# Your knowledge base

Keep your SOPs, recipes and policies in one place. Admins and managers build folders of articles and documents on the web; the whole team reads and searches them in the app.

For: Admins, Managers, Employees · On: Web, iOS, Android · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Knowledge & training](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training) · Last updated October 12, 2026 · Mays Team

The knowledge base is where your SOPs, recipes, policies and training material live — folders of articles and documents. Admins and managers build it on the web; everyone reads and searches it in the Mays app.

It's in the **Basic** and **Pro** plans (and the free trial). On the web it's **Knowledge Base** in the sidebar; in the app it's the **Knowledge** tab (**KB** on Android).

## How it's organized

- **Folders** sit at the top level, and can have folders inside them.
- **Articles** — pages you write in Mays, with headings, lists, pictures, tables, links and YouTube videos.
- **Documents** — files you upload: PDF, Word (DOCX), TXT, CSV, Markdown and pictures (JPG, PNG, WebP, and iPhone HEIC/HEIF photos), up to 50 MB each.

Articles and documents always go inside a folder.

![The Food Safety folder in the web knowledge base: two articles and a PDF shown as cards, with the Folder, Article, Upload, Dropbox and Drive buttons at the top and the Rename, Share…, Move to…, Info and Delete menu open on an article](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__knowledge-base-basics__01-folder-on-web.e7db561474.png)

## Create a folder

1. Go to **Knowledge Base** and click **Folder**.
2. Type the **Folder name** and click **Create**.
3. A new top-level folder starts **Private** — only you and your admins can see it — so the **Share** window opens straight away. Choose who can see it (see *Who can see what* below) and click **Share**. Close the window when you're done.

A folder you create inside another folder has the same access as that folder.

## Write an article

1. Open a folder and click **Article**.
2. Enter a **Title** (required) and a short **Summary** — the summary shows on the article's card and helps people find it when they search in the app.
3. Write the article under **Content**. The toolbar has headings, bold and italic, lists, quotes, alignment, **Insert Image**, **Insert Link**, **Embed YouTube Video** (paste the video's link) and **Insert Table**.
4. Click **Create & Index for AI**.

The article is live as soon as you save it — there are no drafts. To change it later, click it and click **Update & Index for AI**. *Index for AI* means the AI Assistant in the app can use the article to answer questions. See [AI answers from your knowledge base](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/ai-answers-from-your-knowledge-base).

## Upload documents

1. Open a folder and click **Upload**.
2. Drag files onto the window, or click **browse** to pick them. A file of another type is refused with a message naming the types you can upload.
3. Click **Upload** (the button shows how many files), then **Done**.

Mays reads each document in the background so it can be searched and used by the AI Assistant. Click a document to preview it: PDFs, pictures and text files open in the browser; for other files use **Download** or **New tab**.

Admins can also bring files in from **Dropbox** or **Google Drive** with the buttons at the top. See [Importing from Dropbox or Google Drive](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/import-from-dropbox-or-google-drive).

## Adding from ChatGPT or Claude

If your organization lets AI apps make changes, you can also upload documents or have the AI app write an article from ChatGPT or Claude (*"Add these recipes to the knowledge base"*, *"Write our closing SOP and put it in Training"*). What an AI app adds doesn't go live straight away: it waits in a folder called **Pending review (AI uploads)**, which only admins can see. Your team can't open it, the AI Assistant doesn't answer from it, and the person who added it can't see it there either.

**Admins publish it:** open **Pending review (AI uploads)**, check each item, and **Move to...** the folder it belongs in — or ask the AI app *"What's waiting for review?"* and then *"Publish them"*, which moves each item to the folder it was added for and makes the person who added it its owner. To get rid of something, delete it. Don't share the Pending review folder: while it's shared, AI apps can't add anything. See [Upload invoices and documents](https://www.mays.app/help/ai-automation/connect-mays-to-chatgpt-or-claude#upload-invoices-and-documents).

## Organize

Right-click a card, or hover and click **⋮**:

- **Rename** — the new name shows straight away.
- **Share…** — change who can see it.
- **Move to...** — pick another folder. A folder can't go inside itself or one of its own folders; Mays says so and leaves it where it was.
- **Delete** — asks once, then deletes for good (there's no trash). Deleting a folder deletes **everything in it**: the folders inside it, at every level, and all their articles and documents, including the uploaded files. The AI Assistant stops answering from them straight away.

The search box at the top finds folders, articles and documents by name in the folder you're looking at.

## Who can see what

| Who | Can do |
| --- | --- |
| **Admins** | See and edit everything. Can share with the whole organization or with a role, such as **Managers**. |
| **Managers** | Create folders, articles and documents for their own locations. Can share with one of their locations or with a specific person. |
| **Employees** | Read what's shared with them, in the app. |

In the **Share** window you choose who — **Everyone in org**, **A location**, **A role** or **A specific person** — and whether they **Can view** or **Can edit**, then click **Share**. **People with access** lists everyone who has it. More in [Who can see what in the knowledge base](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/knowledge-sharing-and-visibility).

## In the app

The **Knowledge** tab (**KB** on Android) shows the folders you have access to. Tap a folder to open it, then an article to read it or a document to open it right in the app. YouTube videos in an article play when you tap them.

![The Knowledge Base tab in the iPhone app with a Search knowledge base box and three folders: Opening & Closing, Food Safety with 2 articles and 1 doc, and Recipes & Prep](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__knowledge-base-basics__02-knowledge-tab.39083ab711.png)

- **Search** (at the top) looks through folder names, article titles and summaries, and document names across the whole knowledge base — type at least two letters.
- The app is for reading: articles and documents are added and changed on the web.
- You need a connection to open the knowledge base.
- To send an article to someone, open a chat, tap the attachment button and choose **Article**.

## Good to know

- **Not in your plan?** On the web, **Knowledge Base** shows a lock and an **Upgrade plan** button. The app tab stays, but shows *No content yet*.
- **Search on the web** only matches names in the folder you're in. To find something inside your articles and documents, ask the AI Assistant in the app's **Chat** tab — it answers from your knowledge base.
- **Empty folder in the app?** It hasn't been shared with you, or nothing's been added yet — ask your manager.
- **Turn articles into quizzes.** On the Pro plan, admins can have the AI write a short training quiz from your articles and documents. See [Creating training modules](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/create-learning-modules).

## Related articles

- Mobile apps: [A tour of the app](https://www.mays.app/help/mobile-apps/mobile-app-tour) — What's where in the Mays app — the Tasks, History, Knowledge, Chat and Schedule tabs, your profile, the notification bell, the extras managers get, and how a shared kiosk tablet differs.
- Team & roles: [Roles and permissions](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/roles-and-permissions) — What the built-in Admin, Manager and Employee roles can do, how location access works, and how to build a custom role from individual permissions.
- Getting started: [Finding your way around the web app](https://www.mays.app/help/getting-started/finding-your-way-around) — A tour of the Mays web app — the sidebar and what's in each section, the location switcher, locked modules, your profile, Mays AI and where to get help.
- Tasks & checklists: [Completing your tasks in the app](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/complete-tasks-on-mobile) — Your checklist lives in the Tasks tab of the Mays app. Tick checkboxes with one tap, take photos, enter numbers, add a note — and fix and resend a task your manager sent back.
- Tasks & checklists: [Creating a checklist template](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/create-a-checklist-template) — Build an opening, closing or cleaning checklist once as a template — groups, tasks and answer types — and Mays turns it into your team's task list in the app.
- Getting started: [Welcome to Mays](https://www.mays.app/help/getting-started/welcome-to-mays) — What Mays does, where to sign in on the web, iPhone and Android, who does what, and how plans and the free trial work — the two-minute tour for a new team.
- Knowledge & training: [Who can see what in the knowledge base](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/knowledge-sharing-and-visibility) — Every new folder starts private. Share it with everyone, a location, a role or one person, and choose whether they can view or edit. What admins, managers and employees see.
- Knowledge & training: [Importing from Dropbox or Google Drive](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/import-from-dropbox-or-google-drive) — Connect your company's Dropbox or Google Drive once, then copy SOPs, PDFs and Google Docs into a knowledge base folder. Each import is a one-time copy; later changes don't sync.
- Knowledge & training: [AI answers from your knowledge base](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/ai-answers-from-your-knowledge-base) — The AI Assistant in the app's Chat tab answers your team's questions from your knowledge base. How articles and documents get ready for it, who sees which answers, and what it costs.
- Knowledge & training: [Creating training modules](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/create-learning-modules) — Turn your knowledge base articles and documents into a short quiz. The AI drafts the questions from your own text, you review and edit them, then publish the module for your team.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/knowledge-base-basics