# Run your first scan

> Paste text or upload a file, check the credit cost, and read your results in a few seconds.

Canonical page: https://winstonai.ai/help/run-your-first-scan

Help center: Getting started. Updated 2026-09-22.

You can check writing in Winston AI two ways: paste it into the scan box, or upload a file. Either way the scan takes a few seconds, and the result is saved to your history so you can come back to it.

## Check text in four steps

1. Open your dashboard and select **New scan**.
2. Paste your text, or drag a file onto the upload area. The word count and credit cost update as you go.
3. Leave **AI detection** selected. If your plan includes it, tick **Plagiarism check** to compare the text with published sources in the same scan.
4. Select **Scan text**. Results open as soon as they're ready, usually in under ten seconds.

> **Tip:** Give us at least 40 words. Shorter passages don't carry enough signal for a reliable result, so the scan button stays disabled until you reach the minimum.

## What you'll see

- **Human score:** a number from 0 to 100. Higher means we're more confident a person wrote the text. [How to read your score](https://winstonai.ai/help/how-to-read-your-score).
- **Sentence highlights:** the passages that drove the score, marked in the text itself.
- **Writing feedback:** readability and structure notes, included at no extra credit cost.

## Trying it without an account

The scan box on our home page and the [AI detector](https://winstonai.ai/ai-detector) page checks up to 800 words, 3 times a day, without signing up. Those checks aren't saved, so [create a free account](https://winstonai.ai/signup) if you want a history or a report you can share.