Knowledge Base

The knowledge base holds help articles for your customers and your team. Agents write articles in the agent portal. Customers read them in the customer portal, and search and the new ticket form suggest them before a customer raises a ticket.

Each article is an HD Article record, and each category or subcategory is an HD Article Category record:

Knowledge Base in the agent portal

Open Knowledge Base from the sidebar. The list groups articles by category. A subcategory shows under its category, and its articles show under it. Each row shows the Status, the Visibility, the Author and the time of the last change. The Author is an Agent.

Create a Category

Every article belongs to one category or subcategory. Helpdesk creates the General category for you. You cannot rename, merge, delete or change the access of General as a category. Its menu has only Add New Article and New subcategory.

1. Click Create, then Category. The New category dialog opens.
2. To change the icon, click the icon next to the name.
3. Enter a name. The name can have up to 50 characters.
4. Click Create category.

New category

Helpdesk also creates a draft article called "New Article" in the category and opens it for you to edit. A category must keep at least one article or one subcategory. You cannot move, archive or delete the last article of a category that has no subcategories. Delete the category instead.

Subcategories

A subcategory splits a large category into topics. It sits one level under a category. A subcategory holds articles only: it cannot have subcategories of its own.

Helpdesk names a subcategory with its category, for example "Billing › Invoices". This name shows in the Move To and Merge dialogs, in the Category filter of the list, and in search results in the customer portal.

Create a Subcategory

1. In the list, open the category's ⋯ menu.
2. Click New subcategory. The New subcategory dialog opens with the category as the parent.
3. Enter a name.
4. Click Create subcategory.

New subcategory under Billing

You can also click Create, then Category, and select Add as a subcategory. Then select the parent category.

Helpdesk creates a draft article called "New Article" in the subcategory, like it does for a category.

Move a Subcategory

1. Open the subcategory's ⋯ menu and click Edit.
2. Select a different parent category.
3. Click Save changes.

To make a category a subcategory, open its Edit dialog, select Add as a subcategory and select the parent. A category that has subcategories cannot become a subcategory. A pinned category is unpinned from the home page when it becomes a subcategory.

To make a subcategory a category again, open its ⋯ menu and click Convert to category. Helpdesk refuses when the parent would be left with no articles and no subcategories.

Merge a Category with Subcategories

Merge moves the articles and the subcategories of a category to the category you select, then deletes it.

• When you merge a category into one of its own subcategories, that subcategory becomes a category.
• A category that has subcategories cannot merge into a subcategory of another category. Move its subcategories first, or merge into a category.

Create an Article

1. Click Create, then Article. To add the article to a category directly, open the category's ⋯ menu and click Add New Article.
2. Enter a title. The title can have up to 140 characters.
3. Write the content. The editor supports headings, lists, tables, links, images and video.
4. Next to the author name, select the category.
5. Click Create.

Create menu

A new article is a Draft. Only agents can see drafts. A new article gets the access Customers. If every article in the category is Private, the new article is Private too. For an empty subcategory, Helpdesk reads the articles of its parent category.

Use headings in the content. The customer portal builds the On this page list of an article from its headings of level 1 to 3. An article without headings has no On this page list.

Publish an Article

1. Open the draft.
2. Click Publish at the top right. The Publish article as dialog opens.
3. Select Public, Customers or Private.
4. Click Publish.

Publish a draft and choose who can read it

Helpdesk sets the Status of the article to Published and its Visibility to the access that you select. A published article shows its access next to the number of views, at the top of the article. Unpublish moves the article back to Draft. An article must have content before you can create or publish it.

Choose Who Can Read an Article

Each article has one of three access levels:

Agents can read every article, drafts included. Customers and visitors see only published articles. A logged-in user who is not a customer and not an agent sees only Public articles.

Change the Access of One Article

1. Open the article.
2. Click ⋯, then Change access. The Change article access dialog opens.
3. Select the access.
4. Click Update access.

Access for one article

When all articles in the category share one access and you select a different one, the dialog tells you, for example "Other articles in Integrations are visible to everyone."

Change the Access of a Category

An HD Article Category does not have an access of its own. Its access comes from the articles in the category and in its subcategories. The published articles decide it. When the category has no published article, its drafts decide it.

1. In the list, open the category's ⋯ menu.
2. Click Change access. The Change category access dialog opens.
3. Select the access.
4. Click Update access. The button is available only after you select a different access.

The articles in this category have different access

Helpdesk sets the Visibility of every article in the category and in its subcategories, drafts included. When the articles have different access, the dialog shows Mixed. The dialog explains who can read the articles with the access that you select. A reader sees a category in the customer portal when they can read an article in it or in one of its subcategories.

Change the Access of Several Articles

1. Select the articles with the checkboxes.
2. In the selection bar, click ⋯, then Change access.
3. Select the access.
4. Click Update access.

Actions for selected articles

The dialog title shows the number of selected articles, for example "Change access for 2 articles". It shows Mixed when the selected articles have different access.

Access When You Move Articles

Moving an article never makes it readable by more people. Helpdesk compares the article's access with the access that all articles in the target category share. The article gets the stricter of the two. From strictest to most open, the order is Private, Customers, Public.

The target's access includes the articles in its subcategories. An empty subcategory uses the access of its parent category.

The same rule applies when you merge a category, when you delete a category and its articles move to another category, and when a category becomes a subcategory. When all articles in the target category are Customers or Private, the Move To and Merge dialogs show a note about it.

Manage Categories

Open the ⋯ menu of a category in the list.

Category menu

Delete a Category

1. Open the category's ⋯ menu and click Delete. The Delete category? dialog opens.
2. Select what happens to the articles.

Delete category? for the Refunds subcategory

The dialog shows only the choices that apply to the category:

A ticket links an article when the customer raised the ticket from that article. The link is the Source Article field of the ticket. When you delete an article, Helpdesk clears this field.

When you delete the articles of a subcategory, its parent category must keep another article or subcategory. Otherwise Helpdesk shows "Delete the parent category instead".

You can also select a category with its checkbox in the list. The checkbox selects the articles of the category and its subcategories. Then click ⋯, then Delete in the selection bar. When you select one whole category, the same dialog opens. When you select more, Helpdesk deletes the categories, their subcategories and all their articles, and offers Archive linked when a ticket links one of them.

Manage Articles

Open an article and click ⋯.

Article menu

Edit an article

To move, set the weight of or delete several articles, select them in the list. Then click ⋯ in the selection bar and select Move To, Set weight or Delete.

When a ticket links the article, Delete asks you first. Click Archive to keep the link, or Delete to delete the article and clear it from those tickets.

The article page also shows how many times readers opened the article in the customer portal, and how many readers found it helpful or not. Helpdesk counts one view for each reader and article in an hour. Visitors who are not logged in are counted by IP address. Drafts do not get views. A pinned article shows Pinned article at the top of the page.

The breadcrumb at the top of the article page shows the category, and the parent category for a subcategory. Click a category in the breadcrumb to open the list with that category open.

Pin an Article

Pinned articles show in the Featured tab of the knowledge base home page. You can pin up to 5 articles.

1. Open a published article.
2. Click ⋯, then Pin to home page.

The article goes to the end of the pinned list. When 5 articles are pinned, Helpdesk shows "You can pin up to 5 articles". To change the order of the pinned articles, see Pinned Articles.

Only published articles that are not Private stay pinned. When you unpublish an article, archive it, or change its access to Private, Helpdesk unpins it.

Article Weight

The weight puts an article higher in its category. Inside a category, articles with a higher weight list first. Articles with the same weight keep the usual order, newest first. The default weight is 0. The weight cannot be less than 0.

1. Open the article.
2. Click ⋯, then Set weight.
3. Enter the weight.
4. Click Save.

Article menu → Set weight

To set one weight on several articles, select them in the list, click ⋯ in the selection bar, then Set weight. The dialog shows the current weight when all selected articles have the same weight.

The weight orders the articles on the category page, in the subcategory sections, in the sidebar and in Related articles in the customer portal. When the home page shows only one category, its article list also puts heavier articles first. The weight does not change search results or the order of pinned articles. Pinning or unpinning an article does not change its weight.

Archive an Article

Archive an article to take it out of the knowledge base and keep the link from the tickets that cite it.

1. Open the article.
2. Click ⋯, then Archive. The Archive article dialog opens.
3. Click Archive.

Helpdesk sets the Status to Archived and removes the article from its category. The customer portal and its search do not show an archived article. The tickets that link it keep the link. The list shows archived articles in the Archived group at the end. An archived article is unpinned.

You cannot archive the last article of a category that has no subcategories.

To restore an archived article:

1. Open the archived article.
2. Click Restore at the top right. The Restore article dialog opens. General is selected.
3. Select the category.
4. Click Restore.

Restore article

The article comes back as a Draft in the category that you select. Publish it again to show it to readers. The access rule for moved articles applies. You can also select archived articles in the list and use Move To. The menu of an archived article has only Edit and Delete.

Good to Know

• An agent can open a draft from its link. Customers and visitors cannot.
• An article must have at least one paragraph with text. Otherwise Helpdesk shows "Article body cannot be set as empty." when you save.
• Helpdesk saves the first paragraph of each article, cut to 140 characters, in the Excerpt field. The category page in the customer portal shows this summary under each title.
• The Category filter of the list also shows the articles of the category's subcategories.
• A subcategory cannot be pinned to the home page.
• Deleting an article also deletes its helpful and not helpful votes.
• A duplicate of an article does not copy the weight or the pin.
• In Desk, HD Article Category opens as a tree of categories and subcategories. Add Child there also creates a "New Article" draft.
• Article search in the customer portal needs RediSearch on your Redis cache server. Without it, search and article suggestions show no results.
• To set up the knowledge base home page, pinned categories, pinned articles, the banner and header links, see Knowledge Base Settings.

FAQ

Why can a customer not see an article?

The article is a draft, archived, or its access is Private. Publish the article and set its access to Customers or Public.

Why can visitors who are not logged in not see a Public article?

The knowledge base is not public. Turn on Make knowledge base public in Settings → Knowledge Base.

Why did an article become Customers or Private after I moved it?

The target category is stricter than the article. Moving an article never makes it readable by more people. Change the access of the article after the move if you want it to be more open.

Why is Pin to home page not in the article menu?

The article is a draft, archived, or Private. Customers cannot read these articles, so Helpdesk does not pin them. Publish the article with the access Customers or Public.

Why can I not delete or archive an article?

It is the last article of its category, and the category has no subcategories. Move another article into the category first, or delete the category.