How to Enable Web Searching in Your Copilot Tools: A FormWise Guide

Understanding the difference between web browsing and web scraping can significantly enhance the functionality of your copilot tools. Both features allow your tool to find information online, but they work in slightly different ways.

Web Browsing vs. Web Scraping: What’s the Difference?

Web browsing enables your copilot to search for information across the internet and present it in responses. This is a broad approach that casts a wide net when looking for answers.

Web scraping, on the other hand, is more targeted. It allows your copilot to extract information from specific websites that you’ve designated. This ensures more focused and relevant responses.

Setting Up Web Scraping in Your Copilot

The process of enabling web scraping is straightforward:

1. Create your copilot with the appropriate identity, responsibilities, and process outline
2. Include specific links you want the tool to scrape within your process outline
3. Ensure your links are relevant to the types of questions users might ask

When building a specialized tool, you can direct it to scrape information from relevant resources. For example, a FormWise assistant would scrape the FormWise manual, pricing pages, and other related resources.

How It Works in Practice

When a user asks a question, the copilot will:

1. Analyze the query to determine what information is needed
2. Search the specified websites for relevant information
3. Extract the necessary data
4. Compile a comprehensive response using the scraped information

The tool will indicate which sources it’s searching during this process, providing transparency about where information is coming from.

Real-World Example

In a demonstration, a FormWise assistant was able to provide detailed information about error codes by scraping both the FormWise manual and the OpenAI status website. This combination of sources allowed for comprehensive and accurate responses that addressed both the error meaning and potential solutions.

By configuring your copilot to access specific resources, you can create a highly specialized tool that delivers precise information without requiring users to search multiple sources themselves.

Getting Started

You can build these advanced copilots even without extensive technical knowledge. Using GPT tools, you can specify your requirements, including the links you want scraped, and refine the tool’s capabilities over time.

This approach creates a more valuable resource for end users by centralizing information from multiple sources in one convenient interface.