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mateuszp62489511
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May 9, 2026
Answered

Problem with AI Assistant references

  • May 9, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 29 views

I really like how the AI Assistant works, and it helps me a lot when it generates numbered references in its answers—when I click a number, it takes me directly to the corresponding, outlined passage in the document. The problem is that very often the answer doesn’t include these references, it’s just plain text. Sometimes, after a long exchange of prompts, I manage to get it to produce answers with hyperlinks to specific passages, but most of the time it doesn’t work, and the Assistant doesn’t seem to understand what I mean. Is there any workaround for this? At the moment, it feels totally random: about 50% of the answers include links to the text, and 50% don’t.

    Correct answer Amal Jaiswal

    Hi ​@mateuszp62489511 

     

    Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out and for the kind words about AI Assistant. 

     

    The most common reason references disappear is a language mismatch between your question and the document. In the current version of AI Assistant, if you ask a question in a different language than the document is written in, the response won't include clickable citations, even when the answer is pulled directly from the file.

    So if your PDF is in English and you prompt in Polish (or the reverse), you'll get a plain-text answer with no jump-to-passage links. Asking in the language of the document is the single most reliable fix and usually flips the behavior immediately. For more information please check the help page https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/use-acrobat-ai/understand-usage-policies/user-disclosures.html 


    A couple of other things that cause the same symptom:

    • If your prompt is broad, abstract, or asks the Assistant to synthesize across the whole document ("summarize the tone," "what's the author's overall view"), it's less likely to anchor to specific passages. More targeted, fact-shaped questions ("what does section 3 say about X," "what date is mentioned for Y") give the model something concrete to cite, and citations show up far more reliably. https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/generative-ai-features-in-acrobat-mobile.html 

    • And to be transparent: because the underlying model is generative, there are cases where it simply won't surface attribution even when the information is in the document. https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/use-acrobat-ai/understand-usage-policies/user-disclosures.html   

     

    A practical workflow that gives a high citation rate:

    1. Match the prompt language to the document language.
    2. Keep questions specific and tied to content in the file rather than meta-questions about it.
    3. If an answer comes back without references, follow up with "Where in the document does this come from?" that often forces the Assistant to re-ground and produce numbered sources.
    4. When a response is poor, tap and hold on it and use the dislike / report option. That feedback goes directly to the team working on citation accuracy.

    For additional reference, please check the help pages listed below

    https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/view-citations.html  and https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/get-ai-generated-answers.html 

     

    Let us know how it goes.
     

    ~Amal
    See what's new in Acrobat Mobile, straight from the Announcements page.

    1 reply

    Amal Jaiswal
    Community Manager
    Amal JaiswalCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
    Community Manager
    May 11, 2026

    Hi ​@mateuszp62489511 

     

    Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out and for the kind words about AI Assistant. 

     

    The most common reason references disappear is a language mismatch between your question and the document. In the current version of AI Assistant, if you ask a question in a different language than the document is written in, the response won't include clickable citations, even when the answer is pulled directly from the file.

    So if your PDF is in English and you prompt in Polish (or the reverse), you'll get a plain-text answer with no jump-to-passage links. Asking in the language of the document is the single most reliable fix and usually flips the behavior immediately. For more information please check the help page https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/use-acrobat-ai/understand-usage-policies/user-disclosures.html 


    A couple of other things that cause the same symptom:

    • If your prompt is broad, abstract, or asks the Assistant to synthesize across the whole document ("summarize the tone," "what's the author's overall view"), it's less likely to anchor to specific passages. More targeted, fact-shaped questions ("what does section 3 say about X," "what date is mentioned for Y") give the model something concrete to cite, and citations show up far more reliably. https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/generative-ai-features-in-acrobat-mobile.html 

    • And to be transparent: because the underlying model is generative, there are cases where it simply won't surface attribution even when the information is in the document. https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/use-acrobat-ai/understand-usage-policies/user-disclosures.html   

     

    A practical workflow that gives a high citation rate:

    1. Match the prompt language to the document language.
    2. Keep questions specific and tied to content in the file rather than meta-questions about it.
    3. If an answer comes back without references, follow up with "Where in the document does this come from?" that often forces the Assistant to re-ground and produce numbered sources.
    4. When a response is poor, tap and hold on it and use the dislike / report option. That feedback goes directly to the team working on citation accuracy.

    For additional reference, please check the help pages listed below

    https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/view-citations.html  and https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/get-ai-generated-answers.html 

     

    Let us know how it goes.
     

    ~Amal
    See what's new in Acrobat Mobile, straight from the Announcements page.

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