Keep a document up to date automatically

Last updated: September 23, 2026

Auto-refresh regenerates a document on a schedule, so a weekly review or a pipeline summary shows current data from your connectors. Setting up auto-refresh on a new document is not available right now. It is on our near-term roadmap, and we are working to make it a robust experience before opening it up again. Documents that already refresh automatically keep doing so, you can still change or pause their schedule, and you can still refresh any document on demand by asking the assistant to "refresh this document now". A document's refresh status is shown in its Info pane.

Two ways a document can stay current

  • Refresh in place. The same document is regenerated on a cadence (for example daily at 9:00 or every Monday). Its link never changes and everyone who has access sees the latest content.
  • A new copy each period. Rhythms creates a fresh copy of the document each week, fortnight or month, locks the previous copy, and keeps a series index document that lists every copy.

You can combine them: a document can refresh daily and also spawn a new copy every month. The copy cadence must be longer than the refresh cadence.

Where auto-refresh lives

Open the document and click the info icon in the toolbar to open the Info pane. Under Playbooks on this document, a Document refresh card shows whether auto-refresh is on: a green dot and Enabled · daily (or weekly, monthly, and so on) when it is running, Disabled when it is off, and the time of the last run. The card name links to the refresh playbook itself.

If you have Can edit or higher on the document, the card has a switch to turn the refresh off and back on without losing the schedule. Everyone else sees the status only. Layouts have no refresh card, and a solution hub document is refreshed by the solution's own playbook, so its card has no switch.

Workspaces that have not yet moved to the document Info pane show the same status as a small round pill in the document header; clicking it opens the same options.

Turning on auto-refresh for a new document

This is on our near-term roadmap. We are working to make auto-refresh a robust experience before making it available for new documents, so for now the assistant will not set one up when asked, and a document that does not already refresh automatically shows no auto-refresh control in its Info pane. You can still ask the assistant to refresh it on demand. Documents that were set up earlier keep their schedule and can still be changed or paused as described below.

Change or stop a schedule

For a document that already refreshes automatically, ask in chat: "change the refresh to daily at 8am", "switch this to weekly", "add a monthly copy", or "turn off auto-refresh". The assistant reads back the current setting before changing it. To pause without losing the schedule, use the switch on the Document refresh card in the Info pane; switch it back on to resume with the same cadence.

Refresh a document now

Ask in chat: "refresh this document now". HTML documents and documents generated by a playbook also have a Refresh now button in the Info pane. A manual refresh regenerates the content immediately and is recorded in the activity log as a manual refresh, separate from scheduled runs.

What happens on each refresh

  • Refreshes run in the background. You do not need to be online or have the document open.
  • The refresh uses the connectors chosen when it was set up; if a connector is disconnected the refresh cannot read from it, so check your connections under Settings › Workspace › Connectors.
  • Every refresh is recorded in the document's Activity Log as Auto-refresh, so you can compare runs or restore an earlier one.
  • For a copy series, the previous copy is locked when the new one is created. It is marked Locked and links to the current copy; the series index lists all copies.

Tip: if a document already refreshes on a schedule, time it shortly before the meeting that uses the document, for example Sunday evening for a Monday morning review.

Frequently asked questions

Which cadences can an existing auto-refresh use? Any: daily, weekly, every other week, monthly, a specific weekday and time, or a custom schedule you describe. The Info pane summarises the setting as daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly or custom.

Do viewers get notified when the document refreshes? No. The document updates in place for everyone with access.

Can I edit a document that auto-refreshes? Yes, but the next refresh regenerates the content, so ask the assistant to adjust the document's instructions if you want a change to persist. Earlier content is always recoverable from the Activity Log.

Why don't I see refresh controls? Layouts are never refreshed, a solution hub document is refreshed by its own playbook, and only people with Can edit or higher see the on/off switch and Refresh now. Everyone with access can still see the status on the Document refresh card in the Info pane. Until auto-refresh for new documents returns (it is on our near-term roadmap), a document that does not already refresh automatically shows no on/off switch; refresh it on demand from chat instead.

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