How to Ask AI Questions About Your PDFs Without Uploading Them in 2026 (Page Citations, On Your Own Device)

You can ask AI questions about your PDFs without uploading them with Off Grid AI. Drop the PDF into a chat on your own computer or phone. A local model reads it and answers there, and each claim links to the page it came from.

It is free, needs no account and works offline once a model is downloaded. It runs on Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android.

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Why not just upload it to ChatGPT

Contracts, medical records, board packs and bank statements are exactly the files you'd rather not hand to an AI company. Once uploaded, they sit on someone else's server under someone else's policy.

On your own device there is nothing to trust. The file stays on your disk. The model runs in your computer's memory. Pull the network cable and it still answers.

You also get something cloud chat often skips: page citations. You don't have to trust the summary. You click the chip and read page 212 yourself.

What you need

• A computer: a Mac with Apple silicon, or a Windows or Linux PC. Off Grid AI Desktop 0.0.55 or later.
• Or a phone: iPhone 12 or newer with iOS 17, or Android 10 or later with 4 GB of RAM.
• A chat model downloaded in the app. Any works; a larger model writes better answers.
• Nothing to pay. Document chat is part of the free app.

Ask about a PDF on your computer

1. Download Off Grid AI Desktop and let it pick a chat model.
2. Open a chat. Drag the PDF onto the message box, or press + and choose Attach files. Word, Markdown, CSV and text files work too.
3. Ask straight away. The app reads and indexes the file in the background. The Documents in this chat button shows progress, then the page count when it is ready.
4. Ask the way you'd ask a colleague: "What are the termination clauses, and what notice does each one need?"
5. Check the answer. Each claim ends with a green chip such as p. 212. Hover to see the passage. Click to open the PDF at that page.

Long files. A document that fits the model is read whole, every page, on every question. A 500-page PDF on a smaller model is read as a map of the whole file plus the passages that best match your question. Follow-ups search the file again, so they don't depend on the last answer.

Scanned PDFs. Pages that are pictures get read with text recognition on your computer. On a Mac that is Apple Vision; on Windows and Linux it is PaddleOCR. The status shows "Reading scanned pages 12/40" while it works.

Several files. Attach last year's report next to this year's, and every answer reads both. Switch a file off in Documents in this chat to leave it out.

Keep a library in a project

For files you ask about again and again, such as a policy library or a course reader, use a project.

1. Open Projects and create one.
2. Under Knowledge base, press Add files and pick the documents.
3. Start chats inside the project. Every chat can answer from the whole library.

Ask about a PDF on your phone

1. Install Off Grid AI from the App Store or Google Play, and download a text model.
2. Open Projects, tap New, name it, and tap Save.
3. In Knowledge Base, tap Add and choose the PDF. Wait for indexing to finish.
4. Under the project's Chats, tap New and ask your question.

On iPhone, pick a PDF that is already on the phone. A file still in iCloud Drive needs internet to download first.

Other ways to chat with PDFs locally

AnythingLLM is a document chat app for desktop and Docker, with an Android app. GPT4All has LocalDocs for chatting with a folder of files. LM Studio's Bionic works on PDFs, decks and spreadsheets. PrivateGPT is an open-source project for developers who want to build their own pipeline.

Off Grid AI is the pick when you want page citations you can click, scanned pages read on your device, and the same thing on your phone.

FAQ

How can I ask questions about my PDFs with AI without uploading them anywhere?
Use Off Grid AI. Drop the PDF into a chat on your computer, or add it to a project on your phone. A local model reads it and answers on your device. Nothing is uploaded, and it's free.

Can local AI cite the page an answer came from?
Yes. On the computer, Off Grid AI puts a chip such as p. 212 after each claim. Click it and the PDF opens at that page.

Can it read a 500-page PDF?
Yes. If the document fits the model, it reads every page on every question. If not, it reads a map of the file plus the passages that best match your question.

Does it work with scanned PDFs?
On the computer, yes. Off Grid AI reads scanned pages with text recognition on your device.

Can I ask about several PDFs at once?
Yes. Attach more files to the same chat, or put them in a project.

Related guides

• How to ask questions about a 500-page PDF on your Mac
• How to ask questions about a 500-page PDF on Windows
• How to ask questions about a PDF on Android without internet

Download Off Grid AI and ask your first PDF a question today.