Topics & Categories

Topics are thematic categories that let you organize documents and customize the AI assistant behavior. A well-structured topic system significantly improves answer relevance and search speed.

What topics are

A topic is a logical container that groups documents by subject, business function or project. Each topic can have:

• A descriptive name.
• A description clarifying its purpose.
• A color for quick visual identification.
• An icon.
• A custom prompt system that modifies the AI behavior when the topic is selected.

Topics are not physical folders: a document can belong to multiple topics at the same time, allowing cross-cutting classifications.

Why use topics

Without topics, the assistant searches across all organization documents. With topics the search becomes targeted:

• More relevant answers: by limiting the search to a specific topic, noise is reduced and precision improves.
• Faster response times: searching a subset is faster than searching everywhere.
• Customized AI behavior: each topic can have specific instructions on tone, language and level of detail.
• Access control: you can restrict who sees which topics (and thus which documents).

Creating a topic

Access

Creating and editing topics is reserved for Company Admin. Editors can upload documents to assigned topics but cannot create, edit or reorder topics.

To create a new topic (Company Admin only):

1. Go to the Topics section from the navigation menu.
2. Click New Topic in the top right.
3. Fill in the required fields:
   • Name: short and descriptive (e.g. "Supplier Contracts", "Environmental Regulation").
   • Description: explain what the topic contains and who it's for.
   • Color: choose a color for visual identification in lists and badges.
   • Icon (optional): select a representative icon.
4. (Optional) Configure the custom Prompt (see next section).
5. Save the topic.

Assigning documents to topics

You can associate documents with a topic at several moments:

• During upload: in the upload screen, select the destination topic before confirming.
• From the document list: select one or more documents and use the "Assign to topic" action.
• From the document detail: open the document and edit the topic section from the dropdown.

A document can belong to multiple topics. E.g., a supply contract could be assigned to both "Contracts" and "Suppliers".

AI customization per topic

Each topic can have a custom system prompt that modifies the assistant's behavior when the user selects that topic in chat.

Instruction hierarchy

The assistant follows a priority hierarchy for instructions:

1. Topic (highest priority): if the user selected a topic with custom instructions, they prevail.
2. Company: general instructions configured at company level apply as the base.
3. System default: Queria's default instructions serve as fallback.

Customization examples

"Legal" topic:

You are an expert assistant in Italian commercial law.
Reply precisely and professionally, always citing
relevant law articles. Use appropriate technical legal language.
For matters requiring legal interpretation, suggest consulting
a professional.

"HR - Human Resources" topic:

Reply clearly and accessibly, avoiding technical jargon.
Reference internal regulations when pertinent.
Keep a professional and impartial tone. Use "you"
with the user.

"Technical" topic:

Provide detailed answers with technical specifications. Include
numbers, measurements and technical regulatory references when available.
Use bullet lists and tables for clarity.

Selecting the topic in chat

At the top of the chat area there's a topic selector:

• No topic selected ("All documents"): the assistant searches across all accessible documents.
• One topic selected: the search is limited to that topic's documents, with custom instructions active.
• You can change topic at any time during the conversation.

TIP

If your question concerns a specific domain, always select the corresponding topic before asking. The difference in answer quality is often significant.

When not to select a topic

If your question could touch multiple categories or you don't know which topic to search, leave "All documents" selected. The assistant will search the entire document base.

Access control (RBAC)

Topics support role-based access control (RBAC), letting you regulate who can view and interact with certain documents:

• Full access: the user can view all documents in the topic and ask questions.
• Limited access: the user can see the topic but not all documents inside.
• No access: the topic and its documents are invisible to the user.

This is particularly useful for:

• Confidential management documents.
• Sensitive HR information (payslips, evaluations).
• Confidential projects.
• Restricted financial data.

RBAC configuration is managed by the organization administrator. EDITOR and READER users see only the topics they've been explicitly assigned to.

Managing topics

Viewing contents

In the topics list, each row shows name, description, distinctive color, number of assigned documents and number of web pages (if applicable).

Editing a topic

Click the pencil icon in the topic row to edit name, description, color, icon or custom prompt.

Deleting a topic

Click the trash icon and confirm deletion.

Notice

When you delete a topic, the associated documents are not deleted. They only lose the topic assignment and become available without category.

Examples by sector

Topic	Typical content	AI customization
Contracts	Agreements, frameworks, SLAs	Legal language, highlight deadlines and penalties
Human Resources	Policies, regulations, org chart	Accessible tone, references to internal rules
Finance	Balance sheets, budgets, reports	Numerical precision, time comparisons
Technical	Manuals, specs, technical sheets	Technical detail, tables and measures
Quality	Procedures, audit, certifications	ISO references, process language
Confidential	Confidential documents	Strict RBAC, confidentiality disclaimer
Regulation	Laws, regulations, circulars	Article citations, regulatory references
Sales	Offers, price lists, catalogs	Focus on prices, terms, availability

Best practice

1. Create 3 to 10 topics: too few don't help filtering, too many create confusion. Find the right balance for your organization.
2. Use clear and unique names: avoid abbreviations or ambiguous names. "Supplier Contracts" beats "SC".
3. Avoid heavy overlap: if two topics always contain the same documents, it's probably better to merge them.
4. Write useful descriptions: the description helps users know where to search and helps the AI to contextualize.
5. Customize AI instructions: leverage the system prompt for each topic to get answers with the appropriate tone and level of detail.
6. Review periodically: topics must evolve with the organization. Remove obsolete ones and create new ones as needed.
7. Configure RBAC carefully: make sure sensitive documents are accessible only to those entitled.

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Queria v3.5.0 -- Document Intelligence platform