Help Reference

First-Run Setup Wizard

When you launch Orca for the first time, the setup wizard runs automatically. It walks you through five steps to get the app connected and ready to use.

Step 1: Welcome

Introduction to Orca and an overview of what will be configured. No input required. Click Next to continue.

Step 2: AI Provider

Select your AI provider and enter your API key. Orca supports Anthropic Claude and OpenAI. Your key is stored securely in the local credential store and never transmitted outside the app.

• Paste your API key into the field provided.
• Click Test Connection to verify it works before proceeding.
• Tip: If you are unsure which model tier to use, start with the default recommendation. You can change it later in Settings under AI Provider.

Step 3: Database

Connect your private Supabase database. Orca stores contact facts, meeting briefs, work items, and draft history here. Your emails and calendar data stay in Microsoft or Google.

• Enter your Supabase project URL and anon key.
• Click Test Connection. Orca will run the required migrations automatically on first connect.
• Tip: If you do not have a Supabase project yet, follow the link on this screen to create one. The free tier is sufficient for most users.

Step 4: Microsoft 365

Connect your primary Microsoft 365 account for email, calendar, contacts, and Teams messaging. Authentication uses OAuth, so no password is stored in the app.

• Click Connect Microsoft 365.
• Sign in via the browser prompt and grant the requested permissions.
• Once authorised, you will be returned to the wizard automatically.
• Tip: You can connect up to five accounts (Microsoft 365 or Google) in any combination. Additional accounts can be added after setup via Settings.

Step 5: Optional Integrations

Configure additional services. All of these can be skipped and added later.

• Fireflies: Paste your Fireflies API key to enable transcript polling after meetings.
• Pushover: Enter your Pushover user key and application token for push notifications.
• ClickUp: Enter your ClickUp API key and workspace ID to enable task creation and sync.
• Tip: Fireflies is the most impactful optional integration. Without it, post-meeting follow-ups and transcript search are not available.

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Credential Settings (Integrations Tab)

After initial setup, all credentials are managed under Settings > Integrations. Each integration shows a status badge.

Badge	Meaning
Connected	Credentials saved and last test passed
Not configured	No credentials entered for this integration
Checking	Orca is currently testing the connection
Error	Credentials present but last test failed

Managing credentials

1. Open Settings from the sidebar or with Cmd+,.
2. Select the Integrations tab.
3. Click the integration you want to update.
4. Enter or paste the new value and click Save.
5. Click Test to verify the credential is working.

Available integrations

• Microsoft 365 (email, calendar, contacts, Teams)
• Google Workspace (email, calendar, contacts)
• Anthropic Claude (AI provider)
• OpenAI (AI provider)
• Fireflies (meeting transcripts)
• Pushover (push notifications)
• ClickUp (task management)
• HubSpot (CRM sync)
• Companies House (company research)
• Voyage AI (semantic memory embeddings)

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General Settings

Identity

Set your name, email address, and job title. Orca uses these when generating emails, meeting briefs, and follow-up drafts to ensure the tone and sign-off are correct.

Tenant View

When you have multiple accounts connected, the tenant view setting controls which accounts are active by default. Options: All accounts, or select a specific account to scope all queries to that tenant. Can also be toggled from the title bar dropdown.

Panel Defaults

Set which panel opens on launch. Options include Chat, Briefing, Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks. Defaults to Chat.

Delegate Access

If you manage email or calendar on behalf of another person, enter their email address here. Orca will include their mailbox and calendar when querying for context.

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Integration Status: Troubleshooting

Issue	Likely cause	Fix
Badge shows Error after saving	Invalid or expired credential	Re-enter the key and test again. For OAuth integrations, disconnect and reconnect.
Microsoft account not reconnecting	OAuth token expired or permissions revoked	Go to Settings > Integrations, click Disconnect, then reconnect via OAuth.
Database shows Checking indefinitely	Network issue or incorrect project URL	Confirm the Supabase URL ends with .supabase.co and the anon key is correct.
Fireflies shows Connected but no transcripts appear	API key correct but no recent meetings in Fireflies account	Confirm meetings have been processed in the Fireflies dashboard before expecting them in Orca.

What it does

The chat assistant is the primary interface for interacting with Orca. It is an AI assistant with live access to your Microsoft 365 account, calendar, email, Teams, contacts, tasks, and external data sources including Companies House, the web, and your Fireflies transcripts.

Orca does not fabricate data. If a tool call fails or returns no results, it says so rather than making something up. For actions that affect external systems (sending emails, creating events, sending Teams messages), Orca uses a draft approval system: it queues the action for your review before executing it.

How to use it

1. Click Chat in the sidebar, or press Cmd+1.
2. Type your request in the input field at the bottom of the panel.
3. Press Enter to send, or Shift+Enter for a new line.
4. Orca responds in the conversation thread. Tool calls are shown inline as they execute.
5. If a draft is created (email, Teams message, calendar event), a notification appears in the draft queue indicator at the top of the panel.
6. Review any pending drafts via the Drafts panel before they are sent.
7. To start a new conversation, click Clear chat at the top of the panel or press Cmd+Shift+Delete.

What it can help with

• Calendar management: view today's schedule, create events, reschedule meetings, find free slots
• Email: search inbox, read specific threads, draft replies, send follow-ups
• Teams messaging: send messages to channels or people, read recent messages
• Task management: create tasks, update statuses, list overdue items, query ClickUp
• Contact knowledge: look up contact facts, relationship history, warmth scores
• Meeting preparation: generate meeting briefs, research attendees and companies
• Fireflies transcripts: search, summarise, and extract action items from transcripts
• Work items: create and manage follow-ups, thoughts, and prep tasks
• Draft approval: review, approve, edit, or discard queued drafts
• File operations: generate PDFs of meeting briefs, save output files
• Database queries: search semantic memory, retrieve stored facts
• HubSpot: query and update CRM records if HubSpot is connected
• Weather and transport: check current conditions, travel times, departure alerts
• Company research: Companies House data, director lists, filing history
• PDF generation: create formatted documents from meeting briefs or reports
• Notifications: send test pushes, query notification history

Tips and tricks

• Give Orca a name and a date rather than "my meeting later". The more specific you are, the less it needs to ask.
• You can chain requests in a single message: "Prep me for my 14:00, then draft a follow-up for yesterday's call with Marcus."
• If Orca asks a clarifying question, answer it in your next message. It keeps context across the conversation.
• Use the voice input button (microphone icon) to dictate requests hands-free.
• If a response is cut off, type "continue" and Orca will resume from where it stopped.
• Orca remembers facts from the conversation, but not between sessions. If you close the chat and reopen it, you start fresh.
• Semantic search is available: "What did I discuss with James about the Bristol contract?" queries stored memories, not just today's context.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Likely cause	Fix
No response after sending a message	AI provider not connected or API key invalid	Check Settings > Integrations > AI Provider. Test the connection.
Orca says "I cannot access your calendar"	Microsoft 365 OAuth token expired	Reconnect your Microsoft account in Settings > Integrations.
Draft queue not showing expected drafts	Drafts may have been auto-cleared or there was a tool error	Check the chat thread for any error messages from the tool call. Re-ask Orca to draft the item.
Orca fabricated a company or contact detail	Should not happen. If it does, this is a bug.	Report via Cmd+Shift+F feedback. Include the exact prompt and response.
Response is very slow	Multiple tool calls or large context window	Normal for complex requests. If it exceeds 60 seconds, try breaking the request into smaller parts.
Chat history not showing previous conversation	Chat was cleared or app was restarted	Chat history is not persisted between sessions by design. Previous outputs may be in the output file browser.
Voice input not working	Microphone permissions not granted	Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone and enable Orca.

Email

Orca reads your inbox via the Microsoft Graph API (or Google Gmail API) and can search, summarise, draft, and send emails on your behalf, subject to draft approval.

Searching email

Ask Orca in chat. Examples:

• "What emails have I had from Marcus in the last two weeks?"
• "Find the email thread about the Northgate contract renewal."
• "What did I reply to Sarah about the Q3 proposal?"

Sending email

Ask Orca to draft and send. It will create a draft for your approval before sending.

• "Send a follow-up to Dave thanking him for today's call and confirming we'll send the proposal by Friday."
• "Reply to Marcus's email about the budget review and say I'll call him Thursday morning."

Replying and forwarding

Reference the thread explicitly: "Reply to the email thread with the subject 'Q4 review' and ask if they can do Tuesday instead."

Tips

• Always name the person or subject. "Reply to my emails" is too vague.
• Orca drafts in your tone based on prior email history. Review before approving.
• You can edit a draft in the Drafts panel before sending.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Orca cannot find an email	Try a different search term. Microsoft Graph search has limits; very old emails may not index cleanly.
Email sent to wrong address	Always review the To field in the Drafts panel before approving.
Draft not appearing in Drafts panel	Check the chat thread for any error during the tool call. Re-ask if needed.

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Teams Messaging

Orca can send Teams messages to channels or direct message threads. It reads recent messages for context and composes outbound messages for your approval.

Sending a Teams message

• "Send a Teams message to the Strategy channel saying I'll be 10 minutes late to the 14:00."
• "Send a DM to Priya on Teams asking if she's free for a call this afternoon."

Previewing before sending

All Teams messages are queued in the draft approval panel before sending. You can edit the message text, change the recipient, or discard the draft.

Tips

• Specify channel or DM explicitly. Orca will ask if ambiguous.
• Teams messages go through the same draft queue as emails. They are not sent until you approve.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Teams message fails to send	Check that your Microsoft account has Teams access and that the Graph API permissions include ChannelMessage.Send.
Channel not found	Orca looks up channels by name. Confirm the exact channel name in Teams.

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Draft Approval Queue

The draft queue holds all pending outbound actions: emails, Teams messages, and calendar events. Nothing is sent until you review and approve.

How to use the draft queue

1. Open the Drafts panel from the sidebar or click the draft count badge in the header.
2. Each draft shows the type (Email / Teams / Calendar), recipient, subject or preview text, and a timestamp.
3. Click Preview to expand the full content.
4. Click Send to approve and dispatch the item.
5. Click Discard to remove it without sending.
6. Use Send All at the top of the panel to approve all pending drafts in one action.
7. Use Clear All to discard all pending drafts.

How drafts are created

Drafts are generated automatically by:

• Chat assistant responses that include email or Teams actions
• Post-meeting follow-up automation
• Chase reminder automation (Wednesday mornings)
• Morning briefing flags with suggested responses

Draft statuses

Status	Meaning
Pending	Awaiting your approval
Sent	Approved and dispatched successfully
Cancelled	Discarded without sending
Edited	You modified the content before approving

Tips

• You can edit a draft directly in the preview before sending. Click the text area to make it editable.
• Sent drafts are retained in the panel for 7 days for audit purposes.
• The draft count badge in the header is the quickest way to see if anything is waiting.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Send fails with a permission error	Your Microsoft 365 OAuth token may have expired. Reconnect in Settings > Integrations.
Draft disappeared from queue	Check if Clear All was used. Drafts cannot be recovered once cleared.
Draft queue badge shows 0 but I expect items	Try refreshing the Drafts panel. If the issue persists, the draft tool call may have errored silently - check the chat thread.

What it does

Email templates let you create reusable reply structures with dynamic placeholders. When you apply a template to a draft, placeholders are automatically replaced with recipient data, saving you from retyping common responses.

Available placeholders

Placeholder	Replaced with
{{firstName}}	The recipient's first name
{{lastName}}	The recipient's surname
{{email}}	The recipient's email address
{{company}}	Extracted from the email domain
{{subject}}	The draft's subject line

Creating a template

1. Open Settings > Scheduler.
2. Scroll to the Reply Templates section.
3. Click Add Template.
4. Give it a name (e.g. "Post-meeting follow-up") and type the body text, inserting placeholders where needed.
5. Click the placeholder chips below the editor to insert them at the cursor position.

Applying a template

1. Open a draft in the Drafts panel.
2. Click Edit to enter edit mode.
3. Use the Apply a template dropdown at the top of the editor.
4. Select a template. The body is replaced with the template text, and placeholders are filled from the draft's recipient data.
5. Edit the text if needed, then save or send.

Tips

• Templates work with any email draft, whether created by you, by the AI, or by the email autopilot.
• The quoted conversation history from the original email thread is preserved when you apply a template.
• You can create as many templates as you need. They are stored locally and sync across sessions.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Template dropdown not showing	You need at least one template created in Settings > Scheduler. Create one first.
Placeholder shows as literal text	Check the placeholder spelling. It must match exactly: {{firstName}}, not {{ firstName }}.
Company name looks wrong	The company placeholder is extracted from the email domain. For generic domains like gmail.com, it will not be meaningful.

Calendar Overview

The Calendar panel shows your meetings in a day or week timeline view. Events are pulled live from your connected Microsoft 365 or Google accounts.

Viewing your calendar

• Click Calendar in the sidebar.
• Use the date navigation arrows to move forward or back.
• Click any event to see full details: attendees, location, join link, and any Orca briefing attached to it.
• Toggle between day and week view using the buttons at the top right of the panel.

Creating and editing events

• Ask Orca in chat: "Create a meeting with James on Thursday at 11:00 for 45 minutes."
• The event is queued as a draft for your approval before it is created in your calendar.
• To edit an existing event, ask: "Move my 14:00 with Sarah to 15:30."

Providers

Orca supports Microsoft 365 (Exchange/Outlook) and Google Calendar. If you have both connected, events from all accounts are shown in the unified timeline. The account source is indicated by a small coloured dot on each event.

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Meeting Prep Automation

Orca automatically generates a meeting brief for each upcoming meeting. For virtual meetings, the brief is sent 30 minutes before start time. For in-person meetings, it is sent 60 minutes before.

What happens

1. Orca detects an upcoming meeting from your calendar.
2. It identifies the attendees and looks up each one in your contact database.
3. It searches your email history for prior threads with those attendees.
4. It pulls any Fireflies transcripts from previous meetings with them.
5. It retrieves open follow-ups or work items linked to those contacts.
6. It queries Companies House for the attendees' company if the company is known.
7. It checks for any open tasks related to the meeting subject.
8. It composes a structured one-page brief.
9. The brief is sent via Pushover notification and saved to the output file browser as a PDF.

What the PDF one-pager contains

• Meeting details (time, duration, location or link, attendees)
• Connection context for each attendee (how you know them, last interaction)
• Company intelligence (registration data, director list, recent activity)
• Prior conversation summary (key topics from email and transcript history)
• Open actions and commitments from previous meetings
• Suggested talking points and questions

Tips

• Add attendees to your contact database before the meeting so Orca has more to work with.
• The more email history and Fireflies transcripts you have with an attendee, the richer the brief.
• You can trigger a brief manually at any time: "Prep me for my 14:00 with Dave."

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Fireflies Transcripts

If Fireflies is connected, Orca polls for new transcripts every 30 minutes after a meeting ends. Transcripts are stored locally and indexed for search.

Viewing transcripts

• Open the Briefing panel and select a meeting that has completed.
• If a transcript is available, a Transcript tab appears alongside the Brief tab.
• You can also ask in chat: "Show me the transcript from my call with Marcus last Tuesday."

Searching by participant

Ask Orca to find transcripts by name: "What did James say about the Edinburgh project?" Orca searches across all stored transcripts and returns relevant excerpts.

Tips

• Fireflies must be active in your meeting (as a participant or via calendar integration) to generate a transcript. Orca cannot create transcripts itself.
• Transcripts typically appear in Orca within 30-60 minutes of the meeting ending, depending on Fireflies processing time.

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Post-Meeting Follow-Up

After a meeting ends, Orca automatically initiates a follow-up workflow if it detects a completed event and a matching Fireflies transcript.

How it works

1. Orca detects a completed calendar event.
2. It polls for a Fireflies transcript matching the meeting time and attendees.
3. It analyses the transcript for action items, commitments, and key topics.
4. It drafts a follow-up email summarising what was discussed and confirming next steps.
5. The draft is queued in the approval panel for your review.

Tips

• You can trigger this manually: "Follow up on my call with Dave from this morning."
• If Orca finds multiple meetings with the same person on the same day, it will ask which one to use.
• The follow-up draft uses your email tone based on prior correspondence with that person.

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Meeting brief not arriving	Check that the scheduler is running (Settings > Scheduler) and Pushover is connected.
Brief contains no attendee information	Attendees may not be in your contact database. Add them or ensure they are in your M365 contacts.
Transcript not appearing after meeting	Fireflies may still be processing. Wait 30-60 minutes and check again.
Post-meeting follow-up not generated automatically	Confirm the scheduler's post-meeting job is enabled. Also confirm Fireflies is connected and the meeting had a transcript.
Calendar shows events from wrong account	Check the tenant view toggle in the title bar. Filter to the correct account if needed.

Contact Database

Orca maintains a contact database drawn from your Microsoft 365 or Google contacts, supplemented by people encountered in emails, meetings, and transcripts.

Viewing contacts

• Click Contacts in the sidebar.
• Contacts are listed alphabetically with name, company, role, and warmth score.
• Use the search bar to filter by name, company, or tag.

Searching

Type in the search bar at the top of the Contacts panel, or ask Orca in chat: "Find everyone I've spoken to at Meridian Partners."

Adding contacts

• Contacts sync automatically from your connected M365/Google accounts.
• To add manually: click Add Contact, enter name, email, company, and role.
• Orca also creates contact records automatically when it encounters new people in emails or transcripts.

Updating contacts

• Click a contact to open their dossier, then click Edit.
• Or ask Orca: "Update Marcus's role to Head of Strategy."

Tips

• Keep company names consistent. Orca groups contacts by company for pipeline and research features.
• Tag contacts with project or pipeline stage labels for easier filtering.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Contact sync not completing	Check Microsoft 365 connection in Settings > Integrations. Re-auth if the token has expired.
Duplicate contacts	Merge them manually from the contact dossier using the Merge button, or ask Orca: "Merge the two records for Dave Harrington."

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Contact Facts

Orca stores structured facts about each contact gathered from emails, meetings, and transcripts. Facts are categorised by type.

Category	Examples
Professional	Job title, company, reporting line, areas of responsibility
Personal	Location, family context mentioned in conversation, interests
Preference	Preferred communication channel, meeting time preferences, communication style
Project	Named projects they are working on or responsible for, deadlines mentioned
Context	How you met, who introduced you, relationship history notes

How facts are gathered

Orca extracts facts automatically from Fireflies transcripts and email analysis. When it detects a new fact, it asks for your confirmation before storing it. You can also add facts manually from a contact's dossier.

How to use facts

• Ask Orca in chat: "What do I know about Sarah Chen?"
• Facts appear automatically in meeting briefs and follow-up drafts.
• Use them to personalise outreach: "Draft an email to Dave mentioning the Bristol expansion he mentioned last time."

Tips

• Confirm or reject facts promptly when Orca asks. Unreviewed facts are stored as unconfirmed and weighted less heavily.
• Facts are versioned. If a contact's role changes, the old fact is archived rather than deleted.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Incorrect fact stored about a contact	Open the contact dossier, find the fact, and click Delete or Edit.
Facts not being extracted from transcripts	Confirm Fireflies is connected and transcripts are being pulled successfully.

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Person Dossiers

Each contact has a dossier: a single view combining everything Orca knows about them.

Opening a dossier

• Click a contact name in the Contacts panel.
• Or ask: "Show me the dossier for Marcus."

What you see

• Overview: name, company, role, email, warmth score, last contact date
• Facts: all stored facts by category
• Timeline: chronological interaction history (emails, meetings, Teams messages)
• Work items: open follow-ups, tasks, and prep items linked to this contact
• Notes: free-text notes you have added manually

Quick actions

• Draft email: opens a chat prompt pre-loaded with the contact's context
• Add fact: manually record a new fact
• Schedule meeting: creates a calendar event draft with this contact as attendee

Tips

• The warmth score updates automatically based on recency and frequency of interaction. A score above 70 is warm; below 30 is at risk of going cold.
• Add manual notes after calls for context that Orca may not extract automatically.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Dossier showing no interaction history	The contact may be new or their email address may not match exactly. Check for duplicates.
Warmth score not updating	Warmth scores recalculate daily. Changes after a meeting will reflect by the following morning.

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Relationship Timeline

The relationship timeline shows every interaction with a contact in chronological order, colour-coded by type.

Interaction types

• Blue: email sent or received
• Green: meeting attended
• Purple: Fireflies transcript available
• Orange: Teams message
• Grey: manual note

Tips

• Click any timeline entry to expand the full content (email body, meeting details, transcript excerpt).
• Use the timeline to prepare for conversations: "What have we discussed in the last 90 days?" is answered at a glance.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Emails not appearing in timeline	Confirm the contact's email address matches the address used in correspondence. Check for alias discrepancies.
Meetings missing from timeline	Meetings are linked by attendee email. If the attendee's email in your calendar does not match their contact record, they will not be linked.

Tasks

Tasks are discrete actions you or Orca need to complete. They are stored in Orca's database and optionally synced to ClickUp if it is connected.

Creating a task

• Ask Orca: "Create a task to review the Northgate contract by Thursday."
• Or open the Tasks panel and click New Task.

Task fields

• Title: brief description of the action
• Description: additional context or notes
• Due date: optional deadline
• Priority: High, Medium, or Low
• Contact: linked contact if the task relates to a person
• Status: see status lifecycle below

Viewing tasks

Open the Tasks panel. Filter by status, priority, due date, or linked contact using the filter bar at the top.

Updating tasks

• Click a task to open it and edit any field.
• Or ask Orca: "Mark the Northgate contract review as complete."

Status lifecycle

Status	Meaning
To do	Not started
In progress	Actively being worked on
Waiting	Blocked on someone else
Done	Completed
Cancelled	No longer needed
Overdue	Past due date and not completed (assigned automatically)

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Work Items

Work items are a broader category that includes tasks but also other types of structured action generated by Orca's automation.

Types

• Follow-up: an outbound action generated after a meeting or email (e.g., send proposal, chase response)
• Meeting prep: research and preparation actions generated before a meeting
• Task: a general action item
• Thought: a captured idea or observation, not yet an action

Viewing work items

Open the Work Items panel. Items are grouped by type and sorted by due date.

Statuses

• Open: active and unresolved
• In progress: being worked on
• Done: completed
• Archived: closed without completion

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Thoughts

Thoughts are unstructured captures: ideas, observations, or half-formed actions. They are stored as work items of type Thought and are not sent anywhere or actioned automatically.

What they are for

Thoughts are a lightweight way to capture something before you have decided what to do with it. You might use them to record an idea from a conversation, a potential opportunity, or a note-to-self that does not yet belong in a task.

Viewing thoughts

Open Work Items and filter by type Thought, or ask Orca: "What thoughts do I have open?"

Processing thoughts

Click the brain icon next to a thought to ask Orca to process it: "Turn this into a task", "Draft an email based on this", or "File this in my notes."

Tips

• Use voice input to capture thoughts hands-free while in a meeting or travelling.
• Review thoughts weekly during your Friday review to decide what to do with each one.

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Task not syncing to ClickUp	Check ClickUp credentials in Settings > Integrations. Confirm the workspace ID is correct.
Work items duplicating	If the post-meeting job runs more than once, duplicates can occur. Use the Merge or Delete options from the work item detail view.
Tasks not showing in the weekly review	Confirm tasks have a due date set. The review filters by due date range.
Thought capture via voice not working	Check microphone permissions. See Voice Input section in this guide.

Push Notifications (Pushover)

Orca sends push notifications to your phone via Pushover. This requires the Pushover app installed on iOS or Android and a Pushover account with an application token.

Setup

1. Create a Pushover account at pushover.net and install the app on your phone.
2. In the Pushover dashboard, create a new application and copy the application token.
3. In Orca: Settings > Integrations > Pushover. Enter your user key and application token.
4. Click Test to send a test notification to your phone.

Priority levels

Priority	Behaviour	Used for
Low	Silent, no vibration	Informational updates, end-of-day summary
Normal	Standard notification sound	Morning briefing, meeting prep, follow-up drafts
High	Bypasses quiet hours	Departure alerts, overdue high-priority follow-ups
Emergency	Repeats until acknowledged	Not currently used by Orca

Tips

• You can silence specific notification types in Settings > Notifications without disconnecting Pushover entirely.
• If you are using Pushover on multiple devices, all devices receive the notification. There is no per-device scoping in Orca.

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WhatsApp Messaging

Orca can send and receive notifications via WhatsApp using a local sidecar process. This does not use the WhatsApp Business API; it uses your personal account via a linked session.

Setup

1. In Settings > Integrations > WhatsApp, enter the phone number registered to your WhatsApp account (international format, e.g., +447700900000).
2. Click Start WhatsApp Sidecar. A small process starts in the background.
3. A QR code appears in the settings panel. Scan it using WhatsApp on your phone (Settings > Linked Devices > Link a Device), or use the pairing code option if QR is not practical.

WhatsApp commands

Command	Action
status	Returns a brief status summary from Orca
briefing	Sends today's morning briefing to WhatsApp
drafts	Lists pending drafts in the approval queue
stop	Pauses WhatsApp notifications until the next session

Tips

• WhatsApp notifications are a fallback channel. If Pushover is configured, it takes priority for time-sensitive alerts.
• The sidecar process must be running for WhatsApp to work. It starts automatically when Orca launches if you have previously linked a device.

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Notification Preferences

You can control which events trigger notifications and via which channel.

Available channels

Channel	Requirements	Best for
Pushover	Pushover account + app token	All real-time alerts
WhatsApp	WhatsApp account + linked session	Summary delivery, fallback
In-app only	No external setup	On-screen banners within the Orca window

How to change preferences

Go to Settings > Notifications. Toggle each notification type on or off, and select the delivery channel for each.

Fallback behaviour

If your primary channel (Pushover) is unavailable, Orca falls back to WhatsApp if configured, then to in-app only. There is no silent failure: if no channel is available, the notification is queued and shown in-app when Orca is next active.

Testing

Each channel has a Send Test button in Settings > Notifications. Use this to confirm your setup before relying on it for meeting prep alerts.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
No push notifications received	Check Pushover credentials in Settings. Send a test. Confirm the Pushover app is installed and notifications are enabled in phone settings.
WhatsApp session disconnecting	WhatsApp sessions expire after inactivity. Relink by scanning the QR code again from Settings > Integrations > WhatsApp.
Duplicate notifications	If both Pushover and WhatsApp are configured for the same event type, both will fire. Disable one channel for that event type in Settings > Notifications.

Transport Alert

For in-person meetings, Orca calculates when you need to leave and sends a departure notification via Pushover. It uses real-time travel time data and applies a configurable buffer.

Orca distinguishes between transit (public transport) and driving mode based on your preferences in Settings > General > Default Travel Mode. The notification includes the travel time, mode, and a suggested departure time.

Example notification:

Depart for Meridian Partners, Bristol
Leave by 10:05 to arrive for your 11:00 meeting.
Driving: 42 min via M4. Buffer: 13 min.

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Departure Alert

The departure alert is a four-stage process that runs automatically when an in-person meeting is detected:

1. Meeting detection: Orca identifies a calendar event with a physical location (not a video link).
2. Travel time calculation: Orca queries the travel time from your current or home location to the meeting venue.
3. Alert scheduling: an alert is scheduled to fire at the calculated departure time, accounting for your buffer preference.
4. Notification dispatch: the departure alert is sent via Pushover at the scheduled time.

Example notification:

Departure reminder
Head to Paddington now for your 14:30 at the Cabinet Office.
Transit: 38 min. Depart by 13:45.

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Travel Time Calculation

Orca calculates travel time using the following inputs:

• Origin: your home address (set in Settings > General) or, if available, your current detected location
• Destination: the location field from the calendar event
• Mode: driving or transit, from your default travel mode preference
• Buffer: additional minutes added on top of the calculated travel time (default: 15 minutes)
• Lead time: how far in advance of the calculated departure time to send the alert (default: 10 minutes)

All of these values are configurable in Settings > General > Travel.

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Location Detection

Orca uses a simple location heuristic based on named markers in your calendar. If your calendar includes events at locations like "Bristol" or "London", Orca adjusts the assumed origin accordingly. Home address is always used as the fallback origin.

Tips

• Enter your home address accurately in Settings. This is the single most important input for departure alerts.
• Ensure meeting locations are entered in full in your calendar invites. Vague locations like "office" will not resolve correctly.
• If you have a regular commute pattern (e.g., you work from two locations on different days), set up calendar markers or notes to help Orca determine your starting point.

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Which meetings trigger alerts

Departure alerts are generated for calendar events that:

• Have a physical location set (not a video conference link)
• Are scheduled on the current or next day
• Are not marked as all-day events
• Have at least one attendee (not solo calendar blocks)

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
No departure alert for an in-person meeting	Confirm the meeting has a full physical address in the location field. Also confirm the scheduler's departure alert job is enabled.
Alert arriving too early or too late	Adjust buffer and lead time in Settings > General > Travel.
Travel time wildly incorrect	Check that your home address in Settings is accurate and the calendar event location is a full address.
Departure alert fired for a video call	The location field on that event may contain a physical address as well as a video link. Edit the calendar event to remove the physical address if the meeting is remote.
No alert despite scheduler running	Check Pushover is connected and working. Send a test from Settings > Notifications.

How it works

The scheduler runs automated jobs in the background while Orca is open. Jobs fall into two categories:

• Interval jobs: run on a fixed cycle (e.g., every 30 minutes). Examples: inbox monitor, transcript polling.
• Clock jobs: run at a specific time of day (e.g., 07:00 every weekday). Examples: morning briefing, end-of-day summary.

The scheduler uses an internal clock that checks for due jobs every minute. Jobs that fail are retried with exponential backoff. If a job fails repeatedly, it is auto-disabled and you receive a Pushover alert.

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Enabling and disabling

• Master toggle: Settings > Scheduler > Enable Scheduler. Disabling this stops all jobs immediately.
• Individual toggles: each job listed in the scheduler panel has its own enable/disable toggle. You can run a subset of jobs without disabling the scheduler entirely.

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What happens when Orca is closed

The scheduler only runs while Orca is open and the window is not minimised to tray. If you close Orca, no scheduler jobs run. Missed jobs do not backfill on next launch; they resume from their next scheduled time.

For morning briefings and meeting prep to work reliably, keep Orca running in the background. On macOS, you can set Orca to launch at login from System Settings > General > Login Items.

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Configuration

The following values are used by multiple scheduler jobs and are set in Settings > General:

• Your name: used in briefing text and follow-up drafts
• Home address: used for departure time calculations
• Default travel mode: driving or transit
• Buffer time: extra minutes added to travel time calculations

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Scheduler log

A rolling log of all scheduler activity is available at Settings > Scheduler > View Log. Each entry shows the job name, run time, outcome (success/failure), and any error message. Use this to diagnose why a job may not be running as expected.

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Jobs not running at expected times	Confirm the master scheduler toggle is enabled. Check the scheduler log for error entries.
A job has been auto-disabled	Open Settings > Scheduler, re-enable the job, and check the log for the root cause error before re-enabling.
Morning briefing not arriving	Confirm Orca was running at 07:00. Check Pushover credentials. Check the scheduler log for the briefing job entry.
Scheduler consuming excessive CPU	Disable interval jobs with short cycles (e.g., inbox monitor) if you do not need real-time alerting. Set them to longer intervals.

What it does

Email Autopilot is a background scheduler job that monitors your inbox continuously, classifies incoming emails by priority, and auto-drafts replies for messages that need a response. Low-value emails (newsletters, notifications, marketing) are automatically archived.

How it works

1. The scheduler polls your inbox at regular intervals (configurable in Settings).
2. Each new email is classified: actionable (needs reply), informational (read-only), or noise (archive).
3. Actionable emails get a priority score based on sender relationship, thread age, and content urgency.
4. For high-priority emails, Orca drafts a contextual reply using your tone, email history, and any relevant CRM data.
5. Drafted replies appear in the Draft Approval Queue for your review.

Configuration

Open Settings > Scheduler and find the Email Autopilot toggle. When enabled, you can configure:

• Check interval: How often to poll for new emails (default: every 30 minutes).
• Auto-archive rules: Patterns that trigger automatic archiving (newsletters, notifications).
• Priority threshold: Minimum score for auto-draft generation.

Tips

• Auto-drafted replies preserve the full email thread, including quoted conversation history.
• You can apply a template to any auto-drafted reply before sending.
• The autopilot respects your signature settings and email style preferences.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Autopilot not generating drafts	Check that the Email Autopilot job is enabled in Settings > Scheduler and that the master scheduler toggle is on.
Important emails being archived	Review your auto-archive rules. Adjust the priority threshold or add sender exceptions.
Drafts missing thread history	This is handled automatically. If thread history is missing, check the scheduler log for errors during draft creation.

What it does

Scheduling Autopilot automates meeting preparation, departure alerts, and calendar conflict detection. It runs in the background to ensure you are always prepared for the day ahead.

Meeting prep

For each meeting on your calendar, Scheduling Autopilot automatically:

• Generates a briefing document with attendee profiles, previous meeting notes, and relevant CRM data.
• Pulls Companies House data for business meetings with new contacts.
• Surfaces any outstanding follow-ups or action items from prior interactions.
• Checks for LinkedIn profiles and recent activity.

Departure alerts

If a meeting has a physical location, Orca calculates transit time from your configured home address and sends a departure alert with enough lead time (including your configured buffer). Alerts are sent via your notification channel (Pushover or WhatsApp).

Conflict detection

Orca monitors for overlapping meetings and tight turnarounds. If two meetings are back-to-back with no gap, or if travel time between locations makes it impossible to attend both, you will be alerted.

Configuration

Open Settings > Scheduler to configure:

• Home address: Used for departure time calculations.
• Travel mode: Transit, driving, or walking.
• Buffer time: Extra minutes added to travel estimates (default: 15).
• Individual job toggles: Enable or disable meeting prep, departure alerts, and briefing generation independently.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
No briefings being generated	Check that the Morning Briefing and Meeting Prep jobs are enabled in Settings > Scheduler.
Departure alerts not arriving	Verify your home address is set, travel mode is correct, and notifications are configured (Pushover or WhatsApp).
Conflict alerts for non-overlapping meetings	Check your buffer time setting. A large buffer may flag meetings that have a short gap between them.

Orca runs seven scheduled briefing and reminder jobs. Each can be enabled or disabled individually from Settings > Scheduler.

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Morning Briefing

When: Weekdays at 07:00

Compiles a structured daily briefing covering today's meetings (with attendee context), flagged emails requiring attention, overdue follow-ups, and current weather. Delivered via Pushover and saved to the output file browser.

Tips

• The briefing is richer if meeting prep has already run for today's events. Ensure Orca was running the previous evening.
• Flag thresholds (what counts as a "flagged email") are configurable in Settings > Notifications.

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End-of-Day Summary

When: Weekdays at 18:00

Sends a brief summary of what was completed today: meetings attended, follow-ups sent, tasks closed, and any items still open. Useful for a quick end-of-day review without opening the app.

Tips

• If you finish earlier than 18:00, you can trigger this manually: "Give me an end-of-day summary."
• The summary only includes items that Orca can see. Tasks tracked externally (not synced to Orca) will not appear.

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Friday Weekly Review

When: Fridays at 13:00

Generates a structured weekly review: open pipeline items, relationship warmth changes, energy monitor snapshot, content pipeline status, and a list of incomplete tasks. Delivered as a Pushover notification and saved as a PDF.

Tips

• Block 15 minutes on Friday afternoon to work through the review while it is fresh.
• You can run the weekly review at any time: "Run my weekly review."

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Chase Reminder

When: Wednesdays at 10:00

Identifies contacts who have not received a follow-up within the expected window (typically 5 to 10 days after a meeting or email exchange). Generates draft chase emails for each one and queues them for approval. Sends a summary notification with the count of pending chases.

Tips

• The chase window threshold is configurable in Settings > Scheduler > Chase Reminder.
• Approve chases the same day while the context is fresh.

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Draft Reminder

When: Weekdays at 09:00

If there are pending drafts in the approval queue that have been waiting more than 24 hours, Orca sends a reminder notification listing what is outstanding. Prevents drafts from sitting unactioned for days.

Tips

• If you deliberately want to delay a draft, move it to a "hold" status to prevent it appearing in reminders.

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Inbox Monitor

When: Every 30 minutes

Scans your inbox for new emails that meet the flagging criteria: emails from known contacts requiring a response, emails with urgent language, and emails from new contacts who have not been seen before. Sends a Pushover alert if anything is flagged. Does not archive or move emails without your approval.

Tips

• Adjust the monitoring interval in Settings > Scheduler if 30 minutes is too frequent or too slow.
• You can configure keyword filters to flag or suppress specific senders.

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Follow-up Gap Detection

When: Every 4 hours

Looks for meetings that ended more than 48 hours ago but have no corresponding follow-up email or work item. Notifies you of the gap and offers to generate a follow-up draft. Catches cases where the automatic post-meeting flow did not trigger (e.g., no transcript was available).

Tips

• If you intentionally did not follow up on a meeting, mark it as "no follow-up required" from the meeting detail to stop it appearing in gap detection.

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General troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Briefing or reminder not arriving at expected time	Confirm Orca was running at the scheduled time. Check the scheduler log.
Chase reminder generating drafts for contacts I have already chased	Mark the relevant follow-up work items as Done after sending. This removes them from the chase detection pool.
Weekly review PDF not appearing in output folder	Check Settings > General > Output Folder is set to a valid writable path.
Follow-up gap detection firing too frequently	Increase the interval in Settings > Scheduler, or mark meetings as reviewed to prevent repeat alerts.

Orca runs three background research jobs that monitor the external environment and surface findings relevant to your work. Each job requires a web search integration (Brave Search or equivalent) to be configured.

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Policy Watch

What it does

Monitors government and regulatory websites for new policy announcements, consultations, and legislation relevant to your configured topics or sectors. Designed for consultants and advisers who need to stay current without manually monitoring multiple sources.

How to configure it

1. Go to Settings > Scheduler > Policy Watch.
2. Add the topics or sectors you want to monitor (e.g., "AI regulation", "public sector procurement", "net zero policy").
3. Set the monitoring frequency (default: once daily).
4. Enable the job.

What to expect

When a relevant announcement is detected, Orca sends a notification with a summary and a link to the source. Findings are also stored in the output file browser under research/policy/.

Tips

• Be specific with topics. Broad terms like "business" will return too many false positives.
• Review findings weekly and mark irrelevant ones to improve future filtering.

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Competitor Monitoring

What it does

Tracks named competitors for new content, press releases, job postings, and public announcements. Useful for understanding market positioning and spotting strategic moves early.

How to configure it

1. Go to Settings > Scheduler > Competitor Monitor.
2. Add competitor names and their known web domains.
3. Set monitoring frequency (default: twice weekly).
4. Enable the job.

What to expect

Orca surfaces new public activity from monitored competitors, categorised by type (new content, new hire, press announcement, product update). Delivered via Pushover summary and saved under research/competitors/.

Tips

• Include both the company name and domain for best results. Some companies operate under different trading names.
• Job postings are a leading indicator of strategic direction. Track them alongside product announcements.

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Grant Radar

What it does

Scans public grant databases, Innovate UK, and funding body websites for grants relevant to your configured sectors and organisation type. Surfaces new opportunities with deadline, amount, and eligibility summary.

How to configure it

1. Go to Settings > Scheduler > Grant Radar.
2. Specify sectors or themes (e.g., "AI and data", "SME innovation", "net zero technology").
3. Set your organisation type (e.g., SME, charity, public body).
4. Enable the job.

What to expect

New grant opportunities are surfaced with a one-paragraph summary including deadline, award size, and a link to the official source. Saved under research/grants/.

Tips

• Grant Radar is a signal tool, not a grant application system. Use it to identify opportunities, then research them manually or ask Orca to compile a summary for a specific grant.

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How findings are delivered

Research findings from all three jobs are delivered via four methods:

1. Pushover notification: a brief summary alert when new findings are available
2. Morning briefing: significant findings are included in the next morning briefing
3. Output file browser: full findings saved as structured files under research/
4. Chat: ask "What has the policy watch found this week?" to get a summary on demand

Opportunity Scanner

What it does

The opportunity scanner analyses signals from across your connected data sources to identify potential business opportunities that may not be surfaced by conventional pipeline management. It looks for patterns that suggest readiness to buy, partner, or engage.

How it works

The scanner draws from four signal sources:

1. Email and calendar: increased contact frequency, meeting requests from dormant contacts, subject lines suggesting procurement activity
2. Fireflies transcripts: explicit mentions of budget, timelines, procurement, or interest in specific capabilities
3. Contact warmth changes: contacts whose warmth score has increased significantly over the past two weeks
4. External research: company announcements or job postings from contacts' employers suggesting new initiative spend

Scoring tiers

Tier	Meaning	Recommended action
Hot	Multiple strong signals in the last 7 days	Contact now. Ask Orca to draft an outreach.
Warm	One or two signals in the last 14 days	Monitor closely and reach out this week.
Emerging	Weak or early signals	Note for follow-up but do not prioritise yet.
Background	Passive monitoring, no actionable signal	No action required.

Tips

• The scanner runs every 4 hours. Hot and Warm opportunities trigger a Pushover notification.
• Dismiss false positives from the opportunity detail view to improve future accuracy.
• Ask Orca for a summary: "What opportunities has the scanner flagged this week?"

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Pattern Mining

What it does

Pattern mining looks across your full interaction history to identify recurring themes, relationship dynamics, and behavioural patterns that are not visible in individual conversations.

How it works

Orca performs six types of analysis:

1. Topic frequency: subjects that recur across multiple contacts or meetings
2. Relationship clusters: groups of contacts who are interconnected and may represent a shared opportunity or risk
3. Response time patterns: how quickly specific contacts reply, and whether that has changed recently
4. Commitment tracking: commitments made or received across meetings that have not been resolved
5. Sentiment drift: changes in the tone of communications with a specific contact over time
6. Meeting outcome patterns: which meeting types or conversation styles lead to the best outcomes

What to expect

• A weekly pattern summary is included in the Friday review
• Significant pattern shifts (e.g., a key contact's response time doubling) trigger a Pushover alert
• Pattern reports are saved under research/patterns/ in the output file browser
• You can ask on demand: "What patterns has Orca detected in my conversations this month?"

Tips

• Pattern mining requires at least 4-6 weeks of data to produce reliable signals. Results improve significantly over time.
• Use commitment tracking as a personal CRM tool: "What commitments have I made to clients that are unresolved?"

What it does

The energy monitor analyses your calendar and interaction history to show how your time and attention are distributed across business areas. It presents this as a set of "battery" indicators showing current capacity allocation by category.

The purpose is to surface imbalances: if one client is consuming 80% of your available time, you will see it clearly before it becomes a problem.

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Business areas tracked

Orca tracks five default business areas. These can be renamed and reconfigured in Settings > Energy Monitor.

• Client delivery: billable client work and direct client meetings
• Business development: prospect meetings, pitches, proposal work
• Operations: internal admin, finance, HR, process work
• Strategy and learning: planning, research, professional development
• Personal: travel, breaks, non-work calendar events

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How it works

Every two hours, the scheduler runs the energy categorisation job. It reads your calendar events from the past 7 days and 7 days forward, and categorises each event by business area using the event title, attendees, and any tags you have applied.

Battery levels are calculated as a percentage of available working hours allocated to each category. A fully charged battery (100%) for a category means all your time is in that area. Balanced batteries typically sit at 20-40% each, depending on your role.

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Reading the batteries

• Green (above 60%): high allocation, within expected range or deliberately high-focus period
• Amber (30-60%): moderate allocation
• Red (below 30% or critically unbalanced): either underinvesting in this area or a signal that something is crowding it out
• Travel battery: separate indicator showing percentage of time in transit or at remote locations; high travel time correlates with reduced capacity for other activities

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Refreshing data

The energy monitor refreshes automatically every two hours. To force a refresh, open the Energy Monitor panel and click Recalculate, or ask Orca: "Refresh my energy monitor."

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Tips

• Add tags to calendar events to improve categorisation accuracy. Events tagged with a client name are attributed to client delivery automatically.
• Review the energy monitor on Friday as part of your weekly review to catch imbalances before they affect delivery.
• If a category is persistently red, use the pattern mining output to understand what is crowding it out.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Events being categorised incorrectly	Open the event in the energy monitor view and manually reassign its category. This trains the categorisation for similar events in future.
Batteries showing zero for all categories	The categorisation job may not have run. Check the scheduler log. Also confirm your calendar connection is active.
Energy monitor not updating despite recalculate	Check for errors in the scheduler log under the energy categorisation job entry.

Command Palette

The command palette gives you keyboard access to any feature in Orca without navigating menus.

How to use it

1. Press Cmd+K to open the palette.
2. Type to filter commands. Results update as you type.
3. Use the arrow keys to navigate results.
4. Press Enter to execute the selected command.

Quick Actions

Command	Shortcut	What it does
New chat	Cmd+Shift+N	Clears current chat and starts a new conversation
New task	Cmd+T	Opens the new task form
New thought	Cmd+Shift+T	Opens a quick-capture thought input
Review drafts	Cmd+D	Opens the draft approval panel

Intelligence

Command	What it does
Morning briefing	Runs the morning briefing job immediately
Weekly review	Generates the weekly review report
Chase reminder	Runs the chase detection job immediately
Refresh energy monitor	Recalculates battery levels from the latest calendar data

Navigation

Command	Shortcut	Destination
Go to Chat	Cmd+1	Chat panel
Go to Calendar	Cmd+2	Calendar panel
Go to Contacts	Cmd+3	Contacts panel
Go to Settings	Cmd+,	Settings panel

Actions

Command	Shortcut	What it does
Global search	Cmd+F	Opens the global search panel
Send feedback	Cmd+Shift+F	Opens the feedback form
Quit Orca	Cmd+Q	Closes the application

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Keyboard Shortcuts Full Reference

Quick Actions

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+K	Open command palette
Cmd+Shift+N	New chat
Cmd+T	New task
Cmd+Shift+T	New thought
Cmd+D	Open draft queue

Navigation

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+1	Chat panel
Cmd+2	Calendar panel
Cmd+3	Contacts panel
Cmd+4	Tasks panel
Cmd+5	Briefing panel
Cmd+,	Settings

Actions

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+F	Global search
Cmd+Shift+F	Send feedback
Cmd+Shift+Delete	Clear chat history
Cmd+Q	Quit Orca

Chat

Shortcut	Action
Enter	Send message
Shift+Enter	New line in message input
Up arrow	Recall previous message
Cmd+M	Toggle voice input

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Tips

• The command palette supports fuzzy search. "brief" will find "Morning Briefing", "Email Briefing", and "Weekly Review" in the results.
• Learn Cmd+K, Cmd+D, and Cmd+F first. These three cover 80% of daily usage.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Keyboard shortcut not responding	Confirm focus is in the Orca window. Shortcuts do not work if a different application has focus.
Command palette showing no results	Try clearing the input and retyping. If the palette is empty on open, restart Orca.
Shortcut conflict with another app	macOS allows per-app shortcut overrides in System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts.

Voice Input

Orca supports voice input in the chat panel. You can dictate requests and commands instead of typing them.

How to use it

1. Click the microphone icon in the chat input bar, or press Cmd+M.
2. Speak your request clearly. A recording indicator shows while Orca is listening.
3. Click the microphone icon again to stop recording, or pause speaking for 2 seconds.
4. The transcribed text appears in the input field. Review it, then press Enter to send.

Requirements

• Microphone access must be granted to Orca in macOS System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone.
• An active internet connection is required for transcription.

How it works

Voice input uses the Whisper API (OpenAI) for transcription. Audio is sent to the API and returned as text. It is not stored by the transcription service beyond the duration of the request.

Tips

• Speak at a normal pace. Whisper handles natural speech well, including pauses and filler words (which it tends to strip out).
• Dictating thoughts and follow-up actions during or just after a meeting is one of the most productive uses of voice input.
• If transcription accuracy is poor, check your microphone input level in macOS Sound settings.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Microphone icon greyed out	Microphone permissions not granted. Enable in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone.
No transcription appearing after recording	Check your internet connection. Also confirm an OpenAI API key is configured in Settings > Integrations.
Transcription inaccurate	Check microphone input level. Ensure you are using the built-in microphone or a known good external microphone.

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Global Search

Global search indexes your contacts, tasks, work items, transcripts, notes, and output files. It does not search your live email or calendar (use the chat assistant for that).

How to use it

1. Press Cmd+F or click the search icon in the sidebar.
2. Type your search query. Results appear as you type.
3. Use filter pills to narrow by data type.
4. Click a result to open the relevant record or file.
5. Press Escape to close search and return to your previous view.

Filter pills

• All: search across every indexed type
• Contacts: contact names and companies
• Transcripts: Fireflies transcript content
• Tasks: task titles and descriptions
• Work Items: follow-ups, thoughts, prep items
• Notes: manual notes and facts
• Files: output file browser content

Data sources

Global search covers data stored in Orca's local database and the output file folder. It does not query external systems live. For live email or calendar search, use the chat assistant.

Tips

• Search is semantic as well as keyword-based. "AI project" will find results mentioning machine learning, automation, and data science even if those exact words are not in your query.
• For transcript search, be specific about the person or topic. "What did James say about procurement?" is better than "procurement".

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Output File Browser

Orca saves generated outputs to a local folder on your machine. The output file browser in the app lets you navigate and open these files without leaving Orca.

Folder structure

• briefings/ - morning briefings, end-of-day summaries, weekly reviews
• meetings/ - meeting prep PDFs and post-meeting summaries
• research/ - policy watch, competitor monitoring, grant radar, pattern reports
• drafts/ - exported draft copies (sent drafts are saved here after approval)

How to use it

• Click Files in the sidebar or press Cmd+6.
• Navigate the folder tree to find files.
• Click a file to preview it in the panel, or click the external link icon to open it in your default PDF/text viewer.

File dates

Files are named with an ISO date prefix (e.g., 2026-04-02-morning-briefing.pdf). The date reflects when the file was generated, not the date of the events it describes.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Output folder is empty	Confirm the output folder path in Settings > General > Output Folder is correct and writable.
Files not appearing after generation	Click Refresh in the file browser, or close and reopen the Files panel.
Cannot open PDF file	Confirm a PDF viewer is installed on your machine and associated with .pdf files in macOS Finder.

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Action History

The action history is a log of every action Orca has taken: emails sent, events created, tasks generated, drafts approved, and scheduler jobs completed.

Filters

• Action type: filter by email, calendar, task, Teams, scheduler, or all
• Date range: view history from a specific period

Groups

The history is grouped into three sections:

• Today: actions from the current day
• This week: actions from the current week (excluding today)
• Earlier: older actions, paginated

How to use it

• Open via Settings > Action History or ask Orca: "What have you done today?"
• Click any entry to see the full detail of that action, including the prompt that triggered it and the output or result.

Tips

• Use action history to audit what Orca sent before a follow-up or meeting, so you know exactly what the other person received.
• If a draft was sent that you want to reference, find it in action history and ask Orca to reply to the same thread using it as context.