Work with long documents
Intermediate 2 · 1 minute 50 seconds · Free to learn · Words printed on screen · Watch above, then try the exercise below.
What you'll learn
- Why "summarise this" gives mush — and specific questions don't
- Asking for page numbers so every claim checks in seconds
- Making AI compare two documents side by side
- The verify-on-the-page rule for anything that binds you
Key points
The worked example is Maggie's building society annual report: forty pages, and three things she wants from it — what changed, what it costs her, and anything with a deadline. She drops the file into the chat and asks exactly those questions; "summarise this" would have got her mush.
Every answer has to name its page, so a claim can be checked against the document in ten seconds. Fees for this year and last become a little table, where the differences leap out — and the deadline hunt finds a form due at the end of the month that she had missed entirely.
The caution: AI can misread a number or miss a clause, so for anything that binds you — money, signatures, deadlines — verify on the page it names. And keep private documents private: a public report is fine, medical or legal papers deserve the care from the safety lesson. Camp rule: Don't read forty pages — interrogate them.
Try it
- Pick one long document you have been avoiding.
- Ask three specific questions.
- Demand the page number for every answer — and spot-check one.
The words in this video
Prefer to read, or want to follow along while you watch? Here is everything the narrator says in this lesson, word for word.
Welcome back. I am Maggie. Today the Intermediate skill that saves the most hours — putting whole documents to work. A forty-page report, a contract, a council plan. Nobody has a free weekend to read them properly. AI does not mind the length. Here is my building society's annual report. Forty pages. I want three things — what changed, what it costs me, and anything with a deadline.
I drop the file into the chat, and I ask for exactly that. Not summarise this — that gets you mush. Specific questions get specific answers. First — what changed since last year. It lists the fee change, the new savings rate, and a branch closure. With page numbers, because I asked for them. Page numbers matter. They let me check the claim against the page in ten seconds. Always ask where it says that.
Next I make it compare. Show me this year's fees beside last year's, as a little table. Differences leap off a table. Then the deadline hunt. Anything I must do, sign, or decide — and by when. It finds a form due at the end of the month I had missed entirely. I can question the document like a witness. What does it say about early repayment. It answers from the text, not from the internet.
Two documents at once works too. My old insurance policy and the renewal quote, side by side — what am I gaining, what am I losing. The caution. AI can misread a number or miss a clause. For anything that binds you — money, signatures, deadlines — verify on the page it names. And keep private documents private. A report from a public website is fine. Your medical or legal papers deserve the care from our safety lesson.
Try it. Take one long document you have been avoiding, ask three specific questions, and demand the page for every answer. Camp rule — do not read forty pages, interrogate them. Next time, research you can trust. See you there.