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Use knowledge sources with a chatbot

Written by Owner

Updated at August 20th, 2025

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Table of Contents

How knowledge sources are measured Add knowledge sources Use a webpage Limitations  Add files Limitations Use Zapier Tables Limitations Use Google Docs Limitations Use Notion pages Limitations Sync your knowledge source Delete a knowledge source Adjust chatbot behavior for missing answers Provide feedback and get help Data retention

You can connect Zapier Chatbots to your knowledge sources to ensure responses are focused on your business or project. The chatbot can use these files or tables as its exclusive source of information for answers, and you can also set a custom response for when information cannot be found in the file. The amount of information you can use as a knowledge source depends on your plan and is measured in bytes.

miscBoltAlt icon Beta

This product is in open beta. It’s available for use but still in active development and may change.

Available on plans:

A green checkmark

Free

A green checkmark

Pro

A green checkmark

Advanced

How knowledge sources are measured

The size of a knowledge source is based on how much text is extracted from it, not the size of the original file. A 1MB PDF file, for example, may only have 100KB of text, once it's added to the chatbot. Learn how to check your knowledge source usage.

Add knowledge sources

Knowledge sources can be files, webpages, apps, or tables. 

miscEye icon Note

Google Docs and Notion are only available as knowledge sources on the Advanced Chatbots plan. 

Webpage

Use a webpage

You can add a webpage as a knowledge source, and the chatbot will scrape the content and use it to answer questions. 

  1. From the Chatbots home, select your chatbot.
  2. In the sidebar, click Knowledge.
  3. Click + Add source.
  4. On the Type section, click Webpage. A dialog box will open.
  5. Paste an address in the Public URL field.
    • Optional: Select the Crawl this link for all subpages checkbox to get a list of subpages for that URL.
  6. Click Continue. It may take a moment to sync.

If you select the checkbox Crawl this link for all subpages, a list of available subpages will be displayed. Select the checkbox beside each page you want to use as a knowledge source.

miscEye icon Note

The Select first XX pages button will select as many pages as possible, within the number of available knowledge sources. The pages are selected in the order that they appear in the dialog box, from top to bottom.

Limitations 

  • The chatbot can only use publicly available pages. It cannot log in to a website.
  • Images and videos cannot be crawled.
Files

Add files

When you use a text-based file, the chatbot will scrape its content and use it to answer questions. Learn how to structure your file.

  1. From the Chatbots home, select your chatbot.
  2. In the sidebar, click Knowledge.
  3. Click + Add source.
  4. On the Type section, click File. A dialog box will open.
  5. Find and select the file you want to use.
  6. Click Add source. It may take a moment to process, depending on the file size.

Limitations

  • Maximum file size you can upload: 2MB.
  • Accepted file formats: .txt, .csv, .json, .pdf, .doc, .docx, .pptx.
Use Zapier Tables

Use Zapier Tables

You can add a Zapier table as a knowledge source and sync it either automatically or manually to pick up changes. Learn how to structure your table.

  1. From the Chatbots home, select your chatbot.
  2. In the sidebar, click Knowledge.
  3. Click + Add source.
  4. On the Type section, click Table.
  5. Click the Table field and start typing to find and select the table.
    • Click Create new Table to start a new table and use it as a knowledge source.
  6. Click Add source. It may take a moment to sync.

Limitations

  • Chatbots only use the first 10,000 records of your table and up to 50 columns.
  • Only tables you own are available as knowledge sources for your chatbots.
Google Docs

Use Google Docs

Available on plans:

A green checkmark

Free

A green checkmark

Pro

A green checkmark

Advanced

  1. From the Chatbots home, select your chatbot.
  2. In the sidebar, click Knowledge.
  3. Click + Add source.
  4. On the Type section, click Google Doc.
  5. If you have not used Google Docs with Zapier before, click Select an account to create a connection. A new window or tab will open.
    • If you already have a Google Docs account set up, select a connection from the dropdown menu, or create a new connection by clicking Manage connections.
  6. Once you've selected a connection, in the Google Doc text field, search for and select the document you want to use as a knowledge source.
  7. Click Add source.

Limitations

  • Chatbots can sync up to 96,000 words.
  • The chatbot cannot read images and videos included in the document.
Notion

Use Notion pages

Available on plans:

A green checkmark

Free

A green checkmark

Pro

A green checkmark

Advanced

  1. From the Chatbots home, select your chatbot.
  2. In the sidebar, click Knowledge.
  3. Click + Add source.
  4. On the Type section, click Notion.
  5. If you have not used Notion with Zapier before, click Select an account to create a connection. A new window or tab will open.
    • If you already have a Notion account set up, select a connection from the dropdown menu, or create a new connection by clicking Manage connections.
  6. Once you've selected a connection, in the Notion page text field, search for and select the page you want to use as a knowledge source.
  7. Click Add source.

Limitations

  • The chatbot can only sync text.
  • Zapier Chatbots is optimized to answer questions that your customers or users may have, such as "Do you deliver to Sydney, Australia?". If you need an analysis or want to gain insights into a file's contents, try using Zapier Agents.

Sync your knowledge source

When you add Zapier or a webpage as knowledge sources, the chatbot will collect the information available at that time. If the knowledge source changes, you can sync it manually or schedule when it should be updated. Learn how to sync and set up a schedule for your knowledge sources.

Delete a knowledge source

To delete a knowledge source:

  1. In the Knowledge menu of your chatbot, click the three dot icon .
  2. Click Delete. A dialog box will open.
  3. Click Delete to confirm. It might take a moment to remove it.

Adjust chatbot behavior for missing answers

If the chatbot uses knowledge sources, you can define how it will respond when the sources do not contain answers that match a specific question. 

To change the missing answer behavior:

  1. In the Knowledge menu of your chatbot, click Knowledge settings.
  2. From the When results are not found from the knowledge sources dropdown menu, select an option:
    • Generate an AI response without knowledge source (default): the chatbot will generate a response using the connected OpenAI model. It will not use any additional context provided by any connected knowledge sources.
    • Show a custom message: write a message that will be displayed if the chatbot cannot find an answer within any connected knowledge sources.  
  3. Click Save.
ratingStar icon Tip

You can use a custom message to send users to other sources of help, such as your contact form. 

Provide feedback and get help

Submit a feature request, provide feedback on existing features, or get help from the Zapier Chatbots team.

Data retention

Zapier's Data Retention, deletion, and export practices vary depending on the product. Learn more about the specific guidelines for the product you're using.

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