Search and Ask with evidence
Use Search to locate a document; it is always in the left navigation under Workflow. Use Ask when you want an evidence-based response to a question. Ask is an experimental menu that stays hidden until you turn it on. Both respect workspace access; neither searches everything on the internet for you.
Find a document first
- Open Search and enter
Product Launch. - Choose Scope → Context to look for the plan, or Library to find references.
- Select an available Mode and choose Search.
- Open the result and inspect the page or source.
The available modes depend on server capabilities. Keyword retrieval matches words and direct names. Semantic retrieval and Hybrid retrieval require the corresponding configured capabilities. A label in documentation does not mean that every installation provides that mode.
Search can return multiple exact matches or warn that restricted sources are hidden. Choose the right candidate; a result's absence can reflect permissions or processing state, rather than proof that the document does not exist.
Turn on Ask
Ask is hidden by default. Each person turns it on for their own account:
- Open Settings and select Labs under Your account.
- In Experimental menus, select Show Ask menu.
Expected result: the change applies immediately, without a Save button. Ask appears under Knowledge in the left navigation with a Preview badge.
This setting only shows or hides the menu; it changes no permissions. It is saved for your account in this browser only: other browsers, other devices, and other accounts in this browser keep their own setting. Clearing the browser's site data hides Ask again.
While Show Ask menu is off, Ask is missing from the navigation, and an Ask link or bookmark opens We couldn't find that page. Turning Ask off deletes nothing: the workspace's Ask sessions and the answers you saved stay where they are, and the sessions appear again when you turn the menu back on. A shared Ask link opens only for people who have turned on Ask in their own browser.
Ask a question
- After turning on Ask, open Ask under Knowledge and choose New or Start first Ask session.
- Enter a focused question, such as “Who owns the Product Launch?”
- Choose Send.
- Inspect Cited evidence and Search path. Open the evidence and check the relevant passage.
Only Editors and Owners can start a session, send a question, or save an answer. A Viewer who turns on Ask can open the workspace's existing sessions but cannot start one or send a question.
Ask searches Context first. If it finds no Context match, it tries Library artifacts and discloses that fallback. Without matching evidence, it reports that no matching evidence was found and can record the question as a coverage gap.
What changes when an answer model is configured?
| Server state | Expected response |
|---|---|
| No answer provider | A deterministic retrieval summary listing the evidence found. This still works as an evidence-finding workflow. |
| Usable answer provider | The provider may compose an answer from the retrieved evidence pack. Check its citations. |
| Configured provider unavailable or failed | An evidence summary can still appear, with a warning about the provider or composition failure. |
Ask is not a general assistant for unsupported claims. A longer answer is not automatically a more reliable one. See AI providers for administrator setup and data flow.
Visibility also matters. Ask retrieves evidence with the access of the person asking, so an Editor's answer can use drafts that Editor may read. When someone reopens a session, an answer based on evidence they cannot read is hidden from them.
Save a useful answer
Saving is disabled when the answer has no usable Library or Context evidence. Add material, ask again, and verify the result.
For an answer with evidence:
- Choose Save answer.
- Select a Save mode, such as a new Context page, a child page, appending to an existing page, updating a draft, or feedback only.
- Check the title, destination, target page, page type, and review option. The title can have up to 256 characters; dtxWiki rejects a longer title rather than shortening it.
- Choose Propose placement, read the proposed placement, then Accept placement if it is correct.
- Open the resulting page or Review item and check its actual publication state.
Appending and updating affect existing knowledge. Choose the target carefully; accepting a placement is not a universal promise of immediate publication.
Improve a weak result
- Try the exact page title or a distinctive phrase in Search.
- Check whether a source is still processing or stored without conversion.
- Publish a clearer page for ordinary readers, with meaningful headings and source references.
- Check the workspace and account rather than assuming every member sees the same evidence.
- If provider warnings persist, ask the administrator to inspect the server settings.
Continue with Review and history.
Search scope in 0.2
Browser All search focuses on documents and does not mix change history or feedback into general results. Agent results and scope appear only while Show Agent menu is on in Labs. Old change-search links open All with guidance to History, Activity and Review. Explicit REST/MCP change and feedback scopes retain their own authorization. Summaries and locations follow the reader's access; absence is not proof that a document does not exist.
Implementation reference: Ask retrieval and composition, Ask placement UI, draft-evidence access test, Labs menus, Ask route rule, title limits.