Getting Started with Workbooks AI

This page walks you through what to do when you first turn on Workbooks AI, so your users get useful results from day one. Most of the steps are one-off setup tasks for an administrator, and each one links to a more detailed page if you need it.

For an introduction to what Workbooks AI includes and when to use each part of it, see Workbooks AI.

1. Allocate Workbooks AI licenses

Each user who will use Workbooks AI needs a Workbooks AI license, including anyone who’ll connect an external AI assistant through MCP. Until a user has a license, they won’t be able to use Workbooks AI.

To allocate a license:

1. Go to Start > Configuration > Users & Security > Users
2. Open the User
3. In the Licence section, tick Workbooks AI in the Allocated Extensions list
4. Click Save & Close

Users will need to log out and back in for the change to take effect. For more information, see Licences & Modules.

2. Position the Workbooks AI tab

Once Workbooks AI is turned on, users will see a new Workbooks AI tab on their records, along with a lightning bolt button in the toolbar that opens it. By default, the tab is added at the end of the list of tabs, where it’s easy to miss.

We recommend reviewing your Form Layouts and moving the tab somewhere sensible. On records where you want users to use Workbooks AI a lot, consider showing it as a side panel so it’s always visible alongside the record. To do this, use the Panel on the right (specific tab on right, other tabs on left) option on the Form Layout and select the Workbooks AI tab. Meeting records are a good example, as this is where users will run Agents such as the meeting summarizer.

You can change the tab order from Start > Configuration > Customisation > Record Types, by selecting the record type and opening its Form Layouts tab. For more information, see Form Layouts.

3. Add the AI fields to Tasks and Meetings

Workbooks AI and Workbooks Scribe save their output into fields on your Task and Meeting records. Review the Form Layouts for both record types and make sure these fields are visible:

• Transcript: the full transcript of the meeting, saved by Workbooks Scribe.
• Summary: a summary of the activity, for example written by a meeting summary Agent.
• Sentiment: a sentiment rating from 0 (Very Poor) to 10 (Excellent).

If these fields aren’t on the form, the information is still saved, but your users won’t be able to see it on the record. For more information, see How to add a Field to a Form Layout?

4. Tell Workbooks AI about your business

Workbooks AI gives much better answers when it understands how your organization works. Two Guides are particularly important to fill in, and you’ll find both under Start > Configuration > Workbooks AI > Guides:

• Business Information: where your key information lives in Workbooks and how your business uses it. For example, where you store customer details, whether you track revenue from Orders or Contracts, the types of products you sell and where to find your case studies.
• Business Glossary: any terminology, abbreviations or product names specific to your organization, so Workbooks AI knows what they mean.

For guidance on what to include and how to update them, see Workbooks AI Context.

5. Review and enable your Agents

Your database comes with a set of default Agents, which you’ll find under Start > Configuration > Workbooks AI > Agents. Other Agents from the Workbooks library, such as Sales Hygiene, Sales Coach and Research Agent, need to be created in your database, either by your own administrators or by our Professional Services team.

Go through your Agents and decide:

• Which Agents your users need, and make sure those are active
• Which Agents need adapting to your processes, for example by assigning a Guide that contains your sales playbook
• Which users or groups should see each Agent, so people only see the ones relevant to them

For the full list of ready-made Agents, see Workbooks AI. For details on configuring Agents, see Workbooks AI Agents.

6. Add your key documents as Articles

Some Agents can point users to the right document to send to a customer, such as a relevant case study or your price list. To make this possible, add documents like these to Workbooks as Article records, under Start > Knowledge > Articles.

Good candidates include:

• Case studies
• Price lists and product documentation
• Sales playbooks and process documents

Storing this information in Articles also means you can reuse it across several Agents and keep it up to date in one place.

7. Keep an eye on usage

Workbooks AI usage is measured in credits, drawn from a shared pool for your account. Once your users are up and running, you can see who’s using Workbooks AI and which Agents are adding the most value under Start > Configuration > Workbooks AI > Overview.

For more information, see Workbooks AI Overview.

Next steps

Once you’re set up, a good way to get started is to:

• Open a record your users work with every day and ask Workbooks AI a question about it
• Add Workbooks Scribe to your next customer meeting and run a summary Agent on the transcript
• Connect an external AI assistant through MCP, if your team already uses one. For more information, see Workbooks AI MCP Server.