Document UXTutorial6 min

Design file inputs and document workflows for AI

How to make file upload, parsing, extraction, and review feel like one reliable product flow.

Real example

Example: upload, parse, extract, review, approve

A legal operations tool accepts contract PDFs. Users need to know whether each file was uploaded, parsed, extracted, reviewed, or rejected.

Create explicit file statuses and render them in the UI. Keep the original file visible next to extracted fields and allow reprocess or manual correction.

File upload becomes a workflow with recovery paths instead of a black-box AI action.

Tutorial path

How to implement it

Step 01

Create a file record with owner, MIME type, size, source, and processing status.

Step 02

Show upload progress and a stable processing state after the browser handoff completes.

Step 03

Parse the document and store source references before asking the model to extract fields.

Step 04

Render extracted fields beside document references for review.

Step 05

Let users reprocess, replace, or manually correct the document record.

Checklist

Ready when these are true

File ownership validated

Processing states visible

Source references preserved

Reviewer can correct fields

Reprocess path exists

Field notes

What matters in practice

File input UX needs processing states, not just an upload button.

Users should know whether a file is uploaded, parsed, extracted, reviewed, or failed.

AI extraction should never hide the original document from the reviewer.

Avoid these mistakes

Common failure modes

Do not show upload complete when parsing is still pending.

Do not hide the original document from the reviewer.

Do not make reprocessing overwrite approved corrections by default.

Practical tip

Users trust document AI when they can see both the source document and the extracted field side by side.

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