# How to set up an AI-ready data room for due diligence

Create a Base for the deal, upload the documents, and review what Base extracts, including any figures that disagree between documents. Share it in invite mode so only the people you name can open it. Buyers and their advisors can then ask questions in the browser or from their own AI, and every answer quotes the document it came from.

Updated October 7, 2026. Canonical page: https://createbases.com/guides/ai-data-room

## Steps

1. Create a Base named for the deal and upload the documents: financials, contracts, the cap table, decks and board materials. Spreadsheets are read row by row, so a fact can cite the rows it came from.
2. Read the review queue before anyone else sees the Base. It lists figures that disagree between documents, such as revenue in the deck against revenue in the model, each with its own quote. Correct them or leave them visible for the reader.
3. Switch the Base to invite mode and add each person's email address. Each person signs in to prove the address is theirs.
4. On Pro, choose which files each person can see, so a bidder never receives the documents meant for your counsel.
5. Turn downloads off if readers should not save the original files, and set an expiry date for the end of the process.
6. Publish. On Pro you can see who has opened the Base.

## What a Base adds to diligence

- Readers get an overview, a timeline and the people and organizations involved before they open a single file.
- Every fact carries the sentence it came from, so an analyst can check it in seconds.
- Conflicting figures surface on their own instead of in a late-night spreadsheet check.
- Advisors can connect their own AI to the Base, under the same access you set, rather than downloading everything into a chat.

## What it does not do

Base does not watermark documents, require an NDA before opening, track time spent on each page, or run a managed Q&A workflow between buyers and sellers. If your process needs those, use a dedicated data room. See [Base vs a virtual data room](https://createbases.com/compare/virtual-data-room) and [Base vs DocSend](https://createbases.com/compare/docsend).

## Questions

### Can different parties see different documents?

Yes, on Pro. You choose which files each invited person can see, and a fact is shown to a reader only when they can see every document behind it, so a summary never reveals a restricted file.

### What happens when the deal closes or falls through?

Revoke access or let the expiry date pass. Access is checked on every request, so it ends on the next page load or AI call.