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Customizing Knowledge Base

These settings control who can read the knowledge base, what its home page shows, and the links in its header.

Open the settings in one of two places:

  • In the agent portal, click your brand name at the top left, then Settings → Knowledge Base.
  • In the customer portal, open the account menu, then Settings → Knowledge Base. Settings does not show on a phone.

Both places show the same form. It has three sections: Access, Customize home page and Header.

IMG Settings → Knowledge Base

Setting Saved in
Make knowledge base public public_knowledge_base in HD Settings
Allow guests to vote on articles allow_anonymous_article_voting in HD Settings
Pinned categories pinned and pinned_order in each HD Article Category
Pinned articles pinned and pinned_order in each HD Article
Banner banner_preset and banner_image in HD Settings
Show Raise a ticket button hide_raise_ticket_button in HD Settings, inverted
Quick links The HD Form Script called "Knowledge Base Quick Links"

The three switches save as soon as you change them. Pinned categories and pinned articles save when you click Save in their Customize dialog. The banner, the quick links, and the changes that you make from the ⋯ menu of a pinned row wait for you to click Save at the top of the form. Save and Preview show there only while you have unsaved changes. While you have unsaved changes, the settings do not close. If you change to another tab, Helpdesk asks you to confirm, and then discards the changes.

Customer portal pages that are open get the new settings without a reload.

If done correctly, this is how the landing page for your customers would look.

IMG Home page for a visitor who is not logged in

Access

Make Knowledge Base Public

To make a knowledge base public click on this switch to change its visibility

When this switch is off, a visitor who is not logged in goes to the login page. When it is on, anyone on the internet can read Public articles without logging in. Visitors see a Log in button in the header so that they can sign up and continue their journey on the knowledge base.

Turning on this switch does not change any article. Only articles with the Visibility Public become readable by visitors who are not logged in. To change the access of articles, see Knowledge Base.The switch is off by default.

Allow Guests to Vote on Articles

When this switch is on, visitors who are not logged in can mark an article as helpful or not helpful. Each vote is an HD Article Feedback record. A reader can change their vote up to 5 times an hour on one article. Helpdesk tells one visitor from another with a browser cookie. The cookie is set only when the visitor votes. When this switch is off, visitors do not see the feedback buttons.

The switch is off by default. You can turn it on only when the knowledge base is public. If the knowledge base is private, the switch turns back off and Helpdesk shows "Knowledge base must be public". In Desk, HD Settings refuses to save the change.

Customize Home Page

Pinned Categories

When you pin categories, the knowledge base home page shows only the pinned categories, in the order you set. Readers click View all to open the All categories page. When no category is pinned, the home page shows all categories in alphabetical order.

  1. Next to Pinned categories, click Customize. The dialog lists the pinned categories under Pinned and the rest under Other categories.
  2. To pin a category, click its pin icon, or drag it to Pinned. To find a category, type in Search categories to pin.
  3. To unpin a category, click its unpin icon, or drag it to Other categories.
  4. Drag the pinned categories into the order you want. On a touch screen, press and hold a category before you drag it.
  5. Click Save.

IMG Pinned categories

Reset changes puts the dialog back to the saved pins. If you close the dialog with unsaved changes, Helpdesk asks you to confirm.

Only categories can be pinned. Subcategories are not in the list. When a pinned category becomes a subcategory, Helpdesk unpins it.

Each category shows its access: Public or Customers. The access comes from the published articles in the category and its subcategories. When the category has no published article, its drafts decide it. It shows Mixed when the articles have different access. A category whose articles are all Private is not in the list, because customers cannot see it. If such a category is already pinned, it stays in the list so that you can unpin it.

You can also use the ⋯ menu of a pinned category to Move up, Move down or Unpin it. Then click Save at the top of the form.

Pinned Articles

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

  1. Next to Pinned articles, click Customize. The dialog lists the pinned articles under Pinned and the rest under Other articles.
  2. To pin an article, click its pin icon, or drag it to Pinned. To find an article, type a word from its title in Search articles to pin.
  3. To unpin an article, click its unpin icon, or drag it to Other articles.
  4. Drag the pinned articles into the order you want.
  5. Click Save.

IMG Settings → Knowledge Base → Pinned articles → Customize

The dialog lists only published articles that are not Private, in alphabetical order. It shows the first 100. Search to find the rest. When 5 articles are pinned, Helpdesk shows "You can pin up to 5 articles" and does not pin another.

You can also pin an article from its own page. See Pin an Article. Use the ⋯ menu of a pinned article to Move up, Move down or Unpin it. Then click Save at the top of the form.

When you unpublish a pinned article, archive it or change its access to Private, Helpdesk unpins it. Pinning does not change the weight of an article.

What the Home Page Shows

While at least one pinned article is readable by the reader, the articles section of the home page has the tabs Featured and Popular. Featured opens first and lists the pinned articles in your order. When no article is pinned, the tabs are Popular and Latest.

Each reader sees only the pinned articles that they can read. Visitors who are not logged in see only Public articles. Agents also do not see Private articles in Featured.

The number of categories on the home page changes the layout:

Categories on the home page Layout
1 The home page shows the articles of that category and its subcategories directly, without tabs. Pinned articles show above them under Featured. If you pinned the category and other categories exist, it shows up to 5 articles and a View all categories button. If it is the only category, it shows all its articles.
1, with two or more subcategories The home page shows the subcategories as cards. The articles section lists the articles of the category and its subcategories.
2 Two columns.
3 or more A grid of three columns on large screens.

The home page shows categories only. Readers open a subcategory from the page of its category.

The banner shows behind the search bar on the knowledge base home page. Select None, a pattern (Lines) or a color (Gray, Blue, Violet). The default is Lines. You can also click Upload image to use your own image. Use an image of at least 1440 × 240 pixels, for example a PNG or JPG file. After an upload, the button changes to Replace image. The banner must be an uploaded file: HD Settings refuses a link to an image on another site, because every visitor loads it.

IMG Banner, the Raise a ticket switch and quick links

An image takes priority over a color. To remove the image, click the X on the image swatch. If the image is the current banner, the banner changes to None. Click Save to keep the change. Banner images are public files, because visitors who are not logged in also load them.

Show Raise a Ticket Button

When this switch is on, logged-in users see a Raise a ticket button at the top right of every knowledge base page. The button opens the new ticket form. Agents see it too. Visitors who are not logged in do not.

The switch is on by default, also on sites that upgraded from an older version.

Quick links show at the top right of every knowledge base page. Use them for your website, your documentation or your social pages.

  1. Click Add link. The button is disabled while a row has no label or no URL.
  2. Enter a Label, for example "Contact sales".
  3. Enter a URL. Use a web address, a mailto: link, or a path that starts with /.
  4. To open the link in a new tab, select Open in new tab.
  5. Click Save.

Links to GitHub, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Discord, Slack, Facebook, Instagram and Reddit show as icons. On a phone, text links move into the logo menu.

Helpdesk saves the quick links as an HD Form Script called "Knowledge Base Quick Links". Each save writes the whole script again, so do not change this script by hand. Use your own form script for custom code.

Preview Your Changes

After you change the banner, the quick links or the order of the pins from the ⋯ menu, click Preview. The knowledge base home page opens in a new tab with your unsaved changes. In the preview, the quick links show without the links from other form scripts.

Closing the preview tab does not discard your changes. Click Save to keep them. To discard them, leave the Knowledge Base tab and confirm.

An HD Form Script with Apply to knowledge base turned on runs on every knowledge base page, for every reader. It also runs for visitors who are not logged in when the knowledge base is public. Use it to add buttons and links to the header.

  1. In Desk, open HD Form Script and click Add HD Form Script.
  2. Turn on Apply to knowledge base and Enabled.
  3. Write a setupForm function that returns actions, links, or both.
function setupForm() {
  return {
    links: [
      { label: "Status page", url: "https://status.example.com", open_in_new_tab: true },
    ],
    actions: [
      {
        label: "Contact sales",
        onClick: () => window.open("https://example.com/contact", "_blank"),
      },
    ],
  };
}

actions use the same format as Custom Actions. On small screens, the buttons move into the ⋯ menu. A link shows only when it has a label and a URL that is a web address, a mailto: link or a path that starts with /. If a script fails, the page shows "A form script on this page failed to run".

FAQ

Why does the home page show every category?

No category is pinned, or no pinned category has an article that the reader can read. Pin a category that has a published article with the right access.

Why does a pinned category not show on the home page?

A category shows only when it has a published article that the reader can read. Publish an article in the category, or check the access of its articles.

Why can I not pin a category?

The category is a subcategory, or all its articles are Private. Subcategories cannot be pinned, and customers cannot see a Private category, so neither is in the Customize list. Make the subcategory a category, or change the access of an article in the category to Customers or Public.

Why does the home page not show the Featured tab?

No article is pinned, or the reader cannot read any pinned article. Pin a published article with the access Public or Customers. Visitors who are not logged in see only Public pinned articles.

Why did an article leave the pinned list?

Someone unpublished it, archived it, or changed its access to Private. Helpdesk unpins these articles because customers cannot read them. Publish the article with the access Public or Customers and pin it again.

Last updated 1 week ago
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