> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ainomos.ch/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Import overview > Bring existing documents, rules and decision files into a room, and know what happens to each file. Most organisations already have policies, regulations, notes and decision records. The **Import** page brings them into a room. You drop the files, and Ainomos reads each one, sorts what it finds and files it where it belongs. An import never puts anything in force. Documents become knowledge that answers can cite. Rules, decisions and exceptions found in your files wait for the person who is responsible for them. ## What an import makes of your files The result of every import shows one column per kind of content. Each column appears only when the import found something of that kind. | What Ainomos finds | Column | Where it goes | When it takes effect | | - | - | - | - | | The text of a document | **For answers** | Searchable passages in **Documents** | At once. Answers can cite the document as soon as the import is done. | | A rule that a document states | **As rules** | A rule under **Rules**, marked **Pending approval** | When the room owner approves it. | | An exception that a document grants | **Exceptions** | An exception request in the **Inbox** of the rule's room owners | When an owner of the rule's room approves it, and only once the rule itself is in force. | | A decision file | **Decisions** | A draft under **Decisions** | When the decider for its type accepts it. | Documents are advisory knowledge. Answers cite them, but a document never becomes a rule by being imported. ## Documents or decision files There is no type to pick. Ainomos looks at the content of each file and decides what it is. * **Decision files** are Markdown files whose header names a decision type: ADR, BDR or SDR. Each one becomes a draft decision. See [Import decision files](https://docs.ainomos.ch/import/decision-files.md). * **Documents** are everything else: PDF, Word, Markdown and plain text files. Ainomos also reads them for rules and exceptions. See [Import documents](https://docs.ainomos.ch/import/documents.md). > [!TIP] > > If a decision file arrived as a document, its header names no decision type. Undo the import, add a type such as `type: ADR` to the header, and import the file again. ## Start an import Who can do this: room owners and curators of the room (a curator for the whole room, or for the room's own memory). A platform admin can import only where they hold one of these responsibilities. **1. Pick the room** Choose the room in the room picker at the top of the page. An import always goes into the room shown there. **2. Open the Import page** Open **Knowledge**, then **Import**. On the Knowledge overview you can also choose **Create**, then **Upload a file**. **3. Add the files** Drag your files onto **Drop any file to add it**, or choose **Choose files**. You can add up to 25 files of 20 MB each at a time. **4. Wait while Ainomos reads** A card beside the drop zone shows each file with its progress. The status moves from **Reading** to **Sorting** to **Filing**. **5. Check the result** The card ends as **Done**, **Done with notes** or **Failed**. Each column links to where its content went: **Open the documents**, **Review the rules**, **Review the drafts** or **Open the inbox**. Columns marked **To decide** wait for a person. The import runs on the server. You can leave the page, and the **Import history** shows how the import ended. People who may not import do not see **Import** in the navigation. If they open the page, they see that the room's owners and curators import files there, a **See who** link to the room's responsibilities, and the import history. ## Import history and undo The **Import history** lists every import into the room, newest first, with **When**, **Files**, **By**, **Added** and **Outcome**. Everyone who can open the page can read it. To take an import back, choose **Undo** on its row, then **Undo import**. Ainomos removes the documents the import added, restores the earlier version of documents it updated, and withdraws the rules, exception requests and decision drafts it filed. Who can do this: the same people who may import into the room. Undo works only while nothing from the import has been decided or changed. If a rule was approved, a draft accepted or a document edited since, Ainomos undoes nothing and lists what blocks it. ## Why imported content needs review Ainomos reads your files with machines. Text recognition misreads scans, and a model can miss a rule or describe it wrongly. That is why nothing that governs is put in force by an import: * **Rules** found in a document wait under **Rules** until the room owner approves them. The owner can also change the suggested strength. * **Decision drafts** wait until the decider for their type accepts them. * **Exception requests** wait in the Inbox of the owners of the rule's room. * **Documents** answer at once, so check them soon after the import, especially their validity dates. Answers quote a document only between its valid-from and valid-until dates. Every import writes an evidence record. ## Known limits * **Scan quality.** Scanned pages are read with text recognition, which makes mistakes. Check scanned documents against the original. * **Duplicates.** Ainomos recognises a file it imported before by its name or by the key in its header, and leaves it out when nothing changed. The same content under a different file name becomes a second document. * **A run that stops.** If the service restarts while an import is filing, the import ends as **Failed**. Import the files again: documents already in the room unchanged are left out. * **No model for the data class.** If no model is approved for the room's [data class](https://docs.ainomos.ch/privacy/data-classes.md), Ainomos still adds the documents but finds no rules, exceptions or document details in them. * **Maintenance.** While imports are paused for maintenance, the drop zone is disabled and says until when. [Import documents](https://docs.ainomos.ch/import/documents.md) explains each limit and how to fix a failed import. ## Try it first Under **Try it with samples**, choose **Look at the samples** to read a small set of files from a made-up software company, or **Add the samples to** your room to import them. Everything arrives marked Sample and waits for review. One **Undo** in the history removes it all again. Under **Your own document, from Word**, Ainomos offers a prompt that turns a Word policy into a form it reads best. Copy the prompt, paste it with your document into an AI tool your company allows, save each file it writes as `.md`, and drop the files on the card. ## Related * [Import documents](https://docs.ainomos.ch/import/documents.md) * [Import decision files](https://docs.ainomos.ch/import/decision-files.md) * [Data classes](https://docs.ainomos.ch/privacy/data-classes.md) * [Personal data](https://docs.ainomos.ch/privacy/personal-data.md) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.