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Upload up to 20 files at once. Bower turns Word documents, text files, recordings and images with text into editable notes, and keeps everything else as searchable attachments.

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What happens to each file type

Mixed batches are fine, so you don’t need to sort files by type before you upload them. When a file becomes a note, the original file is attached to that note, so nothing is discarded.

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How to import

1

Open the import dialog

Click Create and select Import files. To import straight into a collection, open it, click Add, and select Import files. You can also use Import in the New note menu on the Artifacts page.
2

Select your files

Drag files onto the dialog or click to browse. You can import up to 20 files at a time, with a maximum of 500 MB per file.
3

Keep working

Click Upload. The files upload and process in the background, and you can follow their progress in the upload tray while you carry on with something else.
Already keep your notes in OneNote? Use the link in the import dialog to set up the OneNote connector and import your notebooks directly.

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Limits

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Importing into the protocol library

When you import from the protocol library, Word documents, text files and audio recordings become protocols. Images with text become notes, and every other file type is saved as an attachment.

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After import

  • Each note and attachment is searchable as soon as processing finishes.
  • Images are searchable by their AI-generated description, so you can find a photo of a gel by searching for “gel electrophoresis” even if the file is called IMG_4382.jpg.
  • Equations are kept as editable mathematical notation when Bower can recognize them.
  • Diagrams and other figure regions appear inline as crops from the source image, in reading order. Bower does not redraw them.
  • Extracted tables are editable inline.
  • Bower can summarize, compare or cross-reference your imported notes as soon as processing finishes.

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A note on quality

Printed text extracts most reliably. Handwriting and instrument displays are harder to read, so check those notes against the original, which is always attached. You always have the final say.