How to Create Knowledge Base Articles
This guide will show you how to make Knowledge Base articles with ease. In fact, you've already started! Start articles with a simple introduction, much like this one, using Normal font. Remember - simple is always best!
Fully written out Knowledge Base articles such as this one are always best versus PDFs, Word, or PowerPoint files, as articles can be easily shared and updated at any time - whereas PDFs or Word documents can't, and then old versions get cycled around. Most importantly, it looks unprofessional (and remember that your name is attached as article creator). Imagine any great and helpful how-to article you've ever tried to follow before - that's what we always want to aim for!
So what's involved in creating an actual article properly?
Creating the Actual Article
Start by going into the actual Knowledge Base section within Zoho Desk, which an be found at the top.
From there, make sure you're in the right department - this will vary from person to person. You may have access to multiple departments, or only to one. Regardless, ensure you're in the right place before moving on.
Note: you can change which department an article resides in at any time, so don't worry if you don't get it right the first time.
Lastly, click the big + button to create a new article.
Title and Setup
Towards the top, you'll want to enter the title of your article.
Keeping with standards, be sure to use capital letters appropriately when doing so. For example, if your article's name is "how to brew a cup of coffee" - you'd want to name it, "How to Brew a Cup of Coffee" - note the upper and lower case usage here.
On the right you can choose your KB category (which department this article will live under), and which sub-category under that (or even sub-section if you're crazy!).
Display permissions are perhaps the most important thing here, as they dictate who can see or access this article.
- Agents means that only people can log into Zoho Desk and look at tickets will be able to access it. Think of this as internal processes, such as this very article you're reading now!
- Registered users isn't something we really use, so you can ignore this one.
- All users will make the article available to every Goettl employee, meaning if they were to access our Knowledge Base from helpme.goettl.com (or even directly), they can see it. This is common for most articles.
Tags are great to use so people can quickly search for articles and get relevant information. For example, on the Clearing Browser Cache and Cookies article, it has several tags that help with metadata and search results. Definitely add tags to your article, but keep them focused!
Finally, we don't use article expiration at all, so disregard it.
Saving Articles
You don't have to! What's great about Zoho Desk is it will automatically save any changes you make. But the even better news is it also has version history, so if you make a mistake or change you didn't want, you can simply click on VERSIONS in the upper-right and compare previous saves, etc.
Headings and Table of Contents
You can easily and automatically create a table of contents by utilizing headers. These can be found in the top menu bar:
Let's say you want to create a table of contents for your article, using the coffee example we used previously.
How to Brew a Cup of Coffee - this is already your article's title, so no need to put it in the article as well.
Step 1 (Heading 1)
Buy an Expensive Coffee Brewer and Expensive Coffee Beans (Heading 2)
Save Your Receipt in Case Things Go Pourly (get it?) (Heading 3)
This is normal text (Normal Text).
So in the above example, this is how it would look while drafting the article itself:
And after publishing the article, this is how the table of contents looks:
And if your article is available for all users, it'll looks like this:
Note how the headings nest under each other, and the user can simply click on any of those items to go straight to it within an article.
Highlighting Text
You can highlight important text with content boxes!
To do so, simply type out your normal text, highlight it, click on CONTENT in the upper-right, and choose a type you'd like:
These are handy if you want to highlight important items for users without abusing underlining and bolding text.
Publishing Your Article
Finally, once you feel like your article is in a good first draft, you can publish it. To do so, simply click the PUBLISH button at the top:
You can also preview it first if you'd like, but there's no limit to the amount of drafts or times you can republish. If you want to edit your article later, simply go back into it within Zoho Desk, and click on the pencil icon in the upper-right:
Recreating your Articles in Other Languages
So you just published a fantastic article - well done! But say you want your nifty article to be available in other languages, to the point where when someone views it who also happens to have their device set to default in another language (such as Spanish), the article would also automatically change to that language? We can easily make that happen!
While editing your article, click on English in the upper-left. This will bring up a drop-down menu where you can choose another language.
Note that at this time, we only have Spanish (Español) available since those are the two that most people at Goettl use, but if you'd like to see more, please reach out to App Support team and we'll be happy to discuss.
Once you click on Español, a new blank article window will appear. From here, you can use something like Google Translate to copy/paste your English article into here.
This article's language settings can also be unique, so make sure to double check that they're set the same way as your English version - such as the default display permission, tags, etc.
It's encouraged to add both the "spanish" and "español" tags as well to any Spanish-version articles, as it makes searching for them easier.
After you're done, click PUBLISH. Your article will default to the Espanol version, but you can easily click this to change it back to edit the English version.
When viewing the live article in our Knowledge Base, Spanish-speaking users will automatically be switched to the Spanish version of this article. Nice!
Best Practice Tips
Don't Simply Copy and Paste
When creating new articles, always type them up from scratch.
Never simply copy and paste a PDF to a form!
Not only is it lazy, it also defeats the purpose of being able to share articles within Zoho Desk within tickets. And most importantly, it makes it impossible to update an article easily.
Sharing Articles
After you've published an article, it'll immediately be available to whichever audience you've allowed to view it. If you chose All users, it'll be available to all Goettl employees on the Knowledge Base. You can also share it directly by going into the article within Zoho Desk, and copying the permalink:
Lastly, although we don't recommend it, you can also share the article as a PDF. Why don't we recommend it? Because articles change, even if it's minor, and URLs are easy to share and bookmark for users.
If you've instead chosen Agents only, meaning this article is for internal users who can access Zoho Desk, the above permalink option won't be available. In this case, it's best to simply copy the URL from your browser's URL bar directly, and share it that way. You'll still also have the sharing as a PDF option too.
Editing Articles
If you want to edit your article later, simply go back into it within Zoho Desk, and click on the pencil icon in the upper-right:
Menu Bar
The top menu bar is where you can choose your font, color, and so much more. The Insert section in particular allows you to add hyperlinks (either ULR or email), embed videos, etc.:
Deleting Articles
Say you don't want an article anymore? Deleting is easy! Simply go back to the main Knowledge Base section within Zoho Desk, click the checkbox on the left, and click Delete at the top:
Recovering Articles
If you've accidentally deleted an article, you can recover it by going back to the main Knowledge Base section within Zoho Desk, and clicking on Recycle Bin on the bottom-left:
From there, click the checkbox on the left, and click Restore (or Delete forever, if you really want to erase history):
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