# Instructions — a step-by-step guide

The instructions are four texts the assistant gets with every reply: who it is, what it answers, how it writes and when it hands over. You can change them any time; every save is a new version, and an older one is one click away.

**Before you start**

- **Editor or owner role** — With a read-only role you only read the instructions.
- **An open assistant** — The instructions are in Settings → Instructions.

## Step 1 of 7: Four instructions

On the screen: In Settings → Instructions, the buttons Knowledge, Filter, Style and Routing.

Do this: Each instruction tells the assistant something else. **Knowledge** — who the assistant is and how it uses the knowledge sources. **Filter** — which mail to answer and which not. **Style** — how to write: greeting, tone, length, signature. **Routing** — when to answer alone, when to answer and hand over, and when not to reply. Click the instruction you want to see.

> Note: The number next to the name (v3, say) is the active version. The first versions were usually written by the new-assistant wizard.

## Step 2 of 7: The instruction's text

On the screen: A large field with the text of the chosen instruction.

Do this: Instructions are written in plain words, as if you were training a new colleague. Write rules, not single cases: "With a price question add the link to the price list", not "Send Ms Small the price list".

> Note: Facts (prices, deadlines, procedures) do not belong in the instructions — put them in Knowledge. An instruction says how to behave; knowledge says what is true.

## Step 3 of 7: Save a new version

On the screen: Under the field, the Save as a new version button.

Do this: Edit the text and click **Save as a new version**. **Back** throws your edits away. The assistant follows the new version from the next mail check.

> Note: Try a bigger change on the trial set first — you see how the assistant would answer the saved messages before the instruction goes live.

## Step 4 of 7: Version history

On the screen: On the right, the Version history card.

Do this: Every save is a new version; the older ones stay. Each shows when and who saved it. **Difference against the editor text** shows how the version differs from what is in the field now.

## Step 5 of 7: The comparison

On the screen: Under the editor, a card with the comparison: the old version on the left, the editor text on the right.

Do this: Removed lines are struck through in red, added ones are green. An easy way to check what changed before you save.

## Step 6 of 7: Back to an older version

On the screen: By an older version, the Restore this version button.

Do this: When a new version does not work out, click **Restore this version** by an older one. It is saved as a new active version; nothing is deleted.

## Step 7 of 7: Advanced: tunings

On the screen: After clicking Advanced, three more: Triage, Task and Lesson.

Do this: These three have fixed basic rules built into draften (safety, the meaning of the decisions). Here goes only a short tuning for your mailbox, and it may stay empty. Usually you need not change them.

**The instructions are yours** — The assistant follows them from the next mail check. To write the instructions afresh from your mail, run Rewrite the instructions.

- **Try without risk** — The Trial set guide shows how to compare the replies before and after a change.
- **The same edits again and again** — The assistant proposes lessons by itself — the Learning guide.