Skip to main content

Sources & Citations

Every fact Genie tells you should be backed by a citation pointing to a source document. This page explains how to use those citations to verify answers and trace information.

What is a citation?​

A citation is a small numbered superscript in an answer (¹, ², ³…) that links to a passage in one of your KB's documents. Genie generates citations using the actual filename and page where it found the fact, for example:

Pallets must be inspected within 2 hours of arrival. [receiving-sop.pdf#page=4]

The yellow box you see is rendered as a superscript number in the actual answer.

Where citations appear​

Citations show up in two places:

  1. Inline — small numbers attached to sentences in the answer body
  2. In the Citation list — at the bottom of the answer, under the heading Citation:

Either is clickable.

The Chat Analysis Sheet​

Clicking any citation opens the Chat Analysis Sheet — a slide-out panel from the right side of the screen, about 75% of the viewport wide. It has three tabs:

TabWhat it shows
Thought ProcessGenie's internal reasoning: how it interpreted your question, what it searched for, and how it built the answer.
Supporting ContentThe actual passages retrieved from your documents — the raw evidence Genie used.
CitationThe list of source filenames cited in the current answer.

The tab that opens depends on what you clicked: a citation number opens Citation, the lightbulb icon opens Thought Process, the clipboard icon opens Supporting Content.

To close the sheet, click anywhere outside it or use the close button.

Verifying an answer​

The best way to trust an answer is to:

  1. Click the citation superscript to open the Chat Analysis Sheet on the Citation tab.
  2. Note the filename and page reference (e.g., receiving-sop.pdf#page=4).
  3. Switch to the Supporting Content tab to see the retrieved passage and check that it actually supports the claim in the answer.
Document viewer

The current build of Genie shows the citation filename in the Chat Analysis Sheet but does not embed a PDF viewer to open the document inline. To read the full source document, ask your KB administrator to share the original file, or use the file list in the KB's edit page if you have admin access.

What if a citation looks wrong?​

  • The cited page doesn't say what the answer claims. This is a hallucination — Genie should never invent. Please report the chat URL to Support.
  • The citation points to a file you don't recognise. It's still indexed in your KB. Check the Apps Dashboard edit view for the full document list (admins only), or ask the KB owner.
  • The same source is cited multiple times. Normal — different facts from the same document.
  • No citation at all next to a factual claim. Take it with a grain of salt and rephrase your question to elicit a sourced answer.

File-level access protection​

Even if you know a filename, you can only access the file if you are a member of the knowledge base it belongs to. The server checks your access before serving any file — you cannot construct a URL to grab a file from a different KB.

When are citations missing?​

Some questions don't return citations:

  • Conversational openings ("hello", "thanks") — no retrieval was needed.
  • Out-of-scope questions — when Genie politely refuses to answer because the topic isn't in your KB.
  • Errors — error responses obviously have no citations.