Readers of your portal can search your docs, ask an AI assistant that answers from your articles, and pass a question to your team when the AI can't help. This article covers what they see and the settings that shape it.
What readers see when they search
Your portal's header has a Search or ask AI box on every docs page. Readers open it by clicking it or pressing ⌘K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows).
Results come as they type, up to 8, each with the passage that matched and the matching words highlighted. Partly typed words match too.
The first row is Ask AI: followed by what they typed. Choosing it asks the assistant.
The arrow keys move between rows and Enter opens one.
An article the reader isn't allowed to open shows with a lock, if you chose to show its title to people without access (see Choose who can read each page).
When nothing matches, the box says No articles match and what they typed.
Searches count in Reporting, where you see what readers searched for and didn't find.
The AI assistant
Ask AI opens the Assistant panel beside the page (the whole screen on a phone). It answers only from your published articles that the reader is allowed to read, and lists the articles it used under Sources.
Readers ask follow-up questions in the Ask, search, or explain… box. The assistant takes the questions before into account.
A thumbs up or down under each answer tells you whether it helped.
The trash icon clears the conversation. The X closes the panel and keeps it.
The conversation lasts while the browser tab is open, across pages. With an empty search box, Open the assistant brings it back.
When the AI has no answer, it says I don't know and offers Post this as feedback, which starts a post with the question as its title. A question about one of your off-limits topics gets "I can't help with that here."
The same assistant is in your widget's Docs tab. Readers can also ask from the search results page (/docs?q= followed by their search), with Ask AI, then carry on in the assistant with Ask a follow-up.
Each reader can ask up to 20 questions an hour, and your docs up to 300 an hour in all. Past that, readers are asked to try again later.
Shape how the AI answers
Owners and admins go to Settings → AI answers:
Tone: how it sounds, such as "Friendly and plain; address the reader as you". Up to 200 characters.
Answer length: Short, Medium or Detailed.
Standing instructions: what it should always keep in mind, such as what to call your product. Up to 2,000 characters.
Off-limits topics: one word or phrase per line, up to 20, each up to 60 characters. A question that contains one as whole words gets "I can't help with that here." and the AI isn't asked: "refund" matches "Can I get a refund?" but not "refunds".
Select Save. These settings can't make the AI answer from anything but your published articles. To leave an article out of answers, set its Listed in to Hidden in its settings. AI only does the opposite: the AI uses it, but readers can't open it.
Let readers ask a person
When the AI can't answer, or a reader gives an answer a thumbs down, they can choose Ask a person to pass the question to your team.
To offer it, turn on Messages in the widget in Settings → Inbox and email, and keep Messages shown in Customize → Widget (see Customize the widget). Your replies reach readers in Messages, so Ask a person is off while Messages is.
What readers do:
Choose Ask a person. Signed-in readers see their own email address. Others enter theirs under Your email.
Optionally add a note under Anything to add? (optional).
Select Send to the team. They see "We've passed this to the team. Their reply will show in Messages." and an Open Messages button.
They can do this within an hour of asking, once per question. The question arrives as a conversation in your Inbox, with the AI's answer, the reader's note and a short summary of what they need. See Work through your support inbox.
The end of an article
Under each article, readers find more ways on:
Previous and Next: the articles before and after it in its tab, in the order of your docs.
Related articles: up to 3 from the same tab, the closest in topic first.
Still stuck?, with Ask AI, and a button to reach your team. That's your header's contact button if you set one in Navigation. Otherwise it's Contact us once you answer messages or email in Tuti: it opens Messages in your widget where the widget is on the page, and elsewhere starts an email to your support address, or opens Messages on a page of its own.
These only list articles the reader can open.
When AI credits run out
AI answers use your project's AI credits. While the project has none left, readers see AI answers aren't available right now. with the closest articles, and can still post their question as feedback. Answers come back once you add credits. See AI credits.