How to use Dash Assistant

Dropbox Dash Assistant is an AI tool designed to enhance your productivity and streamline your content creation. It includes two main apps—Chat and Write—each optimized to help you in different areas of your workflow.

By scanning content you or your team admin has added to Dash, Dash Assistant makes it easier to access, retrieve, and work with your content.

How to access Dash Assistant

To start using the Dash Assistant, click Assistant in the left sidebar. From there, you can choose between the following apps:

• Chat: A conversational interface for quick information retrieval.‍
• Write: A tool for creating various types of content.

How to use Dash Assistant’s Chat app

With the Chat app, you can ask questions and receive answers based on the information in the content you or your team admin has added to Dash. Using its advanced Q&A and summarization features, it provides accurate, context-rich responses in real-time, making it easy to get the information you need. For example, you can ask Chat to:

• Summarize long documents without reading them in their entirety.
• Identify key action items or tasks mentioned in project documents without combing through each document.
• Clarify complex sections or explain difficult or technical content in simpler terms.

How to ask a question in the Chat app

To ask a question in the Chat app:

1. Log in to dash.ai.
2. Click Assistant in the left sidebar.
3. Select the Chat app.
4. Enter your question in the text field at the bottom of the screen.
   • For example: “What are the top customer complaints in Q4?”
5. If you want to add reference materials, click Add sources to search for or upload reference materials.
   • Note: You can only upload files that are 50 MB or smaller with one of the following file extensions: .csv, .docx, .pdf, or .txt.
6. Click ② (send) to generate your answer.

How to use Dash Assistant’s Write app

The Write app streamlines the process of creating new content leveraging the files you or your team admin has added to Dash. Write scans your files to extract relevant information for use in the new content it generates. After the draft is generated, you can edit the content in real time and apply predefined writing styles to align it with your specific needs. This significantly reduces the manual effort you’ll spend compiling information from multiple sources, allowing you to create polished drafts quickly and efficiently.

Here are some examples of what you might create with Write: 

• Client follow-up emails using existing documents as reference
• Financial summaries drawn from existing reports
• Project proposals based on various project plans
• Action item lists contained within meeting notes

How to create new content using the Write app

To create new content:

1. Log in to dash.ai.
2. Click Assistant in the left sidebar.
3. Select the Write app.
4. Choose the type of content you want to create: Email, Report, Proposal, or Other.
5. Click Add sources to search for or upload reference materials, if you’d like.
   • Note: You can only upload files that are 50 MB or smaller with one of the following file extensions: .csv, .docx, .pdf, or .txt.
6. Enter details about the content you’d like to generate in the text field.
7. Click ② (send) to generate the first draft of your content.
8. When the content displays in the right preview window, you can:
   • Add more context or commands to refine your content.
   • Select an option from the ② Tone dropdown to change the tone or style.
9. Click Export in the upper right.
10. Choose how you'd like to save your content:
    • Copy text
    • Copy markdown
    • Save to Paper

How to use Dash Assistant on any web page

The Dash browser extension allows you to utilize the Dash Assistant Chat app to easily query your web pages to identify key content, rewrite information for clarity or style, and take actions based on extracted data.

To use the browser extension:

1. Open the web page you’d like to ask questions about or explore.
2. Click the Dropbox Dash icon to the right of the browser address bar.
   • If you don’t see the Dropbox Dash icon, click the extensions icon (puzzle piece), then select Dropbox Dash.
3. Enter your question in the text bar labeled Chat with assistant…. 
4. Click ② (send) to generate your answer.

Dash Assistant will produce a response based on the content of the page you’re currently on. You can ask follow-up questions as well as reformat the answers you’ve been given by typing instructions in the text bar.

Learn more about adding the Dropbox Dash browser extension.