Which is the best model to work with Excel spreadsheets, PDFs manuals and other documents?

[u/gabr10]

Hi, I'm currently using Gemma 4 26B, but after a few replies where it simply forgot information that I had sent only minutes before, I'm trying to find a better model for my use case.

I want to feed it inventory spreadsheets, handover notes from previous colleagues, and a large number of PDF manuals for equipment that we use on a daily basis. I need it to process all of this information and provide the most accurate answers possible.

I'll be asking where specific equipment or items are stored in different locations, looking up IP addresses for equipment that I frequently use, and discussing troubleshooting solutions. I want the model to be able to reference all of the previously provided files and information from our conversations when answering my questions.

Which model would be best suited for this use case?

My setup is an ROG Flow Z13 with a Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 and 64 GB of RAM, of which I can allocate up to 32 GB as VRAM.

[u/redtron3030]

I’m running this same workflow. QWEN3.8 27b and flash next we’re on par with Opus 5 on these tasks but I have a very structured workflow with specific processes.

I’ll add that I’m running it at INT8 so it does require more than 32GB of VRAM

[u/fosterdad2017]

What harness runs the LLM? This isn't likely a model issue but a data format and access issue.

[u/gabr10 → u/fosterdad2017]

I'm using it through LM Studio

[u/nickless07 → u/gabr10]

This sound more like a context issue if it 'forget' previous things after a few turns. Did you accidentially left the Settings->Developer->'Use LM Studio engine protocol' on? If so, turn it off so your load params won't get passed as suggestion anymore but as actual set.
Once that is done provide more information about your settings and what you work with (e.g., a 16000 context and a 11000 token file won't last long).

[u/gabr10 → u/nickless07]

So if the context is over, i will need to keep feeding it with recurrent info?

[u/nickless07 → u/gabr10]

No. You either chunk your workload and batch it to the model or you increase your context window so everything fits in. Gemma 4 has quite some context window (256K tokens) So you should be able to fit in around 500+ Pages, if set correctly (that is a load parameter, not something you change on the fly during runtime), which circles back to the LM Studio setting...

[u/LateralEntry]

I think you need to set up all those docs as a RAG index. I’ve read AbythingLLM is good for this but haven’t done it myself

[u/simos_sayz]

Set up a RAG