The file is the source. Your memory of the file is not. A screenshot is a picture of a source. Canvas is where a long draft gets edited without reprinting the whole document every turn.
Why this matters
In Pathway A you attached one short note. Power users still lose days three ways: they “summarize” a PDF from memory, they ask a blurry whiteboard photo what to do, or they revise a long SOP in the chat bubble until nobody knows which paragraph is current.
grok.com can analyze files and PDFs, read screenshots and diagrams, and open Canvas for long-form writing with inline suggestions. As of August 2026 those are desk tools, not toys. Quote the page. Transcribe the picture. Edit the long thing on a surface meant for long things. Imagine stays parked. A generated picture is not a substitute for the PDF you already have.
Teach
Attach the real file. Use the attach control or drop the file on the thread, inside the B2 project so it does not wander. Start with one document you are allowed to share — a few pages of PDF, .txt, .md, CSV, or a short Word doc. A 200-page dump is a fluent tour and a missed clause.
Tell Grok what to do. “Summarize” is how numbers die.
Read [filename] only.
Task: [extract / table / checklist / contradictions]
For every number or date: quote the line and give a page or heading if you can see one.
If it is not in the file, write "not in file."
Do not use training data to fill holes.
If you attach two files, name the authority. “If the PDF and the notes disagree, the PDF wins. List the disagreements. Do not average them.”
Do not upload credentials, other people’s private records, named student work, or medical scans. Redact first.
Screenshots are vision, not OCR magic. Grok misreads small type, stamps, handwriting, and cut-off text. Always transcribe, then analyze:
This image is a screenshot of [what].
1) Transcribe every readable word, top to bottom. Mark unreadable as [unreadable].
2) List numbers you are sure about vs numbers you are guessing.
3) Wait. Do not advise yet.
Only after you accept the transcript do you ask for actions. Skip that and you will implement a hallucinated button. A UI screenshot is not a spec. A whiteboard photo is not minutes. Do not upload a badge.
Canvas is for long artifacts you will revise. Official copy: long-form editing with inline suggestions. Use it for an SOP, lesson, report, or multi-section brief. Draft in the thread, then open Canvas and revise in place.
If your plan or UI has no Canvas control, do not fake it. Stay in the thread and treat the latest full draft as the document:
Canvas is not available. Treat your last artifact as the live document.
Rewrite only [section].
Do not reprint unchanged sections. Say "UNCHANGED: [section names]."
That is the same muscle: surgical edits, not a new novel every turn.
When Canvas is available: one document per canvas; say what may change (“tighter headings, no new policy”); copy the final text back into the thread or your real files.
Files are not Search. Screenshots are not Imagine. Canvas is not Grok Build. Desk order: attach → extract with quotes → transcribe the picture → write the long artifact → Canvas or UNCHANGED edits → stop when you can paste it into the real system of record.
Worked example
A lead has a 6-page PDF and a phone screenshot of the gate whiteboard.
Wrong desk: “Here’s a pic and a file, write a plan.” Grok invents 07:00 from a smudged 09:00 and reprints 900 words every time she says “shorter.”
Better desk, inside Mon north-gate:
- Attach the PDF. Extract times and hazards with quotes. Leave
not in file holes.
- Attach the photo. Transcript first.
[unreadable] times she types herself from the phone.
- Write a 20-line plan from quotes + her correction.
- Canvas (or surgical fallback): tighten hold points only. Times do not move.
She never asks Imagine to “clean up” the whiteboard. That would be a forgery.
Your turn
Prep before you open Grok (five minutes):
- A file you wrote or are allowed to use: PDF,
.txt, .md, or a short report. Half a page to ten pages. It must contain at least two numbers or dates. Not this lesson’s north-gate PDF. Not a password dump.
- A screenshot you took today of something you work with: a UI, a whiteboard, a printed page, a map legend, a spreadsheet corner. No badges, no faces you do not have rights to, no chat with someone else’s private data. If you cannot take a screenshot, photograph a page of your own notes.
Open grok.com in the B2 project or named thread, or a new thread named after this file. You will attach both sources, force quotes and a transcript, then put a long artifact in Canvas — or declare Canvas missing and do surgical edits.
Exercise b3-l01-e1
| Field | Value |
|---|
| whereToDo | grok.com |
| time | 22 min |
Copy-ready prompts
Attach the file. Then message 1:
I am in Grok Mastery (Russell Tech), Pathway B, lesson B3 — files, PDFs, screenshots, Canvas.
Read the attached file only. Filename I believe I attached: [name]
1) Restate title or first heading.
2) List every number and date, each with a short quote and a page/heading if visible.
3) "not in file:" one operational fact a lead would still need.
4) Do not use outside knowledge. If you are tempted, say so.
Wait. Do not write a plan yet.
Attach the screenshot. Message 2:
This image is a screenshot of [what it is].
1) Transcribe every readable word, top to bottom. Use [unreadable] rather than guess.
2) Numbers you are sure about:
3) Numbers you would be guessing:
Do not advise. Do not improve the image. Do not use Imagine.
Message 3 — after you correct any bad transcript line in your own words:
My transcript corrections (authoritative):
[paste 0–5 corrections, or "transcript accepted"]
Using only the file quotes and the corrected transcript, write a 15–25 line working brief for someone who cannot see the attachments.
Then:
- If Canvas is available, put that brief into Canvas and apply exactly one revision: tighten headings, do not change numbers. Confirm "Canvas: yes" and what you changed.
- If Canvas is not available, confirm "Canvas: no" and rewrite only the heading section. Write UNCHANGED for the rest. Do not reprint the whole brief.
End with a Source Receipt:
- File fact used (quoted number):
- Screenshot fact used (quoted text):
- not in file hole left open:
- Canvas: yes/no
- Session stamp: today's date and "Source receipt written by Grok in this thread."
Artifact to paste
- The quoted number list from message 1 (or a tight excerpt if long) plus the
not in file line.
- The transcript (you may trim repeated UI chrome; keep every number).
- The working brief after the Canvas or surgical pass.
- The Source Receipt including Canvas yes/no and the stamp.
- The filename and a one-line description of the screenshot (not the image file itself if it is sensitive — describe it).
Rubric
- Pass: A number in the receipt matches a number you put in the file. Transcript exists before the brief. At least one
not in file or [unreadable] hole was left open or you documented a correction you supplied. Canvas is honestly yes or no. Stamp present. Sources are yours.
- Fail: No attachment. Summary with no quotes. Grok guessed an unreadable time and you kept it. Imagine used to “clean up” the screenshot. Receipt you typed offline. A 200-page dump you did not read. Secrets in the paste.
Common failure
The common failure is summary first, then later “checking a number” that was never grounded. Extract first. Plan second. The twin is treating a screenshot as truth — look at the original and type the correction. The third is reprinting a 2,000-word SOP twelve times because you would not open Canvas or say UNCHANGED.
What’s next
Files belong in a project. The next leak is quieter: Custom Instructions and Memory will try to remember you. Some of that is useful. Most of what people store should never be stored.
