the left, source file tree in the center, image preview on the right
Use the Brief tab to gather sources—browse the source tree, preview images and documents, and organize key points with chat.

What Brief does

The Brief tab answers “What sources do I have, and what story am I telling?” It is the input layer: add PDFs, docs, images, or web sources; the Agent extracts highlights for outlines and slide generation.

Upload & organize

  • Drag and drop or pick files—common document and image formats are supported.
  • Primary tabs: **Sources** | **Project materials**.
  • **Sources**: originals and extracted summaries in a type tree; preview on the right with ingest status—PDFs can jump to embedded figures via View embedded images.
  • **Project materials**: semantic tree—Embedded, Illustrations (AI / Web images), Analysis, Research, Uploaded images (see below).
  • Spreadsheet numbers feed both editable charts and analysis figures after extraction.
Brief tab, Project materials: AI illustration groups and preview on the right
Under Project materials, browse grouped assets such as AI illustrations; select a file to preview on the right and download or remove it.

Data & analysis figures

After you upload Excel or CSV, the Agent extracts structured tables. The same data can become three kinds of output on slides—in **Project materials**, focus on these two categories:

  • Editable charts: live on slides and can be tuned in the canvas refine panel (not listed separately under Project materials—click the chart on canvas to edit).
  • Project materials › Analysis: heatmaps, correlations, distributions, regression, and other Python stats PNGs. They appear on the matching slide and can be previewed in the semantic tree.
  • Project materials › Embedded: figures cut from paper/report PDFs for citation—unrelated to spreadsheet data; curve data is not reverse-engineered from images.

Analysis figures are computed from your spreadsheet—not guessed KPIs. To change values, update the source file and ask the Agent to regenerate; you cannot edit individual numbers on canvas like an editable chart.

To verify the Agent read your table: check the extracted summary under **Sources**, then @ the file in chat with the chart or analysis type you want.

Images: upload, pick, AI illustrations & vector

Slide visuals split into bitmaps and vectors. Bitmaps come from three paths—the Agent routes by whether you need a real source: files you upload, real images you pick in chat after web research, and AI-generated mood art. Decorative backgrounds use generation; press photos, logos, and product shots that must be traceable use upload or web pick. Standalone SVG art or bitmap vectorization saves to your project library—see Visual elements.

  • Upload: originals such as PRDs, old decks, or brand kits appear in the library and can be @-referenced.
  • Web pick: after a search or page fetch, a “Pick images” card may appear in chat; after you confirm, files save into project assets and land on slides—no hotlinked URLs.
  • AI illustrations: mood art and abstract backgrounds that don’t need a real source are saved under Project materials › Illustrations › AI illustrations.
  • Generate vector art or convert images to SVG: decorative illustrations or simple bitmaps turned into editable vectors, saved to your project library.

When picking from the web: review thumbnails and source hints, select 1–4 images (often 1 per slide), then tap Use selected. If nothing fits, tap Skip—the assistant can fall back to generated art or a placeholder instead of forcing a bad match.

Web image pick in chat: thumbnail grid, source notes, and Save & continue
When the Agent runs a web image pick, review thumbnails and notes in chat, select 1–4 images, then Save & continue to add them to project materials.

Example prompts

Research with real photos

Research recent Fed rate hikes—summarize the story and surface a few press photos or official charts for me to pick before you write slides.

Organize uploaded sources

@Product-plan.docx Pull core ideas, target users, and three key selling points into a brief.

Research and add

Research public sources on AI in medical imaging—add highlights to brief with citations.

Preview analysis figure

Where is the category correlation heatmap you just generated? I want to preview it under Brief › Project materials › Analysis.

Spreadsheet, dual outputs

@sales.xlsx Monthly GMV as an editable bar chart, plus a category correlation heatmap as an analysis PNG on the insights slide.

Check understanding

From the current brief, summarize the story in three sentences—I’ll confirm before you draft the outline.

Fill gaps

Brief is missing competitor comparison—pull from market-report.pdf and update the brief.

Work with Agent

You can also ask in chat: “Research this topic for me” or “Summarize this PDF into a brief.” The Agent writes results back to Brief; then move to Outline or Canvas to continue.

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