Ask Paddy cannot answer a question or will not do something

Why Paddy comes back with nothing, why it sometimes declines an action on purpose, and what to do about each.

3 min readUpdated Yesterday
troubleshootingpaddy doesnt knowai cant answerpaddy wrongassistant unhelpfulno answerask paddypaddy will notaction declinedaction expired

The symptom

You ask Paddy something and it cannot answer, or you ask it to do something and it declines or nothing happens.

It cannot answer a question

Paddy answers from your own business content (your Knowledge Hub, documents, allergens, routines, and records) and from the Paddl help guides. If the answer is not in any of those, Paddy has nothing to draw on.

  1. Is the information actually in your account? If you are asking about something specific to your business, it needs to exist somewhere Paddy can read. Add it as a Knowledge Hub page or upload the relevant document.

  2. Give new content a moment. When you add a document or a Knowledge Hub page, it takes a short while to become searchable. If you have just added it, wait a little and ask again.

  3. Try rephrasing. Asking in different words can help Paddy find the right material.

  4. Ask for a human. If Paddy still cannot help, ask it to connect you to a person and it will pass you to the team.

It declined on purpose

Some refusals are deliberate, and Paddy will tell you which. These are not faults:

  • Filling in a record, completing a check, approving a submitted record, or signing anything. That work belongs to the person who did it.

  • Removing an allergen from a menu item. Paddy can add, never take away.

  • Deleting a person. It will offer to deactivate them instead, which keeps their history.

  • Doing an unreasonable amount in one go, such as hundreds of pieces of equipment. Ask in smaller batches.

Nothing happens when you ask it to do something

  1. Are you on the mobile app? Paddy answers questions in the app but does not carry out actions there. Use the admin panel in a browser.

  2. Are you an owner or manager? Staff can ask questions but cannot have Paddy make changes.

  3. Did the card expire? A proposed action waits an hour. After that you need to ask again.

  4. Was it your card? Only the person who asked can confirm an action, so you cannot approve one a colleague started.

It did the wrong thing

Check the confirmation card rather than the message above it. The card is what actually runs. If it does not match what you meant, press Cancel and rephrase. See Confirming and cancelling Paddy actions.

For how Paddy uses your content, see Knowledge Hub and Ask Paddy. For what you can ask it to do, see What Ask Paddy can do for you.

When to contact support

If the information is in your account, has had time to index, and Paddy still cannot find it, contact us at support@paddl-ai.co.

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