File upload availability and limits vary by plan. The key workflow is to label what came from your file versus what came from the web.
1. Attach the file and identify it
State the file name, version/date and why it is authoritative or relevant.
2. Decide whether the web should be used
For a closed-document task, tell Perplexity to answer only from the file. For a comparison, explicitly allow web sources.
3. Ask for file evidence first
Extract relevant sections, clauses, rows or statements before asking for broader interpretation.
4. Compare external evidence separately
When using the web, ask for a separate section that shows what external sources add, confirm or contradict.
5. Reconcile conflicts
If the file and web disagree, compare dates, definitions and authority instead of asking the model to silently choose one.
Use [file] as internal evidence. First extract the passages relevant to [question] with locations. Then, in a separate section, use current web sources to check whether any material fact has changed. Keep file evidence and web evidence separate.
Not telling the model whether web search is allowed; forgetting the file version; asking for a conclusion before extracting evidence; allowing current web facts to overwrite historical file context.
Finish check
The output should make it obvious which claims come from your file, which come from the web, and how conflicts were resolved.