Ask

Ask a question in the search bar and get a short answer from what you can see here, with a link to the exact spot each part of it came from.

Asking a question

Open search with Ctrl K (⌘ K on a Mac), or the Search or ask button in the sidebar or the search button in the top bar on a phone. Type your question in plain words, such as How tall can my fence be?Once you have typed three characters, search offers an Ask row. It comes first when what you typed reads like a question, and last when it reads like a keyword, so ordinary search works as it always has.

Choose the Ask row and the answer appears in the same box as it is written, usually in a few seconds. Answers are short, one to four sentences. Press Esc to close the box at any time.

Checking the sources

Every claim in an answer carries a numbered link, and the sources are listed under the answer with the passage the claim rests on. Opening a source takes you to the exact spot it came from: a document at its page, a chat message in its channel or DM, a record in its own panel, or a section of these help guides. It opens in a new tab, so your answer stays where you left it. In the app installed on your home screen it opens in the same window instead, and your recent questions in search bring you back.

A source marked with a lock is private: only you can see this, or for a direct message, only you and the people in it. Nobody else sees your answer, so a private source in it stays private.

If nothing you can see answers your question, Ask says so instead of guessing. It only answers questions about your community and about using neighbors.fyi, and it declines anything else.

What Ask can see

Ask sees only what you can already open yourself, and nothing more. That is the documents you can open, read page by page; the chat channels you belong to and your own direct messages; announcements, meeting minutes and the calendar; community issues, architectural requests, violations and resident service requests you can see; the vendor directory, the board list and the amenities; your own dues, payments and reservations; and these help guides.

It never reads another resident’s messages, account or requests, and anything your community has turned off is left out. A document joins the index shortly after it is uploaded; a scanned document takes a little longer while its pages are read.

Follow-ups and ratings

After an answer you can ask up to five follow-up questions in the same conversation, and the box shows how many are left. A follow-up can lean on the answer before it, so What about sheds? works after a question about fences.

Use the thumbs up or thumbs down under an answer to mark whether it helped. Your rating is stored with that answer and goes when the answer does.

How many questions

Each person can ask up to 3 questions a minute, 10 a day and 40 a month, and follow-ups count as questions. Your community also shares a monthly pool of 2 questions per home, and never fewer than 20. A question Ask declines as off-topic does not count.

When you or your community reach a limit, the Ask row tells you the date Ask is back. Search keeps working in the meantime.

Your questions and privacy

Your conversations are listed under Your questions at /ask, where you can reopen one, remove it, or clear them all. Only you can see them. Board members and administrators cannot read your questions or answers.

To get there, use the Your questions link at the bottom of an answer, or in the menu that opens from your name in the sidebar. Your three latest questions also show when you open search, before you type. Choose one to pick it up where you left off, with any follow-ups it has left.

Every conversation is erased automatically 30 days after its last message. Removing one takes it away at once, though it still counts toward that month’s limits. Your questions are part of your data export, and they go with your account if you close it.

For admins: turning Ask on

Ask is included on every plan and starts switched off. Your community’s System Admin turns it on in Site settings, under Feature Management, where the Ask toggle sits with the other resources.

While Ask is off, your documents are not indexed and nothing is sent to AI. Turning it on starts indexing your documents straight away, and anything left is finished within the hour. Turning it off again hides Ask and /ask for everyone and deletes the document index; any saved conversations are still deleted on the usual 30-day schedule.