Questions & Answers General
What is Questions and Answers? A SharePoint Framework web part from Vitextra that shows a question-and-answer knowledge base on a modern SharePoint Online page or in a Microsoft Teams tab: an accordion of questions with search, categories, rich answers, comments and an Ask a Question button. Overview: KB10217. Questions and Answers. Solution Overview.
Where is the content stored? In a SharePoint list on the site of the page. Questions, answers, attachments and comments never leave your tenant; see KB10384. Permissions, Data Storage and Privacy in Questions and Answers.
Does it work on SharePoint Server or classic pages? No. It is for modern pages in SharePoint Online and for Microsoft Teams.
How does it compare with a page with collapsible sections or with Viva Engage? See KB10386. Questions and Answers vs. a SharePoint FAQ Page vs. Viva Engage: Which Knowledge Base to Choose.
Setup and the list
Can I use a list I already have? Yes, if it is on the same site and has columns with the internal names Category, Answer, Link, VideoUrl, Contact and Order, plus a Yes/No column Published. Lists that qualify are offered under Existing List; see KB10382. Questions and Answers Web Part Settings Reference.
Can one web part show a list from another site? No. The web part works with the lists of the site it runs on. Put the web part on a page of the site that holds the list, or link to that page.
Can several pages show the same knowledge base? Yes. Add the web part to each page and connect it to the same list with Existing List; each web part has its own settings.
How do I change the connected list? Remove the web part from the page and add it again; the list cannot be switched in the property pane.
Why doesn't the web part create the list for me? Creating a list needs the permission to add lists on the site. Ask a site owner to create it once with New List, then connect with Existing List.
Content and answers
How do I format answers? With Markdown typed as plain text in the Answer column — **bold**, - lists, [links](url), ## headings. Do not use the formatting toolbar of the form; set the column to plain text if formatting does not render. See KB10380. Rich Answers in Questions and Answers: Markdown, Video, Attachments, Detail Links and Contacts.
Can an answer contain a video? Yes: put the address into VideoUrl. YouTube and Vimeo play in an embedded player, direct video files (.mp4, .webm, .ogg) in the browser's player; other addresses appear as a link.
Can I attach files? Yes, with the attachments of the list item; they are shown as file cards under the answer.
Why is a question not shown? Its Published column is No. Only published items appear; see KB10385. Troubleshooting Questions and Answers: Not Configured, Missing Columns, Hidden Questions and Permissions.
How do I control the order? Set Sort by to Question Order and number the Order column; or sort by Name or Created. See KB10379. Organizing Questions: Categories, Grouping, Category Filter, Sorting and Collapsing.
Is there a limit on the number of questions? A single query returns up to 5,000 items. With Page Size set, the web part loads the questions in portions and handles large lists; add indexes on Published and the sort column as the list grows. See KB10378. Searching the Knowledge Base and Paged Loading in Questions and Answers.
Search and categories
What does the search cover? The question text, the answer text and the contact's name, across all published questions of the list — not attachments, comments or categories.
Why does the SharePoint search not find my questions? The list created by the web part is excluded from search crawling. Change Allow items from this list to appear in search results in the list's advanced settings if you want them in the global search.
How do categories work? Each question has a Category (a choice column). The web part can group the list by category and show filter tabs (All + categories) when at least two categories exist.
Employee questions and comments
Can employees ask questions? Yes. With Allow Users to Ask a Question on, users who have Add Items on the list see the Ask a Question button; the submission arrives unpublished and an editor publishes it. See KB10220. Letting Employees Ask Questions.
Can I let everybody ask without letting them publish? Yes: give the audience Contribute on the list and set the list's item-level permissions to Create items and edit items that were created by the user; the editors get Edit. See KB10384. Permissions, Data Storage and Privacy in Questions and Answers.
Are the comments stored somewhere special? No. They are the SharePoint list comments of the item and appear both in the web part and in the list. See KB10381. Comments, @Mentions and Deep Links in Questions and Answers.
Can I turn comments off? For the web part with Show Comments → Hide; for the list in Advanced settings → Comments.
How do I send somebody a link to one answer? With the Copy Link button in the question header; the link opens the page with the question expanded and highlighted.
Microsoft Teams
Can I use it in Teams? Yes, as a channel tab, with a list on the team's site. See KB10383. How to Add Questions and Answers to Microsoft Teams.
Is there a personal app? No. The knowledge base belongs to a site or a team and is pinned as a channel tab.
Permissions and security
Which API permissions does the package request? None. The web part uses the SharePoint REST API of the current site as the signed-in user.
What is sent to Vitextra? The technical identifiers of every Vitextra web part for the license check and usage telemetry — Tenant ID, the object ID of the user, the site address, the product and version. No content.
Which hosts must our firewall allow? vitextra.com, static.vitextra.com and vitextra-storage.azureedge.net; plus youtube.com or player.vimeo.com if you embed videos from these services.
Languages, themes and licensing
Which languages are supported? 48 interface languages, chosen automatically from the SharePoint site or the Teams client. The content is whatever you type in the list.
Does it follow our theme? Yes — site theme, section backgrounds, dark mode in Teams, the site font and full-width sections.
Is there a trial, and how is it licensed? A free 14-day trial with all features starts when the web part is first used in the tenant. Afterwards one subscription per Microsoft 365 tenant covers all sites, users and Teams; see KB10206. Vitextra Licensing and Account: How to Buy and Activate a License and KB10364. What Happens When Your Vitextra Trial or Subscription Expires.
