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Create a Custom Policy

Steps to create a custom policy

Updated over 4 months ago

Note that only administrators have access to the Policies panel. Creating a Policy from scratch may involve some level of technical expertise, depending on the complexity of the policy required. Contact DubBot support using the in-app chat or by emailing help@dubbot.com if you would like help configuring a policy or do not have the appropriate user level.

Find the Manage Policies Panel

To manage Policies, select Settings from the top menu, and from the left-hand navigation under Account Checks Settings, select Policies.

The Manage Policies page with a red box around the link titled "Settings" and a blue circle with a white number 1 inside. A red box highlights the link titled "Policies" with a blue circle to the right of the link with a white number 2 inside.

Copy an Existing Policy

A quick way to create a new Policy you need is to find an existing policy that is similar, make a copy, and edit the rules to fit your needs.

  • On the Mangage Policies panel, select the kebab menu on the row of the policy you want to copy.

  • Select the Copy Settings Button

  • Rename the Policy to explain the new Policy

  • Edit the Policy Rules to fit the new purpose

Continue reading below for descriptions of the various fields available in the Policy creation interface.

Manage Policies Panel highlighting new Actions items: Ignore, Settings, Copy, and Delete

Create a New Policy

To create a new policy select the Add new policy button and then Create Custom Policy from the dropdown.

Manage Policies panel with red box around Add new policy button and its dropdowns.

Enter the policy title in the Name field. When the policy matches a page, the name displays in the Quick Wins panel and on the detailed page view.

The Policy Notes text box allows users to include additional details about the Policy. Policy Notes are particularly useful for guiding users on the purpose of the flag. This content will display as expanded content when the Name is clicked on the detailed page view.

Fields shown in General tab of Create new policy panel in DubBot App

Select the Search By Option for the Rule

To make a Policy based on one or more rules, repeat the following steps as many times as the ruleset requires.

In the Search By dropdown, choose from these options: Word or phrase, Link Text, Link URL, CSS Selector, XPath, and Regular Expression. This tells the Rule what type of search you want it to do in this rule.

Screen capture of the search by options described above.

Enter the Matching Rule

In the Rule field, enter the information needed to match the Search By option you have selected.

The Rules section of the custom policy set up page. The dropdown "Search by" box is on the left with the "Rule" form field adjacent on the right. The Rule field is required.

Enter the Supplementary Settings for the Rule

Word Matching Behavior is a dropdown that appears for the Word or Phrase type of search. Choices in this dropdown are Find this exact word/phrase and Find partial matches.

The Case Sensitivity dropdown allows users to make a case-sensitive or insensitive search. Selecting Case-sensitive means that a search for "John Doe" would only return "John Doe" and not "john doe". Selecting Ignore Case means that a search for "John Doe" would return "john doe" along with any variation of capitalized/lowercase letters.

Page Content Check Behavior is a dropdown only present for the Word or Phrase and Regular Expression searches. Selecting Check only text on page means that only the text that can be shown on a page gets searched to match the rule, excluding all content within code tags. Selecting Check text on page and source code checks both the text of pages and the content within code tags.

URL Option is a dropdown that only appears for a Link URL search. Choices for URL searches are Equals, Starts With, Ends With, and Contains.

The Matching Behavior dropdown allows you to choose Flag pages that match this rule or Flag pages that do not match this rule. Select Flag pages that do not match this rule to flag pages that do not match the search criteria. Note that the majority of Policies are to flag the existence of a search query, so the majority select Flag pages that match this rule.

If the Policy requires more than one rule, select the Add Another Rule to the Policy button to enter more criteria. Repeat the process as many times as needed.

Rule Matching Behavior

Rule Matching Behavior is only applicable to Policies that have multiple rules.

This dropdown allows users to select whether the Policy is an OR or an AND selector. Selecting Match any rule means that pages only have to match one rule within the built set of rules to be flagged. Selecting Match all rules means that pages have to match all rules to be flagged.

Save the Policy

Once all of the Rules are configured, select Create to save the new Policy.

Select the Sites where the Policy should Run

To choose the sites where you want the Policy to run:

  • Select the Sites tab in the Create Custom Policy panel.

  • Select the Change Enabled Sites button.

Step 1 is to select the Sites tab. Step 2 is select the Change Enabled Sites button.

The Change Enabled Sites drawer will open on the right side of your screen, showing the Sites on your account. Select the plus sign beside each Site where you want the policy to run. Remember to select the Save button before you close this drawer.

Change Enabled Sites drawer with a check mark beside one of the sites.

Custom Policy Category

Select the Advanced tab in the Create Custom Policy panel. From the Category dropdown, select one of the following Categories to help organize your policies: Web Governance Policy, Accessibility, Best Practice, Spelling, Flagged Words, SEO, or Links.

Create custom policy panel showing Step 1 as selecting the Sites tab. Step 2 is to select the Change Enabled Sites button.

Choosing the category Accessibility or Best Practice allows DubBot to automatically check “Show to content editors” on the General tab.

If you have questions, please contact our DubBot Support team via email at help@dubbot.com or via the blue chat bubble in the lower right corner of your screen. We are here to help!

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