A knowledge base still answers from old documents: how do you verify version updates?
When a knowledge base cites an old version, inspect the new record’s indexing state and the query’s version filters, then identify the actual record cited in the answer. Changing a source file does not guarantee that old records were updated or deleted.
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When a knowledge base cites an old version, inspect the new record’s indexing state and the query’s version filters, then identify the actual record cited in the answer. Changing a source file does not guarantee that old records were updated or deleted. Query old and new records directly and test effective-date questions; changing a page date alone does not update the knowledge.
Identify old and new versions and their effective dates
This applies when policies or product documents changed but answers still return old rules or combine versions. Preserve document IDs and effective dates and establish which version is current. Upload time is not necessarily the rule’s effective date. Historical versions may still be needed and should not be indiscriminately deleted.
Check incremental indexing, document keys and query conditions
Check whether incremental indexing processed the change and whether document keys created a second record while leaving the original. Inspect the types of version and effective-date metadata and the conditions used by querying. If retrieval returns the current version but the answer links an old one, investigate citation assembly and application caches instead of repeatedly rebuilding unrelated components.
Manage current status and historical versions separately
Define stable document IDs and version relationships and maintain current status and validity periods during updates. Preserve history where required, but use currently effective records for default questions and period-appropriate conditions for historical questions. Verify update and deletion semantics in a separate test index and establish recovery before applying the project’s normal process to production.
Test both current answers and historical-period questions
Test a current question and a historical question about the same topic, verifying the version and accessible source used by each. Updated record counts or a successful indexing job are intermediate evidence; inspect actual passages and answers. Keep unresolved facts marked as unresolved rather than using a recent date to conceal outdated content.
File updates and index refresh delays vary across knowledge bases, so there is no universal activation time. This article deleted or migrated no private knowledge base and does not generalize one service’s update mechanism to all systems. Without version metadata, define content management rules first; similarity ranking alone cannot reliably identify the currently effective rule.
Checked sources
These sources support the concepts and methods described here. Examples and test scope are labeled separately; check the version of the tools you use.