# Find the PDF someone sent you on WhatsApp months ago

> The lease, the insurance policy, the class schedule, the quote from the electrician. They are all in WhatsApp, somewhere. Ask your agent and it finds the file, opens it and answers your question.

**Circles lets your agent find and open files sent in your WhatsApp chats.** The agent lists every PDF, Word file and sheet in the chats you opened, then fetches the one it needs, up to 50 MB, and reads it itself. Free for 2 chats, Pro $29 a month (₪99 in Israel) with 14 days free, as of October 2026.

Source: https://usecircles.app/en/use-cases/find-files-and-documents · Updated 2026-10-27

## Try asking

- **"Find the contract Avi sent in June and tell me the notice period."**: The agent finds the PDF by date and chat, opens it, and answers.
- **"List every PDF in the building committee group this year."**: Names, dates and chats, duplicates across chats removed.
- **"Find the receipt Dana sent for the class gift."**: Useful at tax time, or when the treasurer asks.
- **"Show me the photo of the meter reading from last week."**: Photos come with the message they were sent in, ready to open.
- **"Get the insurance policy Mom sent last November."**: Older files are fetched from your phone on request.

## How the agent finds a file

1. **documents: what exists**: One call lists every PDF, Word file and sheet sent in your open chats since a time: filename, date, which chats, and whether it is ready.
2. **get_media: the file itself**: The agent fetches the one it wants, up to 50 MB, with its name and type.
3. **The agent reads it**: Your agent opens the PDF or photo with its own abilities and answers your question.

What `documents` returns (invented files):

```
{
  "documents": [
    {
      "filename": "lease-renewal-2026.pdf",
      "at_iso": "2026-06-14T10:22:00.000Z",
      "chats": ["Avi"],
      "state": "available",
      "ref": "r1_..."
    },
    {
      "filename": "insurance-policy.pdf",
      "at_iso": "2025-11-03T08:05:00.000Z",
      "chats": ["Family"],
      "state": "on_request",
      "ref": "r1_..."
    }
  ]
}
```

## Served as sent

Circles keeps your files and hands them to your agent exactly as they were sent. Your agent reads them, and current agents like Claude and ChatGPT are good at it. Circles does not extract text from PDFs, run OCR or describe photos.

- **Kept automatically:** photos, PDFs, documents and videos from about the last 25 days at linking, and everything after.
- **Older files:** listed as *on request*. When the agent asks for one, Circles asks your phone to upload it again. Your phone needs to be online; it takes about half a minute.
- **Size:** up to 50 MB per file. Larger files are listed as too large.
- **Voice notes are the exception:** they are transcribed, so the agent gets text. [More on voice notes](https://usecircles.app/en/use-cases/voice-note-transcription).

## Agents that do this best

- **[Claude](https://usecircles.app/en/agents/claude)**: Reads long PDFs and answers questions about them, on the web, desktop or phone.
- **[ChatGPT](https://usecircles.app/en/agents/chatgpt)**: Finds the file and pulls out the date, amount or clause you asked about.
- **[Instinct](https://usecircles.app/en/agents/instinct)**: "Find the invoice Avi sent" from WhatsApp, while you are standing at the counter.

## Only files from chats you open

The `documents` list and every file fetch cover only the chats you opened. A file in a hidden chat does not exist for agents. Every fetch is in your activity log. [How Circles handles your chats](https://usecircles.app/en/security).

## Questions and answers

### Can an AI find a PDF someone sent me on WhatsApp months ago?

Yes, with Circles. Your agent lists the documents in the chats you opened, by name, date and chat, and fetches the one it needs. Files older than about 25 days at linking come from your phone on request.

### Can AI read photos and documents from WhatsApp?

Circles hands the agent the file itself, up to 50 MB. The agent reads it itself. Circles does no OCR and no PDF text extraction of its own.

### What is the file size limit?

Circles serves files up to 50 MB each. Larger files are listed and marked too large.

### Does my phone need to be on?

Not for recent files: Circles keeps those itself. For files older than about 25 days at linking, your phone needs to be online so Circles can ask it to upload the file again.

### Can the agent search inside the PDFs?

Not through Circles. Circles' search covers message text, captions and voice note transcripts. The agent can open a PDF and read it once it has found the right one.

## Keep reading

- [A small business on a personal number](https://usecircles.app/en/use-cases/small-business): Quotes, invoices and photos customers sent.
- [Voice notes as text](https://usecircles.app/en/use-cases/voice-note-transcription): The one kind of file Circles turns into text.
- [The WhatsApp MCP](https://usecircles.app/en/whatsapp-mcp): All nine tools, in one page.

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14 days free. Link your number, pick the chats, then connect Instinct with one tap or Claude, ChatGPT and Codex with one address. Start: https://usecircles.app/start?lang=en