After studying this topic, you should be able to:

Describe the major capabilities of Salesforce

Knowledge.
 Introduction

This topic describes the major capabilities of Salesforce Knowledge.

Salesforce Knowledge can be used to build up a knowledge base of
articles that can be accessed and viewed both by internal users and
externally by customers or partners in a community or public
knowledge base. Articles can be created for a variety of purposes,
including answering common questions, solving issues, product
information, and documenting internal processes. The use of
Salesforce knowledge can improve productivity for internal users as
they have access to required information. It can also allow customers
and partners to self service, reducing the number of cases submitted.
Agents can use knowledge to assist in case resolution and attach
articles to cases to provide relevant information to customers or
partners.
 Capabilities of Salesforce Knowledge

Data Categories Knowledge Article Availability

Data Categories can be created to classify Available internally for search and can be
and organize articles, making them easier attached to cases. Available externally in
to find. Data Categories can also be used communities or public website.
to and control visibility to articles. I II
Article Lifecycle Management
Lifecycle features support includes
Data Category Groups article creation, review and
VI III
Category Groups can be created approval, publishing, updating,
to organize data categories into consumption, feedback and
a hierarchy. archiving / deletion.
V IV

Workflow and Approval Article Types & Record Types

Workflow rules and approval processes Article types (Salesforce Classic) and
can be defined for the publishing process. record types (Lightning Experience) define
the structure and format of articles.
 Salesforce Knowledge Overview
Salesforce Knowledge allows creating and managing a knowledge base of articles
that can be used to help solve customer problems or questions.

RECORD TYPES ARTICLE SHARING PUBLISHING PROCESS AVAILABILITY

Different types of articles Articles can be shared in Salesforce Knowledge Salesforce Knowledge is
can be created using messaging or chat articles can follow a available in both
Salesforce Knowledge. conversations by adding a publishing process, starting Salesforce Classic and
URL link to an article in with the ‘Draft’ status and Lightning Experience.
case interactions. progressing to ‘Published’
once approved.
 Lightning Knowledge
Lightning Knowledge is used to manage a knowledge base in Lightning Experience. It is
available in new organizations and old organizations can migrate from Classic Knowledge.

SET UP ARTICLE MANAGEMENT ARTICLE MIGRATION

Lightning Knowledge can be Knowledge articles can be In Lightning Knowledge, users can
enabled to use Knowledge in managed from Knowledge home migrate articles owned by
Lightning Experience. It cannot be in Lightning Experience. inactive users.
disabled once it is enabled.
Knowledge Setup
 Knowledge Licenses
A Knowledge User license is required to set up Salesforce Knowledge. A license is not
required for users to view knowledge articles.
 Knowledge Settings
Lightning Knowledge needs to be enabled in Setup.
 Knowledge Setup
Salesforce Knowledge is enabled by navigating to ‘Knowledge Settings’ in Setup.

KNOWLEDGE SETTINGS PERMISSIONS

Various Salesforce Knowledge settings can be The Knowledge User license is required to do more than
configured in ‘Knowledge Settings’, such as suggesting read articles; permission sets or custom profiles can be
related articles on cases. created to grant permissions related to Salesforce
Knowledge. For example, the ‘Manage Salesforce
Knowledge’ permission can be assigned to allow creating
article types.
 Knowledge Settings
These are the additional knowledge settings available for both Lightning and Classic.

\
Lightning Knowledge Setup

SET UP REQUIREMENTS
Setting up Lightning Knowledge requires:

Creating Knowledge record types

Customizing record type page layouts

Setting access for Knowledge users

 Knowledge Record Types
In Lightning Experience, record types are used in replacement of the classic article types to
define the format of different types of content, such as FAQs or Product Information.
 Knowledge Page Layouts
Page layouts are assigned to record types to specify the record fields and layout that
will fit an article record type.
 Example of the Article Page Layout
This is an example of an article page layout. Standard and custom fields can be added
to attain a customized view for each article type.
 Lookup Fields for Article Versions
Lightning Knowledge allows linking article versions to objects such as leads and
custom objects.

LOOKUP RELATIONSHIP LOOKUP FIELD ARTICLE VERSION

A lookup relationship field can be A lookup field allows relating a When a new article version is
created on an object to link the specific record to an article published, the lookup relationship
object to the Knowledge object associated with the Knowledge stays connected to that version.
that has been set up for Lightning object.
Knowledge.
 Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool
Migration allows moving all the content in the existing Classic Knowledge base to
Lightning Knowledge.

ACTIVATION
Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool
can be enabled in a production org by
contacting Salesforce Support.
BEST PRACTICE FILES
It is recommended to test the It is possible to view and attach files in
migration in a sandbox org before the Files related list after migration.
performing it in production. ARTICLE TYPES MAPPING
CONSIDERATIONS It maps Classic Knowledge article types
The migration process includes multiple to record types. All the articles are
phases and has different considerations consolidated in a single object, and
for single article type orgs and multiple record types are used to distinguish
article type orgs. different types of articles.
Article Management
 Knowledge Lifecycle

CREATE
DELETE REASSIGN
Drafts or archived articles can be Article drafts can be reassigned to
permanently deleted as part of other contributors for proofreading
Knowledge base maintenance. and to double check facts.

KNOWLEDGE
ARCHIVE ARTICLE PUBLISH
Outdated Articles about can be Articles can be published to
archived from the Knowledge base internal or public Knowledge
(e.g. retired or out-of-service base.
products or company information).

UPDATE
Content updates can be done to make sure that the articles are fresh and current. A
Draft version of published articles is generated when updating.
 Knowledge Object
Knowledge articles are managed on the Lightning Knowledge home page.
 Knowledge Action Buttons
Knowledge action buttons can perform different single or mass actions from the
Knowledge Home List View.

BUTTON DESCRIPTION

New A button that can be used to create a new article.

Publish A button used for publishing one or multiple article drafts.

Users or groups can participate in the article publishing process when they are
Assign
assigned to an article. Assign button can perform a single or mass assignment.

Change Owner Ownership of draft, published, and archived articles can be transferred.
 Knowledge Action Buttons

BUTTON DESCRIPTION

Archive A button that can be used to archive a published article.

Delete Article A button that can be used for deleting an archived article.

Restore button can put back a draft from an archived article. The latest and
Restore
past versions of an archived article can be restored.

A button that can permanently delete drafts of master-language or translated

Delete Draft
articles. Deleted drafts can no longer be recovered.
 Article Creation
Articles can be created manually or through mass imports.

CREATE MANUALLY MASS IMPORT

An article can be created from the Knowledge A maximum of 9, 999 articles and translations can
object homepage by clicking the ‘New’ button and be imported at the same time per operation
supplying necessary field data. through the Import Article tool.
 New/Edit Article Drafts
A draft is first generated when a new article is being created.
 Editing Published Articles
A draft is generated when editing a published article which can then later be published
as the latest version of the article.
 Creating or Updating an Article
An article is comprised of several standard fields that display the basic information,
properties, visibility, and assignment details.
 Creating or Updating an Article
Custom or Standard Article fields can be added and sectioned in the Knowledge page
layout to have a finer view of the most important information.
 Custom Rich Text Area Field
A Rich Text Area Field can be created and added to the page layout to provide a range
of formatting options when users create article content.
 Using Quick Text
Agents can also use Quick Text to insert predefined text into articles allowing users to
save time and increase standardization. Example are short notes, greetings, and FAQ’s.
Knowledge Import

IMPORTING ARTICLES
Existing articles or information database can be
imported into Salesforce Knowledge by:

Preparing an CSV file for an article record

type

Setting article import parameters

Creating a ZIP file with .parameters, .csv,
and .html files
Uploading the file to Salesforce Knowledge
by navigating to ‘Import Articles’ in Setup
 Knowledge Article Channels
Salesforce Knowledge articles can be published in different channels:

Internal App Customers Partners Public Knowledge base

 Article Channel Settings
Channel settings which determines article visibility can be set by adding and selecting
the appropriate visibility field(s) on the article page.
 Articles in a Customer Community
Topics should be enabled for the Knowledge object in order to use Articles in
Communities.
 Articles in a Customer Community
This is an example of a Customer Community page that displays the Featured
Knowledge Topics and Trending Articles.
 Archiving and Deleting Articles
Below are the considerations when deleting and archiving articles from the Knowledge
Base.

A published article Deleted drafts can Deleted articles and A single deleted Deleting an article
must be first no longer be translations are translation cannot or translation may
archived or be retrieved. moved to Recycle be restored. fail if another user
edited as a draft Bin. or the system
before it can be simultaneously
deleted. modifies it during
deletion.
Organizing and Controlling
Access to Articles
 Category Groups, Data Categories, and Articles
Categories and Category groups can be used to organize and control access to
knowledge articles.

DEFINITION CAPABILITY EXAMPLE

Container for Used for organizing

CATEGORY Products
individual data data categories based
GROUP
categories on type

DATA Hierarchical Used for organizing Desktops,

CATEGORIES classification of and controlling access Laptops, and
articles to knowledge Printers

Documents of Used for providing FAQs related to a

ARTICLES different types of information to particular product
information stakeholders
 Data Categories
Data Categories can be used in Salesforce Knowledge to help organize and find
articles.

CONTROL ACCESS TO ARTICLES

Data Categories can be used to control access
to a particular set of articles by mapping:

Roles
Permission sets

Profiles to categories in the category groups

 Example of a Category in an Article
This is an example of adding ‘Sales Regions’ category to an article from the Categories
component.
 Category Groups
A category group acts as a container for multiple data categories, and it’s possible to
assign more than one data category to a Salesforce Knowledge article.

Category
PRODUCTS COMPANIES REGIONS
Groups

Data
Desktop Laptop Server Small Medium Large US EU APAC
Categories

Knowledge
Articles GDPR Compliance Cross-Selling Tips
Troubleshooting a Installing Drivers
Guidelines for for Small EU
Server Issue on a Laptop
Staff Businesses
 Category Group Visibility
Data category visibility determines the individual data categories, categorized articles,
and categorized questions that users can see.

SET CATEGORY GROUP VISIBILITY

Category group visibility settings can be defined in
profiles, roles or permission sets to specify visibility
settings for different data categories.
 Visibility Setting Options
Below are the three types of visibility that can be set for data categories.

ALL CATEGORIES NONE CUSTOM

All categories are visible. No categories are visible. Selected categories are visible.
 Example of a Data Category Group
An example of a category group that consists of categories that are a geographical
hierarchy of regions.
Data Category Visibility

SET DATA CATEGORY VISIBILITY

Category group visibility settings can be defined
to specify which data categories within category
groups should be accessible to users.
 Data Category Visibility
The diagram below shows the different options and visibility settings available for
defining data category visibility in Salesforce.

Data Category Visibility Options

Profile Role Permission Set

Category Group Visibility Settings

All Categories Custom None

Desktop Laptop Server Small Medium Large US EU APAC

Desktop, Laptop,
Small and Large None
and Server
 Determining the Article Visibility
The diagram below shows how the visibility of an article depends on the data
categories assigned to the article and the category group visibility settings.

Category Groups Products Companies Regions

Data Categories Desktop Laptop Server Small Medium Large US EU APAC

Assigned Data Article I Article II Article II

Categories
Desktop, Small, and EU Server, US, and EU Large and APAC

Category Group
Visibility Products: All Categories Products: None Products: All Categories
Settings Companies: Small Companies: All Categories Companies: None
Regions: EU Regions: US Regions: US & APAC
Article Visibility YES NO NO
 Data Category Mapping
Case fields can be mapped to data categories in order to filter articles that are
assigned to those data categories.

ADVANTAGE CONFIGURATION CONSIDERATIONS

Data category mapping makes Case fields can be mapped to data It is possible to choose which case
suggested articles more relevant categories by navigating to 'Data fields map to which data
when solving cases. Category Mappings' in Setup. categories. Only text and picklist
fields are supported.
Data Category Mapping

IMPACT ON SEARCH
Filters are applied after a Knowledge search
and only to the articles returned in the search,
but they are only applied to the initial pool of
article results returned. A list of all articles
that match the filter criteria is not returned.
 Data Category Mapping for Case Fields
This is an example of mapping the Case Product field to Sales Regions category group.
Using Knowledge Article
Salesforce Knowledge Articles

FUNCTIONALITIES
Support agents can:
Search for articles

Attach a relevant article to a case

Send an article to customers as a link.

Knowledge Search

GLOBAL SEARCH
Lightning Knowledge allows agents to perform a
Knowledge search in the global search box at the
top of every page and in the Knowledge
component for the Lightning Service Console.
 Example of using Global Search
Global search can be configured to include Lightning Knowledge fields in search
results and filter options.
 Knowledge Component
The Knowledge component can be used to perform article search, attach an article to
(or remove from) a case, follow, and unfollow articles.
 Article Suggestions
Automated article suggestions for a case can be viewed from the Knowledge
Component.
 Article Related List
The Article Related list component can be added to the record page to display the
articles attached to a case.
 Attaching an Article
This is an example of attaching an article to a case record.
 Example of associating an article to a Lead
If a lookup relationship has been created between Lead and Knowledge, an article can
be linked to the record.
 Learn More

Lightning Knowledge Guide

Salesforce Knowledge Guide (Classic)

Hands-On Training: Setting Up Salesforce Knowledge

Filter Articles with Data Category Mapping

Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool

Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool Features and Considerations