# Getting Started with Keyline

The fastest way to understand Keyline is to upload a document and ask it a question. This
page walks through that first upload, what happens behind the scenes, and where to start
reading once it is done.

## Upload your first PDF

Open your library and choose the upload option, then pick a PDF from your computer. There
is a maximum file size and page count (see the [FAQ](/docs/keyline/faq) for the current
limits). Once the file starts uploading, you will see a progress indicator while Keyline
processes it.

## What happens after you upload

Uploading a file does two things at once:

1. **Analysis.** Keyline reads the document with Google Gemini's multimodal understanding,
   which includes recognizing figures, diagrams, and tables in addition to plain text.
2. **Indexing.** Keyline builds a search index for the file so it can be found later, both
   on its own and as part of a [multi-file search](/docs/keyline/multi-file-search) across
   your whole library.

Both steps run automatically. You do not need to do anything else once the upload starts;
Keyline shows progress and the document becomes readable as soon as processing finishes.

## Where to start reading

Once a document finishes processing, open it to reach the PDF view, where you can page
through the document and start a conversation about it. See
[Reading and analyzing PDFs](/docs/keyline/reading-pdfs) for how the page view works, or
jump straight to [Conversations and citations](/docs/keyline/conversations-and-citations)
to start asking questions.