Document Types

Overview

When you upload a document to Planara, you assign it a document type. This classification affects how the document is processed, indexed, and retrieved.

Types

Owner's Manual (owners_manual)

End-user documentation written for equipment owners. Contains simplified procedures, general maintenance schedules, specifications in consumer-friendly format, and safety information.

Retrieval behavior: Included when the query role has "Narrative" and "Procedures" in their document type visibility. Typically relevant for owner-facing queries.

Service Manual (service_manual)

Technical documentation for trained technicians. Contains detailed procedures, torque specifications, diagnostic flowcharts, exploded diagrams, and troubleshooting guides.

Retrieval behavior: The primary content source for technician queries. Contains the deepest level of technical detail.

Parts Catalog (parts_catalog)

Part numbers, quantities, exploded view diagrams, and ordering information. Used when technicians need to identify or order specific parts.

Retrieval behavior: Included when "Parts Lists" and "Diagrams" are in the role's document type visibility.

Technical Service Bulletin (tsb)

Manufacturer-issued fixes, updates, recalls, and field modifications. TSBs supplement the service manual with post-publication corrections.

Retrieval behavior: TSBs are prioritized in retrieval when the query matches a known issue or update covered by a bulletin.

Safety / Compliance Standard (ckl)

Industry standards, regulations, and compliance documents (e.g., ABYC, OSHA, ISO standards). Documents of this type are ingested into the CKL index, not the main document index.

Retrieval behavior: CKL documents are only retrieved when trigger terms match. They enrich responses with safety citations rather than serving as primary content. See CKL Explained.

Training Guide (training_guide)

Educational materials, onboarding documentation, and training modules. These tend to be more narrative and explanatory than service manuals.

Retrieval behavior: Included in retrieval based on document type visibility settings for the querying role.

Other / Custom (custom)

Documents that do not fit the standard categories. Use this for miscellaneous content.

How document type affects ingestion

During ingestion, the document type influences:

1. Parser selection -- some document types trigger specific parsing strategies
2. Content classification -- the parser identifies content types (spec_table, procedure, safety_warning, etc.) within each document
3. Index routing -- CKL documents go to a separate index
4. Metadata tagging -- content is tagged with the document type for filtering during retrieval

How document type affects retrieval

When a query comes in, the user's role configuration determines which content types (not document types) are included in retrieval. The chain is:

1. User has role "technician"
2. Technician role has doc_type_visibility: ["spec_table", "procedure", "safety_warning", "narrative", "parts_list", "diagram"]
3. All content matching these types is eligible for retrieval
4. Search finds the most relevant content regardless of which document it came from
5. CKL documents are only searched if trigger terms match

The distinction between document type (classification of the whole PDF) and content type (classification of individual sections within the PDF) is important. A service manual may contain spec_table sections, procedure sections, and safety_warning sections. The content type, not the document type, determines retrieval eligibility.