Getting Started with Threads

Overview

When you open Harvey, you’ll land in the New thread tab.

Threads are your tool for creating, refining, and analyzing content. Within a thread, you can ask Harvey questions, generate drafts, edit text, summarize long documents, or unpack complex ideas.

You can type a prompt directly, then upload documents or choose knowledge sources to focus Harvey’s responses on specific materials. Every answer is linked back to the exact sources used.

For complex, multi-step requests, Harvey can also plan its approach, ask you clarifying questions along the way, and run in the background while you work on something else.

Key Features:

• Natural Prompting: Ask questions in plain language, referring to documents by file name or order. Use the Improve prompt feature to instantly refine prompts for better results.
• Plan Mode: For complex requests, ask Harvey to lay out a step-by-step plan you can review, edit, or approve before it starts working.
• Iterative Workflow: Ask follow-ups to sharpen outputs and make quick revisions.
• Run Tasks in Parallel: Start multiple threads at once and track them all from the home screen — no need to wait for one to finish before starting the next.
• Generate and Edit Drafts: Create and refine professional documents, clauses, summaries, and more directly in your thread.
• Search Specialized Databases: Query targeted sources like LexisNexis, EUR-Lex, or EDGAR for regulatory content.
• Document Processing & Citations: Upload files to create outputs like tables or memos, complete with linked citations.
• Vault Integration: Attach one or more full Vaults to a query and let Harvey search across them. Harvey can browse the Vault folders, find relevant files, and cite the specific files and pages it used.
• Export Capability: Export responses to Word (with or without citations) individually or in sets.
• Multilingual Support: Summarize documents in multiple languages (use translation workflow for precise translations).
• Redlined Documents: Detects and processes tracked changes, including comments and inline edits, with the same capabilities as Redlines Q&A.
• Audio Transcription: Upload an audio file (e.g., a deposition, interview, hearing, or call) and Harvey transcribes it into an editable, queryable Word (.docx) document with speaker labels and timestamps.

Supported File Types

To review supported file types and how to upload them into a thread, refer to Uploading Files to Harvey.

How to Query in a Thread

Threads work the same way whether you’re asking a question, analyzing documents, or creating new content.

First, type or dictate your query. For example, “Summarize the attached lease agreement and highlight key renewal clauses” or “Draft a confidentiality agreement for a software vendor.”

If you’d like to convert your speech to text, use the voice dictation tool. To learn more about voice dictation languages and data policies, view our FAQs section at the bottom of this article.

1. Select the Dictate icon in the query box and begin speaking. You may need to update your device or browser settings to enable microphone permissions for Harvey.
2. Select the Stop icon when finished with your query. Harvey will transcribe your voice into text.
3. Review the transcribed text before running your query.

Next, add context by uploading documents or selecting a knowledge source like LexisNexis, Web Search, EUR-Lex, EDGAR, or your own Vault files.

1. Upload Files: Drag and drop them into the upload box, click the box to open your file system, or pull from your connected DMS.
2. Use a Knowledge Source: Select up to five knowledge sources under Sources and check all relevant filters you want to search.

   1. Learn more about available sources and their capabilities in the Knowledge Sources Overview.

Select Send to run the query. Harvey automatically determines the best way to deliver your results:

• Iterative Q&A format – Ideal for quick answers, explanations, and follow-up questions. You can keep refining the response within the same thread by adding follow-ups or uploading more documents.
• A plan – For complex, multi-step requests, Harvey may first propose a plan for how it will complete the task. You can approve it, edit it in plain language, or let Harvey proceed without one.
• Notepad or Editor – Opens when your request calls for creating or revising a document. Harvey opens Notepad for fast, lightweight drafts or Editor for polished, formatting-sensitive .docx drafts. You’ll see your draft alongside the thread panel, where you can make direct edits, highlight text for specific changes, or guide revisions using natural language.

From here, you can:

• Ask follow-up questions in the thread, or choose from AI-generated suggestions to guide the conversation.

  • Add or replace supporting files mid-conversation for additional context.
• Make revisions in Notepad or Editor to refine your output. You will easily see the changes Harvey made between revisions with the Show Edits toggle. Deletions will show with a red strikethrough, while additions will show in blue.
• Access linked citations for every document-based answer.
• Share threads with colleagues.
• Save prompts to your Library for reuse.
• Export outputs to Word, with or without citations.

You don't need to stay in the thread while Harvey runs. Your active threads will appear in Harvey’s sidebar under the Recents section.

Using Vault Within A Thread

You can bring Vault documents into a thread in two ways: attach one or more full Vaults and let Harvey find the relevant files for you, or select specific files to focus Harvey on a defined set.

Use a thread for a synthesized, citation-linked answer; start a review table to extract structured data across large document sets.

Learn more about how to use these two styles of querying together in our Choosing Between Threads and Review Tables article.

Attach Vaults to a Thread

Attach up to two Vaults to your thread and ask your question directly. Harvey browses the Vault folders, searches by file name, content, and metadata, narrows to the relevant files, and reads the relevant portions to answer. This is useful for large data rooms, discovery productions, and document sets where you don't want to pre-select files.

1. Open a new thread and enter your prompt.
2. Select  Files and scroll to your list of Vaults.
3. Toggle on up to two Vaults to attach them to your query.
4. Ask a question or make a request. For example: "Draft a memo summarizing all change-of-control provisions across these contracts."

Harvey searches across all attached Vaults to find relevant documents. After Harvey responds, you can view citations pointing back to the specific files and pages that were used. Additionally, you can open the side panel to see exactly which files and folders were accessed, grouped by Vault.

Select Specific Files From a Vault

When you want Harvey to focus on a defined set of document, or when a Vault has more than 10,000 files, select individual files instead of attaching the whole Vault.

1. Open a new thread and enter your prompt.
2. Select Files and scroll to your list of Vaults.
3. Hover over the desired Vault and choose Select files.
4. Choose the file(s) you want to query.
5. Send your query.

Structure a Large-Scale Analysis

Use review tables to pull structured insights, compare competing agreements, and summarize data at scale. Review tables can support up to 10,000 vault files. For details, see our Using Review Tables article.

Thread Writing Tips

Tip: For more guidance on writing clear, effective prompts, see our Prompt Writing Techniques article, or try Improve (shown below) for guided suggestions:

• Consider specifying the format you need—such as a table, email, memo, outline, or bullet points.
• Indicate the desired tone, whether informal, professional, firm, or otherwise.
• Clearly identify the intended audience (e.g., ‘a client with little acquisition experience’ or ‘a senior in-house attorney’).
• Make your queries explicit, descriptive, and specific. Providing clear direction can greatly improve accuracy (e.g., use ‘holders of Company Common Stock’ instead of ‘common holders,’ or ‘written legal opinion’ instead of just ‘legal opinion’).
• For complex requests, include your full objective, formatting requirements, and any templates or precedents up front. This produces a better plan and a better final output.
• Include background information and context (e.g., legal jurisdiction) to ensure a more accurate response.
• Save or load prompts from your library to streamline access to relevant information, enhance team collaboration, and tailor your workspace to your needs.
• When using the EDGAR knowledge source, provide company names, stock tickers (including post-2021 changes), industries, and specify filing years or let Harvey infer them; multiple years can be reviewed simultaneously.

Best Practices for Using Threads

• Double-check outputs for accuracy and completeness, as responses may contain inaccuracies. Be especially cautious when referencing specific cases, statutes, company filings, or other detailed sources, as these may highlight gaps in Harvey’s training data.
• When a plan is available, review it before approving. It's faster to adjust the plan than to fix outputs after the fact.
• When documents are uploaded, text is processed left to right across the page making multi-column layouts, vertical text or images hard to process.
• References and citations are generated automatically when you upload documents, there’s no need to request them separately.
• Threads are not designed to function as a proofreading tool at this time.

FAQs

General

Can Harvey read comments in Word documents?

Yes, you can upload a Word document (.docx) with comments to a thread, then ask Harvey any question about the uploaded file, including questions about the comments.

Harvey’s response will cite comments within the document and reflect a summary of the comments as a footnote at the bottom of the document.

Voice Dictation