> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.visotrust.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Answer Inbound Questionnaires

> Upload or paste customer questionnaires into your Trust Profile and have Artifact Intelligence answer them from your Knowledge base.

When a customer or prospect sends you a security questionnaire, you can answer it in your Trust Profile instead of filling it out by hand. Upload the file — or paste the questions — and Artifact Intelligence drafts an answer to each question using the documents in your Knowledge base.

Answers include a confidence score and source citations, so you can quickly review, edit, and export the completed questionnaire.

## When to Use It

Use this workflow when a customer sends you a questionnaire directly (e.g., a spreadsheet emailed by a prospect) rather than through a VISO TRUST collection request. Typical inputs:

* A vendor security questionnaire from a prospect
* A CAIQ, SIG, or custom spreadsheet
* A short list of ad-hoc questions you want answered from your existing documentation

For customer assessments sent through VISO TRUST, questionnaires are answered automatically — see [Answering Questionnaires](/trust-and-questionnaires/questionnaire-answering).

## Prerequisites

* A [Trust Profile](/trust-and-questionnaires/trust-profiles) with artifacts uploaded to the **Knowledge base** tab
* Artifacts have finished processing — quality of answers depends on what's available in your Knowledge base
* The **Org Admin** role

## Adding a Questionnaire

Navigate to **Trust → Questionnaire answering**, then choose one of two options from **Add questions**.

### Upload a File

<Steps>
  <Step title="Select Upload file">
    Accepted file types: `.xlsx`, `.xls`, `.xlsm`, `.csv`. Maximum size: 100 MB.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Wait for parsing">
    VISO TRUST extracts questions from the file and lists the questionnaire in the table with a **Processing** status. Question count appears as answers are generated (e.g., **12 / 40**).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open the questionnaire">
    Once parsing finishes, select the questionnaire name to open the answer view.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Paste Questions

<Steps>
  <Step title="Select Enter questions">
    A dialog opens with a text area.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Paste your questions">
    Enter one question per line, or separate them with commas. A live count shows how many questions were detected.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select Add questions">
    The pasted set is added to the table alongside uploaded questionnaires.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Reviewing Answers

Open a questionnaire to see the full answer table. Filter toggles at the top let you narrow the view to **All**, **Answered**, **Needs attention**, or **Unable to answer**. A **Processing** indicator appears while remaining answers are being generated.

Each row includes:

* **Status** — Answered, Needs attention, Unable to answer, or Processing
* **Question** — the extracted question text
* **Answer** — the AI-generated response
* **Confidence** — how strongly the supporting evidence matches the question

### Statuses

| Status               | Meaning                                                                                                            |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Answered**         | High-confidence AI answer, an AI answer you accepted, or an answer you wrote or edited yourself.                   |
| **Needs attention**  | Low-confidence AI answer — review it, then either accept it or edit it.                                            |
| **Unable to answer** | The AI could not find supporting evidence in your Knowledge base. Add an answer manually or upload more documents. |
| **Processing**       | The answer is still being generated.                                                                               |

### Source Citations

For every AI answer, select **View source citation** to expand the supporting evidence. Each citation shows the quoted snippet, the source document name, and the page number when available. Use this to verify an answer before accepting it.

### Accepting or Editing an Answer

For rows in **Needs attention**, you have two ways to move the row to **Answered**:

* Select the check-mark **Mark answer as good** button next to the answer to accept the AI response as-is.
* Select the edit icon to modify the wording, then save.

Edited answers are marked as user-authored and no longer show the citation. Select **Revert to AI answer** to restore the original response.

For questions marked **Unable to answer**, select the edit icon to type an answer manually — saving it moves the row to **Answered**.

## Renaming a Questionnaire

By default, uploaded questionnaires use the file name and pasted questionnaires use `Pasted Questions <date>`. To rename one, open the questionnaire and select the edit icon next to the title.

## Exporting Answers

From the questionnaire detail page, select **Download CSV** to export every question, answer, status, confidence score, and source citation. Use the export to return the completed questionnaire to the requesting customer.

Each AI answer includes its source citations in a **Source** column, formatted as `fileName (p.N)`. When an answer has more than one citation, the first appears on the answer's row and each additional source is written on its own row below it. Manually-authored answers have no source column populated, matching the detail view where citations are hidden once you supply your own answer.

## Improving Answer Quality

Answer quality depends on what's in your Knowledge base. If too many questions come back as **Unable to answer** or **Needs attention**, or confidence scores are consistently low:

* Add missing documents (policies, SOC 2, DPAs, sub-processor lists) to the **Knowledge base** tab
* Replace outdated artifacts so the AI doesn't cite expired evidence
* Include URLs to your public security and privacy pages

See [Trust Profiles](/trust-and-questionnaires/trust-profiles) for guidance on keeping your Knowledge base current.