HelpAlive assists: walkthroughs that do steps or show how

An assist is HelpAlive doing a task in your app for a user, or showing them how, one step at a time. This page shows what the user sees from the offer to the recap, in the widget’s own words. Inside the widget, your users see an assist as a “walkthrough”; the dashboard calls it an assist.

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Assists at a glance

• Every assist starts from the chat: the user asks, and an offer card appears with Let’s do it or Show me how.
• With Does the steps, HelpAlive clicks, types, picks and scrolls for the user. With Shows how, it highlights each control and the user does every click.
• After each step, HelpAlive reads the page again to check the step landed. It hands back the steps only the user can do.
• When the walkthrough ends, a recap card in the chat lists You did, I did and Left for you.
• An assist counts once HelpAlive completes its first step. Assists from a test link don’t count.

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Prerequisites

• The agent is on for the user on Controls, and you have published at least one source on Train.
• On Controls, you have chosen Does the steps or Shows how for this user, their tenant, or everyone.

Every assist starts from the chat. Each one is put together for the user’s request and the page in front of them.

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Two modes: Does the steps or Shows how

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How an assist starts

1. The user asks for something in the chat, such as “Can you add a teammate for me?”
2. An offer card appears under the answer with the task’s name and My plan, the rough steps.
3. The user presses Let’s do it or Show me how.

The card then shows In progress while the walkthrough runs.

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The walkthrough bar

A bar sits at the bottom of the page for the whole walkthrough. On its left, a line says who is acting:

• HelpAlive: means that HelpAlive is acting. It is followed by what it’s doing, such as working out the next step or waiting for the page.
• Your turn: means that the user acts next. It is followed by what the user should do. A Your turn tag also shows.

When it’s the user’s turn, the control is highlighted on the page with a short instruction. If there’s text to type, it shows with a copy button. Done tells HelpAlive the user did the step. Skip moves past it. When HelpAlive needs something only the user knows, such as a name or a message’s wording, it asks in a small card. The user picks or types an answer, or presses Skip. On the right of the bar are four controls.

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Flightpath

Flightpath opens the walkthrough’s plan and a live record of what has happened. It shows each step, who did it, and any questions and answers.

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Ask or steer

Ask or steer opens a box that says “Ask anything, or say what to change…”. The user types and presses Send. HelpAlive then does one of two things:

• It answers a question in the chat.
• It changes what it does next, such as “use the Marketing team instead”. The walkthrough carries on with the change.

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Take over and Hand back

With Does the steps, the bar shows Take over. Pressing it hands every remaining step to the user, with HelpAlive showing the way. Hand back lets HelpAlive do the steps again from the next one. With Shows how, these buttons don’t appear, because every step is already the user’s.

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Pause and Resume

Pause stops the walkthrough where it is and opens the chat. The chat shows the walkthrough’s name with Cancel and Resume. Resume carries on from the same step, and Cancel ends the walkthrough. If the user steps away, the walkthrough waits, and the bar says “Paused. I’ll pick this up when you’re back.” If the page reloads mid-walkthrough, it picks up where it left off.

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The recap

When the walkthrough ends, a recap card appears in the chat:

• Completed or Stopped at the top. A stopped walkthrough says why, such as “You stopped this walkthrough.”, and where it stopped.
• You did, the steps the user did, with any hand-overs and questions.
• I did, the steps HelpAlive did.
• Left for you refers to anything not finished.

The offer card then offers Run again, or Continue from where we left off when the walkthrough can carry on.

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What counts as an assist

An assist counts once HelpAlive completes its first step. Assists from a test link never count. See How we count.

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Check it works

1. On Controls, set Does the steps for yourself.
2. In your app, ask the chat to do a short task your docs describe, and press Let’s do it.
3. Watch the bar, then read the recap’s You did and I did.

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Troubleshooting

• The button says Show me how, not Let’s do it. This user, or their tenant, is set to Shows how on Controls. Changes there apply at once.
• No Take over button. It appears only with Does the steps.
• No offer at all. The agent offers only tasks it can do in your app. Offers also stop once your assists for the month are used up. See Limits and usage.
• The assist stops at a step on another site or in a file dialog. That’s a hand-back by design. See Safety and hand-backs.

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