Creating a knowledge base through web sync

Customers who have existing knowledge base content on their website can easily keep their chatbot's answers up-to-date using the web sync feature. This feature uses a customer's existing sitemap or allows users to upload a URL to select a target domain, import content, and customize the crawler to select relevant sections of their knowledge base. This website content can be coached just like API and manual content to improve the answers provided to end users.

Note: Aside from web sync, there are other methods in building a knowledge base, including establishing connections with 3rd party integration or creating a knowledge base manually.

This article covers:

• How to create a knowledge base through web sync
  • Create a knowledge base using a sitemap
  • Create a knowledge base using a URL upload
  • Create a knowledge base using a link discovery
• Limitations of a website knowledge base

Prerequisites for creating a knowledge base through web sync

• Account owner or admin privileges; or relevant role/privilege
• Basic, Pro, Business, Education, or Enterprise account
• Zoom Virtual Agent license

How to create a knowledge base through web sync

Create a knowledge base using a sitemap

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click AI Management and then Knowledge Base.
3. Click Add Knowledge Base.
4. Select Web sync.
5. On the Select web sync method page, select Sitemap. This option allows you to sync your knowledge base using a sitemap.
   Note: The sitemap can support up to 500,000 website URLs.
6. Under Sitemap, provide the following details:
   • Knowledge base name: Enter a display name for your knowledge base.
   • URL: Enter the URL from where you want to extract information for your knowledge base.
7. Click Next.
8. Under Pages, select the pages to sync. The number of pages to be synced will be shown at the bottom.
9. Click Next.
10. (Optional) Under Advanced, click the Enable JavaScript Support toggle to allow the Virtual Agent to interpret and execute JavaScript code when accessing and processing web content. 
11. (Optional) Add the selector elements for your articles to help improve the accuracy. You may need to ask your web manager for help with identifying the selector elements.
    • General
      • Page title trimmer: Remove keywords that repeat in the page title.
      • Content selector: Narrow down location of knowledge content. For example, enter .article-content as the selector.
      • Ignore selector: Removes extra details such as author and dates.
      • Dismiss click selector: Close an accordion section or other type of expandable content. This is useful for preventing users from having to scroll through a lot of content to find what they are looking for.
      • Dismiss click delay: Set the amount of time to wait after the click. 
      • Page Load Delay: Set the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load and become interactive after a user initiates a request to access it.
    • Navigation - Javascript click simulation
      • Navigation click selector: Identify and select specific elements or links on web pages or within documents that the chatbot can use to navigate and gather information. Set the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load the content.
      • Navigation click delay: Set the amount of time to wait after the click. 
    • Accordion - Javascript click simulation
      • Accordion content extraction: Specify whether one or multiple items can be expanded at the same time.
      • Accordion click selector: Engage with and retrieve data from web pages or documents featuring accordion-style components. Accordions represent interface elements commonly encountered on websites or within documents, permitting users to expand or collapse sections. Set the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load the content.
      • Accordion click delay: Set the amount of time to wait after the click. 
      • Accordion title selector: Expand and collapse one or more sections of text. This can be useful for organizing large amounts of information in a way that is easy to scan and navigate.
    • Custom script: Use the custom JavaScript function to customize the content or other article details such as title and URL.
12. Click Next.
13. Under Customization, select or deselect the article elements to include in your sync as content:
    • Include images in articles: Include images in the extracted content displayed as answers.
    • Include videos in articles: include videos in the extracted content displayed as answers.
    • Convert PDF links to articles: Automatically convert PDF links into articles, allowing the content within the PDFs to be extracted and displayed as answers.
    • Convert .docx links to articles: Automatically convert .docx links into articles, allowing the content within the Word documents to be extracted and displayed as answers.
    • Extract tables: Extract and display tables from the original content.
      • Keep table structure: Maintain the original table structure when extracting tables.
      • Convert to plain text: Convert tables into plain text.
    • Highlight answers in the original article URL: Highlight answer section on the original article. This setting is not applicable if answer generation is enabled in bot settings or AI Expert Assist.
    • Use complete article as answers: Select the checkbox to only display full articles as answers. This setting is not applicable if answer generation is enabled in bot settings or AI Expert Assist.
14. Under Initial sync, click the toggle to trigger an initial sync after the knowledge base is created.
15. Click Create.
    You will be directed to the Articles tab where you can see the list of articles and adjust the knowledge base settings in the Settings tab.

Create a knowledge base using a URL upload

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click AI Management and then Knowledge Base.
3. Click Add Knowledge Base.
4. Select Web sync.
5. On the Select web sync method page, select URL upload. This option enables you to sync your knowledge base by uploading specific URLs.
6. Under Add URLs, provide the following details:
   • Knowledge base name: Enter a display name for your knowledge base.
   • URLs: Enter individual URLs directly.
   • File upload: Select and drag a CSV file containing the URLs from where you want to extract information for your knowledge base.
7. Click Next.
8. (Optional) Under Advanced, click the Enable JavaScript Support toggle to allow the Virtual Agent to interpret and execute JavaScript code when accessing and processing web content. 
9. (Optional) Add the selector elements for your articles to help improve the accuracy. You may need to ask your web manager for help with identifying the selector elements.
   • General
     • Page title trimmer: Remove keywords that repeat in the page title.
     • Content selector: Narrow down location of knowledge content. For example, enter .article-content as the selector.
     • Ignore selector: Removes extra details such as author and dates.
     • Dismiss click selector: Close an accordion section or other type of expandable content. This is useful for preventing users from having to scroll through a lot of content to find what they are looking for.
     • Dismiss click delay: Set the amount of time to wait after the click. 
     • Page Load Delay: Set the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load and become interactive after a user initiates a request to access it.
   • Navigation - Javascript click simulation
     • Navigation click selector: Identify and select specific elements or links on web pages or within documents that the chatbot can use to navigate and gather information. Set the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load the content.
     • Navigation click delay: Set the amount of time to wait after the click. 
   • Accordion - Javascript click simulation
     • Accordion content extraction: Specify whether one or multiple items can be expanded at the same time.
     • Accordion click selector: Engage with and retrieve data from web pages or documents featuring accordion-style components. Accordions represent interface elements commonly encountered on websites or within documents, permitting users to expand or collapse sections. Set the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load the content.
     • Accordion click delay: Set the amount of time to wait after the click. 
     • Accordion title selector: Expand and collapse one or more sections of text. This can be useful for organizing large amounts of information in a way that is easy to scan and navigate.
   • Custom script: Use the custom JavaScript function to customize the content or other article details such as title and URL.
10. Click Next.
11. Under Customization, select or deselect the article elements to include in your sync as content:
    • Include images in articles: Include images in the extracted content displayed as answers.
    • Include videos in articles: include videos in the extracted content displayed as answers.
    • Convert PDF links to articles: Automatically convert PDF links into articles, allowing the content within the PDFs to be extracted and displayed as answers.
    • Convert .docx links to articles: Automatically convert .docx links into articles, allowing the content within the Word documents to be extracted and displayed as answers.
    • Extract tables: Extract and display tables from the original content.
      • Keep table structure: Maintain the original table structure when extracting tables.
      • Convert to plain text: Convert tables into plain text.
    • Highlight answers in the original article URL: Highlight answer section on the original article. This setting is not applicable if answer generation is enabled in bot settings or AI Expert Assist.
    • Use complete article as answers: Select the checkbox to only display full articles as answers. This setting is not applicable if answer generation is enabled in bot settings or AI Expert Assist.
12. Under Initial sync, click the toggle to trigger an initial sync after the knowledge base is created.
13. Click Create.
    You will be directed to the Articles tab where you can see the list of articles and adjust the knowledge base settings in the Settings tab.

Create a knowledge base using link discovery

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click AI Management and then Knowledge Base.
3. Click Add Knowledge Base.
4. Select Web sync.
5. On the Select web sync method page, select Link discovery. This option allows customers to bypass the requirement of a sitemap and ensures their data remains up to date with website changes. Users will be able to set a source URL and rules to help guide the system through their website to sync relevant pages.
6. Under Start URL, provide the following details:
   • Knowledge base name: Enter a display name for your knowledge base.
   • URL: Enter the URL from where you want to start extracting information for your knowledge base.
7. Click Next.
8. Under Conditions, set the URL paths to what pages you want to include in the sync:
   • Condition 1: Expand the drop-down and choose from the available conditions that best match the pages you want to include.
   • (Optional) Click Add Condition to add more filtering rules.
9. Click Next.
10. (Optional) Under Advanced, click the Enable JavaScript Support toggle to allow the Virtual Agent to interpret and execute JavaScript code when accessing and processing web content. 
11. (Optional) Add the selector elements for your articles to help improve the accuracy. You may need to ask your web manager for help with identifying the selector elements.
    • General
      • Page title trimmer: Remove keywords that repeat in the page title.
      • Content selector: Narrow down location of knowledge content. For example, enter .article-content as the selector.
      • Ignore selector: Removes extra details such as author and dates.
      • Dismiss click selector: Close an accordion section or other type of expandable content. This is useful for preventing users from having to scroll through a lot of content to find what they are looking for.
      • Dismiss click delay: Set the amount of time to wait after the click. 
      • Page Load Delay: Set the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load and become interactive after a user initiates a request to access it.
    • Navigation - Javascript click simulation
      • Navigation click selector: Identify and select specific elements or links on web pages or within documents that the chatbot can use to navigate and gather information. Set the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load the content.
      • Navigation click delay: Set the amount of time to wait after the click. 
    • Accordion - Javascript click simulation
      • Accordion content extraction: Specify whether one or multiple items can be expanded at the same time.
      • Accordion click selector: Engage with and retrieve data from web pages or documents featuring accordion-style components. Accordions represent interface elements commonly encountered on websites or within documents, permitting users to expand or collapse sections. Set the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load the content.
      • Accordion click delay: Set the amount of time to wait after the click. 
      • Accordion title selector: Expand and collapse one or more sections of text. This can be useful for organizing large amounts of information in a way that is easy to scan and navigate.
    • Custom script: Use the custom JavaScript function to customize the content or other article details such as title and URL.
12. Click Next.
13. Under Customization, select or deselect the article elements to include in your sync as content:
    • Include images in articles: Include images in the extracted content displayed as answers.
    • Include videos in articles: include videos in the extracted content displayed as answers.
    • Convert PDF links to articles: Automatically convert PDF links into articles, allowing the content within the PDFs to be extracted and displayed as answers.
    • Convert .docx links to articles: Automatically convert .docx links into articles, allowing the content within the Word documents to be extracted and displayed as answers.
    • Extract tables: Extract and display tables from the original content.
      • Keep table structure: Maintain the original table structure when extracting tables.
      • Convert to plain text: Convert tables into plain text.
    • Highlight answers in the original article URL: Highlight answer section on the original article. This setting is not applicable if answer generation is enabled in bot settings or AI Expert Assist.
    • Use complete article as answers: Select the checkbox to only display full articles as answers. This setting is not applicable if answer generation is enabled in bot settings or AI Expert Assist.
14. Under Initial sync, click the toggle to trigger an initial sync after the knowledge base is created.
15. Click Create.
    You will be directed to the Articles tab where you can see the list of articles and adjust the knowledge base settings in the Settings tab.

Articles tab

This is where you can access a compilation of articles and perform the following actions:

• Use the search bar to find articles based on their title or category.
• Click the article title to open a slideout where you can view details like the Category, URL, Article ID, Tags, and Content of the article. The content is displayed according to the settings customized in the knowledge base. Next to the Content section, you'll find a drop-down menu where you can choose how to handle tables within the article. The options include:
  • Extract table (Keep table structure): This keeps the original table format.
  • Extract table (Convert to plain text): This converts the table into plain text.
  • Do not extract table: This option prevents the table from being extracted.
• Exclude one or more articles that you prefer not to display, such as temporary or non-discoverable articles.
• Change the language of the articles. After creating the knowledge base, you can change all the languages in the Settings tab.
• Click the Answer Preview button located at the top right to test queries. Enter a query that you think an end user might input into the bot to assess the responses provided by the Knowledge Base model. You can filter the knowledge base by name and language.

Limitations of a website knowledge base

• Web knowledge bases are limited to 5000 articles per knowledge base.