# Importing from completed questionnaires

Questionnaires you have already answered are one of the most common ways to build
a knowledge base. The work is done — the answers exist, they were good enough to
send, and importing them means you don't write them twice.

ResponseHub reads your completed questionnaire spreadsheets using the same
parsing and AI it uses to work through incoming questionnaires, extracts the
questions and answers, and lets you review everything before anything reaches
your knowledge base.

**Start with the knowledge base template instead:** If you are setting up for the first time, generate the **Essential** knowledge
base template during onboarding before importing old questionnaires.

Template answers are built from your own policies, so each one carries
[references](/how-questions-are-answered/references/) back to the specific
passages it came from. Answers imported from a completed questionnaire have no
such link — the original policy text behind them isn't known, so you cannot trace
where an answer came from or how well it is supported.

Get the basics covered with the template first, then import completed
questionnaires to build out a more comprehensive library on top.

{/* TODO: link the callout to the onboarding template page under Get Started once
    that page exists. */}

## Before you start

You need write access to your account, and your questionnaires must be **XLSX
files** — this import accepts Excel spreadsheets only. You can upload up to
**10 files** at once.

## Import completed questionnaires

1. Go to **Knowledge Base**, select **Import / Export**, then **Import from Spreadsheets**.

2. Drag your spreadsheets onto the panel, or select **Choose XLSX files**.

3. Check the processing options.

   **Sanitize question and answer text** is on by default, and removes references
   to the customer the questionnaire was originally answered for. **Auto
   categorize items** is also on, and files each item into the
   [standard taxonomy](/knowledge-base/categorisation/).

4. Select **Upload & Analyze**.

   ResponseHub extracts the questions and answers. This runs in the background.

5. Review the extracted items, then select **Import _n_ Knowledge Base Items**.

## Reviewing what was found

Nothing is added to your knowledge base until you approve it. The review screen
lists every question found, showing which file, sheet, and row each came from,
and groups them under three tabs:

| Tab | Shows |
|---|---|
| **All** | Every question extracted from your files |
| **Potential duplicates** | Questions that duplicate another question in this same import |
| **Similar to existing** | Questions that closely match an item already in your knowledge base |

**Similar to existing** is the one to check first. Each of those candidates shows
the existing item it matched, so you can compare the two and decide whether the
old answer is worth keeping.

Remove anything you don't want with **Remove** — removed candidates stay on the
list, struck through, and **Undo** brings them back. The import button counts
only what is left, so it tells you exactly how many items you are about to
create.

## Next steps

- [Importing from CSV](/knowledge-base/importing-from-csv/) — if your answers are already in a spreadsheet or another tool
- [Finding duplicates](/knowledge-base/duplicates/) — clear up overlaps after importing
- [Writing and updating](/knowledge-base/writing-and-updating/)