Archivist

Archivist is a free desktop application that lets you have AI-powered conversations with your own documents — entirely on your computer, with nothing uploaded to the cloud.

You give it your files. It reads and organizes them. Then you ask questions in plain English and get answers drawn directly from your documents, with references back to the source material.

Why Archivist?

You probably have documents scattered across folders — contracts, reports, meeting notes, research papers, project files. When you need to find something specific, you're left digging through files one by one, skimming pages, and trying to remember where you read that one detail.

Archivist changes that. Once your documents are loaded in, you can simply ask:

• "What were the payment terms in the vendor agreement?"
• "Summarize the key findings from last quarter's reports."
• "What did the committee recommend about the budget?"
• "Which of these research papers mention gene therapy side effects?"

And get an answer in seconds — pulled directly from your documents, not made up from the internet.

Organize by project, search with precision

Most AI chat tools treat all your information as one big pile. Archivist lets you group documents into file sets — like folders within the app — so you can ask questions against exactly the files that matter.

Working on a legal case? Create a file set with just those contracts and correspondence. Studying for an exam? Group your textbook chapters and lecture notes together. When you ask a question, Archivist searches only where you tell it to, so answers stay relevant and focused.

Your documents stay on your computer

Archivist runs completely on your machine. Your files are never uploaded to any server, never sent to any AI company, and never used to train anyone's model. The AI itself runs locally too — no internet connection required after the initial setup.

This makes it suitable for sensitive material: financial records, legal documents, medical files, proprietary business information, student work — anything you wouldn't want leaving your desk.

Free to use

The base version of Archivist is completely free and fully functional. It comes with a capable AI model that handles everyday document questions well. If you want to use larger or more specialized AI models, an optional paid license unlocks that ability — but the free version has no time limits, no usage caps, and no watermarks.

You stay in control

Archivist doesn't make decisions for you behind the scenes. You choose:

• Which documents to include
• How to organize them into file sets
• How the AI breaks your documents into searchable passages
• How many passages the AI considers when answering
• How strictly answers must match your question

If an answer cites a specific document, you can click through to see exactly what passage it came from and verify it yourself. Nothing is a black box.

More Than a Chat Tool

Archivist isn't just for asking questions. It's a set of document utility tools that work together — and each one is useful on its own.

Free Document Conversion — Convert PDFs, Word files, spreadsheets, and 50+ other formats to clean text. Works offline, no file size limits, no cost. Use the converted text in Archivist or anywhere else.

Voice-Powered Search — Speak your questions instead of typing. The speech-to-text model runs locally — no audio leaves your computer.

Smart File Organization — Group documents into file sets with flexible tags. A single passage can belong to multiple sets, and you can reorganize at any time without re-uploading.

No Lock-In — Your data is stored in a standard SQLite database. Export passages as CSV, copy the database file, or browse it with external tools. Everything you build in Archivist is yours to take anywhere.

Easy Local AI Testing — One installer, no coding required. See how fast local AI runs on your hardware with real-time performance metrics. The simplest way to try local AI on Windows.

How It Works (The Short Version)

Using Archivist is a three-step process:

1. Prepare — Convert your documents (PDFs, Word files, spreadsheets, and more) into clean text that the AI can read.
2. Upload — Load that text into Archivist's database, where it gets broken into searchable passages and organized into file sets.
3. Ask — Open the chat, select which files or file sets to search, and start asking questions.

That's the core workflow. The rest of this guide walks you through each step in detail.

What's in This Guide

Getting Started

Guide	What you'll learn
Getting Started	Installing Archivist and downloading the AI models

Using the App

Guide	What you'll learn
Asking Questions	Using the chat to get answers from your documents
Preparing Documents	Converting files to text before uploading
Uploading Documents	Loading documents into the database with file sets
Managing Your Library	Viewing, filtering, and deleting documents
Inspecting Your Data	Viewing individual passages, editing tags, exporting
AI Settings	Tuning the AI's behavior and search settings
Licensing	Unlocking premium features

Feature Spotlights

Guide	What you'll learn
Free Document Conversion	Using the text extraction tool as a standalone utility
Voice-Powered Search	Speaking questions to search your documents
Smart File Organization	Mastering file sets for precise, project-based search
No Lock-In	Exporting your data and using it anywhere
Easy Local AI Testing	Testing local AI performance on your hardware

Guides

Guide	What you'll learn
Understanding AI Responses	How the AI finds answers, why it sometimes misses, and how to get better results

Reference

Guide	What you'll learn
FAQ	Common questions answered
Troubleshooting	Fixing common issues