Your new AI workplace: 10 helpful functions
Welcome to the future of visual collaboration.
You already know DEON as a powerful platform for your 'heavy load' of data and visual collaboration. With the new AI integration (DHI) and the DAIA assistant (DEON AI Assistance), your workspace transforms from a passive work surface into an intelligent partner.
This overview presents you 10 helpful functions for your daily work.
By the way: You can find an overview of the DAIA control elements here:
1. Semantic Project Query (Knowledge Retrieval)
What is this?
You can ask the DAIA assistant questions about the contents of your entire DEON project. The AI not only analyzes texts, but also understands the context of unstructured data collections that you have placed on the board.
What is it good for?
It saves massive research time. Instead of sifting through hundreds of documents, e‑mail screenshots or notes, simply ask the AI for the information you are looking for.
Practical example (HR):
An employee moves to another department and has „emptied“ his knowledge (handover notes, email threads, process diagrams) onto a DEON board without any structure. A new key account manager simply asks: „What are my tasks and responsibilities as key account manager?“ and receives a precise summary from the scattered information.
Operation:
- Open the DAIA panel via the DAIA button at the top right of the project.
- Import the project knowledge once by clicking the brain icon at the top of the panel. After major changes, import again; unchanged content will be skipped.
- Type your question into the input field and submit it.
2. Visual Grounding (Source Referencing)
What is it?
The AI not only provides an answer but also delivers interactive reference buttons (links) to the exact locations within the project.
What is it good for?
It prevents „hallucinations“ and builds trust. You do not have to rely on the black box, but can verify any information immediately in the original context.
Practical example (Technical development):
You ask for the price of a specific component (e.g., „What does the AS5600 cost?“). The AI provides the price. By clicking the reference, DEON instantly zooms to the location on the board – for example, an embedded Excel spreadsheet or a PDF specification –, where this price is listed.
Operation:
- Ask a question in the DAIA Panel.
- Click on the reference buttons in the AI's response below.
- The Workspace automatically zooms to the corresponding location.
3. Web search with source citation
What is it?
DAIA can search the web for your question and cites the referenced pages directly below the answer.
What is it good for?
Current information from external sources flows directly into your work, and every statement can be verified at the source.
Practical example (procurement):
You ask: „What delivery times do manufacturers currently state for the AS5600?“ DAIA responds with sources, and you drag the pages onto the board via drag & drop.
Operation:
- Ask a question in the DAIA panel that requires current information from the web.
- Clicking a source below the answer opens the page; dragging it places it on the board.
4. Visual Viewport Analysis ("The Eye")
What is this?
You allow the AI to exactly “see” what you currently have on your screen (viewport). The AI analyzes the visual image including diagrams, sketches or technical drawings.
What is it good for?
Perfect for understanding complex technical representations, diagrams or unlabeled graphics.
Practical example (engineering):
You zoom in on a photo of a complex test setup (e.g., a test bench for actuators). You activate the „Eye“ and ask: „Explain this setup to me“. The AI describes the components (Load Cell, actuator etc.) and their function based on the image and taking into account the further knowledge within the project.
Operation:
- Zoom in on the area you want to analyze in the Workspace.
- Click the eye icon in the DAIA panel. DAIA will receive an image of exactly this section.
- Enter your prompt (e.g., "Explain this"). The eye applies to this single question and then automatically turns off again.
Collaborative AI Discussion
5. Graph Chat (Discussion in Workspace)
What is it?
The chat history with the AI is freed from the narrow sidebar window and mapped as a visual network of text nodes and connection lines directly on the infinite, collaborative DEON workspace.
The key benefits:
- Overview instead of „Scroll-Desert“:
While using conventional chat tools, you lose the overview in long discussions, here you use the zoomable DEON workspace. You can zoom out to see the entire argument chain, or zoom in to read details. - From chat to content (Seamless further processing):
The chat bubbles are not static texts, but fully editable, native DEON elements. You can format the AI's answers directly, shorten them, combine with other content or group them. - Collaboration:
The conversation does not take place in a private window, but on the board. If you share the board with other people, the entire team can follow the discussion live. - Present results directly:
Since the chat nodes are DEON objects, you can simply highlight the result of a research and immediately export it as PDF or image, in the desktop app also as an editable PowerPoint slide. - Persistence:
Your graph chats remain in the project. You can continue the conversation at any point in the tree structure deliberately.
Practice example (Market research & Reporting):
A team develops market trends for 2025. Instead of painstakingly copying AI answers from a chat window into a presentation, they let the discussion emerge as a graph on the board. The team deletes irrelevant nodes, highlights the most important insights in color, adds images and exports the final strand directly as a finished slide.
- Activate Graph Chat: Click the graph chat icon at the top of the DAIA panel. Your ongoing conversation now automatically appears as a chain of text boxes directly on the board.
- Further processing of results: Since the chat bubbles are native DEON elements, you can freely move them via Drag & Drop, reformat or add further content.
- Export: Select the desired chat nodes on the board and click "Export" in the selection bar. PDF, PNG, and JPEG are available; in the desktop app, an editable PowerPoint file is also available.
6. Conversation Branching
What is this?
You can at any point of an existing graph‑chat „branch“ (create a branch). Simply click on an older answer in the graph and pose a new question – it visually grows a new branch from the discussion tree.
The key benefits:
- Perfect „prompt hygiene“ (context purity):
If you switch topics in a linear chat, you „dilute“ the AI's context (the context window). With branching, the main thread stays clean and focused while you clarify side issues in isolated branches. - Knowledge trees instead of linear threads:
You can untangle complex problems systematically. One branch goes deeper into technical details, another clarifies legal questions, a third deals with costs, all starting from the same point. - Quick context jumps:
Simply click a node in the graph and the chat panel jumps straight back into the context of that specific conversation branch.
Practical example (technical development):
In the main thread, an engineer discusses how a „load cell“ works. The detailed question „What material is the strain gauge made of?“ is clarified in a side branch. Once that is done, he clicks back to the main path and continues discussing the signal electronics there without interruption.
- Select start point: Click on any node (a previous question or answer) within your existing graph chat directly on the board. The DAIA panel now jumps exactly back to this point in the conversation flow.
- Create branch: Type your new detailed question in the DAIA panel and submit it. From the selected node, a new branch now visually grows for this conversation thread. Alternatively, you can also select and modify a previous question to generate a new branch.
- Jump between strands: To return to your original main strand or another subtopic, simply click on the corresponding node in the respective branch on the board. The chat panel immediately switches context and you can continue discussing there undisturbed
AI-supported Productivity
7. Integration of agent systems
DEON acts as a bidirectional, visual interface for external agent systems and automation platforms such as n8n, Zapier, Make, or autonomous AIs. Via the REST API, webhooks, and the MCP server, these systems can be seamlessly integrated into DEON. This allows external agents to query unstructured knowledge from DEON projects (via the Retrieval API for AI grounding) and to autonomously place and modify results in the form of texts, images, or color markings directly in the workspace.
It closes the gap between automated AI background processes and human decision-making. Instead of painstakingly aggregating data manually from databases or logs, DEON through the connected agents transforms into a self-updating situational view („Self-Building Dashboard“). The autonomous systems do the preparatory work and visually curate complex data, while you as the user retain full overview and decision control („Human in the Driver Seat“).
An external monitoring system reports the failure of a server component. A connected n8n agent workflow is triggered and uses the DEON API to precisely mark the affected server symbol in the architecture diagram on your DEON board in red. At the same time, the agent places the relevant error logs as text cards directly next to it. When your team enters the virtual „War Room“ (the DEON board), the error diagnosis is already visually prepared and everyone can immediately collaborate on the solution.
- Authentication: Generate in your DEON account management a permanent API token and store it securely as an environment variable (Bearer token) in your agent's system.
- Define target elements: In the context menu of an object in the DEON workspace, you can copy the exact project ID and element ID under „API URLs“ with a single click.
- Execute actions: Pass these IDs to your agent's HTTP nodes (e.g., in n8n) so that the agent can precisely query, overwrite, or create new elements in your project
8. Generative Content Creation (Image & Text)
What is it?
Creation of new content (images or text) directly on the board, based on prompts or existing elements.
What is it good for?
Rapid prototyping, visualizing ideas or creating variations.
Practical example (design/marketing):
You have an image of a robot on the board. You select the image and tell the AI: „Create a similar image, but with more blue accents“. The AI generates the new image. It lands in the project inbox, and with one click on the preview below the response, you place it on the board.
Operation:
- Select an element (image or text) in the workspace.
- Enter your request in the DAIA panel (e.g., “Create a variation of this” or “Translate this”).
- DAIA places texts, sticky notes, shapes, and diagrams directly on the board; generated images land in the inbox. You can undo every action with a single step.
9. Semantic Context Recognition
What is this?
The DEON AI kernel understands that items that are visually close together belong together, even if they are not formally grouped. It reads the „Layout“ like a human.
What is it good for?
You do not have to structure your boards perfectly for the AI to understand them. Free work is supported.
Practical example (Management):
You have placed a heading “Goals until 2030” loosely over a textbox. The AI automatically understands that the content of the textbox are the goals until 2030, even if the word “Goals” does not appear in the separate textbox below.
Operation:
This works automatically in the background. You only need to arrange your content logically on the board, as you would for a human viewer.
10. Export of AI results
What is it?
Since all AI interactions (graph chat, generated texts) are native DEON elements, they can be formatted and exported directly: as PDF or image, and in the desktop app as an editable PowerPoint file.
What is it good for?
Seamless transition from analysis to presentation. No more copy‑paste chaos.
Practical example (reporting):
You have used the AI to develop a complex analysis that is available as a graph chat on the board. You draw a frame around it, briefly reformat the boxes, and export the selection as PowerPoint in the desktop app. You receive an editable slide with the results for the management meeting.
Operation:
- Select the AI results (e.g., the chat tree) on the board.
- In the selection bar, click Export and choose the format: PDF, PNG, or JPEG; in the desktop app, PowerPoint is also available. In PowerPoint, the elements remain editable (not a screenshot).
- For multi-page slides, create a presentation and use Export slides.
DEON Holistic Intelligence: Your workplace that thinks along.
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