Collections

Collections are how Insight organizes your documents. Think of them as folders—each collection holds a set of related documents with its own search and sharing settings.

Creating a Collection

Click New Collection and give it a name. You might organize by:

• Investigation (e.g., “City Hall Contracts”)
• Beat (e.g., “Climate”, “Housing”)
• Source type (e.g., “Court Documents”, “FOIA Responses”)

Adding Documents

Drag and drop PDF files into a collection, or click Add Files.

When you add a document, Insight:

1. Extracts the text so the AI can read it
2. Prepares it for searching
3. Stores everything locally on your computer

Sharing with Colleagues

You can share collections directly with other Insight users—no cloud upload required.

To Share

1. Open the collection
2. Click Share
3. Send the generated link to your colleague

To Join

1. Click Join Collection
2. Paste the link you received
3. Documents will copy to your computer automatically

Once synced, you both have full copies. You can work offline and still access everything.

Revoking Access

Insight uses capability-based sharing—when you share a collection, you give someone a cryptographic key that grants access. This has an important implication:

You cannot revoke access once shared.

Once someone has the key:

• They keep any documents already synced to their computer
• They can continue syncing with other peers who have the collection
• There’s no central server that can block their access

This is a fundamental tradeoff of decentralized systems: you get privacy and no single point of failure, but you lose centralized control.

If you need to stop sharing with someone:

1. Create a new collection
2. Copy the documents you want to keep sharing
3. Share the new collection only with trusted colleagues
4. Stop using the old collection

For sensitive material, consider who truly needs access before sharing. Once shared, assume the recipient has permanent access to everything in that collection.