The focus of the RISIS-KNOWMAK (Knowledge in the ‘making’) tool is on the visualisation and investigation of the production of knowledge in the European Research Area, with a particular focus on knowledge related to Societal Grand Challenges (SGC1) and Key Enabling Technologies (KET2). The tool is based on three existing data sources, i.e. scientific publications derived from the Web of Science database (CWTS-WoS database), patents derived from PATSTAT (UPEM-PATSTAT database) and European R&D projects derived from CORDIS (AIT-EUPRO database). Additionally, it features two newly developed, additional datasets, one concerned with social innovation projects and actors, the other with user attention as observed through social media. The main essence of RISIS-KNOWMAK is to provide a radically improved information basis for producing indicators on SGC and KET knowledge production activities (hot spots) and interactions (networks) in Europe. Indicators – derived from data collected on the organisational level – are geographically observed at the level of relevant subnational spatial units (metropolitan areas), and topically for about 400 KET and SGC topics. This user handbook provides a user-oriented guide trough the tool. It introduces in a compact manner the overall approach and framework of RISIS-KNOWMAK, and provides a comprehensive overview on all indicators available in the tool, and how they can be mobilized for analysing knowledge production activities across different geographical areas, topics and time periods. Moreover, it provides a usage guide of the tool, describing the dashboard and the main menus to be used for data visualisation, analysis and extraction.