How to set up your knowledge preferences

Goal

Write down how you like to work once, save it to your Knowledge Bank, and stop re-explaining yourself at the start of every chat.

Why bother

Most people spend the first few messages of a chat telling the AI who they are and how they want the answer: keep it brief, no bullet points, I teach undergraduates, use APA. A preferences file does that up front, so the AI starts where you'd otherwise have to steer it.

This isn't a setting — it's a document you write and attach like any other knowledge.

Quick path

1. Create a document covering how you like to work.
2. Save it and add it to your Knowledge Bank.
3. Attach it to chats where you want it applied.

What to put in it

Focus on the things that actually change the output:

• Who you are — preferred name and pronouns, your role, the field you work in.
• Communication style — tone, how much detail you want, whether you like analogies, whether emoji are welcome, the language you prefer.
• Formatting — bullet points or prose, headings, whether tables help or annoy you.
• Professional context — your industry, areas of expertise, what you're currently working on, citation style, sources you trust.
• What to avoid — topics you don't want raised, and how you prefer to learn.

The official template has more optional sections, including travel, books, and food preferences. Those matter if you plan to use BoodleBox for personal projects; skip them if you don't.

A word on what to include. This file is stored in your Knowledge Bank, so treat it like any work document. The template asks for things like date of birth, relationship status, and family details — include only what you're genuinely comfortable storing, and leave out anything you wouldn't put in a document you share at work. The preferences that improve your results are the ones about how you want to be answered, not personal history.

Step-by-step

1. Open a blank document in Word, Google Docs, or any editor you like.

2. Write a short section for each heading above. Full sentences are fine and often better than lists — "I teach first-year composition and prefer plain language over jargon" tells the AI more than a keyword.

3. Save it somewhere you can find it again, with an obvious name like my-preferences.docx.

4. Add it to your Knowledge Bank so it's available in any chat. See How to use your Knowledge Bank.

5. Attach it to a chat when you want it applied. See How to attach knowledge to a chat.

Verify it's working

• Ask the AI something open-ended in a chat with the file attached. The answer should already match your stated tone, length, and formatting without you asking for it.

Keep it current

Revisit it when your work changes — a new course, a new project, a different citation style. A stale preferences file quietly steers answers in the wrong direction, which is harder to spot than having no file at all.

Still stuck?

If answers aren't reflecting your preferences, confirm the file is actually attached to that chat, and see Optimizing knowledge files for how to make a file easier for the AI to use. Email success@boodle.ai — typical response within 8 business hours.