In This Article: The hands-on guide to day-to-day Lakehouse operations — uploading files, understanding upload and sync states, creating and organizing folders, using right-click context menus, moving and renaming documents, inspecting file details and history, searching and filtering, selecting files in bulk, linking folders to Tasks, data security, and best practices for folder structure and file naming.
Uploading Files
Before uploading, navigate to the folder where you want the files to land. Select the folder from the Folders panel on the left — the main panel on the right updates to show that folder's contents. Files always upload to the currently selected folder. If no folder is selected, navigate to one first.
The upload zone appears at the bottom of the main file list area whenever a folder is selected and ready to receive files.
Click the Browse files to upload link in the dashed-border upload zone. Your system file picker opens — select one or multiple files and confirm. Files upload immediately and appear in the current folder's list when complete.
Drag files from your desktop or file explorer directly onto the upload zone. Drop multiple files at once — they all upload in parallel to the current folder. The zone highlights when you hover with a file to indicate it's ready to receive.
Files land in the currently selected folder — not the last folder you visited. If you've navigated around mid-session, confirm which folder is highlighted in the Folders panel before uploading. Moving a file after the fact is straightforward, but picking the right folder upfront saves the step.
Supported formats confirmed in the upload zone: PDF, XLS, XLSX, DOC, DOCX, CSV, JSON, XML. Additional formats including TXT, Markdown, SQL, images, HTML, Python, and PowerPoint are also accepted. The maximum file size is 4GB. If a format is unsupported, the upload is flagged immediately.
Creating Folders
There are two ways to create a folder: the + Add Folder button in the top right of the main panel, and the Add Folder option in the folder right-click context menu. Both open the same Create Folder modal. The right-click method automatically sets the right-clicked folder as the parent destination — faster when building nested structures.
Context Menus — Folder and File Actions
Right-clicking surfaces a context menu anywhere in the Lakehouse. The options differ depending on whether you right-click a folder in the Folders panel or a file in the file tree. Both are the fastest route to common actions without opening a separate settings panel.
Moving Files and Folders
Select Move from the right-click menu or the three-dot menu on any file or folder. The Move dialog opens showing your complete folder tree. Expand and collapse branches to find the destination, select it, then confirm. The item relocates instantly.
Moving a folder moves everything inside it — all subfolders and files travel with the parent. The move is reflected in the Lakehouse immediately. Because Smith syncs every 24 hours, allow up to one day for the updated file path to reflect in new Smith conversations.
File Detail Panel
Click any file name in the main file list to open the detail panel on the right side of the screen. The panel gives you a complete picture of the file — metadata, team notes, and a timestamped activity log — without leaving the Lakehouse view. You can also reach it via Details in the folder right-click menu.
Searching and Filtering
The Lakehouse has two distinct search controls. The Search folder input at the top of the Folders panel filters the file tree in real time as you type — useful for navigating a deep folder structure without clicking through multiple levels. The Search button in the file list header searches file and folder names within the currently selected folder's contents. These operate independently.
Click Show Filters in the file list header to expose filter controls. Three filter types are available — combine them for precision:
Multi-Select and Bulk Actions
Each file row in the main list includes a checkbox on the left. Clicking a checkbox selects that file; clicking the header checkbox selects all visible files in the current view. When one or more files are selected, a bulk action bar appears — giving you three operations to apply across the entire selection at once. Multi-select works in both the LAKEHOUSE and RECENT views.
Linking Files to Tasks
The fastest way to connect a Lakehouse folder to a Task is through the folder right-click menu. Right-click any folder in the Folders panel and select Add Task. The Create Task modal opens with the selected folder pre-populated in the Task folder field — saving you the step of navigating to the Tasks tab and manually specifying a folder.
The Create Task modal fields: Task Name (required), Task folder (pre-filled from your right-click), Due Date (required), Task Detail, and Assignee (required). Complete the form and click Create. The task appears under the Tasks tab and the linked folder is surfaced to the assignee when they open the task.
Create the folder, upload the source files, then right-click to add the task. The assignee opens the task and finds the folder already connected — no attachment emails, no version confusion. Particularly effective for month-end close packages, board preparation, and recurring report deliverables where the same folder structure repeats each cycle.
Data Security
The Lakehouse is designed to hold sensitive financial and operational documents. These are the specific protections in place.
All files are encrypted using TLS/SSL during transfer and AES-256 at rest — from the moment you upload through every subsequent access.
Your Lakehouse is isolated to your account. No other users can access your files, and your data is never shared across accounts or used to train AI models.
Every upload, rename, move, and deletion is logged with a timestamp and user attribution. The History tab on any file gives you the complete record.
All uploaded content remains yours. Delete any file at any time — permanently and immediately. Compass does not retain copies after deletion.
Folder Structure and File Naming Best Practices
A well-organized Lakehouse pays off immediately when using Smith — the more precisely you scope which folder to load, the more focused and accurate the responses. These practices apply whether your Lakehouse has ten files or ten thousand.
Structure folders around how your team actually works — by reporting period, business unit, or project phase. Close / 2026 / May or Board Prep / Q2 2026 is immediately intuitive to anyone on the team. Avoid generic structures like Documents / Misc.
Lead file names with the most distinctive element: date, entity code, or report type. 2026-05 P&L Variance.xlsx sorts and scans better than May Variance Analysis Final v3.xlsx. Avoid "Final," "v2," and similar suffixes — the History tab handles version context.
When you select a folder in Smith, it reads every file inside it. Narrower folders produce more targeted responses. Select only the files relevant to your question — too many dilutes focus, too few misses context.
Favorite the folders you're actively working with each reporting cycle. When the cycle closes, unfavorite them and favorite the next set. The FAVORITE tab becomes a living shortcut list — current quarter in, prior period out.
Add a comment to folders explaining their purpose, or to files noting key details — source system, reporting date, known caveats. A single sentence of context on frequently referenced files saves significant time when that file surfaces in a Smith conversation months later.
Delete outdated files, consolidate duplicates, and archive completed project folders. A lean Lakehouse is easier to search, navigate, and load into Smith — and reduces the chance of Smith drawing on stale or superseded data.
Once your files are in the Lakehouse and sync is complete, select them directly from Smith's file tree before starting a conversation. For the full walkthrough — selecting files, choosing a model, and getting document-backed responses — see 5.1 Getting Started with Smith and 5.3 Lakehouse Settings and Account.
The folder right-click menu is the most efficient surface in the Lakehouse — from a single right-click you can add a subfolder, upload a file, spin up a linked task, or favorite a folder for quick access. If there's one habit worth building early, it's reaching for the right-click before navigating away to do the same thing from another tab.
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