Control how the AI uses your knowledge base

Knowledge splits into two kinds, and the difference decides whether the AI ever uses it.

Reference is looked up when it matches what is being written: product details, policies, past answers. This is the normal kind and every article starts here.

Rules are applied every time, whether or not they match: your tone of voice, words you never use, how you sign off. A rule cannot be found by search, because search compares it against the subject of the email and a rule is not about any subject. Rules that sit in a normal article are invisible in practice, which is why they get their own home.

Say what a collection is for

Every collection has a "used for" type, chosen when you create it and changeable any time from the menu next to its name. The type decides which AI features read it: brand and voice reaches everything that writes to a customer, support answers reach ticket replies and the website chatbot, competitor notes reach meeting prep and never the public chatbot.

Collections you made before this existed are all set to General, which every feature reads. Nothing changed for them.

Make an article apply to everything

Open an article and set "How the AI uses this" to Always apply it. It is then included in full in every draft for the features its collection feeds, instead of competing with other articles to be found.

Use it for rules, not for facts. Everything marked this way is sent on every request, so a long product manual set to always apply crowds out the material that actually answers the question.

Write the house style down once

Open AI settings in the knowledge base header, on the Brand and voice tab. Fill in as much or as little as you want:

• Tone and formality: how it should sound.
• Reading level: plain language, normal business reader, or specialist.
• Emoji: never, sparingly, or freely.
• Never use these words: anything you have banned. Drafts are also checked against this list, so you are told when one slips through instead of having to spot it.
• Say this, not that: the wording you prefer, such as customers rather than users.
• Greeting and sign-off: how messages open and close.
• Who we write to and About the company: context the AI can lean on.

Below the fields is a preview of the exact instructions the AI is given, so nothing about it is guesswork. Turn the whole thing off with the switch at the top without losing what you wrote.

Decide what each feature reads

The What each AI reads tab lists every feature that uses knowledge and which types it draws on. Each one starts on the standard setup; tick or untick a type to change it, and reset it back whenever you want.

Worth changing when a feature is reaching for the wrong material, for example if you keep internal pricing notes that should never reach a customer-facing draft. Leave it alone otherwise: the standard setup is what most companies want.

Only administrators can change the brand voice or what each feature reads. Everyone who can edit the knowledge base can set what a collection is for.