I am currently exploring skills and trying to set up some test skills based on one of the job families at my company. I added about 30 skills to the platform catalog and have not assigned them to skill sets yet, but I added these skills quite some time ago and would like to go back and read the descriptions but can’t figure out how.
Is there a way to read a skill description without having to click on the “add” button, search the skill, read the description and cancel out?
Best answer by Moshe.Machlav
Hi Kelly,
Because the Skill source is "Docebo" (a built-in system skill), the platform intentionally disables the Edit button. This means you cannot click in to read the description via the user interface like you can with your Custom skills.
Since the UI has you locked out, extracting these descriptions programmatically via the Docebo API is the most efficient path. You can use an API testing tool like Postman to pull these in bulk:
Run a GET request to skills/v1/skills/catalog to garner your full list of Skill IDs.
Use a Postman "Runner" job to loop through that list of IDs and execute the skill/v1/skills/{skill_id} endpoint for each one. This will retrieve the full data payload for each skill, including the hidden descriptions.
In organizations I've worked with, when we need to map default versus custom skill descriptions for stakeholders, the pattern that holds up best is using a quick Python script to run this API loop, parse the resulting JSON, and output everything into a clean CSV file. It saves hours of manual clicking and provides a neat spreadsheet for review.
For reference on authenticating and accessing these endpoints, Docebo recently migrated their API and developer documentation. You can find the technical details on the new Docebo Developer Portal, as outlined here: Developer content has moved to the Docebo Developer Portal.
Hope this helps you get those descriptions exported!
+2Hi Kelly,
Because the Skill source is "Docebo" (a built-in system skill), the platform intentionally disables the Edit button. This means you cannot click in to read the description via the user interface like you can with your Custom skills.
Since the UI has you locked out, extracting these descriptions programmatically via the Docebo API is the most efficient path. You can use an API testing tool like Postman to pull these in bulk:
Run a GET request to skills/v1/skills/catalog to garner your full list of Skill IDs.
Use a Postman "Runner" job to loop through that list of IDs and execute the skill/v1/skills/{skill_id} endpoint for each one. This will retrieve the full data payload for each skill, including the hidden descriptions.
In organizations I've worked with, when we need to map default versus custom skill descriptions for stakeholders, the pattern that holds up best is using a quick Python script to run this API loop, parse the resulting JSON, and output everything into a clean CSV file. It saves hours of manual clicking and provides a neat spreadsheet for review.
For reference on authenticating and accessing these endpoints, Docebo recently migrated their API and developer documentation. You can find the technical details on the new Docebo Developer Portal, as outlined here: Developer content has moved to the Docebo Developer Portal.
Hope this helps you get those descriptions exported!
Hi Kelly,
Thanks for raising this. To clarify, there is not currently a dedicated bulk view or export in the user interface for reviewing all descriptions in the Platform Catalog.
For individual skills, descriptions may be available in the relevant Skills experiences, depending on your role and platform configuration. If you need to review a larger set of skills at once, an API-based approach may be an option. We recommend checking the API Browser available in your platform, or working with your Docebo contact, to confirm the available endpoints and fields for your environment.
Thanks!
Thank you, this information is helpful. I understand not being able to edit, but my hope is in the future Docebo will add a description column or the ability to at least just click on a Docebo or custom skill to read what is written for the description as a memory refresher when reviewing the skills.
Enter your email address or username and password below to log in to Docebo Community. No account yet? Create an account
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.
