Give customers a clear answer to a common question, then show it where they need it. Cedros lets you maintain a shared FAQ library, group questions by category, and use those answers on your website. Published FAQs can also help an assistant answer questions when its FAQ knowledge source is enabled.
Before you begin
Open Site → FAQs. You need permission to edit FAQs. If Add FAQ or the editing controls are unavailable, see Why can’t I see or edit a feature?.
Saving a new FAQ publishes it immediately. Prepare and review the answer before choosing Save. The Add FAQ form does not offer a separate Save as draft button or a rendered preview.
Gather the facts the answer needs: the actual process, relevant conditions, and a working destination for the next step. Confirm prices, deadlines, eligibility, and business policies with the person responsible for them. Do not publish a promise simply because an AI draft or another company’s FAQ includes it.
Choose questions customers actually ask
Start with recurring questions from support conversations, inquiries, sales discussions, or points where people get stuck. Prioritize answers that help someone complete a task or make a decision.
For each proposed FAQ:
- Ask one question. Split “How do I book, pay, cancel, and get a refund?” into separate questions.
- Use the customer’s words. “Where can I find my invoice?” is easier to recognize than “Billing documentation retrieval.”
- Check for an existing answer. Update the existing FAQ when the same question is already covered; avoid slightly different copies that can drift apart.
- Choose the right format. Use a short FAQ for a focused answer. Put a long setup process in a documentation article and link to it from the FAQ.
- Make the answer stand alone. Avoid “as explained above” or references to the question’s position in a list. Readers and assistants may encounter the answer by itself.
For example, “What should I include when reporting a problem?” is a useful question. A focused answer could be:
Describe what you were trying to do, what happened instead, and the exact error message. Include the affected page and the approximate time. Remove passwords and private customer information from screenshots before sharing them through your support channel.
Adapt examples to your own service and give readers the actual support link they should use.
Write an answer that helps someone act
Lead with the answer, then add the conditions and next step. A reader should not have to get through promotional copy before learning what to do.
A useful structure is:
- Answer directly. State what is possible, where to go, or what happens next.
- Explain the important conditions. Include anything that changes the answer, such as the type of purchase, account access, or a deadline.
- Give a concrete next step. Link to the relevant setting, guide, contact page, or policy.
Keep the first version as short as the question allows. A few sentences are often enough. Use a short list when order matters, and link to a full guide instead of repeating its entire procedure.
Check that every link works for the intended reader. An admin-only link is not useful to a visitor without access. Use descriptive link text and avoid internal notes, placeholders, customer-specific details, or instructions meant only for your team.
Formatting answers
The Answer field accepts text and Markdown, including emphasis, lists, and links. How that text is displayed depends on the page or block using it. The admin answer view and some website blocks can show Markdown characters as plain text instead of formatting them.
Start with plain paragraphs when an answer will be reused in several places. If you use Markdown, check the actual public presentation for readable lists, working links, and unwanted characters. Do not assume that an answer looking correct on its individual page guarantees that every FAQ block will format it the same way.
Create and publish an FAQ
- In Site → FAQs, choose Add FAQ.
- Enter the full customer-facing question in Question.
- Add the reviewed answer in Answer. Do not leave it blank just because the form allows you to save a question alone.
- Choose a Category, or leave it as General. If you need a new category, keep a copy of your text, cancel the form, and create the category from Manage categories first.
- Read the question and answer together. Check facts, links, spelling, and whether the answer is ready to appear publicly.
- Choose Save. Wait for the confirmation and return to the FAQ library, then check the website as a visitor.
A new FAQ is published and shown on the site FAQ list by default. You do not need to find a second Publish button after saving it.
Cancel or Back to FAQs leaves the form without saving its changes. Keep a separate copy of unfinished writing before navigating away; do not rely on the form to store it automatically.
If you need a draft or an approval step
Prepare the answer in your normal writing workflow before entering it in the Add FAQ form. If your site assistant or administrator can manage FAQ drafts, ask explicitly for a draft-only change and a review before publication. Do not ask it merely to “save the FAQ,” because the FAQ form’s Save action publishes.
An existing draft FAQ can appear in the library. Editing that existing draft in the FAQ form keeps it unpublished; editing an already published FAQ updates its live version on Save. Use your administrator or an assistant with the appropriate access to publish a reviewed draft when the form does not offer that action.
Hiding a published answer from the FAQ list is not a substitute for keeping unfinished work in draft.
Organize categories and question order
Use a small set of category names customers understand, such as “Bookings,” “Delivery,” or “Account help.” The categories available on your site may differ from the defaults.
Open Manage categories to:
- Add a category: enter its name in Add category, then choose Add. Empty names and duplicates are rejected.
- Rename a category: choose its pencil icon, edit the name, and choose Save. This updates the FAQs assigned to that category.
- Reorder categories: drag a category by its handle, or focus its reorder handle, press Space, and use the arrow keys to move it.
- Remove a category: choose its delete action and review the confirmation. FAQs assigned to it are moved to General; removing the category does not delete the answers. General cannot be deleted.
Category changes are shared changes, not a private sorting preference. Renaming or removing a category can update multiple live FAQs. Coordinate with other editors before doing this, and check the results if an operation reports an error partway through.
To move one FAQ, edit that question, change Category, and choose Save. For an already published FAQ, that change affects its live version.
The dots shown beside questions in the main FAQ library are not a question-reordering control. If you need a specific question order, ask your docs or site administrator to arrange it using the available FAQ ordering tools. Category order in admin does not guarantee that every public page uses the same order; verify the page where customers will read the answers.
After a category rename or removal, also check any website blocks filtered to the old category. Those page settings may need to be updated separately.
Put FAQs on the right pages
An FAQ entry and a page displaying FAQs are separate things. Publishing answers does not automatically add an FAQ section to every page or create a menu link to it.
Your theme may already include an FAQ page. Open it and check whether it reads from the shared FAQ library or contains questions entered directly in the page. A page containing copied answers will not necessarily change when you edit the library.
Reuse the FAQ library in a page
In Page Builder, an Accordion block can use the shared library:
- Open the page you want to change and add or select an Accordion block.
- Set Source to From site FAQs.
- Choose the relevant FAQ category, or All categories if the page should include the collection.
- Give the section a clear heading. Check Allow multiple panels open if readers should be able to leave several answers expanded.
- Preview the page, expand the questions, and inspect the answers, order, links, and mobile layout.
- For a new page, choose Save draft, review, then Publish. For an already-published visual page, review before choosing Save, because it publishes the page update immediately. Repeat the check on the public address.
The FAQ content and the page layout have separate publication steps. Updating a library answer does not require retyping it into a connected block. Changing the block’s source, category, heading, or placement is a page edit that must be published.
Custom panels stores answers directly in that Accordion block. The single FAQ block also holds its own question and answer. Use these for page-specific content when appropriate, but maintain them separately from the shared library. Do not expect a library edit to update a manually entered copy.
If your page uses a custom theme or another FAQ component, check its source and filtering options with the person who maintains it. See Building a page with the visual editor for the page-editing workflow.
Understand visibility and assistant use
The eye action on each FAQ row controls whether it appears on the site FAQ list:
- Hide FAQ on site FAQ list removes it from that list.
- Show FAQ on site FAQ list makes it eligible to appear there again when published.
For a published FAQ, this change is applied immediately. For an existing draft, changing the list setting does not itself publish the answer. Check each place where the answer is used, especially custom blocks or manually copied content.
Hidden does not mean private. A published FAQ hidden from the list can still be available to assistants whose FAQ knowledge source is enabled. Do not use that setting to store confidential instructions or customer information. It is also not a reliable way to withdraw an answer from every public destination.
Assistant use depends on the relevant assistant’s settings. Published, non-internal FAQs can be eligible; drafts are not. An eligible answer is not guaranteed to be selected or quoted word for word. If an assistant gives an outdated or incorrect reply, verify the published answer and ask your administrator to check that assistant’s FAQ knowledge source. Test with a new conversation after correcting the source.
Update and maintain existing answers
Review FAQs whenever the process, product, contact route, price, or policy they describe changes. Assign someone to keep each topic current, and revisit frequently used answers regularly.
- Open the existing FAQ using its pencil icon. Read the full saved answer before replacing it.
- Update only what needs to change, keeping necessary conditions and useful links.
- Review the whole answer for contradictions. If the question needs rewording, edit the existing entry; normal question edits preserve its existing address.
- Choose Save only when the change is ready. If the FAQ is already published, the updated answer goes live.
- Check its public presentation and any connected pages. Update manual copies separately.
Coordinate with other editors. A visibility or category change can also publish the current saved content of a live FAQ, so check for unpublished work before making a supposedly small organizational change.
If an answer should no longer be available, ask your administrator or authorized assistant to unpublish the exact FAQ. Explain whether you want to retain it for revision or remove it permanently. Hiding the list entry does not fully withdraw it. Follow Unpublishing or restoring content for the FAQ-specific steps. Review the confirmation carefully before using Delete, and check for copied answers and incoming links afterward.
Troubleshooting
Save reports an error or the question does not appear
Check the status message, permissions, and whether the question is empty. If the question already exists, edit that entry rather than creating another copy. Similar questions can also produce the same generated address.
If saving may have succeeded but publication or the connection failed, check the library before trying to create the FAQ again. A draft may already exist. Keep your answer text and give support the exact message if you cannot determine the result.
The FAQ exists in admin but is missing from the website
Check whether it is published, whether its list visibility is enabled, and whether the page uses the shared library. Verify the page’s category filter and publication state. A visible count in admin does not prove that a particular custom page includes the answer.
The answer shows Markdown characters or links do not work
Check the page or block that displays the answer. Some presentations use plain text. Simplify the answer, or have the page maintainer choose a presentation that supports the required formatting. Test on the public page rather than relying only on the admin view.
A category rename changed more than expected
Category names are shared across their assigned FAQs. Check the affected answers and page filters, then make a focused correction. If the rename failed midway, inspect the remaining assignments before retrying; do not assume everything changed or nothing did.
The assistant still gives the wrong answer
Confirm the corrected FAQ is published, check for conflicting duplicate answers, and verify the assistant’s enabled knowledge sources with your administrator. The list visibility setting alone does not control assistant retrieval. Keep the exact question and reply so support can investigate without guessing.