Ask Easel to investigate a question, check the answer, and use follow-up questions to explore the evidence further. Your messages and Easel's responses stay together in a conversation that you can return to later.
Before you start
Sign in to the web app with access to Easel. Have your question and any required company names, period, or files ready. A Project is optional. If your account has a limited number of Easel sessions, check the fixed session allowance before sending; continuing an older conversation can use another session.
Ask your question
- Click Ask Easel in the left navigation. The landing screen shows a composer and Recent conversations.
- Enter your question. Include the companies, period, sources, and type of answer you need.
- Review any attached or referenced files before sending.
- Press Enter to send. Use Shift + Enter for a new line. You can also open the composer from elsewhere in the web app with Ctrl + Shift + E (⌘ ⇧ E on a Mac).
For a first request, choose one company and one available source: "Summarize the principal risks in [company]'s latest annual filing. State the filing date and cite the passages supporting each risk." Replace [company] with the company you intend to research. An unavailable source may require a different scope.
On pages with an Ask Easel box, the displayed company or item supplies context for that question. Returning to the page leaves the box ready for a new question; use View history to select an earlier conversation for that scope. A library-wide question and a question about one file have separate context.
Follow the research
The conversation shows Easel's current activity while it gathers information. Open the activity line to inspect its steps; once the answer starts, the line shows how long it thought. Citations and generated charts appear with the answer where available. Work can continue after you navigate away; return to the conversation to inspect its outcome.
Use Add files to attach another file or Reference a document (or @) to include an item from My Library. State how Easel should use it in your next question.
Check the answer
- Confirm that the answer covers the company, period, and question you intended.
- Open the available citations and check material figures, quotations, and conclusions against the source.
- Ask a follow-up question to clarify gaps or narrow the analysis. If a required source was unavailable, resolve that gap before relying on the conclusion.
To keep a copy outside Portrait, see Save and export Easel work.
Continue a conversation
Open Ask Easel and select a saved conversation under Recent conversations, or open its saved link. Read the latest messages before sending another question, and update any companies, period, or instructions that have changed.
Reading a saved conversation does not use another session from a fixed allowance. Sending a new question after Easel has become inactive does, as explained below.
Fixed session allowance
Some beta accounts have a fixed number of Easel sessions. For this allowance, a session is a period of active work in Easel. The same saved conversation can span several sessions if you return to it after Easel has become inactive. These rules apply to web and iOS:
| What you do | Effect on the session allowance |
|---|---|
| Open Easel or read a saved conversation without sending an accepted research request | No unit used |
| Send the first research request Portrait accepts in a new conversation | One unit used |
| Send the first accepted research request after returning to an inactive conversation | One unit used, even though the conversation is the same |
| Continue while the Easel session is still active | No additional session unit used |
| Delete a conversation | No units restored |
The allowance does not reset. The footer can show remaining Easel sessions, Normal included-credit usage, or both, depending on your account. Use View all usage or Settings → Usage to review additional limits.
The footer's context window indicator describes how much conversation Easel can work with at once. It is separate from your session allowance and included-credit usage. During long conversations, Easel may summarize earlier messages to make room for further work.
Stop or remove work
To stop Easel while it is working, press Esc in the composer, then press Esc again while the stop confirmation is visible. Check that the work has stopped before sending a replacement request. Closing the browser tab does not confirm that Easel has stopped.
To remove saved history, delete the conversation from Recent conversations. Portrait asks for confirmation; deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. Stopping the current response leaves the conversation available to read.
If something fails
- If Ask Easel is absent, confirm that you are signed in to the intended Portrait account and use Troubleshoot access and missing options.
- If a saved conversation is missing, confirm that you are using the account and organization where you created it. Try its saved link before starting again or contacting support.
- If Portrait reports the message limit for the current Easel session, a new conversation gives you a fresh message limit. Continuing this conversation after it becomes inactive also gives you a fresh message limit. Either option uses another session from a fixed allowance when the next research request is accepted. Waiting or deleting history does not restore that allowance.
- If no Easel sessions remain, you can still read saved conversations. Request full Easel access or contact the team to continue asking questions.
- If the interface reports a usage or concurrency limit, check Settings → Usage in the web app before retrying.
- If Portrait reports Live updates are blocked on your network, your network is holding back Easel's live progress. Easel keeps working on a question you have sent: leave the page open and the answer appears when Portrait next checks, about every 30 seconds, although live activity may not appear. Otherwise, reload the page to see the latest. Do not resend the question while you wait. If this recurs on the same network, contact the team with the time it happened.
- If Open Chat is offered after your Easel trial ends, use it to ask follow-up questions in that report's Chat. It does not restore access to send messages in the Easel conversation.
Up next
Research, Documents & Market Data
See the sources Easel draws on and how it pulls them into an investigation.