AutessaDB Drive

A Drive is an AutessaDB table built for files and folders. You get a real file explorer with folder upload, previews, versions, and trash; every document is extracted so you can search its words or its exact text (or its meaning, once semantic search is turned on); and sharing works the way it does in Google Drive. Agents get the same view through a small set of tools (list, find, grep, read, search), so they can find the right page of the right file and cite it.

What it's for

• A company document store. Contracts, policies, reports, scanned forms, and exports, organized in folders and shared with the people and teams who need them.
• Grounding agents on documents. An agent bound to a Drive can browse folders, grep for an exact clause, run a ranked search for a topic, and read the matching page before it quotes it. Answers come back with locators such as /Contracts/acme-msa.pdf p.4 L.12.
• File intake for apps and pipelines. Custom apps, scripts, and the CLI upload into the same folders you browse by hand, and table triggers fire on every new or changed file.

A Drive is different from a knowledge base. A knowledge base is a flat table of files indexed for semantic search; a Drive has real folders, line- and page-level text search, versions, trash, per-folder sharing, and a file explorer instead of the row grid.

Navigating here

From the dashboard sidebar, open AutessaDB → Drive. If your company has one Drive it opens directly; otherwise you land on the tables list filtered to Drives. To create one, open AutessaDB → Tables, click New, and choose Drive.

The explorer has three parts:

• Folder tree on the left. Its top entry is the Drive itself (named after the Drive), followed by Shared with me and Trash, with a storage meter at the bottom.
• File list in the center, with breadcrumbs, a toolbar (a New menu for folders, documents, and uploads), a search box, a list or grid toggle, and sort options.
• Quick look (press Space on a file) shows a thumbnail, details, and an Open button. Opening a file (double-click or Enter) goes to the full-page viewer described below.

The header carries Share (add Drive members) and Settings.

Key concepts

Files, folders, and paths

Every item has a path such as /Finance/2026/q1-report.pdf. Folders are real items: they can be empty, shared, moved, and trashed. Names are unique within a folder regardless of case, so Report.pdf and report.pdf cannot sit side by side. A path can be up to 64 folders deep, and each name can be up to 255 bytes.

Under the hood each file or folder is a row, so you can add your own columns (a client ID, a tag, a status) and use them in triggers. The Drive's built-in columns (path, name, file, size_bytes, version, and the rest) are managed for you and cannot be removed or retyped.

Who can see a Drive

A new Drive is empty and private: only the person who created it and its Drive admins can see it. There are no folders until you create or upload some, and you organize it however you like.

Opening a Drive up takes two steps, because sharing the Drive and sharing what is in it are separate:

1. Add members. Share the Drive itself from the Share button in the Drive's header. Pick people, teams, or Anyone at your company, as Viewer or Editor. Members see the Drive in their list and can open it, but they don't see any folder or file in it yet. An Editor member can also add folders and files at the top level of the Drive; they own what they add.
2. Share folders and files. Share each folder or file from inside the Drive. Folders and files never inherit the Drive's members: each one is visible only to the people it is shared with (and, for a folder, everything in it). To show a folder to the whole team in one step, use Share with drive members in its Share dialog.

A member who opens a Drive where nothing is shared with them yet sees "You're a member of this drive. Folders and files appear here once they're shared with you."

Who	What they see
The Drive's creator and Drive admins	Everything in the Drive. Drive admins are listed in Settings.
Members	The Drive in their list, plus the folders and files shared with them and anything they added themselves.
People with access to some items	Only those items, under Shared with me. The Drive also appears in their list.
Everyone else in your company	Nothing. The Drive does not appear in their list of Drives.

Extraction and search readiness

After a file uploads, its text is extracted in the background. Text, code, CSV, JSON, Markdown, and similar files keep their real line numbers. PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, and presentations are extracted page by page, so results point at a page and a line on that page. A small dot next to each file shows its status:

Status	Meaning
Processing	Extraction or indexing is still running. The file can be previewed and downloaded but may not appear in search yet.
Searchable	The file's text is ready for search.
Some pages aren't searchable	Some scanned pages couldn't be read, so they have no searchable text. The preview lists those pages.
Not searchable	The format has no extractable text (for example, a ZIP archive), extraction failed, or the file is too large to index fully. The first part of a very large file stays searchable.

Identical files are extracted only once, even if they are uploaded to several folders.

Scanned pages

Scanned PDFs and images are read with OCR (optical character recognition) during extraction, so their text is searchable as soon as the file is. A page OCR reads with low confidence, such as handwriting or a poor scan, keeps the text OCR found: it is searchable, and the preview flags it as read with low confidence ("Unclear pages are kept as read"). A page with no readable text at all is listed as not searchable. OCR'd pages count toward the Drive's monthly extracted-pages allowance like any other extracted page; they are not billed as AI tasks.

In the Drive's Settings, under Scanned documents, set the OCR language as a language code, such as eng for English, or several joined with +, such as eng+fra.

Versions and trash

Uploading a file over an existing one with Replace keeps the old content as a previous version. Open a file's details to see its versions and restore one. The newest 10 versions are kept by default.

Deleting moves items to Trash, where they stay for 30 days by default. Restoring puts them back at their original path (with a numbered name if something new now occupies it). Empty trash deletes permanently. Version and trash retention follow your plan's usage limits.

Storage

Each company has a Drive storage allowance and a per-file size limit, shown in the storage meter under the folder tree. Uploads reserve space up front, so an upload that would exceed the allowance is refused before any bytes are sent. See Usage Limits.

Sharing

Sharing in a Drive has two levels. Sharing the Drive makes people members: it puts the Drive in their list and decides whether they can add items at the top level. Sharing a folder or file gives access to that item. Membership never gives access to an item by itself.

What you can share, and with whom

You can add members to the Drive, or share any folder or any file, with:

• People in your company.
• Teams. Everyone on the team gets access, and people who join the team later get it too.
• Anyone at your company, as one entry.
• A link (see Share by link).

Each share has a role:

Role	On a folder or file	As a Drive member
Viewer	Open, preview, download, and search the item.	See the Drive and browse what is shared with them.
Commenter	Everything a Viewer can do, plus add and reply to comments.	See the Drive, browse what is shared with them, and comment on it.
Editor	Everything a Viewer can do, plus upload, create folders, rename, move, trash and restore, and edit your custom columns.	Also add folders and files at the top level. They own what they add, and nobody else sees it until they share it.

The person who created an item is its Owner. Owners and Drive managers can share. Editors can also share, up to the Editor role, when Editors can share is on in the Drive's settings (it is on by default, as in Google Drive). Nobody can give a role higher than their own.

Inheritance

Sharing a folder shares everything inside it, including subfolders and files added later. Drive membership does not flow down: members see a folder or file only when it is shared with them. Access only flows down: sharing /Finance/2026 does not reveal /Finance or its other folders. A person who has access to a shared folder sees it under Shared with me and browses from there.

When someone has access to an item through more than one share (say, Viewer on a folder through their team and Editor on a file inside it directly), the stronger role wins.

Moving changes access

Because access follows folders, moving an item changes who can see it, exactly as in Google Drive:

• Moving into a shared folder gives the item that folder's access.
• Moving out of a shared folder removes the access it inherited from there.
• Shares made directly on the item travel with it.

Before a move that would change access, the explorer shows a confirmation listing who will gain and who will lose access. Moving requires Editor on the item and Editor on the destination folder. A folder containing items you cannot see cannot be moved by you; ask an Owner or a Drive manager.

Who has access

The Share dialog of a folder or file lists everyone who can reach the item: the owner, Drive managers, direct shares, and shares inherited from a folder above, with that folder (for example, "Finance team · Editor · via /Finance"). Remove an inherited share at the folder it comes from.

Drive members are not listed there, because membership doesn't give access to the item. When only the owner can see an item, the dialog says Drive members don't automatically see this item. The Drive's own Share dialog lists its members in one line (for example, "Members: Atlas Core (Editor), Anyone at Acme (Viewer)").

Search respects access

Search, exact-text search, and agent tools only ever return files the person (or the agent's acting identity) can open. A file that was shared with you and later unshared stops appearing immediately.

How to create a Drive

1. Go to AutessaDB → Tables, click New, and choose Drive.
2. Name the Drive and add a description.
3. Optionally add Drive admins, who can see and manage everything in it.
4. Click Create. You land in the new, empty Drive. It is private to you (and any Drive admins) until you share it; use Upload to add files or Share drive to add your team as members, then share the folders they should see.

How to upload files and folders

1. Open the folder you want to upload into.
2. Drag files or whole folders from your computer onto the file list, or use Upload files / Upload folder in the toolbar. Folder uploads recreate the folder structure.
3. If a name already exists, choose Keep both (adds a number to the new file's name) or Replace (saves the old content as a version). Tick Apply to all to use the same choice for the rest of the batch.
4. Watch progress in the upload panel. You can cancel individual files; closing the tab warns you while uploads are still running.

Large files upload in parts and resume automatically after brief network interruptions.

How to create a new document

Open the New menu in the toolbar and pick Word document, Spreadsheet, Slide deck, or Text document. The file is created in the current folder with a placeholder name you can change on the spot, and it opens straight in its editor. New text documents are Markdown files that open as rich text, so you can write headings, lists, tables, and links without touching any syntax. Everything created this way is a normal file: it has versions, can be shared, and is found by search once its text is extracted.

How to view and edit files

Opening a file takes you to a full-page viewer with a calm top bar: back to the folder, the file name (click to rename), a version badge with history, Edit, Share, Download, a Details panel, and a Comments panel. Download saves the file under the name you see in the Drive, never an internal identifier. Use the arrow keys to move between files in the folder, Esc to go back, and F for full screen.

File type	What you get
Word documents (.docx)	Real pages as Word lays them out: styles, lists, tables, images, headers and footers, footnotes, landscape sections. Edit gives a Word-style toolbar (styles, fonts, bold/italic, colors, lists, tables, pictures, links, page breaks), find, and Track changes with accept and reject. Saving keeps everything you did not touch exactly as it was, including parts that are shown but not yet editable: equations, content controls, charts, text boxes, headers and footers.
Spreadsheets (.xlsx) and CSV	An editable grid with the file's fonts, colors, fills, borders, number formats, merged cells, frozen panes, and sheet tabs. Formulas recalculate as you type, including spilling array formulas. Saving keeps formatting, charts, pictures, conditional formatting, and data validations; chart sheets, slicers, and form controls are not kept, and the editor says so. Legacy .xls files can be downloaded but not opened.
PDFs	A reader with page thumbnails, zoom, selectable text, and in-document search.
Images	A lightbox with fit, 1:1, rotate, zoom, and a filmstrip of the folder's images.
Markdown and plain text (.md, .txt)	Markdown opens as a rich-text document by default, with headings, lists, tables, links, and pictures shown and edited as formatted text; switch to Source to see or edit the raw Markdown, or Split to see both. Plain text opens in a simple editor. Both support live co-editing.
JSON, CSV, and code	A code editor with syntax highlighting. These files also support live co-editing.
Audio and video	Players in the app.
Presentations (.pptx, .ppsx)	A slide viewer with a slide sorter, present mode (F or F5, arrow keys, swipe), speaker notes, and zoom. Edit lets you move, resize, add and delete shapes and text boxes, edit text in place with a formatting toolbar, insert pictures, and add, duplicate, reorder, and delete slides using the deck's own layouts, with undo and redo. Saving rewrites only the slides you changed, so everything else in the file stays exactly as it was. Tables and grouped shapes display but cannot be edited yet; charts without a stored picture show a placeholder; animations are kept but not played. Legacy .ppt files can be downloaded but not opened.
ZIP archives up to 50 MB	Browse the folders and files inside without downloading: sizes, dates, a name search, the folder tree, breadcrumbs, and arrow keys. Text, code, Markdown, images, PDFs, Word and Excel files, CSVs, and media open right inside the archive, and any entry can be downloaded on its own. Larger or password-protected archives can be downloaded.
Legacy Word (.doc, .rtf)	The extracted text plus Download.

Every save creates a new version; open Details to see history and restore an earlier one. If someone else saved while you were editing, the viewer offers to reload or save your copy as a new file.

How to find something

The search box has three modes:

Mode	Use it for
Search	A few words about what you need ("termination for convenience", "Q1 budget approval"). Files that contain more of your words rank first, then files with more matches, earlier pages, and matching names. Common words such as "the" are ignored.
Exact text	A specific string, clause number, or ID. Optionally Match case.
File name	Names and patterns such as *.pdf or invoice-2026-*.

Results are grouped by file with highlighted snippets and their page and line. Click a snippet to open the preview at that page. Use the scope chip to search the current folder only or the whole Drive.

Semantic search

By default, Search ranks files by the words they contain. To also match meaning (so "cancel the contract early" finds "termination for convenience"), a Drive owner or admin can turn on Semantic search in the Drive's Settings, under Search. The first mode in the search box is then labeled Smart, and it combines meaning-based and keyword ranking.

• Semantic search indexes each file's text with an embedding model. Turning it on indexes the files already in the Drive in the background; until a file is indexed, it is found by its words.
• Turning it off stops indexing and removes the index. Search goes back to ranking by words.
• Semantic searches count toward your company's semantic search limits.

How to add members to a Drive

1. Open the Drive and click Share in the header.
2. Under Add members, search for a person or team, pick Viewer or Editor, and click Share. To add everyone in your company, use the Anyone at your company row.
3. Members now see the Drive in their list of Drives, but none of its folders or files. Share the folders they need next (see Share a folder with every member).
4. To change or remove a member, use the role menu next to their name.

From the CLI, / means the Drive itself:

autessa drive share / --team Finance --role editor
autessa drive share / --company --role viewer

How to share a folder with every member

This is the usual way to give a team a shared folder.

1. Select the folder and click Share (or right-click and choose Share).
2. In the Drive members row, pick Viewer or Editor and click Share with drive members.
3. Every current member gets their own share on the folder, so you can later remove one member without affecting the others. People who become members later don't get the folder automatically; share it with them, or use Share with drive members again.

From the CLI:

autessa drive share Finance --members --role viewer

How to share a file or folder

1. Select the item and click Share (or right-click and choose Share).
2. Under People and teams, search for a person or team, pick Viewer or Editor, and click Share. To share with everyone in your company, use the Anyone at your company row.
3. Review Who has access to confirm the result, including inherited access.
4. To change or remove someone's access, use the role menu next to their name.

How to share by link

1. In the Share dialog, open Link sharing and click Create link.
2. Choose who the link works for: Anyone with the link, or Only people at your company (they must be signed in).
3. Choose whether link visitors can download files, and optionally set an expiry date.
4. Copy the link. Revoking it from the same section stops it working immediately.

A link on a folder opens a read-only view of that folder and everything under it. A link on the Drive itself (from the Drive's Share dialog) opens a read-only view of everything in the Drive. Links keep working if the item is moved or renamed, and stop working if it is trashed.

How to comment on a file

Open a file and press C, or click Comments in the top bar. Select text in a document, a page range in a PDF, cells in a spreadsheet, or nothing at all to comment on the whole file, then write your note. Comments are threaded: reply, resolve when done, and show resolved threads again any time. Each comment shows an excerpt of exactly what was selected, and that selection stays highlighted in the document for everyone who can see the comment. Clicking a comment jumps to the place it refers to, and clicking a highlight opens its thread. Comment counts show in the file's details and as a badge in the folder list.

Commenting needs the Commenter role or higher on the item. Authors can edit and delete their own comments; Editors and owners can resolve any thread; Drive managers can delete any comment. Agents can read and leave comments too, with the same locators, so a review note from an agent lands on the right page.

Comments stay with the file across versions. When a new version changes the text a comment pointed at, the comment moves to where that text now sits, or is marked as needing a look if the text is gone.

Editing together in real time

Text, Markdown, and CSV files up to 2 MB open as live documents: when two people edit the same file, each sees the other's changes and named cursor as they type, and changes merge without anyone losing work. Saves happen automatically after a short pause and create a new version, marked as a live save in the version history. Viewers and Commenters can watch a live session but not type. If live collaboration is unavailable, the editor falls back to the usual edit-and-save flow and says so.

Word documents and spreadsheets open in their own editors; live co-editing for them is coming next.

How to move, rename, and delete

• Rename: select an item and press F2, or right-click and choose Rename.
• Move: drag items onto a folder in the list, the tree, or the breadcrumbs, or use Move to from the right-click menu. Confirm the access change if one is shown.
• Delete: press Delete or choose Move to trash. An Undo toast appears for a few seconds. Restore later from Trash.

Keyboard shortcuts: Enter opens, Backspace goes up a folder, Space previews, Ctrl+A selects all, / focuses search, and Esc clears the selection.

How to work with files from the CLI

The autessa CLI has short, shell-like commands for Drives. Pick the Drive once, then use paths relative to the Drive root:

autessa drive use Docs                          # remember the Drive; 'autessa drive use' lists yours
autessa drive touch notes/memory.md             # create an empty file
autessa drive write notes/memory.md "# Memory"  # create or replace a text file
echo "- Acme prefers Net 45" | autessa drive append notes/memory.md
autessa drive edit notes/memory.md --old "Net 45" --new "Net 60"
autessa drive cat notes/memory.md               # print the whole file
autessa drive grep "Net 60" notes/              # path:page:line: text
autessa drive push ./reports reports/2026       # upload a local folder
autessa drive pull reports ./backup             # download a Drive folder

write, append and edit work on text files up to 5 MB, and every change is a new version you can see and restore in the preview's Version history. The new text is searchable right away. Run autessa drive for the full list.

How to give an agent access to a Drive

1. Create a tool of type AUTESSADB_DRIVE for the Drive, or pick the Drive as a Search agent's Knowledge Base Table.
2. Optionally set a folder scope (for example /Legal) so the agent can only see that part of the Drive, even if its identity could see more.
3. The agent receives narrow tools for listing, finding, grepping, reading, searching, and fetching files. It uses search for concepts, grep for exact strings, and reads the page or line range before quoting, citing results as path p.N L.M. To look at a photo, chart, or scanned page itself, it fetches the file with view on.

Agents writing files

Drive-bound agents can also write: create and replace text files, append to them, make exact edits, create folders, and move or trash items. Writing needs Editor access on the folder for the person the agent acts for. An agent running on its own (no person) acts as your company, so give its tools a folder scope.

A common pattern is a memory file: one text file the agent keeps across conversations, in a folder it creates for itself, such as /agent-memory/notes.md. Writing a file creates any missing folders on the way.

1. At the start of a task, the agent reads the file.
2. When it learns something worth keeping, it appends a line (drive_write with mode: append). Appending never overwrites, and two runs can append at the same time.
3. When a fact changes, it edits that line with the exact old text (drive_edit), then reads the file again to check.

Every write is a new version, so you can see what the agent changed and restore an earlier version from the preview's Version history.

An agent acting for a user sees exactly what that user can see. See Agents and Tools.

Related

• AutessaDB Tables
• AutessaDB Triggers
• Analytics tables
• Drive API
• Drive tool type
• Drive commands in the CLI
• autessa.autessadb SDK