I noticed that Elfsight’s AI Chatbot configurator saves Conversation Rule edits automatically instead of waiting for us to click “Published” (or similar). This creates a major issue because, if a mistake is made, we have to manually recreate our original Conversation Rule (or the portion that was edited).
The same thing happens within the Questions & Answers, Text Blocks, and Business Information sections of the configurator.
Please consider updating the AI Chatbot configurator to eliminate auto-save functionality and provide a manual “Save” or “Publish” button instead.
Additionally, does Elfsight store backups of customers’ chatbot configurations? If we make a major mistake or if the system crashes, can we request a backup restoration?
You’re right — any changes made to the Knowledge Base or Conversation Rules are applied immediately and go live right away. This behavior is related to current technical limitations, as we don’t have the ability to create a separate assistant revision for each update made to the Knowledge Base or Conversation Rules.
We completely understand that this workflow isn’t ideal, and we agree that having a way to review changes before they go live would be a valuable improvement. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to change this behavior at the moment, but I’ve added your request to our Wishlist. Feel free to upvote it here: Don't auto publish changes made to Knowladge base and Conversation Rules.
Regarding backups, let me check this with our developers and I’ll keep you updated once I have more information
Respectfully, the current behavior should be considered as a bug, not a feature request.
Also, I noticed the same occurs with the Custom CSS and Custom JS fields, although there’s a large, green “Publish” button that pops-up when we add or edit those fields. The behavior and functionality of the “Publish” button is erratic at this time.
I totally get your point, but, unfortunately there is no way to change this behavior for now. I am really sorry
Hopefully, the devs will be able to find a solution in the future. We’ll update you if anything changes.
Regarding the issue with the Custom JS and CSS sections, I couldn’t replicate it on my end. Could you please record a video screencast featuring the issue? I’ll be happy to take a closer look!
I can assure you the same auto-save behavior occurs with the Custom CSS and Custom JS fields.
To replicate my finding, simply go to the Custom CSS field, cut or delete a CSS rule, click Close (top right), and then reopen the Custom CSS field. The CSS rule is still gone, meaning your last action was auto-saved.
As an interim measure, being able to restore our AI chatbot widget configuration from a backup would be helpful. Is that option available? If so, what procedure should we follow to request a backup restoration?
This is the standard behavior for all changes made in Elfsight widgets — whether you update the style, content settings, or make edits in the Custom CSS/JS section. If you make changes and simply close the widget, they will be saved in the configurator, but they won’t be applied to your live widget. The changes will only go live after you click the Publish button.
Unfortunately, there is currently no way to revert these changes directly in the configurator. However, we can help restore the previous version from our side. Just let us know, and we’ll be happy to assist.
By the way, we already have a feature request related to improving this flow. You can upvote it here: Stop auto saving in widgets
The behavior is a bit different for changes made in the chatbot knowledge base and conversation rules. These changes are not only saved in the configurator but are also applied live immediately.
I’m not sure yet whether it’s possible to provide backups or restore previous versions for these settings, but I’ll discuss this with our developers and get back to you with any updates
Thank you, Max. A one-day backup (minimum) for the entire configurator, including settings and custom codes would be nice – not only for the AI Chatbot widget, but any other Elfsight widget that offers the same or similar features. In theory, a backup should already exist since a system-level crash would required this, right?
Yes, whenever you make changes to the widget settings (except for the AI Chatbot knowledge base), a new revision is created automatically. This means we can restore or back up a specific revision from any timeframe, not just the previous day, if needed.
Regarding the knowledge base and conversation rules, unfortunately, previous versions cannot be backed up or restored. I am so sorry!
These settings are synced directly with OpenAI, so we don’t have access to their version history.
