Organizing knowledge base content in categories and sections

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">You can organize your knowledge base content into categories and sections and manage the order of those categories and sections.</p>
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<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">Organize your knowledge base with categories and sections to streamline content management. As a Knowledge admin, you can add, edit, or delete categories and sections, and manage drafts to control visibility. Categories are top-level containers, while sections hold related articles. Use drafts to restrict access during content development, ensuring only admins can view unpublished content.</p>
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<div class="note fastpath">
<span class="fastpathtitle">Location: </span> Help center or Knowledge admin &gt; Add button &gt; Section or Category</div>
<p class="p">You can organize your knowledge base content into categories and sections and
manage the order of those categories and sections. </p>
<p class="p">You must be a Knowledge admin to add and edit sections and categories.</p>
<p class="p">The article covers the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_xl4_hsm_kk">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_hjs_tl4_kk">Adding a category to your
knowledge base</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ysj_wtt_zz">Adding a section to your
knowledge base</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_x53_5l4_kk">Editing categories or
sections</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_v5n_5l4_kk">Deleting categories and
sections</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_x3t_zjs_t2b">Working with category and
section drafts </a></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Related articles:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_ups_tpl_t2b">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838163354" target="_blank">Moving sections and
articles in the help center</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408843983258" target="_blank">Reordering knowledge
base content in the help center</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834687130" target="_blank">Adding subsections to
create more levels in your elp Center</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_hjs_tl4_kk">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Adding a category to your knowledge base</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Categories are the top-level organizing containers of the help center.
Categories contain sections. The help center must have at least one category. If you
have only one category in your help center, then the category itself is hidden to end
users, and they see only the sections in your help center.</p>
<p class="p">For more information, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824317594#topic_ckm_hym_mgb" target="_blank">About the help center
knowledge base structure</a>.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To add a category</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_hjs_tl4_kk__ol_ykp_b5t_zz">
<li class="li">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041943683354#topic_dzz_4wn_s2c" target="_blank">help center</a>
or <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041943683354#topic_b5q_nwn_s2c" target="_blank">Knowledge
admin</a>, click <strong class="ph b">Add</strong> in the top menu
bar, then select <strong class="ph b">Category</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_hjs_tl4_kk__image_zkp_b5t_zz" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide-add-contentblock.png" width="175"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Enter a <strong class="ph b">Name</strong> and optional <strong class="ph b">Description</strong> for
your category.</li>
<li class="li">(Enterprise plans only) In the sidebar, if you have
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828878106" target="_blank">multiple category
templates</a> in your live theme, click the
<strong class="ph b">Template</strong> menu, then select a template.<p class="p">If
you do not select an alternate template, the
default category template will be
applied.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_hjs_tl4_kk__image_uww_3gq_cfb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/category_select_template.png" width="200"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">In the sidebar, ensure the correct <strong class="ph b">Source
language</strong> is selected.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Add</strong>. <p class="p">The category is created. Remember,
if you have only one category, then the category
itself is hidden to end-users, and they see only
the sections that are in your help center.</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note tip">
<span class="tiptitle">Tip:</span> For information about how you can
display a section in multiple categories, see
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408893893018" target="_blank">Displaying an article or section
in multiple sections or categories</a> in our
Support tech notes. </div>
</div>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ysj_wtt_zz">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Adding a section to your knowledge base</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Sections contain related articles. To add a section, you must have at least one
category to act as its parent container. Sections can also contain subsections, so a
section can be a child of a category or a section. Access to a section is not set for
the section as a whole, but is determined by the visiblity of each article in the
section. A section can have a mix of articles that are restricted and unrestricted.</p>
<p class="p">Permissions for viewing and managing articles in a section are set at the
article level, not the section level. </p>
<p class="p">If visibility for all the articles in a section is internal (not
available on Suite Team), then the section will not be visible to
end-users, but if one article in an internal section is visible to
any end-users, then the section will become visible as
well.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To add a section</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_ysj_wtt_zz__ol_xqw_4hv_zz">
<li class="li">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041943683354#topic_dzz_4wn_s2c" target="_blank">help center</a>
or <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041943683354#topic_b5q_nwn_s2c" target="_blank">Knowledge
admin</a>, click <strong class="ph b">Add</strong> in the top menu
bar, then select <strong class="ph b">Section</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_ysj_wtt_zz__image_yqw_4hv_zz" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/hc_topmenu_add_options.png"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Enter a <strong class="ph b">Name</strong> and optional <strong class="ph b">Description</strong> for
your section.</li>
<li class="li">Ensure the correct <strong class="ph b">Source language</strong> is selected if
you support multiple languages (not available on
Suite Team).</li>
<li class="li">Under <strong class="ph b">Order articles by</strong>, select an option for how
you'd like articles to appear in this section.<p class="p">If
you select to manually order of articles, see
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408843983258#topic_m3v_gq4_kk" target="_blank">Manually changing
the order of articles</a> to change the order
of your articles.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Under <strong class="ph b">Hierarchy</strong>, click in the field, then select
where you'd like this section to appear in your help
center.<p class="p">You can select a category or a section
as the parent for this section. You can nest
sections in sections for a maximum of five section
levels, with up to 200 sections in a
section.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">(Enterprise plans only) If you have <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828878106" target="_blank">multiple section
templates</a> in your live theme, click the
<strong class="ph b">Template</strong> menu, then select a template.<p class="p">If
you do not select an alternate template, the
default section template will be applied.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Add</strong>. <p class="p">The section is created. Remember,
if you have only one category, then the category
itself is hidden to end-users, and users see only
the sections that are in your help center.</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note tip">
<span class="tiptitle">Tip:</span> For information about how you can
display a section in multiple categories, see
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408893893018" target="_blank">Displaying an article or section
in multiple sections or categories</a> in our
Support tech notes. </div>
</div>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_x53_5l4_kk">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Editing categories or sections</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can change the properties of a category or section, including its
title or description.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To edit a category or section, do one of the following:</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul">
<li class="li">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041943683354#topic_dzz_4wn_s2c" target="_blank">help center</a>,
navigate to the category or section you want to
edit, then click <strong class="ph b">Edit section</strong> in the top menu
bar.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_x53_5l4_kk__image_vhj_htm_mgb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/edit_section_button.png" width="225"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041943683354#topic_b5q_nwn_s2c" target="_blank">Knowledge admin</a>, click <strong class="ph b">Arrange content</strong>
(<img class="image" id="topic_x53_5l4_kk__d10e48" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide_icon_arrange_articles.png">) in the sidebar.</span> Drill down to the category or section you want to
edit. Click the options menu at the end of the
section title, then select <strong class="ph b">Edit category</strong> or
<strong class="ph b">Edit section</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_x53_5l4_kk__image_xhj_htm_mgb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/arrange_articles_options_menu.png" width="375"></p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_v5n_5l4_kk">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Deleting categories and sections</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">When you delete a category, all the sections contained in the category
are also deleted, and all the articles (including any translations)
contained in the sections are archived.</p>
<p class="p">When you delete a section, all the articles contained in the section
(including any translations) are archived.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To delete a category or section</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_v5n_5l4_kk__ol_f4x_pn4_kk">
<li class="li">Do one of the following to edit the category or section you want
to delete:<ul class="ul" id="topic_v5n_5l4_kk__ul_vtm_zmf_mgb">
<li class="li">In your <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041943683354#topic_dzz_4wn_s2c" target="_blank">help center</a>,
navigate to the category or section you want to
delete, then click <strong class="ph b">Edit section</strong> in the top
menu bar.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_v5n_5l4_kk__image_typ_ssf_mgb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/edit_section_button.png" width="225"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041943683354#topic_b5q_nwn_s2c" target="_blank">Knowledge admin</a>, click <strong class="ph b">Arrange content</strong>
(<img class="image" id="topic_v5n_5l4_kk__d10e48" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide_icon_arrange_articles.png">) in the sidebar.</span> Drill down to the category or section you want
to delete. Click the options menu at the end of
the title, then select <strong class="ph b">Edit category</strong> or
<strong class="ph b">Edit section</strong>.<p class="p">If the edit page doesn't
open, it is likely being blocked by a pop-up
blocker.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_v5n_5l4_kk__image_fqz_lnf_mgb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/arrange_articles_options_menu.png" width="375"></p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Delete</strong> in the bottom of the sidebar.</li>
<li class="li">Confirm that you want to delete the category or section.<p class="p"> You
cannot recover deleted categories or sections. Any
articles contained in a deleted section are
archived. You can <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822193434#topic_1j3_5vp_cy" target="_blank">restore archived articles</a>
to another section if you need to. </p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_x3t_zjs_t2b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">Working with category and section drafts</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">If you create a category or section that is a work in progress, and want
to restrict who can access it, you can mark it as a draft. Marking a
category or section as a draft applies the draft status to any
elements within it.<div class="note" id="topic_x3t_zjs_t2b__note_pb3_zlc_wvb">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> You must be a
Knowledge admin to view draft categories and sections, and
the content within them.</div>
</div>
<p class="p">The steps for marking a newly-created category or section as a draft are
slightly different than those for marking an existing category as a
draft.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To mark a newly-created category or section as a draft</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_x3t_zjs_t2b__ol_ynk_wys_t2b">
<li class="li">Create and save a new section or category, as described
in <a class="xref" href="#topic_hjs_tl4_kk">Adding a category to your knowledge base</a>
or <a class="xref" href="#topic_ysj_wtt_zz">Adding a section to your knowledge base</a>.
<p class="p">The section or category is created and remains
open for editing.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">Mark as draft</strong> option in the
sidebar.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_x3t_zjs_t2b__image_zqc_lzs_t2b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/mark_as_draft.png" width="200"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Update</strong> at the top of the page.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To mark an existing category or section as a draft</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_x3t_zjs_t2b__ol_w3w_mls_t2b">
<li class="li">Open the category or section in edit mode, as described
in <a class="xref" href="#topic_x53_5l4_kk">Editing categories and sections</a>. </li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">Mark as draft </strong>option in the
sidebar.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Update</strong> at the top of the page.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p">Categories and sections marked as drafts are not viewable by end-users,
and can only be accessed by Knowledge admins. </p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To determine whether a category or section is marked as a
draft</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_x3t_zjs_t2b__ol_y5m_x2t_t2b">
<li class="li">Open the category or section in edit mode, as described
in <a class="xref" href="#topic_x53_5l4_kk">Editing categories and sections</a>. <ul class="ul" id="topic_x3t_zjs_t2b__ul_s31_w1t_t2b">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">An existing category or section in draft
mode</strong> section in draft mode is indicated by the
<strong class="ph b">Draft</strong> label at the top of the edit page:
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_x3t_zjs_t2b__image_um2_j1t_t2b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/draft_category.png" width="400"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">A new section added to a category in draft
mode</strong> displays a banner at the top of the page:
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_x3t_zjs_t2b__image_n2v_s1t_t2b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/section_in_draft_category.png" width="400"></p>
When the
category is published, the section is no longer in
draft mode, and the banner is removed. However, if
the section is manually marked as draft, it will
remain in draft mode until the marker is
removed.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
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