Documents

The Documents tab is the knowledge base's file surface. Editors upload files, Tale runs each one through the indexing pipeline — extract the text, chunk it, embed the chunks, store them — and agents whose knowledge scope covers the document retrieve relevant passages at reply time and cite them. This page covers the operator side: uploading, the status column, team scoping, folders, and the document lifecycle.

Uploading

Open Knowledge > Documents and click Upload documents — the menu offers From your device and From Microsoft 365. The upload gate accepts the formats that cover the bulk of org knowledge: PDF, Word (.doc, .docx), OpenDocument text (.odt), PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx), Excel (.xls, .xlsx), CSV, plain text, and images (JPG, PNG, GIF, WEBP). Anything else is refused at upload.

Uploading and indexing are separate facts, and the RAG status column tracks the second one: Indexing while the pipeline runs, Indexed when agents can retrieve the content, Failed when the pipeline errored, and Needs reindex when the stored chunks are stale. Modern formats index; the legacy Office trio (.doc, .xls, .ppt) uploads and stays downloadable but shows Not indexed — agents cannot retrieve its content until you re-save it in the modern format.

Importing from Microsoft 365

From Microsoft 365 imports from OneDrive or SharePoint instead of disk: pick files or folders, then choose the import mode. One-time import brings the files in once — they behave like uploads from disk. Sync import keeps the selection synchronized: new files in the OneDrive folder appear on a later sync pass, changed files re-index, and files deleted at the source leave the workspace. Both modes preserve the folder structure of your selection. Sync covers personal OneDrive folders — a SharePoint selection always imports once.

To stop syncing — a whole synced folder or a single synced file — open the row's menu and click Stop syncing; the imported documents stay in the workspace and stop updating. Deleting a synced folder or file also stops its sync. In every case the originals in OneDrive are untouched.

Scoping, folders, sources

Each row carries a Teams cell — Organization-wide by default, or the teams you pick via Assign team in the row menu. A team-scoped document is invisible to members and agents outside the team; this is the knowledge base's access lever. Project files are outside this model entirely: a project's Knowledge tab holds files scoped to that one project, and they never appear in this library or in its team scoping — see Manage files.

New folder keeps large libraries navigable, and integrations bring their own structure: documents synced from OneDrive or SharePoint land under sync folders and show their origin in the Source column, which keeps citations traceable to the upstream system.

Reindex and delete

Reindex (row menu) re-runs the pipeline on the stored file — the right move after an indexing failure or when a document shows Needs reindex. Delete removes the document and its indexed chunks; the confirmation says it plainly — the action cannot be undone. Re-uploading the same file brings the content back as a fresh document.

Clicking a document opens the preview, with a sidebar showing size, source, RAG status, teams, uploader, and modification date — the fastest way to check what a citation actually points at.

Documents versus structured data

Documents are the unstructured half of the knowledge base. When the content is a list of things with the same fields — customers, products, suppliers — a typed record serves agents better than a spreadsheet upload: exact values instead of retrieved passages. The decision rules live in Structured data.

Where this fits

Documents are the most-used corner of the knowledge base — most citations in most replies point here. The retrieval side — how an agent's knowledge scope decides what it searches — is Agent knowledge; the fact-sized sibling surface is Knowledge entries, which rides this same pipeline one document at a time.