Why this matters
Long proposals, policies and contracts land on someone's desk an hour before the meeting. The terms that cost money, such as automatic renewal, price increases and fees for leaving, are usually in the back.
Smallpdf's AI PDF tools summarize a document and answer questions about it, with page links you can click to check each answer. You get the key points in minutes and still know where each one came from.
Practice
Do every step yourself in a practice copy of the real tool. It checks your work, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on.
What you’ll build
You help Maya Chen, office manager at Larkspur Accounting Group, a made-up 24-person firm with a 25-page managed IT proposal and a 2 PM meeting.
You open AI PDF > Summarize in Smallpdf, upload the proposal, read the summary and notice what it left out, ask how to stop the renewal and what leaving early costs, check the answer on its page, ask for every extra cost, catch the missing onboarding fee with a follow-up, download the notes as a text file and work out year one by hand. The Smallpdf screens are real, from a free account.
What you need
- Nothing to start the practiceThe lesson uses real Smallpdf screens. Larkspur, Northbeam and every number are made up.
- The sample PDFA made-up 25-page managed IT proposal, about 3,000 words.
- A free Smallpdf account, to do it for realFrom smallpdf.com/pricing, read 18 October 2026: the Free plan lists Chat with PDF and AI PDF Summarizer as Limited, with a 25,000 to 35,000 word limit per document. Pro is $15 a month, or $10 a month billed yearly, with a 7-day free trial.
Concepts
A summary is a first read
The summary picks the main points. It does not know which clauses matter to your firm. In our run it said the contract renews automatically, but not how to stop it, and it left out the price increase and the exit fee.
Read it in a minute, then write down the questions about money and exits that you need answered.
Ask for page numbers, then click them
Ask the chat for the page of each fact. Smallpdf shows page chips under every answer. Click one and the PDF jumps to that page with the text it used highlighted.
Check lists, and do the math yourself
A list can look complete and still miss something. Ours left out a $4,800 onboarding fee until a follow-up asked for it. Compare every list with what you already know, and add up the money by hand.
Do it for real
Now repeat it in your own account. Tick each step as you go.
Quick check
3 questions to check you’ve got it.
1. The summary says the contract renews automatically. What should you do next?
- Nothing, the summary covered it
- Ask how to stop it and what leaving early costs, with page numbers
- Ask for a shorter summary
Show the answer
Ask how to stop it and what leaving early costs, with page numbers. The summary named the renewal but not the 90-day notice or the 75% exit fee. Those came from a direct question.
2. How do you check where an answer came from in Smallpdf?
- Reread the whole PDF
- Click the page chip under the answer
- Ask the same question again
Show the answer
Click the page chip under the answer. The page chip jumps the PDF to that page and highlights the text the answer used.
3. The AI lists seven extra costs. What is the safest move?
- Copy the list into your notes as is
- Compare it with what you know and ask about anything missing
- Ask it to add up year one for you
Show the answer
Compare it with what you know and ask about anything missing. In our run the list left out the $4,800 onboarding fee. A follow-up found it, and the year-one math is yours to do.
Speak AI: Turn Customer Interviews into Themes and Quotes
You got the key points of a 25-page proposal with Smallpdf and checked each one on its page. Review the apps you have met in this course and pick one to try on your own work.
Start module 31 →