# Documents

Open the base — you will land on the "Documents" page. Click "Add document", set the "Document name" and choose the "Source type".

| Type | What it is | Specifics |
|---|---|---|
| "Text" | Text pasted right into the form | Up to 100,000 characters |
| "Web page (URL)" | A page or a file by link | You can turn on "Scheduled auto-update" |
| "File" | A file from your computer | Drag it into the form or choose it |

![New document dialog: a web page by link](https://support.watbot.org/_media/en/09-knowledge-bases/_images/kb-document.webp?v=1791781230)

Supported file and link formats:

- documents — PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, ODT, ODP, ODS, RTF, EPUB;
- text and data — TXT, Markdown, HTML, CSV, JSON, XML;
- images — JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP, TIFF, GIF, HEIC.

You can also add documents from the AI chat — see the [Connect a base to AI](https://support.watbot.org/knowledge-bases/connect-ai#knowledge-base-changes) page.

## Additional parameters

- **"Image processing parameters"** — for files and links. Text in pictures and scans is recognized automatically; choose the "Text language in images".
- **"CSV processing parameters"** — whether the first row contains headers and which delimiter is used. By default, the delimiter is detected automatically.
- **"Chunking parameters"** — what fragments (chunks) the document is split into:
  - "Chunk size (characters)" — from 50 to 2048, 512 by default;
  - "Overlap (characters)" — from 0 to 512, 50 by default.

The smaller the fragment, the more precise the search, but the less context the model gets. If a document has headings, it is first split into sections by them — such documents are searched better than continuous text. Details are in the "More about chunking" hint in the same form.

> [!TIP]
> Start with the default values. Change them only if the search returns the wrong fragments — you can see this on the ["Search testing"](https://support.watbot.org/knowledge-bases/search) page.

## Processing

After it is added, the document is processed in the background. Its state is shown in the list:

| State | What is happening |
|---|---|
| "Pending" | The document is in the queue |
| "Processing" | Text is extracted from the document and split into fragments |
| "Awaiting vectorization", "Vectorization" | The fragments are being prepared for search by meaning |
| "Ready" | The document takes part in search. The number of fragments is shown next to it |
| "Error" | Processing failed; the reason is shown under the name |
| "Canceled" | Processing was stopped |

![The Documents page with documents in different states](https://support.watbot.org/_media/en/09-knowledge-bases/_images/kb-documents.webp?v=1791781230)

Buttons in the document row:

- "Stop processing" — while the document is being processed;
- "Retry" — for a document in the "Error" or "Canceled" state;
- "Delete" — for a ready, canceled or failed document.

Above the list is a search by document name. Clicking a ready document opens it for editing. If you change the text, the link or the processing parameters, the document will be indexed again — the platform will warn you that this uses tokens. What else tokens are spent on is on the [Plan and tokens](https://support.watbot.org/knowledge-bases/plan) page.

## Scheduled auto-update

A document from a link can update itself. Turn on "Scheduled auto-update" in the document form, and set the days of the week and the time in the [base settings](https://support.watbot.org/knowledge-bases/settings).

The document is re-indexed only if the content at the link has changed — this way tokens are not wasted. Auto-update can be turned on for no more than 12 documents in one base.

Until a schedule is set in the base settings, the document has the "Schedule not configured" label.

## If something does not work

- **The document shows "Error" and a message about the quota.** The monthly token volume is used up. Switch to a bigger plan or wait for the renewal, then click "Retry". See the [Plan and tokens](https://support.watbot.org/knowledge-bases/plan) page for details.
- **"In one knowledge base, scheduled auto-update is available for a maximum of 12 documents at the same time."** Turn off auto-update for a document that does not need it.
- **There is no "Add document" button, and the header says "Inactive since …".** The base plan has ended. Click "Renew".