AI Assistant · Daily operations · 8 min read

Knowledge collections and My Files

Load policies and manuals so the assistant can cite them, and manage the files you share with the assistant.

Before you begin

• Knowledge and files must be on in Applications > AI Assistant > Features, and Knowledge and File upload must be on in Settings > General.
• Searching knowledge and using My Files need ai.use. Creating and deleting collections and documents need ai.configure.
• A file for knowledge should contain text. A scanned PDF with no text cannot be indexed.

Steps

Create a knowledge collection

1. Open AI Assistant > Knowledge and select New collection.
2. Enter the Name (up to 120 characters) and a Description (up to 400; the Fields setting can make it Hidden, Optional or Required).
3. Choose Who may read: Company, Team, Role based, Private or Public internal. For Role based, enter the Permission needed, for example hr.employee.view.
4. Save the collection.

Add a document

1. Open the collection and select Add document.
2. Enter a Title (it defaults to the file name), the Document type (policy, SOP, manual, guide, training or help), a Department and Tags separated by commas.
3. Upload a file (PDF, Word, text, CSV, Excel, JSON or XML) or paste the text.
4. Select Add and index. The message is 'Indexed.' and the document shows Search ready.

Search

1. Type words in the search box. The system uses up to 12 distinct words, weighs rarer words more, and shows the top 10 passages with a score.
2. In a chat, ask a normal question such as 'What is our gratuity rule?'. The answer shows a Sources block with the document title and collection.

Remove

1. Select Remove document on a row, or Delete collection (confirm), to delete a collection with all its documents.

Use My Files

1. Open AI Assistant > My Files. Select Upload and choose a file: PDF, Excel, CSV, Word, text, JSON, XML, ZIP (listed, not unpacked) or an image.
2. Open a row to preview the first rows or text. Use Rename, Share or Make private, Download, Archive / Restore, Delete, or Use in chat.

What happens next

• A document is cut into passages of about 1,200 characters at paragraph and sentence ends. Words of three or more letters are indexed, Arabic included.
• Files are parsed as data and never run. Spreadsheet formulas are not evaluated and macros never run.
• A file used in a chat appears in My Files linked to that chat.
• Each user sees their own files plus files shared with the company.

Worked example. A CSV has the columns Customer and Amount with rows 1,200.50, 800.00 and 999.50. Asking 'Summarize this file' lists the columns, gives 'Totals of the first rows: Amount 3,000.00' and shows a table of up to the first 20 rows.

Good to know

• Size and type: 'Files must be no larger than 10 MB.' (the limit is the Settings value), 'The file is empty.', 'That file type is not supported. Use PDF, Excel, CSV, Word, text, JSON, XML, ZIP or an image.'
• Knowledge needs a title and text: 'Give the document a title.' and 'There is no text to index. Type it, or upload a document with text in it.' A PNG is refused: 'Knowledge documents must be PDF, Word, text, CSV, Excel, JSON or XML.'
• 'A collection needs a name.'
• 'This file is in the knowledge base. Remove it there first.' prevents deleting such a file from My Files.
• A file with a macro (.xlsm) is accepted and read as data; the macro is not run.
• Important: a file uploaded into a Private or Role based knowledge collection is saved with company visibility in My Files. Everyone with ai.use can list and download it, and removing the knowledge document does not remove the file. Do not upload confidential files into knowledge until you have checked who can see My Files.
• The permission typed on a Role based collection is not checked against the permission list. A mistyped code means only ai.configure holders can read it. A blank permission, or the Team setting, reads as the whole company.
• If Knowledge is switched off, the assistant does not use it; the Knowledge screen's own search may still answer.