When Docs Can't Answer
How Docpipe forwards an unanswered question to the right expert instead of guessing.
Docpipe only answers from what's in your documentation. When a question isn't covered yet, it doesn't guess — it offers to route the question to a subject-matter expert, then captures their answer back into your docs so the next person doesn't have to ask.
This happens automatically when a Slack question can't be answered, as long as your team has experts assigned.
For the person asking
When Docpipe can't find an answer, it replies in the channel:
No documentation matches that question yet. Would you like to forward it to a subject matter expert?
Select Forward to an Expert, and Docpipe sends your question to the expert(s) for that area. The message updates to confirm:
Your question has been forwarded to a subject matter expert. They'll reply here when they have an answer.
When the expert responds, their answer is posted back in the same channel — you get it right where you asked.
If no expert is assigned for the topic, or every expert declines, Docpipe tells you and notifies your organization's owners so they can assign someone.
For the expert
If you're an assigned expert, Docpipe sends you a direct message when a question in your area goes unanswered:
You've been asked a question you might know the answer to.
You have two choices:
- Answer — opens a short form titled "Answer the question" with the question and a field for your reply. Write it and select Send answer.
- Decline — pass; if others are assigned, they can still take it.
When several experts share a topic, the first to start answering claims the question, so no two people write the same reply. If they don't finish within about ten minutes, it reopens for anyone.
The answer becomes documentation
When you send an answer, two things happen:
- It's posted back to the asker in Slack, credited to you.
- It's automatically drafted into your documentation as a proposal — reviewed and approved like any other capture before it's saved (see Reviewing proposals).
That's what makes asking pay off over time: every expert answer turns a one-off Slack reply into lasting, reusable knowledge, and the next person to ask gets it straight from the docs.
Set up experts
Experts are assigned per space in Settings → Experts, and Docpipe routes each question to the experts for the space it's about. See Experts & SMEs for how to set them up.