---
title: "What is document Q&A?"
description: "Document Q&A answers questions from stored documents using retrieved passages, not a model that only saw the file once in its context window."
url: "https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-document-qa"
updated: "2026-09-29"
vertical: "Documents"
doc: "https://docs.pixeltable.com/datastore/computed-columns"
---

# What is document Q&A?

Document Q&A answers questions from stored documents using retrieved passages, not a model that only saw the file once in its context window.

Updated: 2026-09-29
Part of [What is PDF RAG?](https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-pdf-rag).

## On this page

- [How it works](https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-document-qa#how-it-works)
- [What it is not](https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-document-qa#what-it-is-not)
- [Comparison](https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-document-qa#comparison)
- [Where Pixeltable fits](https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-document-qa#where-pixeltable-fits)
- [Questions](https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-document-qa#questions)

## How it works {#how-it-works}


- Retrieve passages for the question.
- Pass those passages and the question to the model.
- Keep the passage rows so the answer can be checked.

## What it is not {#what-it-is-not}

It is not a chatbot with no corpus, and it is not keyword find-in-page.

## document Q&A: this, and the thing it is confused with {#comparison}

|  | This | Not this |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Corpus | Stored documents | Whatever fits in one prompt |
| Grounding | Retrieved passages | The model’s memory |
| Check | Open the passage | Trust the paragraph |

## Where Pixeltable fits {#where-pixeltable-fits}

Pixeltable retrieves from the passage view and can store the answer as another column or return it from a query.

## Questions {#questions}

### How does document Q&A work? {#faq-1}

Retrieve passages for the question. Pass those passages and the question to the model. Keep the passage rows so the answer can be checked.

### What is document Q&A often confused with? {#faq-2}

It is not a chatbot with no corpus, and it is not keyword find-in-page.

## In the blog

- [Build Production Document RAG Pipelines with Pixeltable](https://pixeltable.com/blog/document-pdf-processing-rag-pixeltable)

## Related

- [Documentation](https://docs.pixeltable.com/datastore/computed-columns)
- [DocuVision: PDF Q&A Without LangChain Plus a Vector DB](https://pixeltable.com/blog/docuvision-pdf-chart-qa)
- [LectureSync: Slide-Grounded Lecture Q&A Without an Aligner Service](https://pixeltable.com/blog/lecturesync-slide-lecture-qa)
- [chat-with-pdf](https://pixeltable.com/tools/chat-with-pdf)
- [document-summarizer](https://pixeltable.com/tools/document-summarizer)