Choose a depth: Quick, Pro and Research

One switch in the ask box sets how hard Inkling works on a question, and each depth has its own allowance.

Before you start#

Every signed-in account can use all three depths. Quick is unlimited on every plan, and Free currently includes 5 Pro searches a day and 1 research report a month.

The three depths#

The Free and Pro plan columns are current allowances and may change; Settings › Plan and usage always shows what’s left.

Pick Quick for a fact, a definition or a short how-to. Pick Pro when the question has several sides to weigh, such as a comparison or a decision. Pick Research when you want a report you can navigate by its Contents; see Research reports.

Choose a depth#

1. Find the three stops in the ask box, under your question: Quick, Pro and Research. Screen readers announce the group as “Answer depth”.
2. Click a stop. From the keyboard, Tab to the switch and use the arrow keys; Home and End jump to the first and last stop.
3. Press Ask.

The home page box starts at Quick every time. The follow-up box at the bottom of a discussion starts at the depth of the last answer, so check it before you ask. You can also set the depth in a link; see Ask from your browser’s address bar.

What you’ll see#

• On the Free plan, Pro and Research carry a small gold dot. It marks a depth with an allowance; you can still choose it.
• The stamp above the answer names the depth: “Quick answer”, “Pro answer” or “Research answer”.
• Pro and Research show “Planning the search” before they search. Research then shows a Research plan, such as “3 of 6 searches complete · 24 sources”, and finishes with a line such as “6 sections · 31 sources found”.
• Under a Quick or Pro answer that searched the web, the Go deeper card offers Run as Research, which asks the same question again at Research.

When an allowance runs out#

You are charged when you press Ask, never in the middle of an answer. If a depth’s allowance is used up, nothing is asked, and Inkling offers three ways on: Request Pro access, Answer this with Quick instead and Not now. A line under them gives the date, such as “Your Pro search allowance resets on 3 October.”

Daily allowances reset at 00:00 UTC, and monthly ones at 00:00 UTC on the 1st. Settings › Plan and usage shows what is left.

A unit comes back when a Pro or Research question turns out not to need the web (see Answers that didn’t need a search), or when Inkling could not serve the answer at all. Stopping an answer that searched the web does not give it back.

Paused right now#

A status posted by the Inkling team can pause Pro or Research. The paused stop is struck through, and “Paused right now” appears with the depths. You can still choose it: the question is answered at Quick, which isn’t counted, and the stamp says so, for example “Pro is paused right now, so this was answered at Quick.” If Quick is paused as well, the struck-through stops can’t be chosen and Ask does nothing until the status clears. See Service status.

Limits#

Good to know#

• Each follow-up is charged at the depth set in its own box. A question picked from Keep going is asked at Quick.
• Regenerate, Run as Research and Search anyway each ask again, and count like any new question at their depth.
• Running out of one depth never stops the others: Quick keeps working.