Most software asks you to learn it before it helps you. This walkthrough goes the other way: in the next twenty minutes you will install Lumen, open a file you actually have, and finish one real piece of work. Everything below is the literal sequence — the buttons, the panel, the moment you approve, and what lands on disk at the end.
What you are actually installing
Lumen Doc Hub is one desktop app that contains the editors you would otherwise open separately — PDF, documents, spreadsheets, slides, design, notes, forms, small apps and automations — plus Lumen Agent, which can drive any of them for you. The tools share one library, one brand kit and one sharing model, so moving between them never means exporting anything.
The walkthrough
Follow along with any PDF you have — an invoice, a contract, a report. The example below uses a 24-page supplier contract, but the shape of the job is the same whatever you open.
Download and open it
Get the installer from the download section — macOS and Windows, Apple silicon and Intel. First launch asks you to sign in or create a free account; the account is what carries your credits, your library index and your licence between machines. No credit card, and the free plan includes monthly AI credits so you can try everything in this post without paying anything.
Open a real file
Drag the PDF onto the window, or press ⌘O / Ctrl+O. It opens in Lumen PDF — pages on the left, the document in the middle, and the assistant panel on the right. Nothing has been uploaded anywhere yet: opening, reading and editing a file happens on your computer.
Ask for the outcome, not the feature
This is the one habit worth forming. Instead of hunting for a redaction tool and a summarise button, type what you want to be true when the job is done. The assistant works out which tools that takes.
YouSummarise the obligations on us, redact every bank detail, and give me a one-page brief I can send to legal.
LumenHere is what I plan to do — say the word and I will run it.
1. Read all 24 pages and pull out clauses that create an obligation on our side.
2. Find and permanently redact account numbers, IBANs and sort codes.
3. Write a one-page brief in Lumen Document, in your brand style.
Estimated 3 credits · nothing is written until you approveRead the plan and approve it
Lumen writes the plan down before it does anything that changes a file. You can edit a step, drop one, or just press Approve. This is the moment that matters — after this, the work runs on its own, and you keep the last word.
- Read 24 pages · found 9 obligation clauses
- Redacted 3 bank details on pages 11, 18, 22 — burned into the page, not covered over
- Created Northwind — obligations brief.ldoc
- Checked the redactions: no account digits remain in the extracted text
4 steps · 38 seconds · 3 creditsCheck the work yourself
Every change is a normal edit — undo works, version history works, and the redaction check runs a second pass looking for anything the first pass missed. Open the brief, fix a sentence, change a heading. You are editing a real document, not a chat transcript.
Share it, or keep it local
Press Share to create a link with an expiry and an optional password, or just save the file where you always save files. Sharing is the only step that publishes anything, and it always tells you exactly what the recipient will be able to see.
Where to go next
| If you want to… | Open | Try asking |
|---|---|---|
| Fix, sign or redact a PDF | Lumen PDF | “Fill this form from the details in my last invoice” |
| Understand a messy spreadsheet | Lumen Sheets | “Clean this up and chart the trend by region” |
| Write something people will read | Lumen Document | “Turn these notes into a two-page proposal” |
| Build a deck for Thursday | Lumen Slides | “Make the deck from this brief, in our brand” |
| Collect answers from people | Lumen Forms | “Draft a 6-question onboarding survey” |
| Stop doing a weekly chore | Lumen Automate | “Every Monday, summarise new files into a digest” |
First-run questions
Do I have to upload my files to use Lumen?
No. Opening, editing, exporting and searching your files all happen on your computer. When you ask for AI help, only the part of the document the request needs is sent for processing, and your content is never used to train models. The security page sets out exactly where each boundary sits.
What happens when I run out of credits?
Ordinary editing keeps working — credits only gate AI actions. Your monthly allowance resets on your renewal date, and you can top up or change plan at any time from the account panel. See pricing for what each plan includes.
Can I use my existing files, or do I have to convert them?
Use them as they are. Lumen opens PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, CSV, images and plain text, and exports back to the same formats. There is no proprietary container you have to migrate into.
Does it work offline?
The editors do. Anything that needs AI, sharing or sync needs a connection, and the app tells you which is which rather than failing silently.
How do I get my work onto another machine?
Sign in with the same account. Your library index, brand kit and settings follow you; the files themselves live wherever you chose to save them.
