> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.prodexlabs.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# User Files

> Files you upload — data exports, documents, drawings, images — that Dexter can read in any conversation in your factory.

## Overview

User files are everything you've given [Dexter](/product/ai-assistant) to look at — data exports, work instructions, drawings, images, whatever the task needed. Every file you attach is kept in the [Factory](/getting-started/key-concepts) and managed under **Data → My Data**, so Dexter can open it again in a later conversation without you re-uploading it. Your uploads live in this data library — not the [Knowledge Base](/product/dexter/memories), which holds Dexter's memory rather than the file library.

## Adding Files

Three ways to get a file in:

* **Drag and drop** onto the chat — you can drop multiple files or a whole folder at once.
* **Attach** — the paperclip button in the message composer.
* **The Data page** — upload directly with **Upload files** (or drag and drop anywhere on the page) in the **My Data** tab.

However a file arrives, it lands in the same place: the factory's file store, listed in the **My Data** tab of the [Data page](/product/data-overview). Dexter can read it immediately, and after you upload fresh data Dexter offers to run an [exploratory analysis](/product/exploratory-analysis) on it.

## Supported Formats

| Category         | Formats                                                                                      |
| ---------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Tabular data** | `.csv`, Excel (`.xlsx`, `.xls`, `.xlsm`, `.xlsb`)                                            |
| **Documents**    | PDF, Word (`.docx`, `.doc`), PowerPoint (`.pptx`), Visio (`.vsdx`)                           |
| **Images**       | `.png`, `.jpg`/`.jpeg`, `.gif`, `.webp`, `.bmp`, `.tiff`                                     |
| **CAD**          | `.dwg`, `.dxf`, `.step`/`.stp` — see [supported CAD formats](/product/cad/supported-formats) |
| **Text**         | `.txt`, `.md`, `.json`                                                                       |

Individual files can be up to **2 GB**.

## How Dexter Uses Your Files

* **Reads them directly**, in the conversation you uploaded them in and in every future one — reference a file by naming it: *"Look at the throughput export I attached last week."*
* **Profiles data files** (CSV, Excel) column by column and confirms its reading with you — ambiguous codes, unlabeled units — before treating anything as ground truth.
* **Reads documents** (PDF, Word, PowerPoint), pulling out their text and tables.
* **Analyzes CAD files** through the [CAD analysis](/product/cad/analysis) tooling — geometry, part counts, dimensions.
* **Writes a memory entry.** When Dexter builds a working understanding of a data source, that understanding lands in the **Data sources** area of your [knowledge base](/product/dexter/memories) — schema, what the codes mean, common pitfalls — so the next conversation doesn't start from zero.

<Tip>
  Upload a production log once and every future conversation can use it. The file carries the raw data; the knowledge base carries what Dexter learned about how to read it.
</Tip>

## Persistence and Cleanup

* Files persist for the **life of the factory** and are available to every conversation in it.
* Files are **scoped to the factory** — a file uploaded in one factory is not visible from another.
* **Delete a file** from its card in the **My Data** tab of the Data page (each card also offers download and preview). Once deleted, Dexter can no longer read it in new conversations.
* **Sharing a factory doesn't hand over your uploaded files.** Whoever you share with gets a copy of the factory, but not your raw uploads. Anything from those files that already made it into a built artifact — a simulation model, a BOM — does travel with that artifact.

<Warning>
  Uploaded files do not travel with a [factory export](/product/factory-export). If you import a factory, re-upload the source files in the new copy.
</Warning>

<Note>
  Deleting a file does not delete what Dexter learned about it — the **Data sources** entry stays in the [knowledge base](/product/dexter/memories) until you prune it. Ask Dexter to clean up the entry as part of the same request.
</Note>

## User Files vs. Reports

* **User files** are files *you* attach for Dexter to read.
* **[Reports](/product/dexter/reports)** are files *Dexter* generates for you to download and share.

Both are visible on the [Data page](/product/data-overview) — uploads under **My Data**, generated deliverables under **Reports**.