In many organisations, extensive handbooks and written procedures can make finding specific information quickly a challenge.
Knowbot addresses this issue by transforming static PDF manuals, policies, and video files into instantly searchable knowledge, seamlessly integrated into your team’s workflow.
With Knowbot, your users do not need to memorise every detail. Instead, they can rely on Knowbot to provide real-time, on-demand guidance, acting as a reliable assistant ready to help whenever needed. This ensures that critical information is accessible precisely when it's required, enhancing efficiency and streamlining workflows.
Good to know💭
Currently, Knowbot offers text-based support, but future updates may even include voice interactions, further improving its role as an integral part of your team’s daily operations.
Start leveraging Knowbot to empower your team with instant, effective assistance and transform the way knowledge is managed and utilised.
Getting Started
As Knowbot will be able to give the answer your user needs quickly, an ideal start would be to add documents such as your employee handbook or standard operating procedures (SOPs) as PDFs or video files (in a MP4 format). This ensures that Knowbot has access to all the necessary information to help your organisation effectively.
Start out by uploading your material into the Knowbot training arena. Once your files are uploaded, you need to train the Knowbot for it to remember them and provide the information for your users.
Step-by-step:
Click Select files and upload them to the training arena. You can upload PDF documents and supported video formats.
Once the files are uploaded, you can click the individual PDF's or on the three dots to eg. manage tags and user groups.
The last step is to train Knowbot by clicking on the Train Knowbot button to the right.
Now, Knowbot is ready to answer questions🤖
🎥 How video works in Knowbot
When a video file is trained in Knowbot, users can ask questions related to the content. Knowbot will return the relevant video and automatically start playback at the exact moment where the answer appears — for example, 2 minutes and 52 seconds into the video.
This is especially useful for:
Visual SOPs and walkthroughs
Safety and compliance training
Software tutorials
Store procedures
Supported formats: MP4, MOV, WEBM
Good to know 💭 Currently, there's a file size limit of 45MB for uploading a video. Thus, we suggest using video compressing tools to reach the desired size, or recording videos in small resolutions 720p or smaller.
Using links in Knowbot
Knowbot can also scrape websites! Go to the "Automatic" tab under Knowbot, drop a link, and Knowbot will pull info straight from that page to answer user questions.
How it works:
Add a link in the visible field - a Website URL or Sitemap XML URL:
If the site requires a login (e.g., SharePoint), you will be prompted to provide authentication details.
Note: When a Login Credential is required and the login uses Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), the sync will fail.🚫📱Click "Create Sync" and you are done! You will get instant feedback on the sync status and its outcome.
If there are PDF, Word, Excel, or other documents on the linked page, Knowbot will automatically scrape their content too. You can also choose to exclude specific files during setup if needed.
Each scraper (URL) can be restricted to specific user groups, just like with uploaded PDFs. And remember: anytime a scraper is added, edited, or deleted, you’ll need to retrain Knowbot to ensure it stays up to date.
Quick tip💡 If you've added the wrong file or link, or if the content is no longer valid, you can always have Knowbot "unlearn" it again. To do this, delete the content from the Knowbot training arena using the trash bin icon, and then re-train Knowbot to update its knowledge base.
Restricting answers to certain user groups
Chances are that you have materials that you wish to make accessible for some users only. And if that is the case, then you can make that happen by restricting your content to certain user groups.
Once you have uploaded your file, click it or use the three dots to find the Manage access button. In the pop-up that will appear, you can decide to make it public or restricted. Choose the last option and click the drop-down to create a user group, or pick one you used before.
From then on, you can create the user group/groups based on departments, job profiles and permission types. Sounds familiar? That's because the same criteria options are used when creating a rule in sharing. Just like with rules, you can pick more than one criteria and eg. have a group that contains all Store managers from Sweden.
Remember to give it a name so you can easily locate it again and tell the difference between groups if you have more than one.
You can add one group each file.
Good to know💭 It is not possible to edit or delete the groups after you have created them. However, it will be added to the feature in a future release.
When to use restrictions
Below, you will find some case examples of when to use user groups.
Case 1: Let's say that you wish to train Knowbot in material from your leadership PDF, and do not want others to see. Then creating a user group for leaders is a perfect fit!
Case 2: If you have multiple stores where the operational tasks differ from store to store, you can still upload the tasks for different user groups and avoid users confusing their tasks.
Case 3: In case your organisation operates in more than one country, it could be beneficial to divide some answers so user will not see answers that is not relevant for them. In addition to this Knowbot can help your users in the language they use, regardless of the language of your materials.
Important🧠 Keep in mind that all users with admin access to Knowbot will be able to see the files in the Training arena regardless if they are in a group or not
Knowbot on the User dashboard
On the User dashboard, a user can access Knowbot by clicking the blue line at the top of their home page. When this is done, a pop-up will appear, and they can now send it questions they need answered.
With the answer, they will also be informed of the source/sources used to provide the answer.
Good to know💭 Knowbot can also read up the answers! After Knowbot has replied, click on the speaker icon like you know from the content creator and it will read it out loud.
Review Your Permissions
After uploading your materials, it’s crucial to review and configure your permissions. Only users with the appropriate permissions can access Knowbot. Therefore, permission must be enabled on the permissions so your team can utilise the knowledge base seamlessly.
