Once your assistant is connected to your repository there are no commands to learn: you ask in plain language and the assistant decides what to query. This article covers what kinds of question it can answer, with examples, and the full list of tools the connector publishes.
If you have not connected it yet, start with The R2 Docuo AI connector.
Start by asking what it can do
The quickest way to get your bearings is to ask it directly:
Which R2 Docuo repository are you connected to, and what can you do there?
The connector answers with the repository in use, the packages installed and its capabilities. Since the tools depend on each repository’s configuration, this answer is always more accurate than any general list.
Searching and finding
When you do not know where something is, describe it and let the connector search the whole repository.
- “Find the Acme contract.”
- “Do we have anything signed with this supplier?”
- “Find me the document where this reference appears.”
Search works by start of word, just as in Docuo: “inv” finds “invoice”, but “voice” does not. If nothing matches, the connector asks the repository’s index for a spelling suggestion and retries once; when that happens, the assistant should tell you it searched for a different word than the one you typed.
Listing with the columns you need
You can ask for listings along any of Docuo’s axes — category, folder or saved query — and also your recent documents, your favourites or the recycle bin. And you can ask for columns the listing does not show by default.
- “Give me the last 20 contracts with their expiry date and their customer.”
- “What is in this customer’s folder?”
- “Run the outstanding invoices query.”
- “Invoices over 1,000 euros this quarter, highest amount first.”
- “What have I been working on lately?”
Totals, counts and averages
For questions about a whole set — how much, how many, the average, the maximum — the connector works out the result without fetching the documents one by one. That is the difference between a reliable answer and a sum done over a truncated list.
- “How much did we invoice per customer last month?”
- “How many tickets are there in each state?”
- “What is the average order amount this year?”
- “The five suppliers with the highest accumulated spend.”
What these questions return are groups, not documents: they have no identifier and cannot be opened. If you want the documents behind a figure, ask for them separately.
Workflows: who, when and in which state
The connector reads a category’s state machine — its states, which is the initial one, which are final and which step leads from one to another — and also the history of movements, with its advances and its steps back.
- “What states does the contracts workflow have, and what steps are there between them?”
- “What state is order 1043 in, and what can be done with it now?”
- “Who approved this invoice, and when?”
- “How many tickets did each person close in August?”
- “Which documents were sent back this month?”
A date field tells you when something happened; who did it lives only in the workflow history. If you ask about people, the connector goes to the history. And bear in mind that many steps are run by automations rather than people: when that is the case, the answer will say so.
Reading, viewing and downloading a document
These are three different things and it is worth asking for them as such:
- “What does this contract say?” — extracts the text of the file, including scanned documents, and the assistant summarises or quotes it.
- “Show me the delivery note.” — returns a link to the Docuo viewer to see it on screen.
- “Give me the link to download the invoice.” — returns a download link for the file with its real name, valid for any format.
Download links expire after one hour and die with the connector’s session. If you come back later, ask again and you will get a fresh one.
Understanding the design of the repository
Useful above all if you are new to it or if you administer the repository:
- “What document categories are there, and what is each one for?”
- “What fields does the invoices category have?”
- “How is the folder tree organised?”
- “What saved queries do I have available?”
List of tools
These are the tools the connector publishes as of the date of this article. You do not need to know them to use it — your assistant chooses for you — but they are published here because they are the list referred to in clause 16.2.c of the Terms and Conditions.
All of them are read-only except the last, which is marked destructive so that your assistant asks you to confirm before running it.
| Tool | What it does | Marking |
|---|---|---|
r2docuo_search | Searches documents by text across the whole repository. | Read-only |
r2docuo_list | Lists documents of a category, a folder or a saved query, and also recent, favourites and recycle bin, with the columns and filters requested. | Read-only |
r2docuo_summarize | Groups and computes totals, counts, averages, maxima and minima over a set, either over the documents or over their workflow movements. | Read-only |
r2docuo_document | Returns a document’s record and, on request, its details, history, versions, activity and attachments. | Read-only |
r2docuo_document_text | Extracts the text of a document’s file: Word, PDF, spreadsheets and scanned documents. | Read-only |
r2docuo_document_preview | Returns the link to the viewer to see the document on screen. | Read-only |
r2docuo_document_download | Returns a download link for the file, with its real name and for any format. | Read-only |
r2docuo_process | Describes a category’s state machine: states, initial state, final states and steps. With a document, also its current state and the steps available. | Read-only |
r2docuo_transitions | Queries the history of workflow movements, with filters by step, state, person, type and dates, and groupings. | Read-only |
r2docuo_categories | Lists the document categories with their description. | Read-only |
r2docuo_fields | Lists a category’s fields, with their group and their identifier. | Read-only |
r2docuo_folders | Walks the folder tree by name. | Read-only |
r2docuo_queries | Lists the available saved queries with their description. | Read-only |
r2docuo_about | States the connected user and repository, the packages installed and the capabilities available. | Read-only |
r2docuo_repositories | Lists the account’s repositories that can be worked in. Changes nothing. | Read-only |
r2docuo_switch_repository | Reports the available repositories and, if given one, closes the session so you can sign in to it. | Destructive |
To this list are added the tools of any packages you have installed and any your repository publishes on its own, which vary from one repository to another. We will be adding new tools progressively; if one is withdrawn or changes in an incompatible way, at least thirty days’ notice is given.
Limits worth knowing about
- Listings come paginated. Twenty-five documents are returned by default and at most 200 at a time. The answer says when the list was cut, and the assistant can ask for the next page. To count or add up, it is better to ask for the total than to ask for the list.
- One connection works with one repository, the one you chose when authorising. To switch you have to sign in again.
- There are no write operations. Today the connector only queries: it does not create, modify or delete documents.
- Your assistant may hold an outdated list of tools. It takes the list when connecting, so if capabilities are missing, remove the connector and add it again.
- The connector consumes usage limits. A single question may trigger several queries. The limits included in each plan are on the pricing page.
How to get more out of it
- Name the category when you know it. “August’s sales invoices” is more accurate than “the August stuff”.
- Ask for the columns you want to see. If you need the amount and the due date, say so: it brings them in the same listing instead of opening the documents one by one.
- Make use of your saved queries. If you already have a query that answers the question, mentioning it is the shortest and most reliable route.
- Verify any figure you are going to use. Ask where a number comes from and check the listing behind it before taking it into a report.
Remember that an assistant’s answers may be wrong, incomplete or invented even when your repository’s data is correct, and that they have no evidential value. Review them before you base any decision on them. The files and evidence certificates in your repository always prevail.