Getting started: empty Chats, Projects and Files

What it is

An empty section is not a dead end labelled “Empty”, but a first step. When you have no active chats, the Chats page immediately offers to start: the DUOSHAO mark, How can I help?, a question field and four actions: Check a supplier, Review a contract, Compare prices and New spreadsheet. You do not need to create a chat in advance. The same four actions are shown in every new empty chat. Empty Projects offer New project with a name field; empty Files offer What should I review? and Choose a file.

How to use it

Chats

1. Type a question in the field Ask DUOSHAO… and press Enter or click the Send message button. A new chat opens, the question goes there, and the agent starts answering. Shift+Enter adds a new line; Escape clears the field.
2. Check a supplier puts “Check the supplier: ” in the field and places the cursor after it. Add the company name or number, and send.
3. Compare prices puts “Compare seller prices for ” in the field. Add the product.
4. Review a contract puts “Review the contract: risks, deadlines, penalties” in the field and opens the file picker at once. After you choose a file, a new chat opens: the file is above the field and the text is in the field. You send it yourself; you can add a question or attach more files.
5. New spreadsheet creates and opens a spreadsheet at once. On the Chats page it is a separate spreadsheet, and it appears in the Spreadsheets section. In an empty new chat it is that chat’s spreadsheet.
6. You can add a file with the paperclip button Attach file, or by dragging it onto the page. The field gets a dashed outline, and after you release the file a new chat opens with the file and the typed text. The question is not sent by itself.
7. An action only inserts text. Until you press send, nothing goes anywhere.
8. Archive and trash do not disappear: if they contain chats, the groups Archive and Trash are shown under the invitation.
9. As soon as you have at least one active chat, the Chats page shows the list again.

Projects, when there are no active projects:

1. Type a name in the field with the sample “Purchase from Shenzhen Altair”, and press Enter or the + button (Create project). The project appears, and the page shows the list of projects.
2. The chips Purchase, Supplier, Deal and Delivery put the start of a name into the field, for example “Supplier: ”, and place the cursor after it. Finish the name and create the project: the chip itself creates nothing.
3. Escape clears the field.
4. Archived projects are shown below, in Project archive.
5. The field is available to the owner and the administrators of the space. Members see No projects.

Files, when your chats have no files yet:

1. Choose a file opens the file picker. After you choose, a new chat opens: the files are above the field, and the field is empty. You write and send the question yourself.
2. Contract, Price list, Invoice and Product photo also open the file picker, and put a sample question into the field of the new chat: “Review the contract: risks, deadlines, penalties”, “Compare the prices in this price list”, “Check the invoice: details, amounts, due dates”, or “Find this product and compare prices”. The question is not sent by itself; you can edit it.
3. You can drag a file onto the page. The Choose a file button is highlighted, and after you release the file a new chat opens with the file and no text.
4. Above the invitation you see how much file space is used and how much is free: File storage.
5. As soon as a file appears in your chats, Files shows the files as tiles or as a list.

Limits

• A question can be up to 4 000 characters.
• Up to 5 files at a time, each up to 20 MB. Other file limits are the same as in Chats.
• A new chat is personal and is created without a project. If you already have an empty New chat (for example, one just created in another tab), the question goes into it, not into a second identical one.
• A question or a file from this page goes only to the new chat that opens. If the chat did not open and you left the page, the question is not sent later on its own: ask it again.
• The Agent panel of a spreadsheet has its own hints as a line, without these four actions. An empty archived chat has no actions.
• A project name can be up to 160 characters; a longer name is not accepted. Spaces at the edges are removed, and an empty name is not created.
• Projects are created by the owner and the administrators of the space.
• Files opens the same new personal chat without a project as Chats does, with the same file limits.

If something goes wrong

What you see on the screen	Why	What to do
Above the field: Question is longer than 4 000 characters. Shorten it.; the send button is disabled	The question is too long	Shorten the question; the text stays in the field
Above the field: Could not send. Try again.	The new chat was not created: a connection or server failure	Send again; the text is still there
Above the field: The agent is busy. Try again in a minute.	The server is overloaded, or requests are too frequent	Try again in a minute
Could not create the spreadsheet. Try again.	Failure while creating the spreadsheet	Click New spreadsheet again
Spreadsheet limit on your plan: N. Delete unneeded spreadsheets or change your plan.	The plan’s spreadsheet limit has been reached	Delete unneeded spreadsheets, or change the plan
In the new chat, above the field: the reason the file was not added	File limits and upload failures	See the error table in Chats
In Projects, above the field: Project not created. Try again.	Connection or server failure	Press Enter or + again; the name is still there
No projects, and no name field	You are a member: projects are created by the owner and the administrators of the space	Ask them to create a project
In Files, above the button: Could not send. Try again. or The agent is busy. Try again in a minute.	The new chat for the file was not created	Choose the file again, right away or in a minute