File uploads, vision and PDF chat
Letting visitors upload files and images to the Aimogen Pro chatbot, chatting with a PDF, and the retention and security settings that apply.
Three related capabilities let visitors give the chatbot something to look at.
Vision#
Enable Bot Vision lets visitors send images, which the model looks at.
Requires a vision-capable model — current OpenAI, Claude, Gemini and Grok models, or specific Ollama
models such as llava and llama3.2-vision. See Selecting models.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
Enable Bot Vision | Master switch |
Chatbot AI Vision Uploaded Files Expiration Date | When uploaded images are deleted |
Uses: "what is wrong with this error screen?", "which model is this part from?", "does this room layout work?"
The aiomatic_vision_file and aiomatic_before_vision_file_process hooks let developers intercept the
uploaded file. See Filter reference.
General file uploads#
Enable File Uploads To The Bot allows non-image files. What the bot can do with one depends on the file
type and the model.
PDF chat#
AI Chatbot › PDF Chat is the most developed of the three: a visitor uploads a PDF and asks questions about it.
This tutorial was recorded before Aiomatic was renamed to Aimogen Pro. Some labels or interface elements may differ slightly from the current version.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
Enable Users To Upload PDF Files To The Chatbot | Master switch |
Limit PDF Page Count | Rejects longer documents |
Limit PDF Character Count | Rejects documents with more text |
PDF File Uploaded Successfully User Message | Confirmation shown to the visitor |
PDF Session Ended User Message | Shown when the PDF session closes |
PDF File Uploaded Failed User Message | Shown on failure |
Uploaded PDF Files Expiration Date | When uploaded PDFs are deleted |
PDF extraction may require the aiomatic-extension-pdf-files companion plugin depending on your
configuration. See Official extensions.
Retention#
Both expiration settings feed the aiomatic_expired_post_delete cron event, which removes expired uploads.
Set them. Uploaded files are visitor data sitting on your server:
- Storage grows without bound otherwise.
- Privacy. An uploaded PDF may contain personal or confidential information. Under GDPR you need a retention period and a reason for it.
- Security. Fewer stored files is less to leak.
A short expiry — hours, or a day — is right for a support chatbot. See Data, GDPR and retention.
Security#
Keep Strip JavaScript From Chatbot HTML Responses enabled.
Per-placement control#
[aimogen-chat-form enable_vision="1" upload_pdf="1" file_uploads=""]This lets you offer uploads on an internal page while keeping the public bot text-only.
Common problems#
Upload button missing. The setting is off for this placement, or the model does not support vision.
PDF rejected. It exceeds the page or character limit, is image-only with no text layer, or is encrypted. Scanned PDFs need OCR first.
The bot ignores the uploaded file. The PDF session ended, or the content exceeded the context window and was truncated. See Tokens, context and output length.
Uploads fill the server. The expiration settings are empty. Set them.
Related#
- Knowledge and context — for a permanent knowledge base rather than a per-conversation file
- Data, GDPR and retention
Still stuck? Open a support ticket and include the diagnostics from Aimogen Pro › System & Logs › System Info.