Guidance is the set of rules and logic Dext AI Assist uses to generate suggestions. Account guidance is created and managed at the individual account level from Business settings. You can generate, create, and manage guidance rules here, whether you're using Dext as a standalone business or as a client account within a practice.

Admins - including accountants and bookkeepers accessing client accounts - can view, create, edit, and manage guidance, as well as control how suggestions are applied. Standard users can view and apply suggestions to their own items, but cannot edit guidance.

Note: Dext AI Assist takes priority over other automation features, including supplier rules, smart categories, and basic extraction.

Account-level guidance applies to the individual account only. It's separate from Core guidance and Shared guidance, which are managed at the practice level.

Access Account guidance

To access Account guidance:

Go to Business settings.
Select AI Assist in the left-hand navigation.
If you are using Dext as a standalone business select Account guidance (optional).

AI Assist Guidance page in Business settings in a client account within a practice showing list of guidance rules with names, descriptions, creators, suggestion metrics, application modes, enabled toggles, and edit and delete actions.

Account guidance page in a direct business account showing 3 guidance rules — one account-level rule and two Core guidance items tagged Core — with Name, Description, Created by, Suggestions triggered, Suggestions applied, Suggestions dismissed, Application mode, and Active columns.

View existing guidance

Existing guidance is displayed as a list of rules. Each rule shows:

Name and description of the guidance
Created by — the user who created the rule
Suggestions triggered, applied, and dismissed — how the rule is performing
Application mode — Manual review or Auto-apply
Active status — whether the rule is currently enabled

From this view, Admins can edit, change the Application mode, activate or deactivate, and delete guidance items.

Generate guidance automatically

If no guidance exists yet, select Generate to let Dext AI Assist create guidance automatically based on your current data and workflows.

Note: Generate can only be used once. After the initial set of guidance is created, the button is greyed out. The ability to regenerate updated guidance is planned for a future update.

Create guidance manually

To create a guidance item manually:

Go to Business settings > AI Assist
If you are using Dext as a standalone business select Account guidance (optional).
Select Create guidance.
Review the guidance writing tips at the top of the modal.
Enter a Name and Description explaining the logic for the guidance.
Choose how it should apply: Manual review or Auto-apply.
Select Create guidance to save.

Create guidance modal with name, description, and application mode fields.

Edit guidance

To edit an existing guidance item:

In the Account guidance list, select Edit next to the guidance you want to update.
Update the Description or Application mode.
Select Save to apply changes.

Note: Changes to guidance apply to new items only. Existing Inbox items won't be updated.

View guidance history

Guidance history lets you track what changed, when it changed, and who made the update for any guidance rule.

Note: Guidance history is only available for Account guidance in Business settings. It's not available for Core guidance or Shared guidance managed at the practice level.

To view guidance history:

Go to Business settings > AI Assist
If you are using Dext as a standalone business select Account guidance (optional).
Find the rule you want to review.
Select the History icon at the start of the guidance row.