Document analysis
Document analysis turns a long agenda packet or minutes PDF into a plain-English brief — what's on the calendar, the money items, and what deserves a closer look. You choose when to run it; each analysis uses one AI credit.
What analysis does
When you open a meeting document and click Run Analysis, JournoHelper reads the full text and produces a structured brief. Typical sections include a meeting summary, notable agenda items, budget and contract highlights, and story ideas with optional timestamps when a transcript is linked.
Analysis is on demand — nothing runs automatically in the background. That keeps you in control of credit spend and lets you analyze only the meetings worth your time.
Where: In the app: Documents → open a document → Run Analysis.
AI credits
Each analysis costs one AI credit. Your plan includes a monthly allotment; add-on packs are available from Manage Plan if you need more. The ⚡ meter in the dashboard header shows your remaining balance.
Browsing documents, following sources, and receiving alerts are always free. Only AI actions — analysis and press-release drafting — consume credits.
Where: In the app: header ⚡ meter; Manage Plan for purchases.
Reading the brief
Story ideas may include [MM:SS] timestamp badges when a transcript exists for that meeting. Click a timestamp to open the transcript file at that point — useful for pulling a quote or verifying context.
Money sections flag appropriations, contracts, and large expenditures. Treat the brief as a triage tool: it helps you decide whether to attend, call a source, or read the full packet — not as a substitute for your own reporting.
Analysis templates
On the document page you can pick an analysis template before running. Templates change the focus of the brief — for example, emphasizing land-use items or school-board business. Your team may also have custom instructions configured in Settings that shape how the monitor interprets documents.
If no template is selected, JournoHelper uses the default meeting brief. Per-user default templates are on the roadmap; today, choose a template each time or rely on team-level custom instructions.
When analysis is not available
Some documents are image-only scans with poor OCR, or the source page may not expose full text yet. If analysis fails, try again after the document finishes processing, or open the original file link on the document page.
Press releases use a separate Create Draft flow rather than meeting analysis — see the Press releases guide.
How long documents are kept
To keep the service efficient, JournoHelper stores the original downloaded file (the agenda or minutes PDF) for 30 days after the meeting date. After that the file is removed from storage — but the meeting stays listed, and any AI brief you already generated is kept.
For a meeting older than 30 days you can still open it and click Run Analysis: JournoHelper re-fetches the document from its source to generate the brief. The original-file download link may be unavailable for older meetings once the stored copy has been cleared.
Where: Applies automatically — nothing to configure.
Tips for newsrooms
Run analysis on the agenda before the meeting to plan your coverage, then on minutes afterward to catch votes and amendments you missed.
Share the document URL with teammates on your JournoHelper team so everyone sees the same brief. There is no public share link for people outside your account — see the FAQ.