Using Sam, the AI assistant in SamBooks
6 min read
Sam is the AI assistant built into SamBooks, always by your side in the right-hand panel on every page. You talk to it in plain language, like a colleague at the firm: it reads your company's entire accounting and carries out operations for you — always asking for your confirmation before touching any data. Sam is openly an artificial intelligence: it's there to save you time, not to replace your decisions.
What it's for
Sam is a real AI assistant, not a bot with fixed commands: there's no syntax to learn and no predefined menu to click. You write what you need in plain language — exactly as you'd ask a person — and Sam understands, answers, and, when you ask it to, takes action.
With Sam you can:
- See how your company is doing: revenue, deadlines, VAT to pay, cash and bank position, unpaid invoices, how much you owe a supplier.
- Have Sam do the work: create, edit and delete invoices, customers, suppliers, journal entries; generate, calculate, export and download documents (F24 tax forms, XML, PDF, CSV…).
- Clear up tax and accounting questions: rules, filings, how to record an operation — always with the source cited.
In short: if something can be done in SamBooks, you can ask Sam to do it.
Where to find Sam
Sam lives in a side panel on the right, present on every page of the app (the "AI always by your side" principle).
- When the panel is closed, Sam's mascot appears in the bottom-right corner: click it (or use the Open AI chat action) to open the chat.
- At the top of the panel you'll see the name Sam with the AI label, and a small ring showing today's AI usage as a percentage.
- Next to it are the Chat history and New chat icons, and the arrow to close the panel.
Beyond the panel, across the app you'll find the contextual Ask Sam button — for example next to every deadline in the tax calendar or on the dashboard. Click it and the panel opens with the question already written for you: just press enter to send it (or edit it first).
Getting started in 3 steps
- Open the panel. Click Sam's mascot in the bottom-right corner (the Open AI chat action).
- Write in plain language. In the Ask Sam… field, type your question or request and press Enter to send (use Shift+Enter for a new line). On your first chat, Sam greets you with "Hi, I'm Sam" and offers a few examples you can click.
- Confirm actions. If you asked for something that changes data, Sam won't proceed on its own: it shows a summary and waits for your confirmation (see below).
What you can ask Sam
Read and understand your data
Sam has full read access to your company's accounting. Some real examples you can copy:
- "How much did I invoice this month?"
- "What deadlines do I have in the next 7 days?"
- "Show me the invoices that haven't been paid yet"
- "How much VAT do I have to pay this quarter?"
- "What's my cash and bank position?"
Carry out operations
Sam doesn't just read — it can act, too. For example:
- "Create an invoice for Acme srl, 1500 EUR + 22% VAT"
- "Record a journal entry"
- "Add a new customer"
- "Generate the VAT payment F24 and let me download it"
Creating, editing and deleting entities (invoices, customers, suppliers, journal entries…) and generating/downloading artifacts (F24, XML, PDF, CSV…) are all things Sam can do for you.
Attach a document
If you have a document for Sam to read or record (a supplier invoice, a receipt), use the Attach a document button (the paperclip icon) in the input field, or drag the file straight into the panel. Sam reads it and extracts the data.
Full read access, careful writing: your confirmation is mandatory
This is the most important safety principle to understand: Sam reads everything, but writes nothing without your go-ahead.
Every time you ask for an operation that changes data (creating an invoice, recording an entry, deleting something), Sam first shows a box — "Sam asks for confirmation before proceeding" — with a summary of what it's about to do. You get two buttons:
- Confirm — Sam proceeds.
- Cancel — nothing happens.
The actions Sam performs are also tracked and reversible: no surprises, no silent changes.
For irreversible tax acts the confirmation is even more explicit. The first time you send an invoice to the SDI (the Italian Exchange System), Sam shows a reinforced warning — "Send to SDI — irreversible action" — and asks for a deliberate "Yes, send to SDI".
Chat or by hand: your choice (chat ↔ interface parity)
Sam is a convenience, never an obligation. Everything Sam does you can also do by hand from the interface — with the usual buttons, forms and dialogs — and vice versa. The two routes are equivalent and of equal standing:
- Prefer to type "Create an invoice for Acme srl"? Do it in chat.
- Prefer to fill in the invoice form? Open it from the menu and fill it in.
You're never forced to use the chat to get something done, nor forced into the form when the chat is handier. SamBooks lets you choose every time.
Tax and regulatory questions: always with the source
Sam also answers tax and accounting questions — about rules, filings, how to record an operation. When the answer rests on a regulation, Sam always cites the source (article, paragraph, official practice). If it can't find an explicit legal basis, it tells you openly instead of making something up — so you always know how far to trust the answer.
Leave feedback: you're talking straight to the team
Sam is also your direct line to the people building SamBooks. Found a bug? Something missing? Want a customization? Have a suggestion — or even a criticism, positive or negative? Tell us: it goes straight to the SamBooks team.
Two ways, both valid:
- Click Leave feedback in Sam's panel (you'll find it when you open a new chat) — the field is pre-filled and you keep writing freely.
- Or just write it in chat: "I have some feedback on SamBooks: …". Sam recognizes the feedback, thanks you, and passes it to the team.
Don't wait for the "perfect message": every report helps us improve the product.
History and new chat
- Chat history: reopen a previous conversation and pick it up where you left off.
- New chat: start from a clean conversation when you switch topic.
Privacy and security
- Sam only sees your company's data. There's strict per-company isolation: Sam cannot access any other business's data on SamBooks.
- Your data is not used to train AI models. SamBooks works with AI providers on a training opt-out: your information is used only to answer you — it never ends up in any training set.
What NOT to do / limits to know
To use Sam with peace of mind, keep these limits in mind — they're honest and intentional:
- Sam is an artificial intelligence: always check before you confirm sensitive actions, especially tax-related ones. The final confirmation is your responsibility.
- Sam never acts on data by itself. Operations that change something always require your confirmation: if you don't confirm, nothing happens.
- Official filings follow your plan's rules. For example, during the trial period some SDI submissions may be blocked: in those cases Sam tells you and doesn't force the process.
- There's a daily AI usage cap. The ring at the top shows today's AI usage: if you reach it, Sam pauses until it resets the next day (or until you upgrade your plan). It's a measure to keep the service sustainable, not a malfunction.
- If your subscription isn't active, Sam is paused. You'll see a prompt to subscribe to a plan to switch it back on.