1. Create a workspace
Sign up with a work email and password, or with Google. Attestloom creates a workspace and makes you its owner. Verify your email from the link we send; you can start working before you do. If a colleague already uses Attestloom, ask them to invite you instead so you join their workspace.
2. Connect sources
Open Sources and upload the documents your answers should come from. Supported formats:
| Format | Extensions | How it is read |
|---|---|---|
.pdf | Text layer extracted page by page. Scanned images without text are rejected with a message. | |
| Word | .docx | Headings are kept so each passage knows its section. |
| Markdown and text | .md, .txt | Read as is; Markdown headings define sections. |
| Past questionnaires | .xlsx, .csv | Each answered row becomes a passage: the question as its heading, the answer as its text. |
Files can be up to 10 MB each. Every source has an owner (the person who keeps it accurate) and a review date, which defaults to 12 months after upload. Sources past their review date are flagged so stale evidence is visible before it is cited. Attestloom splits each source into heading-aware passages of about 800 characters and embeds them for retrieval.
3. Import a questionnaire
Open Questionnaires and choose Import. You can upload an XLSX or CSV file, or paste questions one per line from a portal. Numbering such as 1. or Q-12: at the start of a pasted line is used as the question ID. Imports can hold up to 2,000 rows. A minimal CSV looks like this:
Ref,Domain,Question,Vendor Response
Q-112,Data protection,Do you encrypt data at rest? Describe the algorithm and how keys are managed.,
Q-120,Access control,Do you enforce multi-factor authentication for workforce access to production systems?,
Q-174,Assurance,Do you hold a FedRAMP authorization? If so, at what impact level?,4. Column detection
Attestloom looks for the header row in the first 20 rows of each sheet, then picks columns:
- Question: a header such as Question, Requirement, Control, or Description; otherwise the column with the longest text and the most question marks.
- Answer: a header such as Answer, Response, Vendor Response, or Comments. If there is none, export adds an Answer column.
- ID: a header such as ID, Ref, #, No., or Control ID. Without one, row numbers are used.
You see the detected mapping before anything is drafted and can change any column or the sheet. For the sample file it reads:
Sheet: Assessment
Header row: 3 (Ref | Domain | Question | Vendor Response | Notes)
Question col: C "Question" matched header
Answer col: D "Vendor Response" matched header
ID col: A "Ref" matched header
Section col: B "Domain"
Rows: 15 questions (rows 4 to 18)5. Drafting and statuses
Choose Draft answers. For each question Attestloom retrieves evidence, drafts an answer in your approved voice (set it in Settings), and verifies every quote against the source. Each row gets one status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Cited | Supported by verified passages with confidence of 0.80 or higher. |
| Needs review | Supported in part, or confidence below 0.80. A reviewer must approve it before export. |
| Needs owner | No source supports it (evidence coverage below 0.45, or a named framework such as FedRAMP that no source mentions). Nothing is drafted; the reason is shown. |
| Approved | A reviewer or owner approved the answer. Approval is recorded in the audit log. |
6. Review actions
- Filter the table by Cited, Needs review, Needs owner, or Approved.
- Edit inline. An edited answer keeps its citations and returns to Needs review until approved.
- Approve one answer, or Approve all cited to approve every Cited answer at once.
- Assign a Needs owner question to a teammate with a due date. The assignee is notified by email.
- Comment on any question; threads stay with the question and appear in the export audit log.
7. Export formats
Export is available once every Needs review answer is approved. Needs owner questions that are still open export blank and are flagged in the citations sheet.
| Format | What you get | Plans |
|---|---|---|
| Original format (XLSX) | Your customer's workbook, unchanged except for answers written into the detected answer column (or a new Answer column), plus Attestloom citations and Audit log sheets. | All |
| Original format (CSV) | A ZIP containing answers.csv in the original column order and audit-log.csv. | All |
| Word (.docx) | Questions, answers, and citations, with an audit appendix. | Team, Business |
| Portal copy | A view with one copy button per answer, for vendor portals that do not accept files. | Team, Business |
| Audit log CSV | Every draft, edit, approval, assignment, comment, and export for the questionnaire. | All |
| Workspace audit export | The audit log across every questionnaire in the workspace. | Business |
An exported XLSX has this shape:
acme-vendor-assessment.xlsx
Assessment your customer's sheet, answers written to column D
Attestloom citations ID | Status | Confidence | Source | Section | Quoted passage
Audit log Time (UTC) | Actor | Action | Question | Detail8. Answer library
On Team and Business, approved answers are saved to the library with their citations and a last-reviewed date. When a new question closely matches a library answer whose sources still exist, Attestloom reuses it and says so. Edit or retire library answers at any time.
9. RFP mode
On Business, RFP mode drafts long-form narrative sections (for example “Describe your security program”) paragraph by paragraph from the same sources, with citations under every paragraph and the same gap rules.
10. Roles
| Role | Can do |
|---|---|
| Owner | Everything, plus billing, inviting and removing members, changing roles, workspace export, and deleting the workspace. |
| Reviewer | Manage sources, import and draft questionnaires, edit, approve, assign, and export. |
| Contributor | Upload sources, edit drafts, answer questions assigned to them, and comment. Cannot approve or export. |
11. Plan limits
| Plan | Questionnaires | Seats | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 1 per month, up to 50 questions | 2 | 10 |
| Team | Unlimited, up to 1,000 questions each | 5 | Unlimited |
| Business | Unlimited, up to 2,000 questions each | 20 | Unlimited |
The Free allowance resets on the first day of each calendar month (UTC). Limits are enforced on the server.
12. Files to try
Everything below is fictional and labeled sample. Upload the Markdown files as sources, then import the questionnaire. Two of its questions have no supporting evidence on purpose.