You've finished onboarding and you're looking at an empty workspace. This checklist takes you through the core loop — upload, index, search, plan — with real files, so that in about an hour Soontra is already doing useful work for you.
Work through the sections in order; each one builds on the last.
Upload your first files
Head to Drive and drag in a handful of real files — a video or two, a script, some images. You can drop them anywhere in the file grid or use the upload button to pick them. Big files upload in parallel pieces, so you don't need to babysit them. For formats and size limits, see Upload files.
Turn on AI indexing and watch the status pill
When you upload, choose to index your files so Soontra can read what's inside them. Then keep an eye on the status pill at the top of Drive — it shows your workspace's indexing state at a glance:
- A solid dot means everything is indexed and searchable.
- A spinner means files are still being indexed.
Click the pill anytime to see exactly what's in progress. Once the dot is solid, everything you uploaded is searchable by its content. Details in How AI indexing works.
Run your first plain-language search
Now the payoff. Open search and describe something inside one of your videos — a phrase someone said, a place you filmed, a product you showed. Soontra looks inside your media, not just at file names, and takes you to the exact moment.
Create a project and attach files
Open Projects and create your first project — give it a title, a description, and a deadline. Then attach the files you just uploaded, so every asset for this piece of content stays together. Move it through your stages as work progresses, and switch between Kanban, List, and Calendar views to plan however you like. See Create and track projects.
Ask Astrono to summarize
Open Astrono and use the Summarize Projects quick action — it summarizes your current and upcoming projects for you. It's a small ask, but it shows the shape of everything Astrono can do: it reads from the same files, projects, and analytics you just set up, so its answers are about your actual work.
Restart the tour anytime
Your first visit comes with a guided tour — roughly 18 steps that point out Drive, search, the status pill, projects, analytics, and connections as you move through the app. If you skipped it or want a refresher (or want to show a teammate), restart onboarding from Settings → Workspace to re-arm the tour at no charge.