# Update the Question State

The questions in your Answer Bank systems have a state, which can have one of the following values:

- `incoming`
- `answerable`
- `needs_answer`
- `answered`
- `rejected`

Answer Server makes some changes to the question state automatically. You an also modify the question state manually by using the `ManageResources` action.

## Automatic Question State Updates

When you add a question to the Answer Bank, Answer Server automatically assigns it the state `incoming`.

When you add the question to a question equivalence class, the state automatically updates to `answered`.

Similarly, if you remove the question from the question equivalence class (or if you delete the question equivalence class), the state reverts to `incoming`. If you later undelete the question equivalence class that the question belongs to, the question returns to `answered` again.

## Update the Question State Manually

You can modify the state of a question by using the `ManageResources` action, with the `update` operation, either as part of another update, or as a separate action.

NOTE: You cannot manually change the state to or from `answered` by using a question update. To move the question to the `answered` state, you must add the question to a question equivalence class.

You must include the question IDs for the questions that you want to update. You can retrieve the question ID by sending a `GetResources` action. For example:

    http://localhost:12000?Action=GetResources&SystemName=MyAnswerbank&Type=question

The following example updates the questions with IDs 9706856188043740111 and 8129920660480699726 to have the state `needs_answer`.

    Action=ManageResources&SystemName=AnswerBank
    data={
       "operation": "update",
       "type": "question",
       "question": {
          "question_ids": [
             "9706856188043740111",
             "8129920660480699726"
          ],
       "new_state": "needs_answer"
       }
    }

You can retrieve the full schema for the JSON object to use by using the `GetResources` action. See Find the JSON Schema for Your Update.

NOTE: The `ManageResources` action fails if you attempt to use request JSON that contains properties that are not contained in the appropriate schema.

TIP: Typically, Micro Focus recommends that you send `ManageResources` as a POST request. For testing, you can use a GET request, in which case you must base64 encode the JSON data.

You can use the question state to filter questions in the `GetResources` action. You can also use the `GetStats` action to return information about the questions in the Answer Bank system by state. For more information, see Retrieve the Information Stored in an Answer Bank.

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