On 20th September the following Preview APIs for QnAMaker will be retired:
If you wish to benefit from the improved custom question answering you need to switch to using the QuestionAnswering API 2021-10-01 and custom question answering before 20 September 2022. Custom question answering provides all the capabilities of QnA Maker, plus multiple enhancements such as:
- Improved relevance ranking.
- Availability across 31 regions.
- The ability to add and query unstructured content from documents and public URLs.
and more .
Required actions
Review the pricing for the custom question answering feature of Cognitive Service for Language. To avoid disruption to your existing applications, take the following actions based on your specific case before 20 September 2022:
Case 1:
If you use the Language resource to access the QnA Maker V5.0-Preview.1, QnA Maker V5.0-Preview.2, or Question Answering APIs 2021-05-01-preview APIs, switch to using the QuestionAnswering API 2021-10-01 instead.
Case 2:
If you use the QnA Maker resource to access the QnA Maker V5.0-Preview.1 and QnA Maker V5.0-Preview.2 APIs then:
- Create a Cognitive Service for Language resource.
- Follow the steps to migrate your knowledge bases from QnA Maker to custom question answering.
- If you use the QnA Maker SDK or REST APIs to query your knowledge base, review this documentation to learn how to call the custom question answering APIs and make the appropriate code changes.
You'll be unable to call the QnA Maker Preview APIs after 20 September 2022.
Help and support
If you have questions, please contact us at qapreviewretirement@microsoft.com.
FAQs
Q. Why are the QnA Maker preview APIs being retired?
A. The preview APIs were made available for customers to try out new features and for gathering early user feedback. After incorporating feedback, we went GA with the QuestionAnswering API 2021-10-01 on 3rd November 2021. This API version is the stable production version and all our future improvement effort will be focused on this stable release. The preview APIs have now fulfilled their purpose after this GA release, and they have been slated for retirement.
Q. How do I see if my resources are using the preview APIs?
A. Please see below for a series of steps to check this:
- For QnA Maker Managed:
- View Kind from the Azure Portal – If it is QnAMaker.v2, migrate to a new Language resource.
- View Code from qnamaker.ai: It will show v5.0-preview.1/2
- View Kind from the Azure Portal – If it is QnAMaker.v2, migrate to a new Language resource.
- For Language resource:
- Enable Analytics on the Knowledgebase - Analytics on knowledge bases - custom question answering - Azure Cognitive Services | Microsoft Docs
- Run the below query – If ApiName is ‘QnA Maker V5.0-Preview.1’ or ‘QnA Maker V5.0-Preview.2’ or ‘Question Answering APIs 2021-05-01-preview’ you need to upgrade to the GA API.
AzureDiagnostics
| where ResourceProvider == "MICROSOFT.COGNITIVESERVICES"
| extend ApiName = tostring(parse_json(properties_s).apiName)
Q. I have created a OneClick bot on Language Studio using the Preview APIs. How do I move to the GA API?
A. If you have used the One Click bot creation process on Language Studio (with Preview APIs) to create a bot, you can create a new bot from Language Studio. This new bot will use the GA API.
Q. Can I use the QnA Maker preview APIs till the retirement date?
A. Existing QnA Maker preview APIs will continue to work until 20 September 2022. However, we strongly advise customers to migrate their workflows to the GA API of custom question answering at the earliest.
Q. I have heavy dependencies on the QnA Maker Preview APIs in my business. Can the retirement date be pushed?
A. The retirement date will not be pushed beyond 20 September 2022. QuestionAnswering API 2021-10-01 is the officially supported and the publicly available API version for Question Answering.
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