> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.collivo.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Get Started with Collivo: Quickstart Guide
> Create a project, add files, and ask your first useful question.
export const SharedWithMe = () => Shared with me;
export const SharedFolder = () => Shared;
export const PrivateFolder = () => Private;
export const FileChip = ({name, type = "file"}) =>
{name}
;
export const PromptBox = ({children}) =>
The project workspace: files on the left, the conversation in the middle, and open work on the right.
;
By the end of this guide you will have a project holding your files, and a chat that answers from your own project context.
You will sign in, create the project, bring in useful files, add them to AI context, and ask a focused question.
## Before you start
You need a Collivo account. Sign up with your work email, then sign in to open Collivo.
When you sign up, Collivo provisions a default organization for your account. Use that organization for your company, team, or client environment. If your team already has an organization, ask an admin to add you with the right role.
## Create your first project
A project is where you keep the files, discussion, and AI context for a specific piece of work.
1. From the Collivo home screen, select **New project**.
2. In **Project Name**, enter a clear name, such as `Client onboarding plan` or `Q3 operating review`.
3. In **Details**, add a short description of the background, goal, deadline, or current situation.
4. For a normal setup, leave the default **Standard Workspace** option selected.
5. If Collivo asks for a space, choose the space where this project should live.
6. Select **Submit**.
After the project opens, you should see the **Files** pane on the left and chat on the right.
## Find your way around the workspace
When a project opens you land in its workspace. It has three working areas side by side — your files, your conversation with AI, and whatever you currently have open — with a top bar above them.
1. **Location** — shows the space and project you are in. Select the space name to go back to that space.
2. **Command center** — who has access, plus milestones, requests, notifications, and the project's floating [Circles](/collaborate/team-chat#use-the-pop-out-window) window. **More options** holds sharing, project details, and the project recap. It stays in the same place on every screen.
3. **Sidebar** — the main navigation, in the same place on every screen. **Create New** starts a quick chat or a new project. **Starred** and **Recent** bring back work you were just in, and the **Organization** section holds **Home**, **AI Chats**, **Projects**, **Circles**, and **Spaces**. Your organization switcher sits at the top; **Help & resources**, **Settings**, and your account sit at the bottom. Collapse it to icons when you want more room for the workspace.
4. **Files pane** — everything in this project lives here. Use the tabs and search above the tree to filter, sort, or jump to recent, starred, and assigned items. In the **Tasks** tab, you can start or resume a chat from a card that has a folder attached.
5. **Folders** — the project's folder tree. Private, Shared, and Shared with me decide who can see each item; the next section covers them.
6. **Chat** — where you brief AI. It works from what is in the Files pane, so what you put there is what it can use. The controls below the message box attach context, choose the agent, and turn tools on or off.
7. **Artifact tabs** — a file, board, or whiteboard you open appears here, next to the conversation working on it. Edits an agent makes are marked as its own, and you can undo them.
You can see a detailed walkthrough from **Help & resources** in the workspace.
## Understand the file areas
Each project's **Files** pane has three areas:
* — your personal area in the project. Everyone has their own, and only you can see what is in yours, until you choose to share something from it.
* — the project's shared area. Everyone with access to the project can see it.
* — where files and folders appear when someone shares their private content with you.
## Add files to the project
Start with one or two high-signal files, such as a project brief, meeting summary, research note, requirements document, or existing deliverable.
1. In the **Files** pane, expand **Project Files**.
2. Choose where the file should go:
* Use for personal or restricted material.
* Use for team or project material.
Files and folders cannot be created directly under the project's top-most folder. Everything must go under or .
3. Select the three-dot menu next to the folder name.
4. Select **Upload**.
5. Choose the source:
* **from local** to upload files from your computer.
* **from cloud** to import from a connected cloud account, such as Google Drive, SharePoint, Box, or email.
You can also use the folder menu to choose **New** and create project items, including a file, folder, kanban board, whiteboard, or item from a template.
## Add files to AI context
Uploading or importing a file makes it available in the project. To direct the AI's attention to specific files for a chat, add those files to context.
**Uploading and adding to context are different.** Uploading puts a file in your project, so you and your team can open it. Adding a file to context tells the AI to read and use it for the current chat. A file can sit in the project without being in context.
There are three ways to add files or folders to AI context:
1. Drag a file or folder from the **Files** pane into the chat input area. This is the easiest option. Collivo adds an inline reference to the file or folder in your message.
2. Type `@` in the chat input, then choose the file or folder from the selector that appears. Collivo adds it as an inline reference in your message.
3. Select the button next to **Context** in the toolbar below the chat input. In **Select Files for Context**, search or browse the project file tree, choose the files or folders the AI should use, then select **Apply**.
Use the button next to **Context** for context selection only. It does not upload new files into the project.
## Collaborate with AI
Now ask the AI to do a specific piece of work with the files you added. The best first prompts are narrow: they name the material, say what you want from it, and leave room to review the answer before you rely on it.
The most useful prompts do two things:
1. **Point to specific project context** — a file, folder, chat message, review comment, discussion thread, or project plan.
2. **Tell the AI what to do with it** — read it, draft from it, compare it, restructure it, or find the gaps in it.
**Use visible project context.** You can reference supported project items that you can access, such as documents, folders, chats, comments, plans, or open tabs. Drag an item into chat, choose it with `@`, or paste its link where you are working.
### Example: turn a brief into requirements
A common first task is taking a rough brief and shaping it into something you can act on. Notice how each prompt references a real item and gives a clear instruction — and how it's a back-and-forth, not a single question.
Start by pointing the AI at the brief and asking it to think with you before it writes:
Read . I want to turn it into a requirements list. Before you draft anything, tell me what's clear and what's still ambiguous.
The AI reads the file and comes back with its understanding and the open questions. You answer those questions in plain language — that exchange is the collaboration. Then you set the direction:
Good. The launch date is fixed to end of Q3, and v1 is web-only. Draft the requirements as a checklist, grouped into must-have and nice-to-have, and save it in .
Refine by referencing what it just produced:
Split requirement 3 into two items and add acceptance criteria to each must-have.
This pattern works beyond files. Point the AI at relevant project context, such as a review comment, a discussion thread, a project plan, or a kanban board — name the item, then say what to do with it. The more precisely you reference the context, the more useful the result.
## Review the answer
AI-generated answers can be incomplete or incorrect. Review important outputs before sharing, publishing, or using them for decisions.
When an answer falls short, you don't have to start over — refine it in place. If it missed important context, add the relevant files to context, then ask a narrower follow-up. Because the conversation stays in the project, each follow-up builds on the last, so the result gets sharper with every turn.
## Troubleshooting
* **Select Files for Context is empty:** upload or import files into or first.
* **The AI misses a file:** add that file to context, then ask again.
* **You cannot find a file a teammate shared:** look under .
* **A file should stay visible only to you:** keep it in until you choose to share it.
## Next steps
* Read [Core concepts](/get-started/concepts) to learn Collivo terminology.
* Read [Chat basics](/ai-and-agents/chat-basics) to improve AI-assisted answers.
* Read [Organization setup](/get-started/organization-setup) before inviting a team.
* Read [Sharing and permissions](/sharing-and-security/sharing-permissions) before sharing project work.
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