Select the best AI for document review based on your specific task: use in-editor assistants for quick drafting, PDF-first tools for heavy reports, or document-grounded engines for verifiable Q&A. Ensure reliable reviews by enabling citation display modes to require quotes and auditable evidence for every claim.
Try CustomGPT with a 7-day free trial to test auditable citations.
TL;DR
The “best” AI for document review depends on your specific workflow: use in-editor assistants for drafting, PDF-first tools for heavy reports, or document-grounded engines for verifiable Q&A. Critical reviews require tools that support auditable citations to quote evidence for every claim.
Use the decision matrix to pick a tool and test its citation reliability on a non-sensitive document.
Quick Decision Matrix: Pick by Review Job
Consult the table below to match your specific document review tasks with the most capable AI tools available.
| Your Review Job | What to Prioritize | Tools That Commonly Fit |
| Long PDFs / reports (30–200 pages) with “show me where it says that” | Page-level citations, quoting, multi-doc Q&A | CustomGPT citations + KB Q&A Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant cited references Claude PDF support |
| Word or Google Docs review inside the editor | Convenience, drafting/refining in context, quick summary | Copilot in Word (summary + references, with limits) Gemini in Docs writing/refining + summarizing |
| “What changed?” between versions | Compare/contrast, diff by section, multi-file support | ChatGPT file uploads can summarize/extract/compare Adobe Acrobat multi-doc “PDF Spaces” + cited answers |
| Contracts / legal-ish review support (not final authority) | Clause extraction, quoting, inconsistencies, human sign-off | PDF-first + citations; structured extraction templates |
| Turning docs into checklists / fields | Repeatable schema, table/JSON outputs, citations per field | Document-grounded tool + strict output format |
For Document-Grounded Review With Traceable Citations
If your approver workflow requires proof (“quote it and show me the page/section”), use a tool that supports citations/quoted evidence rather than free-form summarization.
- In CustomGPT, you can enable citation display modes (inline references or end-of-answer citations).
- If reviewers need to upload a document during review (e.g., a vendor contract) and combine it with your internal KB, CustomGPT’s Document Analyst Overview describes that workflow.
Keep Sources Current
If policies/SOPs change often, the biggest failure mode is reviewing the wrong version.
- To connect and maintain a Drive-based source of truth, use: Connect to Google Drive.
- For website/sitemap-based sources, CustomGPT documents automated refresh via Enable Auto-Sync for Websites and Sitemaps.
- If you’re indexing internal web pages, CustomGPT also documents website ingestion setup: Connect to Any Website.
For In-Editor Summaries in Word or Google Docs
If your job is mostly “summarize and propose edits while I’m writing,” in-editor assistants are usually faster than building a separate review workspace.
- Copilot in Word can create a summary and includes “References” in the summary experience, but it may not cite later parts of very long documents consistently.
- Gemini in Google Docs supports writing/refining in context and can summarize documents (including Drive-based usage via the side panel experience).
Practical constraint: In-editor tools optimize for speed and convenience; if your approval requires auditable evidence per claim, treat them as drafting assistants, not final reviewers.
For PDF-Heavy Review
If your work is mostly PDFs (reports, handbooks, scanned contracts), a PDF-first tool can reduce friction.
- Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant describes Q&A with cited references, multi-document “PDF Spaces,” and file/size/page limits.
For Version Comparison
A reliable “diff review” workflow needs (1) changes grouped by section/topic, (2) what’s net-new vs removed, and (3) quotes/citations for high-stakes changes.
- OpenAI states that ChatGPT file uploads can be used to summarize, extract data, and compare/contrast documents.
- Adobe also positions Acrobat’s multi-document experience (“PDF Spaces”) for summarizing and comparing documents, with cited references in Q&A.
Extract Structured Data
Many “reviews” are actually extraction into a checklist or tracker. Use a fixed schema so outputs are comparable across documents.
Example schema (table output):
- Requirement
- Owner
- Due Date / SLA
- Evidence (quoted text)
- Citation (page/section)
Rule: If a field is not stated in the document, output “Not found” (don’t guess).
Verification Rules That Reduce Hallucinations
Use these as reviewer guardrails (especially for legal/compliance/safety):
- Require quote + citation for every high-stakes claim.
- Ask narrow questions (one decision per prompt).
- Explicitly instruct: “If the document doesn’t say, answer Not found.”
- Keep your sources clean: one canonical version per policy/contract.
If you’re deploying an assistant broadly, CustomGPT documents controls aimed at reducing prompt injection/hallucinations (useful for governance reviews).
Example: Five-Step Review Workflow
Step 1: Create a Review Brief
Prompt: “Summarize the document in 8 bullets. Cite each bullet.”
Step 2: Build an Approval Checklist
Prompt: “Create an approval checklist with owners (HR/IT/Security/Legal). Cite the section for each item.”
Step 3: Identify Risk and Ambiguity
Prompt: “List ambiguous terms and exceptions. Quote the sentence and cite it.”
Step 4: Compare Against Prior Version
Prompt: “Compare to the previous version. List changes by section and label each: new/removed/modified.”
Step 5: Produce an Exec-Ready Decision Note
Prompt: “Draft a 1-page decision memo: decision needed, risks, mitigations, open questions, and action items.”
Edge Cases That Break “Document Review AI”
Watch out for the following document types and elements that often cause processing errors or require specialized tools to handle correctly.
- Scanned PDFs / images: Prefer tools that explicitly support PDF visual processing or OCR workflows; Claude’s PDF support describes page/image handling for PDFs.
- Tables and figures: Ask for extracted tables + cite where they came from; validate against the original.
- Very long documents: Expect partial coverage in some tools; verify by sampling citations and checking whether later sections are actually referenced.
Conclusion
The best AI for reviewing documents is the one that matches your review artifact: auditable citations for approvals, in-editor speed for drafting, or PDF-first workflows for heavy PDF work. The stakes are straightforward: if reviewers can’t verify claims quickly, approvals slow down and risk increases.
Now pick one using the 7-day free trial, run the five-step prompt suite, and require “quote + citation” on every decision-driving statement.
FAQ
Can AI Really Cite the Exact Page or Paragraph in My PDF?
Sometimes, if the tool supports citation modes and your PDF is parseable. CustomGPT documents citation display options for agents.Adobe also describes Q&A with cited references in Acrobat AI Assistant. For long documents, always spot-check a few citations against the original pages before relying on the output.
How Do I Keep Policy Reviews Up to Date When Documents Change?
Avoid uploading one-off snapshots. Prefer connected sources plus scheduled refresh. CustomGPT documents Drive-based ingestion and automated website/sitemap refresh via Auto-Sync. Also define one canonical source set so old versions don’t keep circulating.
Can ChatGPT Compare Two Document Versions Reliably?
OpenAI states that file uploads can be used to compare/contrast documents (along with summarization and extraction). Reliability still depends on document structure, length, and whether the tool can quote/cite the changed passages. For approvals, require “quote + cite” for any decision-driving change.
How Do I Test CustomGPT for Document Review Before Rolling It Out?
Use one non-sensitive document set, enable citations, and run a fixed prompt suite (summary, checklist, ambiguity scan, change log). The CustomGPT docs show how to turn on citations and how Document Analyst works for uploaded review files. If results aren’t consistently citeable, adjust sources and prompts before scaling.
What If My PDFs Are Scanned or Contain Images/Charts?
Expect extraction errors. Prefer a workflow/tooling path that explicitly supports PDF visual content, and validate against the original pages. Claude’s PDF support describes handling PDFs in a way that includes visual content per page. For contracts in PDFs, Adobe positions Acrobat’s AI Assistant for PDF comprehension with cited references.