Question 1

Is it really free? Are there limits?

Accepted Answer

Yes. DocBox AI is $0 with no subscription and no account. Local mode runs entirely on your machine via Ollama (also free). Cloud providers (Gemini, Claude, OpenRouter) bill you directly at their published rates — DocBox never processes or sees that payment.

Question 2

Where are my documents stored?

Accepted Answer

Your documents stay exactly where they are — DocBox AI never moves or copies them. It only writes its own index, extracted facts, and thumbnails to a local app folder (%LOCALAPPDATA%/DocBox on Windows, ~/.docbox on macOS). Nothing leaves your machine unless you turn on a cloud AI provider.

Question 3

What happens when files change in a watched folder?

Accepted Answer

DocBox watches every folder you add. New files are indexed in the background, renamed files keep their extracted facts, and removed files are dropped from the index automatically. Once a file is indexed, it stays queryable for as long as it lives in the folder — no manual re-indexing.

Question 4

Do you collect any data?

Accepted Answer

Almost nothing — and never anything that identifies you. No account, no tracking, nothing about your documents. When the app checks for updates, DocBox records an anonymous, aggregate count: the date, app version, and OS, plus a one-way daily hash used only to estimate how many people use it. No IP or identifier is stored, and you can turn update checks off completely.

Question 5

How are my API keys stored?

Accepted Answer

In your OS keychain — Windows Credential Manager on Windows, Keychain on macOS. Never in a plain-text config file you might accidentally share or back up to the cloud.

Question 6

Does it work offline?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Local mode uses Ollama with no network required. Network Lock blocks every outbound call regardless of mode, so even with cloud providers configured you can guarantee an air-gapped run.

Question 7

What file types are supported?

Accepted Answer

PDFs (digital and scanned), Word, Excel, PowerPoint, CSV, Markdown, plain text, and most image formats — PNG, JPEG, WebP, TIFF, HEIC, BMP, GIF. Five OCR engines fall back automatically per file to give the best text extraction.

Question 8

How large a document library can it handle?

Accepted Answer

Built for thousands of documents. The local index (LanceDB + SQLite) scales to large libraries; performance depends on your hardware — GPU is optional but speeds up indexing on Windows and Apple Silicon. Start with a folder and add more over time.

Question 9

Do I need a GPU? How long does indexing take?

Accepted Answer

GPU is optional — DocBox runs on any CPU. If you have a supported GPU (NVIDIA RTX 30/40, Apple Silicon, AMD Radeon, Intel Arc, Qualcomm Snapdragon NPU) it auto-detects and uses it for embeddings and OCR. Initial indexing takes minutes for a few hundred files, hours for tens of thousands. After that the file watcher just keeps up with new and changed files in the background.

Question 10

How does it actually answer questions?

Accepted Answer

When you ask something, DocBox finds the most relevant passages across your indexed files — using both meaning-based and keyword search — ranks them, and a local model writes the answer, citing the exact pages it used. In local mode, finding, ranking, and writing all happen on your machine; nothing about your documents or your questions leaves it.

Question 11

Can I share with my team or use it on multiple devices?

Accepted Answer

DocBox AI is single-user, single-machine. There's no team plan and no built-in sync between devices. If you want your library on two machines, the simplest path is to point both installs at a folder that's already synced via Dropbox, iCloud, or OneDrive — DocBox's file watcher picks up changes on each side.

Question 12

What happens if I uninstall, and how do updates work?

Accepted Answer

Uninstalling leaves your documents alone — DocBox never moves originals. The uninstaller removes the app and its local index (extracted facts, thumbnails, chat history). On Windows the app auto-updates silently in the background via electron-updater (toggle off in Settings → Privacy). On macOS, manual for now — re-download from docboxhub.com when there's a new release.

A private AI workspace for your documents.

Ask your documents anything.

Stop re-uploading your documents.

Three steps. The third one is asking questions.

Point it at a folder

It reads everything

Ask, or just open it

You don't have to remember what to search for.

Not a search box. An understanding of your files.

Every deadline on one page

Cryptic filenames, fixed in one pass

Answers cited to the page — numbers become charts

Smart collections

Document record

Reads scans & photos

Connects the dots

One workspace. Three ways to run it.

Local

Cloud

Hybrid

Runs on what you already have.

Run with cloud AI

Run fully local

Frequently asked questions

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