pulpAssist is the pulpSuite assistant. It reads what's open (a document, a selection of cells, an email, a schedule…) and acts in your apps: writing cells, inserting text, preparing a draft, creating an event or a task. It opens on top of any app with Ctrl+J.
Two rules shape how it works:
- nothing changes without your approval: every change first appears in a Proposed action card, with Accept and Decline, and can be undone afterwards;
- no email is ever sent automatically: the assistant prepares drafts, and you send them yourself.
To answer, pulpAssist uses an AI:
- the AI on this device, which runs on your computer: nothing leaves it, no consent to give, no limit (see Trying an AI on this device);
- or an online AI service. On online pulpSuite (www.pulpsuite.com), it is provided by the publisher, with a no-account trial and a free account (see The online assistant: with or without an account). On another installation, its administrator connects the assistant to an online service or to an AI installed on your own network.
Without any AI, only Local mode (quick commands) works.
Getting started
- In any app, press Ctrl+J or click the round button at the bottom right (Open the assistant (Ctrl+J)).
- The first time you open it, an example appears on its own so you can see what pulpAssist looks like: a typical conversation, with questions, answers and action cards. It is written in advance: nothing is sent or saved to your history. Start a conversation or Remove the example removes it in one click, and See the example again (below the history, or below the suggestions of an empty conversation) brings it back.
- Before your first question, the Before you start screen explains what is sent, to whom, and what never is. Read it, then click Get started.
- Choose what the assistant can read, with the button above the input box: Open app (only the app on screen) or Whole suite (also your calendar, meetings, sticky notes and document list). Each click switches between the two.
- Ask your question, or click one of the suggestions for the open app (“Summarize this email”, “Explain the selection”…). Enter sends it.
- When the assistant proposes a change, read the card, then Accept or Decline. After an action, the Undo button reverses it.
Common tasks
What can pulpAssist do in each app?
Each app declares what the assistant can read and do. For example:
- pulpSheet: read and write cells, add a sheet, create a pivot table;
- pulpDoc: read the document, insert text;
- pulpSlide: read the presentation, add slides, write speaker notes;
- pulpInbox: read the open email or the list, prepare a reply draft, create an event or a task;
- pulpNote: read the page, add content to it, create a page;
- pulpPlan: read the schedule, add a task to the project;
- pulpCrew: read the transcript of a transcribed meeting;
- pulpClient: search contacts, companies and opportunities, create a contact, log an activity, summarize the sales pipeline;
- pulpForge: query work items, create an item, change its state, review a sprint, write release notes;
- pulpProduct: search a part, read a bill of materials, find where a part is used, prepare a change request;
- pulpArchive: search the archive, suggest where to file a document, summarize a document, list what reaches the end of its retention period;
- across the suite: read today's calendar, meetings and sticky notes, list documents, open an app, add a sticky note.
The creative and technical apps (pulpPhoto, pulpMotion, pulp3D, pulpCircuit, pulpCase, pulpRobot, pulpLab, pulpBuild, pulpHome) have their own actions too. See each app's help page.
How do I see what was sent?
Under each of your messages, a label shows the attached context (for example Attached: pulpSheet). Click it to see exactly what went out with your question. To ask something without attaching anything, click the Attached: … label above the input box (Don't attach the context to the next message): it appears struck through. Click again to restore it.
How do I choose between speed and care?
To the right of the context label, the Assistant level selector offers Fast (short, near-instant answers), Balanced (the right balance for most requests) and Precise (thinks harder: analysis, calculations, long tasks).
How do I undo something the assistant did?
On the action's card, click Undo. The interface also notes that Ctrl+Z in the app reverses the action. If you declined an action, nothing was changed.
How do I stop a long answer?
Click Stop generating, or press Esc while the assistant is writing. After eight actions in a row, the assistant stops on its own and asks whether it should go on.
How do I find an earlier conversation?
Click History. Conversations are stored only in this device's browser; Delete this conversation erases it for good. New conversation starts afresh.
How do I work in a larger view?
Full screen enlarges the panel; Back to side panel shrinks it again. Open in the pulpAssist app shows it as a full app, reachable from the pulpSuite home screen.
What can I do with no AI configured?
Local mode understands a few commands in English, French and Spanish, without AI or network:
- “sticky call Leo” or “remind me to call Mark”;
- “open calendar”, “open spreadsheet”, “open my tasks”;
- “what's on my agenda?”, “my meetings”, “my sticky notes”;
- “help” for the list.
How do I summarize a meeting?
In the transcript of a pulpCrew meeting, click Summarize with pulpAssist: the assistant suggests a summary, the decisions, the actions with their owners, and open questions. Check the summary before sharing it.
Supported formats
pulpAssist doesn't open or save files: it works on documents open in the other apps, which handle their own formats. Code blocks in its answers have a Copy button.
Known limitations:
- Without any AI, there's no open-ended conversation and no actions: only local mode.
- The assistant only sees what the open app passes to it (and the suite, if you chose it). It doesn't read files on your disk.
- A very long conversation is eventually rejected: start a new one.
- With online AI, the number of exchanges is limited according to your access level (see The online assistant); if it's busy, try again shortly. The AI on this device has no limit.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+J | Open or close pulpAssist, from any app |
| Enter | Send your question |
| Shift+Enter | New line in your question |
| Esc | Stop the answer in progress |
| Esc | Close the panel (when no answer is in progress) |
On a Mac, use Cmd+J instead of Ctrl+J.
AI in pulpAssist
With online AI, your requests go through the pulpSuite gateway, which passes them on to the AI service without storing their content. Your browser holds no access key to that service. The content of your conversations stays in your device's history. With the AI on this device, nothing leaves it.
The panel header shows the active mode:
- Online AI: your requests go to an online AI service. On online pulpSuite, only to services from the regions you accepted; on another installation, to the one its administrator chose. If one service doesn't answer, another takes over, always within your regions, and a notice (Assistant temporarily unavailable, another engine was used) says so. The list of services is on the “About” page;
- Local AI: an AI on this device or installed on your own network; nothing leaves your premises;
- Demo: prepared answers, no AI;
- Local mode: quick commands, no AI; nothing is sent.
What is sent (online AI): your question and the conversation history; a snapshot of what's open (document, selection, active cell, open email…), if you leave it attached; attached images; and the content the assistant reads in your apps to answer, within the scope you chose.
What is never sent: the pulpNote credential vault, your email and calendar passwords, and the other apps if you chose Open app.
See also privacy.
The online assistant: with or without an account
On online pulpSuite (www.pulpsuite.com), the online assistant has three access levels. In every case, the AI on this device remains available, with no limit, and is offered to you as soon as a limit is reached.
An exchange is one round trip with the AI service. A question that has the assistant read and then edit a document can count as several.
Without an account: the trial
- You get 5 exchanges per day on this device. The same internet connection is limited to 10 exchanges per day.
- Just before sending, a box tells you which European AI service your question and the attached documents will be sent to. Tick it to send: if the box isn't ticked, nothing is sent.
- The trial uses the Fast and Balanced levels; the Precise level falls back to Balanced.
- The counter resets every night.
- To count your trial exchanges, the browser keeps a randomly drawn device identifier. It contains nothing personal.
The service used during the trial is named in Privacy.
With a free account
- Sign in to your free pulpSuite account.
- With your first online question, a sheet offers you the regions whose services the assistant may use: Europe, United States, Asia. Europe is suggested, but nothing is ticked for you.
- Tick the regions you accept, then confirm. The assistant only uses services from those regions.
The list of services in each region is in Privacy.
Limit: 5 exchanges per 5-minute period, plus a daily limit (200 exchanges, an answer volume, and a separate limit for the Precise level). When it is reached, the assistant shows the time of the next possible question, for example “Next question possible at 2:05 pm”, and offers you the AI on this device.
With a paid account (coming soon)
The paid plan is not on sale yet. Within the regions you ticked, it will offer:
- priority: you are served before free accounts when the service is busy;
- no rate limit, only a very high safety cap.
Changing your regions
Open My account, under Privacy and AI (see pulpSuite account). Tick or untick a region at any time. A withdrawal counts straight away; an authorization already given to the assistant expires within 15 minutes at most.
Trying an AI on this device
The Local model trial screen lets you try and compare AIs that run entirely on your computer: nothing is sent. Open it with the flask icon at the top of the assistant panel, or with the Try an AI on this device link.
- At the top, the screen shows what your device can run (graphics card or processor only) and the AI it recommends.
- Tick one or more AIs. Each one is downloaded once from the pulpSuite server (its size is shown), then stays on the device; the bin icon removes it.
- Choose the tasks to measure: Sorting (real message, newsletter, spam or scam), Reminders (dates, appointments and deadlines found in the message) and reply Drafts; then Run benchmark.
- The Comparison table gives, for each AI, sorting accuracy, missed scams, reminder accuracy, average time per email and speed. Per-email details shows every answer; read the drafts to judge them.
- Free chat lets you ask your own questions to a downloaded AI.
The test emails are made up: your real messages are never read by this screen. Results stay in this browser; Export (JSON) saves them to a file.
FAQ and troubleshooting
“The assistant gateway is not responding”
The service that connects pulpAssist to the AI isn't running or can't be reached. The Connect an AI screen says so; local mode remains available. Ask your administrator to start it, then click Check again.
“The gateway responds, but no AI provider is configured on it”
The service is running but no AI is connected to it yet. Only your administrator can configure it; the Server configuration (administrator) section of the screen tells them what's missing.
The assistant says no region is chosen, or no service is available
You haven't ticked any region, or no service in your regions is answering right now. The assistant never switches to a region you haven't accepted. It offers to add a region (in My account, under Privacy and AI) or to use the AI on this device.
“Next question possible at…”
You have reached the limit of your access level. Wait until the time shown, or carry on straight away with the AI on this device, which has no limit. Without an account, the trial starts again every night; a free account gives you more.
The assistant says it can't access some information
Check what the assistant can read: in Open app mode, it doesn't see your calendar or the other apps. Also make sure you haven't turned off attaching the context.
An action changed something I didn't want
Click Undo on the action's card. Next time, read each card carefully before accepting.
Why does the answer stop halfway?
The answer may have exceeded the maximum length, been interrupted on the way, or been declined by the service. A message gives the reason. Rephrase, split the request, or start a new conversation.
Does pulpAssist work offline?
Local mode and the AI on this device, once downloaded, work offline. With an AI installed on your local network, the assistant works without the internet as long as that network is reachable. Online AI needs a connection.