> For the complete user guide index, see [llms.txt](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/llms.txt). # Select Deep Research companies and sources [Canonical page](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/research/select-companies-and-sources/) ## Applicability - **Task:** Set companies, sources, and period for a Deep Research run - **Access:** Portrait account; Normal usage and concurrency limits may apply - **Audience:** Portrait users running Deep Research - **Surfaces:** web - **Availability:** Production - **Content type:** how-to - **Last reviewed:** 2026-09-22 The company universe, selected Portrait document categories, selected Project documents, and period define the submitted documentary scope. The run can also use financial data and supported private context described below. Selecting only earnings transcripts, for example, does not establish that the report will use no financial data or company-associated notes. Availability depends on firm entitlements, provider coverage, and the selected scope. 1. Select companies manually or use **Help me choose** and review its proposal. 2. Set the coverage period. 3. Select supported Portrait sources and any processed Project documents. 4. Review any Project Research instructions and the selected companies' associations to My Library notes and uploads. 5. Check that saved attachments remain available, then restate the scope before starting the run. ## Select companies Portrait offers two ways to choose: ### Search for companies or tickers Search by company name or ticker, then add the intended companies to the run. ### Use Help me choose Describe the type of companies you need. Portrait proposes an editable list; review every name and remove those outside the intended universe. ## Select sources and period Choose from the supported documents available to the account. Document availability and ingestion latency vary by provider; the selector is not a guarantee of complete or immediate coverage. ### Portrait and external sources Select the filing, transcript, presentation, expert-call, news, or web categories required by the question. Expert-call and other licensed content depends on the firm's entitlement. Podcast transcripts are available by default unless explicitly disabled for your account; select them when relevant; the coverage period then filters episodes by publication date, so a period with no published episodes returns none rather than the nearest ones. ### Project documents Upload your own documents to a Project, wait for processing to complete, and select only the items intended for this run. When the run belongs to a Project, that Project's **Research instructions** apply automatically. Those instructions do not govern an Easel session merely associated with the Project. ### Company-associated My Library content Deep Research automatically looks for the latest version of your My Library notes and uploads associated with any selected company. It can use that version only when its extracted text is ready for research. If that text is unavailable, the item can be omitted; Portrait does not use an older version instead. Remove an unintended company association before running; selecting no Project documents does not exclude this company-associated context. ### Financial context Deep Research can use supported financial data for selected companies, including market data and, where available, Visible Alpha estimates. These paths are separate from the document-category selector. Their use depends on the question, available data, and account access; a run does not necessarily consult every provider. Review the report's financial sources as well as its documentary citations. ## Document-volume limit A request is refused before it starts if more than **1,500 matching Portrait corpus documents** fall within the selected companies, document types, and publication period. The count is combined across the companies in that one request, not a separate allowance for each company. **News is excluded from this count**; it is not a combined cap on news, web results, My Library attachments, and financial data. If Portrait asks you to refine document filters, reduce the company set, document types, or period and check the scope again. This document-volume refusal is separate from a usage or concurrency refusal. Passing the count check does not guarantee that every matching document will contribute to the report. ## Saved attachments can become unavailable A saved prompt can refer to a document that has been deleted or whose sharing has been revoked. Unavailable attachments are omitted when the request is submitted; the remaining request can still proceed. A completed report therefore does not prove that every saved attachment was read. If all attached documents have become unavailable and no document categories or web sources were requested, Portrait refuses the request and asks for refreshed sources. Reopen the source selection and replace or remove stale attachments before trying again. If an expected attachment is missing from a completed report, verify access and inspect its supporting evidence before relying on the result. ## Verify and troubleshoot Before running, restate the company list, period, source categories, selected Project documents, Project Research instructions, and company-associated My Library items. If a source is absent, confirm entitlement and processing state. If **Help me choose** proposes an unsuitable company, use manual selection. After the report completes, check the title, Appendix, and source attribution against the intended scope, including any financial context. Missing evidence is not proof that the underlying event or fact does not exist. For a request that will not start or a run whose progress stops updating, see [Deep Research status and recovery](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/research/research-status-and-recovery/).