Organizing your Knowledge base Content

Organizing your Knowledge base Content

One of the simplest and most overlooked aspects of being organized is getting your knowledge base articles organized. You have to think about where to put your articles so that your customers could easily locate them. So you must begin with the assumption that everything fits into a category or hierarchy of similar things. 

Zoho Desk allows you to organize your articles in the following tree structure: Category > Sections > Sub-sections > Sub-subsection > Articles. That is, you can create a maximum of three hierarchies under a category. Also, note that you cannot have orphan articles in a category when you add a child section underneath it.

Category 
The category is a top-level folder in your knowledge base, and it is linked to a department. When you add a new department, it creates its default category and section in your KBase. You can add additional sections underneath the category to further organize your articles.

Adding Categories 
Besides the default categories, you can add custom categories that are linked to one or more of your departments. Such categories can be added with articles at the root-level or can include a nesting of sections to organize articles as per your needs.
To add a new category:
  1. Click the Knowledge Base (KB) module.
  2. Click Manage KB from the left panel.
  3. Click Organize Category under the Manage KB sub-menu.
  4.  Click Add Category in the top right corner of the page.
    The Add Category window slides open from the right.



  5. On the Add Category window, do the following:
    1. Select a Display Picture from the library.
      You can also       upload a picture from your computer.
    2. Enter a name and description for your category.
    3. Select the departments with which you want to associate the category.
    4. Select a visibility setting. You can choose from None (to keep choices open), Groups, Public, Agents or Custom IP.
    5. Specify how you want your customers to read through the articles. You can choose between list or quick navigation. With quick navigation, you can group related articles and guide customers sequentially from one article to another.
    6. Turn on the Auto-create Tickets from Feedback option, if required. When you do, you must select the department where you would like to create tickets and the agent it should be assigned to automatically. Learn more
    7. Specify Reviewers.
  6. Click Save.

Editing Categories
You can edit the default categories that are created for departments for their display picture, description, etc. as per your preference.
To edit an existing category:
  1. Click the Knowledge Base (KB) module.
  2. Click Manage KB from the left panel.
  3. Click Organize Category under the Manage KB sub-menu.
  4. Hover your mouse pointer on a category and then click the Edit icon (  ).
    The Edit Category window slides open from the right.
  5. Make the following changes to the category:
    • Edit the Category Name
    • Select an icon to be displayed alongside the category in the Help Center. You may choose one from the gallery or upload a custom image.
    • Enter a Description
    • Edit the departments with which you want to associate the category.
    • Edit the visibility setting for the category.
    • Specify how you want your customers to read through the articles.  You can choose between list or smart navigation. With smart navigation, you can group related articles and guide customers sequentially from one article to another.
    • Specify Reviewers.
  6. Click Save.
The category details will be updated as specified.

Deleting Categories
You can delete both the default (i.e., created for a department) and custom categories created in your KBase.
To delete a category:
  1. Click the Knowledge Base (KB) module.
  2. Click Manage KB from the left panel.
  3. Click Organize Category under the Manage KB sub-menu.



  4. Hover your mouse pointer on a category you want to delete and then click the Delete icon (  ).
    Note: Make sure that you've deleted all the sections contained in the category before you delete it.
  5. Your category will be deleted instantaneously.

Adding Sections
You can add any number of sections under a category. The sections will help you to group your articles on a common theme. You can add two more levels of hierarchy to a section.
To add a section in your KBase:
  1. Click the Knowledge Base (KB) module.
  2. Click Manage KB from the left panel.
  3. Click Organize Category under the Manage KB sub-menu.
  4. Select the category in which you wish to add the section.



  5. Click the Add link displayed alongside Section.
    The Add Section window slides open from the right.
  6. Select a Display Picture from the library.
    You can upload a picture from your computer.
  7. Enter a name and description for the new section.
  8. Select a visibility setting for the section. You can choose from None (to keep choices open), Groups, Public, Agents or Custom IP.
    Note: Visibility setting for a category overrides those of its sections.
  9. Click Save.
    Repeat the steps to add more sections or sub-sections.


A new section is added, and the articles that were existing in the category are moved to this section. You can also follow the above steps to add child sections linked to a section. Moreover, you can use the breadcrumb navigation to find your way around the categories and sections in your KBase.
 
Editing Sections
You can edit the sections, child, or parent as and when required in your KBase.
To edit a section:
  1. Click the Knowledge Base (KB) module.
  2. Click Manage KB from the left panel.
  3. Click Organize Category under the Manage KB sub-menu.
  4. Select a category and then navigate to the section you want to edit.
  5. Hover your mouse pointer on the section and then click the More Actions icon (  ).
  6. Select Edit from the More Actions menu.
  7. Make the required changes to the section and then click Save.
The section will be updated. You can also follow the above steps to edit the child sections linked to a section.

Deleting Sections
You can delete the sections added underneath a category.
To delete a section:
  1. Click the Knowledge Base (KB) module.
  2. Click Manage KB from the left panel.
  3. Click Organize Category under the Manage KB sub-menu.
  4. Select a category and then navigate to the section you want to delete.
  5. Drag and drop the section into the Trash Bar at the bottom of the page.
    Note: If the section contains articles, you will be prompted to move or delete them.
  6. Your action will be saved instantaneously.
You can follow the above steps to delete the child sections linked to a parent section. Please keep in mind that you must delete the child sections before you delete its parent.

Reordering Categories and Sections
Reordering your knowledge base folders is important because a casual reader rarely gets to the bottom. You can manually reorder the categories and their respective parent and child sections so that the most relevant and useful topics stay at the top.
To reorder categories and sections:
  1. Click the Knowledge Base (KB) module.
  2. Click Manage KB from the left panel.
  3. Click Organize Category under the Manage KB sub-menu.
  4. Grab the category by the Reorder icon (  ) and drag-drop it, where required.
    Your actions will be saved instantaneously.


You can follow the same steps as above to reorder sections within a category.

Besides, manual reordering, you can leave it for the system to automatically sort and order your categories and sections alphabetically. Here is how you could do it:
  1. Click the Knowledge Base (KB) module.
  2. Click Manage KB from the left panel.
  3. Turn on the Sort categories/sections alphabetically option.
The knowledge base folders will be sorted alphabetically from A-Z. Please note that this option applies only to the folders and not for their articles.

Moving Sections
You can move the articles in a KBase folder to a different section within a category. For example, let's consider that you have 2 sections namely, Zylker Tablets and Zylker Handhelds. You can move the articles under Zylker Tablets to Zylker Handhelds. In which case, the section Zylker Tablets will be added as a sub-section to Zylker Handhelds and the articles will be moved underneath it.
To move folders within a category:
  1. Navigate to the KBase folder you want to move. It can be either a section, sub-section, or a sub-subsection.
  2. Hover your mouse pointer and click the More Actions icon (  ) that corresponds to the section.
  3. Select Move from the More Actions menu.
  4. In the following pop window, specify the category, section and/or a sub-section using the drop menu.
  5. Click Move.

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