Source

Sources are the materials NotePie uses when it answers, explains, and generates outputs. When you collect files, URLs, text, web search results, and deep research reports in a notebook, NotePie uses that source scope for chat answers and generated content.

Materials you can add directly

Search and collection methods

When you do not already have the material, or when you need to choose web material carefully, you can start searching and collecting inside NotePie. Each method covers a different scope and produces a different kind of source.

Web search

Web search finds candidate URLs from a topic or keyword. It works best when you want to add only the results that match your current question or output goal.

• Use it to gather relevant source candidates quickly.
• Use it when you want to compare articles, blogs, or documents from multiple viewpoints.
• After selecting results, you can add them as sources and use them in chat or generation.

Crawl preview

Crawl preview lets you inspect pages under one site and add only the pages you need. It is useful when adding a single URL is too narrow, but adding an entire site would be too broad.

• Use it for product docs, help centers, blogs, or other multi-page sites.
• Exclude irrelevant pages before they become part of the source set.
• After selecting pages, review their processing status and use them for chat or generation.

Deep research

Deep research explores a broader set of material from a research direction or question and turns the result into a research report. Once the report is created, you can use it as a source alongside files, URLs, and text in the notebook.

• Use it for broad topics such as market research, technical comparison, or concept mapping.
• Add a synthesized research report rather than a list of URLs.
• Combine it with internal documents or hand-picked URLs when generating briefings, slides, or reports.

Source readiness state

After a source is added, it can appear as pending, processing, ready, or error.

• pending: NotePie is waiting to process the source.
• processing: NotePie is extracting text, crawling, embedding, or otherwise preparing the source.
• ready: The source can be used for chat and generation.
• error: Processing failed. Review the file type, URL access, or extracted content, then retry when appropriate.

Managing source scope

NotePie produces results within the scope of the selected sources. Even on the same topic, summaries, answers, and generated outputs can change depending on which documents are included.

If the result is not useful enough, adjust the source scope before asking or generating again.

• Add missing material through file upload, URL, web search, or deep research.
• Exclude sources that are not relevant to the current question.
• Replace outdated or inaccurate material with better sources.
• Before generating an output, check that the sources you want to use are ready.