Enabling and activating your help center

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The help center is not deployed by default. You must enable it in setup mode, prepare it for release, and then activate it. When your help center is in setup mode, it is hidden from end users and is visible to administrators and agents only.

Note: If you have set up multiple brands and want to add a help center for a brand other than your default brand, see Creating a help center for one of your brands.

This article covers the following topics:

Enabling your help center

Activating your help center

Enabling your help center

You can enable your help center to begin building your knowledge base. While your help center is in setup mode, end users can’t see it. This gives you a chance to make it look just how you want before you activate it.

To enable help center in setup mode

Click the Zendesk Products icon () in the top bar, then select Knowledge.
Note: You must be the account owner to enable the help center.

In the page that appears, click Get started.
If you don’t see this option, but instead your help center opens, it means your help center has already been enabled.

Your help center is created using the default theme. You can customize the theme and add content while it's in setup mode. For next steps, see Preparing your help center for release.

Activating your help center

When you're ready, you can activate your help center and make it live for end users. You must be a Zendesk Support administrator to activate the help center. Knowledge admins who are not Support admins cannot enable the help center.

Tip: Check out Fine tuning: Best practices for ticket deflection for tips on how to best promote self-service during your help center launch.

To activate your help center

In Knowledge admin, click Settings () in the sidebar.

In Help center settings, click Activate.

Click Activate again to confirm that you want to activate your help center.

Your help center is activated and is now visible to end users. If you need to disable your help center, see Deactivating your help center.
Note: If you are using the community, make sure that is also activated. See Getting started with Gather.

Next steps: Be sure to check out our Help center guide for end users and also our complete list of Guide resources.