Knowledge Base troubleshooting
Most knowledge base problems come down to content that never finished indexing, or content the person asking is not allowed to reach. Find your symptom, then open the page that fixes it.
Find your symptom
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The list of knowledge bases is empty, or one a colleague uses is missing. | Knowledge bases are shared one by one; nobody has granted you this one. | Ask its creator or an administrator. See Access. |
| You don't have access to this knowledge base when you open one. | You are not its creator, a tenant administrator, or in a role, department or group it was granted to. | Access |
| A section such as Settings or Analytics is missing from the menu. | Your role lacks that section's permission group. | How the Knowledge Base works |
| An answer declines, with no sources. | Nothing relevant enough was found, or the answer could not be checked against the sources. | Asking questions · Settings |
| Answers never cite a document you can see listed. | Its tags don't match the person asking, or it has no tags at all. | Access |
| A document reads Failed with a red Error tag. | Often a file with no readable text. | Ingest status · Managing documents |
| A file is refused before it uploads. | Wrong type (an email, for example), over 50 MB, or a name over 200 characters. | Uploading documents |
| Under Internal users, the access lists are empty when you upload a file or connect a source. | Nothing has been granted access to the knowledge base yet. | Access |
| A connector is missing from Add Import Channel, or greyed out as Inactive. | Only import connectors that are active and connected can be picked. | Sources |
| A source reads Paused and brings nothing in. | Someone selected Disconnect on it, which pauses ingestion. | Select Reconnect. See Sources. |
| Fetch now reports a fetch started, but nothing arrives. | Nothing new at the source, or ingest is still running. | Sources |
| Chat answers from documents, not your curated wording. | The question asked didn't match the pair closely enough, or the pair's access doesn't reach that person. | Q&A pairs |
| The embedded widget refuses every question. | Its token expired or was revoked, or the page isn't allowed. | Developers |
Failed needs a retry or a better file
Elie retries temporary problems by itself. Once a document reads Failed, it stays that way until you act: select Retry on its row, or Retry indexing on its page, up to five times per document, or fix the file and upload it again. Hover the Error tag first. The first line is the plain-language cause and the second the raw pipeline message, which tells you whether a retry can help.
Not every alarming label is a fault
Indexed with the stage Superseded means a newer version or a removal overtook the job; it carries no Error tag. A document whose new version is still processing keeps answering from the previous one. An empty Safety feed only means nothing was logged in the last 30 days.
Sections you can't use are hidden
A knowledge base's menu only lists the sections your role reaches, so a colleague may see Settings or Analytics where you don't. Buttons inside a section you can open stay visible but greyed out when your role can't use them, and hovering one says why.
Next
- Ingest statuses explained - what each state and stage means.
- How the Knowledge Base works - the pieces behind an answer.
- Platform troubleshooting - problems outside the Knowledge Base.