All pages

Control the assistant

Turn the assistant off for the company, choose which data it can read, and give it standing instructions.

On this page

Open the Scout settings

Click Admin in the sidebar. Click Scout.

Turn it off, or limit its sources

Tick Turn off all AI features to block every call for the whole company. Untick it to turn them back on.

Under Data sources, tick only the sources the assistant may read. An unticked source is never sent.

Reading from these sources is paused at the moment, and the tab says so above them. Replies are written without them until it restarts. What you tick is kept, so you do not have to set it again.

AI safety

Data sources

Only enabled sources are embedded and retrievable by Scout. Connect WhatsApp/Microsoft Teams under their own admin tabs first.

Reading from these sources is paused, so replies are written without them. What you choose here is kept and applies again when it restarts.

Custom instructions

e.g. "Always refer to clients as 'members'." or "Never suggest legal advice, only administrative next steps."

Give it standing instructions

Type under Custom instructions. The assistant follows them in every chat and in the Teams and WhatsApp bots.

Set a Monthly token cap to limit spend. Point it at a Self-hosted model to keep data on your own server.

Scout may suggest a line for these instructions when you tell it how your company works ("we call jobs works", "always quote ex GST"). Its card reads Remember this for every conversation? An admin clicks Add to Scout's instructions to add the line, and nothing changes before that. Anybody else sees An admin adds this in Admin, Scout.

Top up when Scout pauses

Every month includes free tokens. Above Ask Scout the bar shows how many you have used, your AI credit, and Top up. Past the free tokens, Scout and the other AI features are paid from your AI credit, at US$5.00 for each 1,000,000 tokens. The same credit pays for Ask Claude.

Click Top up, choose US$20.00, US$50.00 or US$100.00, and pay with the card on file in one click, or click Use another card. The credit is added a moment after the payment goes through, does not expire, and the tax invoice is under Billing.

When the free tokens and the credit are both used up, the chat says so and shows the same Add buttons right there. Pay, and press send again: what you typed is still in the box.

To never run out, tick Top up automatically under the Add buttons, then choose how much to add and when the credit falls under. It is charged to the card your plan is paid with. If a charge fails, the card says why, and nothing is charged again until you change the setting or top up by hand.

Admins can top up and turn on automatic top-up, and so can anybody an admin gives Top up AI credit under Admin, then Permissions. Anybody else is told who can. Nothing is ever billed past your credit: when it is used up, Scout waits for a top up.

Choose Scout's model

Under the box where you type to Scout, choose Standard or Thorough. The right-click box on a widget has the same choice, and Scout remembers yours on every device.

Standard is fast and is what your free monthly tokens cover. Past them it takes US$5.00 of AI credit for each 1,000,000 tokens.

Thorough is slower and more careful, and reads pictures. It is paid from AI credit from its first token, at US$20.00 for each 1,000,000 tokens, and the free tokens never cover it. Point at either for its price.

If the credit is used up while Thorough is chosen, the chat says so. Switch to Standard to carry on with your free tokens, or top up.

Rate a reply

Each finished reply in Ask Scout has a thumbs up and a thumbs down button. Click one to rate the reply. Click the same one again to remove your rating.

A thumbs down opens What should Scout have done? Write what you expected, then click Send, or click Skip.

Each person's rating is their own, including in a conversation shared with the company. We test Scout against the replies people mark down before we change it.

Ask it what is turned on

Click Ask Scout in the sidebar. The assistant can read your setup whatever you have ticked under Data sources, because that list governs your records, not your settings.

Ask it why something is missing ("where has the Calendar gone", "my staff cannot see Invoices") and it checks Admin, then Features: a feature is either on, switched off for the whole company, limited to certain teams or roles, or not in your plan.

Ask it why a save was refused and it checks Admin, then Billing. The answer is usually the trial ending, a payment overdue, or that one person holding no seat, which looks normal for everybody else.

It also reads whether Gmail, Outlook, Google Drive, SharePoint, Xero, QuickBooks, WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams are connected and when each last synced, how staff clock in, and which company you are linked to.

Ask it to change a setting

Tell it what you want changed and it does it, rather than sending you to a tab: "turn Geo Lock on", "start our roster week on Sunday", "always deduct a 30 minute break", "save documents to our Google Drive", "we do not use WhatsApp, hide it", "only the front of house team should see the roster".

It states the exact change and waits for you to agree before making it.

For "only let staff clock in at the shop", give it the address first. It looks the address up on a map and shows you what it matched, so check that is the right place before it turns Geo Lock on.

Ask for something only an admin can do

A change to a company-wide setting (a new table, a permission, an automation, hiding a feature) is an admin's to make. Asking for one as anybody else does not come back refused: the assistant sends the exact request to your admins and tells you it has.

Your admins get a notification naming you and what you asked for. It opens Admin, then Scout, then Data access requests, where each request is a line they tick and approve or reject together.

Approving runs the request you made, with the details you gave, so you never have to ask again. Rejecting makes nothing and tells you. Either way you get a notification back.

Use the card it puts under its reply

Ask for one of five things and the assistant puts the real control under its reply instead of naming a page. Click Open on the card.

"Invite Jane" opens the invite panel, the same one on Admin, then Members. "Set up the tablet" shows the pairing code for a kiosk you name. "Invoice the Smith matter" opens the Create Invoice form already scoped to it. Asking about plans or seats takes you to Admin, then Billing. Asking to connect Xero, QuickBooks, Gmail or Outlook opens that service's own sign-in.

Nothing happens until you use the card: opening the invite panel invites nobody, and the assistant never picks a plan or a number of seats for you.

Ask what a matter's documents and emails say

Click Ask Scout in the sidebar and ask what a document or an email says. For example: "who is the purchaser in the Smith contract", or "which settlement date did the other side accept". Name the matter, or ask in a conversation that is already about it.

Scout searches the files in the matter's Documents tab and the emails filed to the matter, then reads the one that holds the answer. It matches what you mean as well as the words you use, so "when is the rest of the money due" finds the settlement clause. Each answer gives the file name, and the page when the file has pages.

Scout also reads each contract, lease, deed or loan once and keeps its parties, property, price, rent and dates. It keeps a detail only when it finds the sentence that says it, and it quotes that sentence with its page when it answers.

A file you upload to Documents is ready to ask about within a minute. A newly filed email takes up to five minutes.

The first time, Scout asks for permission to read your business data, and an admin chooses one conversation or 30 days. When anybody else asks, Scout sends the request to your admins under Admin, then Scout, then Data access requests.

Ask what the legislation says

Ask a question about a Commonwealth, Western Australian or Tasmanian Act, such as "does the Privacy Act cover a small business" or "how much notice does a WA landlord give for a rent increase". The assistant reads the sections in force today from that government's own legislation website before it answers.

Each statement about the law ends with the section it comes from in square brackets, such as [Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) s 6D] or [Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA) s 30]. Words in quotation marks are the section's exact words.

Under the reply, Sources lists each section cited, with the version it was read from and the date that version applies from. Click a section to open that version on the government's site.

The product checks every citation and every quotation against the section before you see the reply. Anything it could not confirm is listed under Not confirmed, so check those before relying on them. A citation to legislation it cannot read, such as a Victorian Act, is listed there too.

Get the answer as a list, a chart or a comparison

Ask about leave, overdue invoices or this week's jobs, and the assistant shows a live card under its reply instead of writing the figures out.

"What leave needs approving" lists each request waiting for a decision. Click Approve or Decline on a row to decide it there. "Who is off next week" shows a chart of how many people are away each day for the next two weeks.

"What is overdue" lists each invoice past its due date, oldest first, with what is owed. Click a row to open the invoice. Ask for a chart and it shows the money overdue by how long.

"What jobs do we have this week" lists them by day and time. Click a row to open the job.

Ask it to compare options, such as two plans or two suppliers, and it lays them out side by side in a small table.

Decide everything waiting on you in one card

Ask "what is waiting on me" or "what needs my approval". The assistant shows a Waiting on you card with a section for each kind of request you decide.

Under Leave and Shift swaps, click Approve or Decline on a row. An approved swap gives the shift to the person who took it.

Under Hours to confirm, click Confirm hours to open the shift. Check the times, then click Confirm hours or No-show, as on the calendar's Day view.

Under Requests to archive or delete, click Approve, then Yes, delete or Yes, archive. Click Reject to keep the record.

Check in and ask for leave from the chat

Ask about your own week, such as "what are my shifts", "what are my jobs today" or "I need leave next Friday". The assistant shows a Your work card.

When your company checks in at sites, Check in to site sits at the top with its buttons. Tap Check in beside today's job, as on Quick Glance.

Your shifts and Your jobs list your next ones. Click one to open the Calendar.

Under Your leave, click Request leave, fill in the dates and send it. The request then shows on the card with how it stands.

Lay out a quote from the chat

Describe the job and the customer, such as "quote Example Pty Ltd for a call-out and three hours of labour at 123 Example Street". The assistant lays out a quote with one line for each item.

Each line takes its price from your price book when it matches an item there. A line it cannot price shows Price needed, and the assistant says which lines need one.

Click Review and save to open the quote editor, which already holds the lines. Add any missing prices, check the customer and the site, then click Save.

On the phone, tap Review and save to open a new quote on the Quotes screen with the same lines.

Pick up a conversation from its matter

Every matter has an Assistant tab. It lists your conversations with the assistant that worked on that matter, newest first.

A conversation joins the list when the assistant finds the matter, reads it, drafts on it or opens a form for it. Naming a matter is not enough when the assistant never searched for the matter.

Click a conversation to open it in the assistant panel beside the matter, where you can carry on from your last message.

On the phone, choose Assistant from the matter's section menu, then tap a conversation.

Share a conversation with the company

A conversation starts private: only you can open it. To share it, open the menu beside it in the conversation list and choose Share with company, then confirm.

Everyone in the company can then read the whole conversation, and anyone can reply in it. It becomes a group chat, with each person's messages under their name.

The assistant answers each message with the access of whoever sent it. A colleague who cannot see a matter gets no more from the assistant by asking in your conversation.

To stop sharing, choose Make private in the same menu. Colleagues can no longer open it, and their messages stay in it.

Invoice a matter from the chat

Name the matter, the amount and the template, such as "invoice the loan agreement matter for $1,500 including GST on the detailed template". Add the description you want on the invoice, and the assistant uses your words as they are.

The assistant reads your invoice templates and the fees the matter holds unbilled. It spreads a set amount across those fees as the total for this invoice, and adds nothing new to the matter.

On the Detailed template it unticks both tables to show one summary figure. They are Include the itemised "Professional Fees" table and Include the "Summary Fees by Lawyer" table. Your description then goes under Professional fees description.

Click Open on the Create invoice card under the reply. The form opens filled in, with the total under Target a fixed fee total. Check it, then click Create Draft or Create and Finalise.

Draft a letter from one of your precedents

Ask for the letter and name the matter, such as "draft a letter of demand on the Smith purchase for the unpaid account". The assistant picks your firm's precedent and reads what its Issue form asks.

A precedent with a body template, made from the example letters you uploaded, keeps your wording. The assistant fills in each field from the matter and from what you told it, and asks you for any it cannot find. A precedent without one gets a subject line and a body written for this matter.

A Ready to issue card shows the subject, the precedent, the matter and the start of the letter. Click Review and issue to open the matter's Issue form, which already holds the draft. A filled-in body template opens on its fields, with Write freeform instead beside them.

Check the wording, the recipient, the signer and the delivery, then click Issue document. The matter's Precedents tab keeps the issued letter.

On the phone, tap Review and issue on the web. This conversation opens on the web, where the card's Review and issue opens the same form.

Attach a file for it to read

Click the paperclip beside the message box, or drag files onto the box. To send a screenshot, take it, click in the message box and press Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on a Mac). On the phone, tap the paperclip and choose Take a photo, Choose photos or Choose a file. After copying a screenshot or a picture, choose Paste image.

The assistant reads PDFs, Word documents (.docx), spreadsheets (.xlsx, .xls and .csv), text files and pictures. Each file can be up to 25 MB, with five to a message. Each file shows Uploading, then Reading, then its size once it is ready.

Type your question and send it. A file sent on its own gets a review: what the file is, what it says, and anything unusual.

Ask for a Word document, a spreadsheet or a PDF

Ask in plain words: "put that in a Word document", "make a spreadsheet of these costs" or "a PDF of this for the client". The file appears under the reply. Click Download.

To change the file, say what to change. The assistant makes a new copy with the change, and the earlier copy stays in the conversation.

Ask it to draft an email

Ask for the email, such as "draft an email to jane@example.com with the summary attached". A draft appears under the reply, marked Not sent.

Click Open in email. Your mail window opens with the recipients, the subject, the words and any attached files filled in, and your signature below them. Change anything you want, then click Send.

Click Copy to paste the email somewhere else instead.