Add Documents to Canon
3 min read
There are three ways to put a document into Canon, and all of them end in the same place: the file lands in your project’s file library, and Canon indexes its text.
Upload a New Document
Section titled “Upload a New Document”-
Open a project and select Canon in the left navigation.
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Select Add document in the header, then Upload a document.
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Choose one or more files. The picker only offers types Canon can read.
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Each file uploads, then appears in the table with a Pending state.
You can also drag files anywhere onto the Canon page — a full-screen Drop documents to add them to Canon overlay appears while you drag.
Reuse a File Already in the Library
Section titled “Reuse a File Already in the Library”If the spec is already attached to a requirement, a test case or a defect, there is no need to upload it twice.
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Select Add document, then Choose from files.
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Browse or search the project’s file library.
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Select the file. Canon indexes it in place — no second copy, no second upload.
Supported File Types
Section titled “Supported File Types”Canon reads documents only. A screenshot or a video is not something the AI can be grounded in, so the picker will not offer them.
| Type | Extensions | How citations are anchored |
|---|---|---|
pdf | By page — p. 12 | |
| Word | docx | By heading — § 4.2 Expiry handling. Tables get their own anchor |
| Spreadsheets | xlsx, csv | By sheet, flattened row-by-row with the header row repeated so a data row is never orphaned from its column names |
| Text and Markdown | txt, md, mdx, log | By Markdown heading, same as Word |
If you drop a file Canon cannot index, it is rejected before the upload starts, with a message naming the file.
What Happens After You Add a Document
Section titled “What Happens After You Add a Document”Adding a document records intent and returns immediately. The real work — reading the file, splitting it into passages, indexing them — happens in the background, and takes seconds to minutes depending on size.
The Status column tracks it through four states:
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Queued. Nothing has been read yet |
| Extracting | The file is being read and split into citable passages |
| Embedding | Passages are being indexed so retrieval can find them |
| Ready | Live. This document is grounding AI output now |
| Failed | The document could not be read. The reason is shown on the row |
The page polls while anything is in flight, so you do not need to refresh. A document only counts toward Grounding now once it reaches Ready.
Give the Document a Useful Title
Section titled “Give the Document a Useful Title”The title is what appears on every citation chip, in the release readiness summary, and on Atlas nodes. When a reviewer asks “where did that come from?”, the title is the first half of the answer.
Uploaded files take their filename as the title. If that filename is final_v3_REVIEWED.docx, rename the source file before adding it — a citation is only useful if it names something a person can go and open.