Perplexity guides for everyday tasks

Which guide should I open first?

Start with Research a topic with AI. You ask for claims and sources, you open every source, and you keep a short brief in your own words. Perplexity is a strong place to do that first pass because the answer arrives with links. The links are the assignment. If you skip them, you did not research anything. A job search uses the same check on public pages, then you apply yourself.

Open Research a topic with AI without trusting made-up facts

What should you know before you start?

Perplexity's getting-started help says it answers questions with cited sources. You ask in plain language. It searches the web, summarizes what it finds, and shows where each part came from. You can use it to summarize something, explore a topic, or draft. The same page says a basic search is a fast answer for a quick fact, and Pro Search takes longer, draws on more sources, and fits research and harder questions. Pro Search is not a separate switch you have to hunt for. That help page says Perplexity applies it when your plan includes it. You can also upload a file and ask about it, when your account shows that control. Start at perplexity.ai. The help page is Getting started with Perplexity.

Free versus paid is on Perplexity's pages, and those pages are the only source for it. The help article Which Perplexity Subscription Plan is right for you? describes a free Standard plan, Pro, Max, Education Pro, and Enterprise plans. On that article, Free includes search history, what it calls practically unlimited basic searches, a very limited amount of Pro Searches, a model Perplexity picks for you, and limited file uploads. The same list says Free does not include choosing advanced models, image generation, or premium support. Pro, on that article, includes extended Pro Search, access to advanced models, image and video generation, higher file limits, and up to 50 file uploads per project. The article also has a comparison table with counts. Read the Free column there. Do not memorize a number from this site. Limits change. A separate models article says the Free plan can use the automatic Best option and a limited number of Pro Searches, and that you cannot choose an advanced Search model yourself on Free. Paid plans can select models, and that article says the model list changes. The menu on your screen is the list that counts. What advanced AI models are included is that page.

This site does not list a price. Perplexity's own pages have not always shown the same dollar amount, so a number copied here would go stale. Open Perplexity Pro or the pricing page and read the figure in front of you. If a button is missing, check that page and the plan article. Do not assume you clicked wrong. Education Pro is described for students and educators, with a verification step named on the plan article. Read who qualifies there. Enterprise is the work plan on that article, including a note that enterprise data is not used to train models. A free personal search is not the same promise. Before you paste anything confidential, read Perplexity's current privacy policy from their site, and read your workplace rule. Keep your data private with AI is the do-not-paste list for every chat, including this one.

The research habit is short. Ask one question. Ask it to attach a source to each claim. Then open the source and find the sentence. Perplexity's help on source labels says some citations carry a Government, Academic, or Trusted label. The label describes the website, not the accuracy of one article or one claim. No label is not a verdict that the site is bad. Perplexity says reading the original source yourself is still the check. A label does not replace that. If the page does not say the claim, drop the claim. Catch facts the AI made up is the same move in any chat. When the only allowed source is a file you pasted, and the web would contaminate the answer, use Answer only from your sources instead of a web search. Two versions of a contract or a sheet are Compare two documents with AI. A long file you already have is Summarize a long report.

A job search on Perplexity is a search for public pages, not an application. Ask for the employer's own posting, the company's about page, or a description of the kind of work, and ask for the link with each claim. Open those pages. A title, a city, or a requirement counts only after you see it there. Then do the weekly plan on Run a job search with AI. Every job on the resume has to be one you held. Perplexity does not submit the application, and it must not invent a skill. Do not paste a Social Security number, a full home address, or a password. Interview practice stays in a normal chat, on Prep for a job interview, where you answer out loud.

Pick another tool when the job is not a web lookup. A draft from facts only you know, with no need to browse, fits ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or the free Copilot chat. A button inside Outlook, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint is Copilot only when you can see it. Do not move that file to Perplexity to get around a missing button. A confidential contract does not belong in a personal research chat. Schoolwork follows your teacher's rules. A cited paragraph is not an essay you turn in. The guides on this site teach. They do not do the homework.

What else is close to this?

Research a topic with AI · Run a job search · Research · Job search · ChatGPT · Catch facts the AI made up · Answer only from your sources