Create article content

Articles describe a product, system, or feature and provide answers for customers who are searching for questions or information on your knowledge base.Who can access this feature?User typesContent administrators can access knowledge base settings.In this article Create a new articleEdit a published articleArticle settings tabFeedback tabManage article SEOSet permissions on an internal articleCreate a new articleThe knowledge base editor provides the tools you need to create your article content. Similar to a word processing editor, the top toolbar provides formatting options such as bold or italics, supports ordered or unordered bulleted lists, and much more. The bottom toolbar lets you add hyperlinks, images, and emoji to your articles. To create an article:Go to Settings> Knowledge Base > Articles.Note: If you have more than one brand configured, you can also select Administration followed by Brand. Then, select Edit for the brand for which you will be creating articles.Select Add Article.Enter the following information:An article titleA URL slugIf you have multiple brands configured, you can select:The brand(s) the article will reside in. The article's source language. (Additional languages will only be available in this menu if the brands have a different source language.)Select Create.Enter your content using the editor. Toolbars provide various options to format your text and add media, such as images, to your article.Notes:The total file size of an article cannot exceed 15MB. Additionally, individual attachments to an article cannot exceed 9.5 MB. If you need to include media that exceeds 9.5 MB we recommend hosting the content externally and adding a link to it in the article.You can edit the HTML source directly by selecting Code View < > .You can privately view an unpublished version of the article before you publish it live by selecting Preview.In the Settings tab, select the level of article access you want to grant to users. The available options are Public or Internal.Select the category and brand your article should reside in by selecting Manage Brands and Categories. Select Publish Now to make the article available immediately. Your article will now be made visible in either your Public or Internal knowledge base. If you have multiple brands, the article will be visible in whichever brand you choose. To schedule your article for publication at a later time, select the arrow and then choose Schedule Publish. Edit a published articleTo edit an article that is already published on your knowledge base:Go to Settings  > Knowledge base > Articles and select the article you want to edit from the list.Select Create Draft.Once you have made your changes, select Publish Now or schedule your article for a later date.Article settings tabThe options in the article Settings tab are available when editing an article. Here, you can view specific article details, add or change an article category, specify the brand the article resides in, or change view access. The following options are available:Access Sets the article to either be Public or Internal. Internal articles are visible only to members of your organization.Version Lists all previous versions of the article. If multiple versions exist, you can choose to revert to an earlier version and republish it.Visibility Shows the current state of the article.Last Updated By Shows the name of the user who last updated the article, along with a date and timestamp.Created By Shows the name of the user who created the article, along with the creation date and time.Brands - CategoriesDetermines the categories and brands for the current article. For more information, see Add articles to brands and categories.Article TagsEnter tag labels for the article. For more information, see Add tags to articles.SEOEnter information to help optimize your articles for search rankings. This option is only available if Access is set to Public.PermissionsAllows you to select which users or teams can view an internal article. This option is only available if Access is set to Internal.Feature this article Specify if the article appears in the Featured Articles section of your knowledge base home page. Article statusIndicates if there are changes that need to be published, or if the article is currently up to date.Discard DraftDeletes the current draft of the article. This action can not be undone.Publish Now Publishes the most current version of the article. Schedule PublishSelect the exact day and time an article will be published. For more information, see Schedule knowledge base articles.DeletePermanently delete the entire article from your knowledge base.Feedback tabThe Feedback tab is where you can view how your article has performed over the last 30 days and access further metrics found in the Knowledge Base report. Manage article SEOEvery public article in your knowledge base can be further optimized for Search Engine rankings. By default, we auto-populate these fields in case you don't optimize them yourself.The Search Results Preview box shows a glimpse of what your SEO settings will look like in a search browser. The SEO Title, SEO Description, and SEO Keywords boxes are editable, giving you full control over the information search engines like Google and Bing use to determine if the content should be presented to searchers. You can also optimize the SEO for each language the Article is written in to further improve your SEO rankings.See this article to learn how to submit your sitemap to Google.Set permissions on an internal articleYou have the ability to share internal articles with specific users or teams in your organization. With article permissions, you can ensure that users have access to information that is relevant to them.To set an article permission:In the Settings tab, select Internal from the Access drop-down menu.Select Permissions.Enter the names of the teams or users that will have access to view this internal article. You can add up to 50 teams or users. Your internal article will now only be visible to those individuals.

The editor you use to create knowledge base articles comes with a variety of formatting options that allow you to change the appearance of your knowledge base documents. Some of the controls, such as buttons for bolding and italicizing text, should be familiar to users of common word processing applications.Who can access this feature?User typesContent administrators can access knowledge base settings. Changes the text to bold. Changes the text to italics. Underlines the selected text.Draws a line through the middle of the text.Clears any formatting on the selected text, changing it to the default font and style.Changes the alignment of the selected text.Changes the format of the paragraph. The following options are available:Normal restores the text to the default font and font size.Heading 1 to Heading 4 changes the font size of the titles in your article:Heading 1Heading 2Heading 3Heading 4Code Wraps the text in a gray box and is useful when displaying a block of code.Example code here.Inserts an ordered list. The default option will insert a numbered list:List item 1.List item 2.You can change the numbers to any of the following options from the drop-down menu: Lower AlphaLower GreekLower RomanUpper AlphaUpper RomanInserts an unordered list. The default option inserts a bulleted list:List item 1.List item 2.You can change the numbers to any of the following options from the drop-down menu: CircleDiscSquareDecreases the indent of the selected text.Increases the indent of the selected text.Adds a quote block to specific text.Inserts a hyperlink. Enter a URL and desired text in the menu that opens.Inserts an image. Upload the image or enter the hosted URL of the image.If you upload your own image, we will provide you with the hosted URL.Note: The only supported image files are (.gif, .jpg, and .png). Each image cannot exceed 9.5MB in size.Inserts a video. You can enter the URL for the video or its embedded code.Embeds a URL in your article.Opens a menu with the available emoji that you can insert in your article.   Opens a menu with the available Font Awesome icons you can insert in your article.  Inserts a horizontal line across your article.Erases the last change you made to the article.Lets you reverse your last undo.Lets you view and edit your article in HTML. Select this icon to return to switch the view back. Expands the editor to full screen.Selects all of the text in your article.

Both your internal and public-facing knowledge base articles can be grouped under multiple categories within your knowledge base. If your organization has multiple brands configured, the same article can be shared across brands.For example, let’s say your organization consists of two clothing brands that have the same Shipping & Handling policy. Instead of creating two separate articles containing the same information for each brand site, you can create a single article and then add it to each brand’s knowledge base.Who can access this feature?User typesContent administrators can access knowledge base settings.You can update the brands and categories for a published article at any time. You do not need to create a new draft or publish a new version of the article to update category assignments.To organize your article under a category:Go to Settings > Knowledge Base > Articles.Select the article you want to organize. In the right panel, under the Settings tab, open the Brands - Categories section.Select Manage Brands and Categories.Select the brand where you want to add the article.Note: Each brand must set up its own categories separately. For more information on how to create a category, see Organize your knowledge base with categories.Select a category from the drop-down menu. To add an article to multiple categories, select + Add Category, then continue to select additional categories using the available drop-down menus.To add the article to another brand, select the brand. Then, select a category from the drop-down menu.Select Save Changes.Your article will now reside within the categories and brands that you selected. Note: If you do not assign any categories to an article, the article will only appear in search. Users won't be able to find the article through browsing your knowledge base, and will only locate it if they use the search field on your knowledge base homepage.You can assign both internal and public articles to the same category. Internal articles are always shown with a lock icon. If a category only contains internal articles, it will be treated as an internal-only category and show a lock icon next to its name. Only internal agents and admins will have access to view the category and any internal content in it. This category will not be visible in your public knowledge base. Categories that contain both internal and public articles will be treated as a public category and will be visible in your knowledge base, along with any public articles in it.

You can tag articles with unique labels that help you organize your knowledge base and link related articles together, providing another way to connect articles that live across multiple categories. Tags, along with the article title and body, help customers search your knowledge base to find the most relevant results. Once a public article is published, the tags will be displayed as a tag cloud on the left side of the article, and selecting a tag will display all of the articles that are using it. Who can access this feature?User typesContent administrators can access knowledge base settings.In this articleAdd tags to articlesRemove a tag from an articleAdd the tag cloud template to your existing themeNotes:If you created your knowledge base using an older default theme (before February 2021), you will need to add the tag template to your theme so that the tag cloud appears in your articles. For more information, see Add the tag cloud template to your existing theme.The tag cloud is only available for public articles.Add tags to articlesWhen creating tags, keep the following guidelines in mind:You cannot have duplicate tags.You can add up to 20 tags to an article.When creating tags, they are case-sensitive. However, case sensitivity does not apply when searching for tags in the knowledge base.Tags are directly linked to article versions. If you restore an older version of your article, the tags will change.You cannot specify tags by brand. Any tags applied to an article will appear across all of the brands where the article resides.If using tags in an internal article, you can find related articles by searching for the tag in the internal knowledge base.To add a tag to an article:Go to Settings > Knowledge Base > Articles and open the article you wish to tag.Select Create Draft.In the Settings tab, expand the Article Tags section and enter the name of your tag in the box. If the tag already exists, you can select it from the menu that opens.If the tag doesn't exist, select Create Tag in the menu to add it to your system.Once you have added your tags, select Publish to save your changes. The tags will appear in a tag cloud at the bottom of your publicly published article.Selecting a tag in your published article will open a list of all of the related articles that are using the same tag.Remove a tag from an articleOpen the article that contains the tag you want to remove.Select the X for each tag you want to remove.Select Publish to save your changes.Note:Deleting a tag will only delete it from the current article.You cannot edit or permanently delete a tag.Add the tag cloud template to your existing themeIf you created your knowledge base using the older default theme available before templates, you need to add the tag template to your theme for the tag cloud to display properly. If you created your theme using the Midtown theme as the default, the tags.jsx file is already included, and you can skip these steps. To add the template to your theme:Go to Settings> Knowledge Base > Themes.Select Edit  for the theme your knowledge base is using.Select the article.jsx file in the Theme Files panel.Copy and paste the following tag block into the article.jsx file:<div className="tag-wrap">    {(article.tags && article.tags.length > 0) && <div className="tag-text">Tags: </div>}    {article.tags && article.tags.map(tag => <div key={tag.id} className="tag"> <a href={`/tags/${tag.name}`}>{tag.name}</a></div>)} </div>Tip: The block can be added anywhere in the file as long as it is wrapped inside the <article> block. We recommend placing it after the separator-wrap block.Select Save.Select Add New. The Create Theme File dialog box opens.Select the following options:Theme Target: PagePage Type: Tag Select Create.Copy and paste the following tag template into the new file:<main className="main-layout"> <Nav settings={org.settings} /> <HeroImage small /> <section className="container-search"> <div className="search-wrap search-results-header search-sml-wrap"> <div className="search-results-left"> <span className="search-results-number">{results.length} results</span> for '{tag}' </div> </div> <section className="container-article"> {!results.length && <div className="no-results-copy">No results</div>} {!!results.length && results.map(el => <ArticleItem key={el.title} {...el} publishedAt={el.publishedAt} />)} </section> </section> </main>Select Save. Tag clouds will now appear in your articles.

You can schedule articles to publish at a specific time or day. This is helpful if you are creating articles before they go public, such as when you create content specifically for the holiday season, or before a new item is released. With this feature, you can ensure that your latest content is always published at the right time, even if you are out of the office.Who can access this feature?User typesContent administrators can access knowledge base settings.In this articleSchedule an articleManage scheduled articlesChange or delete a scheduleSchedule an articleYou can schedule an article to automatically publish to your knowledge at a later date or time.Notes:Articles can only have one schedule at a time.When you delete an article or draft, any scheduled actions are also deleted.To schedule an article:Once you are ready to schedule your article, select the arrow next to Publish Now and then choose Publish Schedule.Enter the following information:DateThe day that the article will be published.TimeThe time at which the article will be published. The specified time must be at least one minute ahead of the current time. This must be entered in hh:mm format.Time Zone is the The time zone in which the article is published.Select Schedule and then select Yes to confirm when the article will be published. You will see a blue toolbar next to the Publish button where you can view the schedule at any time by hovering over the calendar icon.Manage scheduled articlesYou can view a list of scheduled articles by selecting Publish Schedule from the Filter by Schedule drop-down menu on the Articles page. Hovering over the icon for an article shows you when that article is scheduled to be published.Change or delete a scheduleYou can change or delete an article's scheduled publication date directly within the article itself.To edit an existing schedule:Select the article with the schedule you want to change and then select Edit Schedule  at the top of the page. Make your desired change and select Update Schedule.Select Yes to confirm your changes.To delete an existing scheduleSelect Delete Schedule at the top of the page and then select Yes to confirm your changes. Your article will revert to an editable draft state.

You can draw attention to important articles and make it easier for your customers to find answers to common questions by adding them to the Featured Articles section of your knowledge base's home page. Highlighting articles that are commonly referenced by your customers can help them more quickly find the information they're searching for and encourage them to self serve and solve their own request.Who can access this feature?User typesContent adminstrators can access the Knowledge base page.In this articleAdd an article to the Featured Articles sectionManage your featured articlesTurn off the Featured Articles sectionAdd an article to the Featured Articles sectionYou can promote articles on the Featured Articles section of your knowledge base home page.Note: An article must be added to a brand in the Manage Brands and Categories section first.Go to Settings> Knowledge Base > Articles.Select the article you want to add to your home page.Go to the Settings tab, expand the Feature this article section, and turn on brands for the home page(s) you want to display it on.Your published article is now shown on your home page.Featured articles are also displayed in your chat widget if you selected one of the formats that includes the knowledge base.Manage your featured articlesYou can view a list of your featured articles by selecting the Featured Articles tab on the Articles page and then selecting the brand you want to view. Here, you can organize the order that the articles will appear by dragging and dropping them to a new location on the list.Turn off the Featured Articles sectionBy default, the Featured Articles section is visible on your knowledge base theme. You can turn this section off at any time.To turn off the Featured Articles section:Go to Settings> Knowledge Base > Themes.Select your theme under the My Themes tab.Turn off the toggle for Featured Articles.Select Save.

If you offered a help center on the platform you used before migrating to Kustomer, you may want to set up a redirect on old self-help articles to make sure customers end up with the right resource even if they click an old link. This article will explain how to set up a redirect for help center content by customizing your knowledge base theme.Who can access this feature?User typesContent administrators can access the Themes page.In this articlePrerequisitesCreate the redirect pageRedirect to home pageRedirect for every unique articlePrerequisitesTo follow this guide, you should be comfortable with customizing and updating the knowledge base theme using the code editor.Before setting up a redirect, you must decide what approach to use for this process. Consider the following questions:How many articles need to be redirected?Where do you want to redirect the articles?Do you want to redirect all traffic to your new help center's home page, or set up a unique redirect for every article?Create the redirect pageFirst, you will create a global JavaScript page in your knowledge base theme.To create the redirect page:Go to Settings > Knowledge Base > Themes.Edit your default theme.In the toolbar, select Create New Draft.If your theme uses the visual builder, open the More Options menu and select Go to Code Editor. If you are using a legacy theme, you will already be in the code editor so you can skip this step.Note: Opening the code editor is a nondestructive step. After making these changes, you can return to using the visual editor.In the Theme Files panel, select + Add.Create a new theme file with the following properties:Theme Target: GlobalFile Name: redirectFile Type: JSSelect Create to save the new file.Once saved, you can locate the new redirect.js file under the Globals section in the Theme Files panel. Select the file to add your preferred code from either of the following sections in this article. Remember to Save and Publish your theme whenever you're satisfied with these changes.Redirect to home pageThe first redirect option would be to utilize a specific string from the original article's URL to identify all articles with one conditional block. This may be the simplest and most efficient method to pursue if you don't see many customers encountering old links or if you don't think creating a 1-to-1 redirect for every old article is necessary.You can use a generic conditional block to send all traffic to your new knowledge base home page. For example, if all of your old help articles contain helpcenter in the URL, you can set up the conditional block like this:if (window.location.href.includes('helpcenter')) {        window.location.href = 'https://<orgName>.kustomer.help/'; }Redirect for every unique articleThe other option would be to set up a unique 1-to-1 redirect for every article in your old knowledge base. This might be a better option if you have a large number of old links you still have in circulation, or if you have ample time available before you need to go live.To set this up, you will need to create a different conditional for every article. Conditional blocks will follow this pattern:if (window.location.href.includes(<original_article_URL>)) {        window.location.href = <new_article_URL>; }This will use the href property in the HTML Document Object Model to check the URL of the page you are currently on, and dynamically redirect it to the new article URL based on the conditions created.