Meeting Notes & Policy Updates
Upload your board meeting notes and let the AI analyze them, identify key decisions, and suggest updates to your governing documents.
How It Works
- Upload or paste your meeting notes
- AI analyzes the content for decisions and action items
- AI identifies which documents may need updating
- AI generates specific change suggestions with rationale
- You review and approve (or reject) each suggestion
Uploading Meeting Notes
From the AI Assistant
- Go to AI Assistant (first item in your sidebar)
- Click the + button or use the attachment icon
- Upload a PDF, Word doc, spreadsheet, image, or text file
- Or paste your notes directly into the input field
- Press Enter or click Send
Supported Formats
- PDF files - Automatically validated and repaired if needed
- Word documents (.doc, .docx)
- Spreadsheets (.xls, .xlsx)
- Text files (.txt)
- Plain text (pasted directly)
- Images (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif)
PorchQ automatically validates and repairs corrupted PDFs. If your PDF has issues:
- Try re-exporting from the original document (Word, Google Docs, etc.)
- Use "Save as PDF" instead of "Print to PDF"
- Or paste the text directly into the message box
Processing Stages
After submitting, your meeting notes go through these stages:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Validating | Checking file integrity (PDFs only, ~1 second) |
| Pending | Queued for processing |
| Processing | AI is analyzing the content |
| Processed | Analysis complete, suggestions ready |
| Failed | An error occurred (see troubleshooting below) |
File Validation (PDFs)
When you upload a PDF, PorchQ automatically:
- Validates the file structure and checks for common issues
- Repairs corrupted PDFs when possible (using Ghostscript)
- Extracts text content for AI analysis
- Falls back to OCR if text extraction fails
This usually takes less than a second for valid PDFs, or 1-3 seconds for corrupted files that need repair.
Document Update Suggestions
When the AI identifies potential document updates, it creates suggestions that include:
What's Included
- Target Document - Which document should be updated
- Section Reference - Specific section or clause affected
- Summary - Brief description of the suggested change
- Recommended Changes - Detailed proposed updates
- Rationale - Why this change is recommended
- Confidence Score - How confident the AI is in the suggestion
Taking Action
For each suggestion, you can:
- Accept - Apply the changes to create a new document version
- Reject - Decline the suggestion (optionally provide feedback)
- Discuss - Ask follow-up questions about the suggestion
Conversational Follow-ups
The AI maintains context from your meeting notes. You can send follow-up messages to:
- Ask for clarification on suggestions
- Request alternative wording
- Provide additional context
- Ask follow-up questions
Example follow-ups:
- "Can you explain why you suggested this change?"
- "What if we wanted to keep the old policy for existing members?"
- "Can you make the language less formal?"
Memory Setting
Use the Memory toggle to control conversation context:
- Memory On: The AI remembers previous messages in this conversation
- Memory Off: Each message is treated independently
The memory setting appears in the Meeting Notes workspace header.
Providing Feedback
Help improve AI responses by using the feedback buttons on each response:
- Thumbs up: The response was helpful
- Thumbs down: The response wasn't helpful or was incorrect
Your feedback helps improve the AI's accuracy over time.
Common Use Cases
Meeting Minutes
Upload raw notes to generate clean, formatted minutes.
Try: "Summarize these notes into formal meeting minutes"
Policy Updates
AI suggests specific changes based on board decisions.
Example: If your notes mention "Board voted to extend pool hours to 10pm", the AI will suggest updating the pool rules document.
Bylaw Amendments
When the board votes on rule changes, AI identifies which bylaws need updating and proposes specific language.
New Policies
Ask the AI to draft new policies from scratch.
Try: "Draft a policy for EV charging stations based on standard HOA guidelines"
Communications
Generate newsletters or announcements based on recent decisions.
Try: "Draft a resident email announcing the new guest parking rules"
Troubleshooting
PDF Upload Issues
If you encounter an error when uploading a PDF, the system will show you:
- What went wrong (in plain language)
- Suggested next steps (actionable solutions)
- Technical details (expandable for more information)
Common PDF Errors
"PDF is corrupted or incomplete"
- The PDF file is damaged or wasn't saved properly
- Solution: Re-export the PDF from your original document
- Alternative: Use "Save as PDF" instead of "Print to PDF"
- Quick fix: Copy and paste the text directly
"PDF is password-protected"
- The file has encryption or password protection
- Solution: Open the PDF and use "Save As" to create an unprotected copy
- Alternative: Paste the text manually
"File is too small to be valid"
- The file appears to be empty or corrupted
- Solution: Check that you uploaded the correct file
- Verify the file opens in a PDF reader
"PDF uses unsupported features"
- The PDF format is very old or uses uncommon features
- Solution: Re-save with compatibility mode enabled
- Alternative: Save as a DOCX file or paste text directly
Upload Best Practices
For the best results:
- Use modern PDF exporters (Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Adobe)
- Prefer "Save as PDF" over "Print to PDF"
- Test opening the file in a PDF reader before uploading
- Keep AI Assistant chat attachments under 25 MB
- Use text-based PDFs (not scanned images) when possible
Still Having Issues?
If problems persist:
- Try uploading as a Word document (.docx) instead
- Copy and paste the text directly into the message box
- Contact support with the file details shown in the error message
If a PDF fails to upload, the error message will show a "What to try next" section with specific actions for your situation. Most issues can be resolved by re-exporting or pasting text directly.