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Welcome to AVA!

This quickstart guide will walk you through your first AVA experience—from signing in to having your first conversation with connected data. You’ll be productive in minutes.
Prerequisites: You need a Microsoft work account with access to AVA. If you don’t have access yet, contact your IT administrator or get in touch with us.

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Step 1: Sign In

AVA uses your Microsoft work account (same credentials you use for Office 365):
  1. Navigate to your AVA URL (provided by your administrator)
  2. Click “Sign in with Microsoft”
  3. Enter your work email and password
  4. Complete multi-factor authentication if prompted
  5. Grant AVA delegated permissions when asked
Once signed in, you’ll see AVA’s three-panel interface: Session History (left), Chat Area (center), and Workspace (right).
First time? AVA may show you a quick tour of the interface. We recommend taking it!

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Step 2: Your First Chat

Let’s start with a simple conversation to get familiar with AVA. Remember: AVA is AI that works—it can take action, not just answer questions!

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Try These Examples

  • Check Your Calendar
  • Search Your Email
  • Find a File
  • Search the Web
  • Query Business Data
  • Take Action (AI That Works!)
Type in chat:
@Microsoft 365 Apps what meetings do I have today?
What AVA does:
  • Connects to your Microsoft Calendar
  • Retrieves your meetings
  • Displays them in an organized list
You’ll see: All your meetings with times, attendees, and locationsTry follow-up: “Send me details on the 2pm meeting”

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Understanding @ Mentions

The @ symbol is how you access connected data sources:
  • @Microsoft 365 Apps - Calendar, Mail, Files, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams messages and meetings
  • @Web - Real-time web searches for current information
  • @Salesforce - CRM data (if configured)
  • @Jira - Issues and projects (if configured)
  • @GitHub - Repositories and code (if configured)
  • @NetSuite - Business records (if configured)
Start typing @ and AVA will show you all available data sources!

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Step 3: Try the Workspace

The Workspace panel on the right has three tabs. Let’s explore them:

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Search Tab

  1. Click “Search” tab in workspace
  2. Select “Microsoft Files”
  3. Search for a document (try “meeting notes”)
  4. Click a file to preview it
  5. Click “Add to Conversation” button
Now ask AVA: “Summarize the key points from this document”
AVA reads the document and provides a summary!

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Notes Tab

  1. Click “Notes” tab
  2. Type some notes: 
    # My First AVA Session

Today I learned:
- How to use @ mentions
- How to search for files
- How to add files to conversations
  3. Use the formatting toolbar to style your notes
  4. Notes are automatically saved
You can export notes to PowerPoint! Try adding more content and clicking “Export to PowerPoint”

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File Viewer Tab

  1. Ask AVA: “@Microsoft 365 Apps find the employee handbook”
  2. When AVA returns results, click a file
  3. File opens in File Viewer tab
  4. Toggle between View and Edit modes
  5. Make changes if needed (saves automatically to SharePoint)

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Step 4: Create Your First Task

Tasks are perfect for multi-step workflows. Let’s create a simple one:
1

Open Tasks

Click “Tasks” in the main navigation
2

New Task

Click “New Task” button
3

Name Your Task

Enter: “Meeting Summary and Follow-Up”
4

Add Steps

Create three steps:Step 1: Get Meeting Info
@Microsoft 365 Apps show details of my last team meeting
Step 2: Summarize
Create a bullet-point summary of key discussion points
and decisions from the meeting
Step 3: Generate Follow-Up
Draft a follow-up email to send to attendees with:
- Summary of key decisions
- Action items
- Next meeting date
5

Run Task

Click “Run Task” and watch AVA execute each step sequentially!
After the task completes, you’ll have a meeting summary and a drafted follow-up email!
Save successful tasks as templates by clicking “Save as Template” after completion
If your organization has set up Knowledge Search corpora, try this:
1

Navigate to Knowledge Search

Click “Knowledge Search” in main navigation
2

Select a Corpus

Click ”@ Connected Data” and choose a corpus (e.g., “HR Policies”)
3

Ask a Question

Try: “What’s the remote work policy?”Or: “How much PTO do employees get?”
4

Review Results

AVA searches documents and returns:
  • AI-generated answer
  • Source document citations
  • Relevant excerpts
If you don’t see any corpora available, Knowledge Search hasn’t been set up yet. Ask your administrator to create corpora from your SharePoint document libraries.

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Step 6: Customize AVA

Make AVA work better for you with custom instructions:
1

Open Settings

Click your profile icon (top right) → “Settings”
2

Custom Instructions

Click “Custom Instructions” tab
3

Add Your Preferences

Example:
I'm a sales manager in the enterprise segment.

When showing opportunities:
- Always include ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)
- Highlight deals over $100K
- Show sales cycle length

My working hours: 8am-6pm Pacific Time
Format currency in USD with commas
4

Save

Click “Save” - AVA will remember these preferences!

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Common Questions

Only what you can access. AVA uses your Microsoft credentials and operates with your permissions. If you can’t see a file in SharePoint, AVA can’t either.
Yes! AVA runs entirely within your organization’s Azure tenant. Your data never leaves your environment. All processing happens in your tenant.
No, unless you explicitly share them. Your chats are private by default.
Data source connections (Salesforce, Jira, GitHub, etc.) are configured by your administrator. Contact your IT team to request additional integrations.
Try:
  • Being more specific
  • Using @ mentions explicitly
  • Breaking complex requests into simpler questions
  • Checking that you have access to the data source
AVA is a web application that works in any modern browser, including mobile browsers. There’s no dedicated mobile app yet.

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Tips for Success

AI That Works™: Remember, AVA doesn’t just answer questions—it takes action! Schedule meetings, create tasks, share files, generate images, and export to Office formats. The possibilities are nearly endless with Microsoft Graph API.

Use @ Mentions

Explicitly reference data sources with @ for faster, more accurate results

Ask Follow-Ups

AVA remembers context—refine answers with follow-up questions

Take Action

Schedule meetings, create tasks, share documents—let AVA do the work for you

Save Useful Prompts

Create reusable prompts in the Prompt Library for frequent tasks

Explore Features

Try Chat, Tasks, and Knowledge Search to find what works best for your workflow

Add Files & Images

Upload documents and images to add context to your conversations

Copy to Notes

Copy AVA responses to Notes to build comprehensive documents

Share Conversations

Share your conversations with teammates for faster collaboration

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Example Workflows to Try

Now that you’re familiar with basics, try these real-world scenarios:
  • Meeting Prep
  • Weekly Status
  • Document Research
  • Content Creation
  1. @Microsoft 365 Apps find tomorrow’s client meeting
  2. @Salesforce get account history
  3. @Microsoft 365 Apps find recent email threads
  4. @Web search for latest company news
  5. Ask AVA to create a meeting prep document
  6. Export to Notes → PowerPoint

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Next Steps

Explore Core Features

Learn about all AVA capabilities

AVA Chat Deep Dive

Master conversational AI

Use Cases by Role

See how your team can use AVA

How AVA Works

Understand the technology

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Get Help

Technical Support

avasupport@datarm.aiOur team typically responds within 4 business hours

Request a Demo

Contact SalesFor new customers and product demonstrations
Congratulations! 🎉 You’ve completed the AVA quickstart. You now know how to:
  • Have conversations with connected data using @ mentions
  • Use the Workspace (Search, Notes, File Viewer)
  • Create multi-step Tasks
  • Search documents with Knowledge Search
  • Customize AVA with custom instructions
Start exploring and make AVA work for you!