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Selecting Files and Adding to Dossiers

The Select mode on the Search page is how you turn a search result into a Dossier — a thematic research folder that pulls items together from across the archive.

Entering select mode​

On the Search results page, click Select (top right of the result count strip). Each result card grows a checkbox.

  • Tick individual rows to add to the selection.
  • Select all at the top of the result list ticks every visible result.
  • Selection persists across pagination — page to the next set, your earlier ticks stay.

A toolbar appears at the bottom showing N items selected with three actions:

  • Add to Dossier
  • Add to Explore session (selects accessions for Research & Explore)
  • Cancel to exit select mode

Add to Dossier​

  1. Click Add to Dossier.
  2. The picker shows your existing dossiers — pick one to add to it.
  3. Or click + New Dossier to create a new dossier with the selected items as its starting content.
  4. Confirm.

The selected items are added; counts are shown in the dossier's N items label. Items that already exist in the target dossier are skipped (no duplicates).

You can keep searching with the selection cleared, or continue browsing without losing your selection by using the persistent toolbar to add more.

Add to Explore session​

  1. Click Add to Explore session.
  2. The new-exploration flow opens with the parent accessions of your selected items pre-populated.
  3. Configure the session (research context, question style) and start chatting.

This is useful when you've found a handful of relevant items via search and want to ask a question that spans them.

How many items can I select?​

Practical limits:

  • Dossier add — up to about 500 items in one go. Beyond that, paginate and add in batches.
  • Explore add — limited by your plan's context window. On Professional, ~1 million tokens of context across the selected accessions.

The platform will tell you if you've exceeded a limit before commit.

Tips​

  • Search first, select second. Use filters to narrow before turning on Select mode. Selecting from a 5,000-result list is unwieldy; selecting from a focused 200-result list is manageable.
  • Use authority pills to build precise dossiers. Filter by a specific subject heading (e.g. Derby County FC), select all, add to a dossier — you've now got every appearance of that subject in your archive in one place.
  • Don't worry about duplicates. Adding the same items to the same dossier twice is a no-op.