The document viewer is Emma's central workspace for reviewing a single file. It combines a full-screen preview of the document on the left with a Document Review sidebar on the right, where you inspect metadata, risks, key terms, and team comments without leaving the file.

In the video below you get an overview of everything you can do with the document viewer.

You can open the viewer from almost anywhere in Emma — the Documents page, the Matrix, the Red Flag Report, disclosure schedules, and links from specific risk rows or key-term cells.

Layout

The viewer fills most of the screen and has two main areas:

A floating navigation bar sits at the top of the file panel when the viewer opens as a dialog (for example from the Documents page). It shows the document name, previous/next document controls, and a close button.

Opening the document viewer

Common entry points:

• Documents → Folder view — click a file name or choose Open from the row menu
• Documents → IRL view — click a file in the Documents tab of a document type
• Matrix — click a document name in any tab, or double-click a key-term cell to jump to the source location
• Red Flag Report — click the file icon on a document row, or use View risk in document on a risk row
• Shared links — a colleague can share a link to a document, including a link to a specific tab, risk, key term, or comment inside it

When you open the viewer from a filtered list (for example only documents in one document type, or only unreviewed files), Emma remembers that context. The previous and next document buttons in the header then walk through that same filtered list — not the entire data room.

Navigating between documents

When navigation context is available:

• Click Previous document or Next document in the floating header (double-chevron icons)
• Use the Left arrow and Right arrow keyboard shortcuts while focus is not in a text field

The header auto-hides when you scroll down in a long PDF and reappears when you scroll back up, so you can read without obstruction.

Closing the viewer returns you to the page you came from, with your scroll position preserved in places like the Red Flag Report.

Document Review sidebar

The sidebar header shows Document Review and three action controls:

Below the header, a processing banner appears while Emma is still working on the file (for example classification or risk extraction). The banner shows the current pipeline step.

Four tabs run across the sidebar. Each tab shows a count in parentheses when relevant:

Clicking a risk, key term, or comment in the sidebar scrolls the file panel to the linked location in the document and highlights it.

File panel capabilities

What you can do in the file panel depends on the file type:

PDF is the richest experience: risk annotations from AI checks appear as coloured overlays, and you can add manual findings, select text, and pin comments directly on the page.

Emma Agent (document chat)

At the bottom of the sidebar, the Emma Agent button opens an AI chat scoped to the current document. Ask questions about the file's content, clause wording, or implications. The agent is available once the document has finished processing.

See Document chat assistant for full details.

Arriving already scrolled to the right spot

Emma remembers why you opened a document, not just which document. Wherever you click through from, the viewer opens on the relevant tab with the item already selected and the file panel scrolled to the evidence — so you never have to hunt for the detail you came to check:

This also works in reverse: clicking a risk, key term, or comment inside the viewer's sidebar scrolls the file panel to the linked location and highlights it, so you can move fluidly between the summary Emma produced and the underlying contract language.

Staying in sync while you work

Changes you make in the viewer — editing a risk summary, updating jurisdiction, resolving a comment — save immediately and appear live in the Matrix, report editor, and data-room risk views, without needing a refresh. If a colleague is editing the same risk or field at the same time, Emma shows an Editing by [name] badge and locks that field so you don't accidentally overwrite each other's work.

Common use cases

The document viewer is where most of the detailed diligence work happens. Typical scenarios:

• Sanity-checking a flagged risk before it goes in the report — click View risk in document from the Red Flag Report to see exactly which clause triggered the finding, confirm Emma read it correctly, and adjust the risk level or summary if needed.
• Cross-checking a key term against the source contract — double-click a term in the Matrix (for example a termination notice period or change-of-control clause) to jump straight to where Emma extracted it and confirm the value before it's used in a schedule or report.
• Reviewing a document end to end and signing off — read the full document, check the Info, Risks, Key terms, and Comments tabs, then use Approve to mark it reviewed so the rest of the team knows it's been covered.
• Fixing a miscategorized or mislabelled document — correct the document type, jurisdiction, legal entity, or display name from the Info tab so the Matrix, IRL, and report all reflect the right classification.
• Working through a stack of documents efficiently — filter the Documents page to a subset (for example one document type, or only unreviewed files) and use Previous/Next document or the arrow keys to move through just that list without returning to the list view each time.
• Getting a second opinion from the team — pin a comment on a specific clause and @mention a colleague; they get notified and can open the document to find your comment in the Comments tab.
• Asking a quick question instead of re-reading a contract — open Emma Agent from the sidebar to ask about a specific clause, defined term, or implication without leaving the document.
• Reviewing annexes alongside the main agreement — when documents are bundled, the main document and its annexes scroll together as one PDF, so a risk or key term found in a schedule still opens in context.

Related articles

• PDF viewer — search, zoom, viewer modes, risk annotations, bundles
• Info tab — document metadata, summary, signatures, duplicates
• Risks tab — review AI and manual findings, recommendations
• Key terms tab — extracted values and source navigation
• Comments tab — threaded comments, resolve, assign
• Document chat assistant — AI Q&A on the open document
• Categorize a single document — change document type from the viewer or Documents page

If you need additional help with the document viewer or encounter any other problem, don't hesitate to reach out through the chat bubble in the bottom right or contact [email protected].

Updated on: 23/07/2026