How Folio works

Start in the search box on the Folio home page. Type a query and press the search button, or press Enter. The button stays disabled while the box is empty, so an empty search does not run.

Four switches choose the sources: Web, Wikipedia, Grokipedia, and Images. Web, Wikipedia, and Grokipedia start on. Images starts off. Wikipedia, Grokipedia, and Images are marked optional. After you search, the switches sit with the search box. On the home page they stay hidden until every source is off. Then they appear under a message explaining that you can ask a question directly or turn on a source for references.

Turning a switch off removes that source from the search. This browser stores the choice. If Web, Wikipedia, Grokipedia, and Images are all off, Folio does not fetch search results, but you can still submit a question for a direct AI answer. If you are already on a results page and you switch the last source off, those source lists are no longer shown.

Focus the box before two characters are typed and Folio can show recent searches from this browser plus a short list of trending topics. Choose one to search for it. From two characters on, that list can show suggestions instead. Escape closes it.

Results are grouped by the sources that are on. The web group notes that its listings come from Bing’s public results feed. Each group has its own Previous, page numbers, and Next controls. Web shows up to 10 results on a page, Wikipedia up to 8, and Grokipedia up to 12. Another page keeps the query and the sources, and moves only that group.

Turn on Images to add a grid of pictures from Bing’s public image results, with SafeSearch set to moderate. Each tile shows a thumbnail, a title, and the site the picture comes from. Images shows up to 24 pictures on a page and goes up to 10 pages, with its own page controls like the other groups.

Every search adds a short answer at the top of the results. Folio waits for the other sources, then sends your search and the top results from every source that is on to the model you picked in the search bar, which writes a few sentences from them. For Web, Wikipedia, and Grokipedia that means titles, snippets, and addresses. For Images it means each picture’s title and the page it was found on. Numbers in the answer link to the results it used, and the list under it opens each one in a new tab. The card is labeled as AI-generated because it can be wrong or leave things out, so check the sources. The other results show while the answer is written.

A function can be the search. Typing y = sin(x), plot x², or graph 2x + 1 draws that curve inside the same AI answer. There is one card, not a separate graph. Folio plots it on the page. The model then writes a few sentences about that curve, and it does not treat unrelated results as the answer. Suggestions under the plot try another function or a different range, such as y = sin(x) from -10 to 10.

Continue the conversation

After an answer, use the search bar to ask a follow-up about it, such as “Explain that more simply” or “Give me an example.” Suggested follow-ups can send the next question too. In follow-up mode, Enter sends your message and Shift+Enter adds a new line. Choose New search to leave the conversation and search for another topic. If Folio shows a clarifying question, select an option or enter your answer in the bar.

Weather and current information

Include a place in a weather question, such as “Weather in Dhaka.” When live weather data is available, Folio can show current conditions and a five-day forecast from Open-Meteo, even with Web switched off. If a question needs a place and you did not name one, Folio may use the city in your browser’s time zone. This is a location hint, not your precise location. The note below the search names the city; choose Change to select another one.

For current prices, exchange rates, traffic, or air quality, leave Web on so Folio can look for current sources. Check the source and its date before relying on a figure. If usable live data is unavailable, the answer should say so rather than supply a current value.

Choose an AI model

The model menu is inside the search bar. A model this copy of Folio cannot run is shown but cannot be picked. Choose Auto to let Folio select an available model. This browser remembers your pick, and it is also part of the page address. If the model you picked does not answer, Folio asks the next one that is set up, and the note under the answer says which one wrote it.

Click the title or text of a result to open a preview panel. Close it with Escape or the close control. While it is open, the left and right arrow keys move to the previous or next result (on a right-to-left page, the right arrow goes back). When a web, Wikipedia, or Grokipedia preview has sections, Contents lists them. Choosing one scrolls to that part. Listen to the answer reads the complete AI answer in the site language. Its player offers xAI voices Ara, Eve, Leo, and Sal through Vercel AI Gateway, with pause, stop, speed, and close controls. Ara is the default, and your choice is remembered. The slide-over’s Listen button reads the whole preview. Reading speakers align beside each content topic heading and stay hidden until you tap the heading or a paragraph beneath it. Tapping a paragraph selects that paragraph for the topic speaker to read. Tapping the heading selects the whole topic and its subsections. While reading, surrounding content dims and the active paragraph or topic stays clear. Normal visibility returns when playback ends or you close the player. The floating player keeps pause, voice, speed, and close controls. Tap the speaker again to stop. Text selection does not trigger reading. Open page goes to the original address in this window. The arrow button on the result row opens that address in a new tab. When a lead card is shown, Read the article opens the article in this window as well.

The language menu at the top of the home screen switches the search interface between English, Bangla, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, French, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and German. The About, How to search, and Privacy pages are written in English; their navigation follows your chosen language. Arabic switches the layout to right to left. This browser remembers the choice. Until you pick one, Folio uses the first of your browser’s languages that it has, or English. A link can also set it with ?lang=, for example ?lang=ar.

The language also changes what Folio searches. When it is not English, Folio translates your words and searches that language’s Wikipedia. Bing’s web results only work reliably for words in Latin script, so the web is searched with your words when Bing can read them and otherwise with an English translation. Grokipedia only has English pages, so it is searched with an English translation, and its titles and snippets are translated into the site language. Lines under the query show the words each source was searched with. The AI answer is written in the site language, and Listen on the answer reads it with a voice for that language. A preview in another language is translated into the site language; a Wikipedia article from that language’s own Wikipedia is shown as it is. To change the language, go back to the home screen and pick another one there; your next search uses it.

Click a picture to open the same preview with a larger copy of the image, its title, the site, and its size. Open page goes to the page the picture was found on, in this window. The arrow on the tile opens that page in a new tab, and View full-size image opens the picture itself in a new tab.

Questions

What if every source is off?

You can still submit a question for a direct AI answer. Folio skips the Web, Wikipedia, Grokipedia, and Images result lists. Turn a source on when you want references from it. The box must contain a question or search before you can submit.

What if one source does not respond?

That source shows a notice that it did not respond. Sources that are still on keep their own results.

What if the AI answer does not load?

Folio first tries the other providers that are set up. If none of them answers, the AI card shows a short note, and you can try again. The other results stay as they are. If the card says AI answers aren’t set up yet, this copy of Folio has no AI provider connected.

What if nothing matches?

An empty source says it has no matches. If every source that is on is empty, Folio says nothing matched and suggests fewer words or another source.

Is a search address its own page?

No. The query stays on the Folio search page. About and this page are the pages that explain the site.