Managing source and type filters for external content in your help center

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">If you're setting up a new web crawler, the name that you assign to the crawler will automatically be used to create the Source value. If you want to change the name later, you can always edit or assign a different source name.</p>
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<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">You can manage external content filters by creating, editing, or deleting source and type names that categorize content origins and kinds. These filters help users find relevant external content in help center searches. Be cautious when deleting sources or types, as it affects content visibility and integrations. Naming sources and types thoughtfully improves content organization and search filtering for better user experience.</p>
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<div class="body">
<div class="p">
<div class="div">
<div class="p" dir="ltr">When you set up <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4593564000410" target="_blank">help center federated search</a>, you must
define the <em class="ph i">source</em> and <em class="ph i">type</em> of the external content that you want
to make available in your help center: <ul class="ul" id="guide_about_federated_search__ul_m2f_zkt_ygc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Source</strong>: Refers to the origin of the external content, such as a
forum, issue tracker, or learning management system.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Type</strong>: Refers to the kind of content, such as blog posts, tech
notes, or bug reports. </li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="p">
<div class="div">
<p class="p">If you're setting up a new web crawler, the name that you assign to the
crawler will automatically be used to create the Source value. If you
want to change the name later, you can always edit or assign a different
source name.</p>
</div>
<div class="div">When <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4593607942298" target="_blank">external content appears in a help center
search</a>, that content is grouped under the appropriate source and
type names, making it easier for users to find the information they are
looking for. </div>
</div>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="guide_about_federated_search__image_g5v_s24_ytb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/docs/en/search-crawler-guide-filter.png" width="600"></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="p">This article contains the following topics:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="guide_about_federated_search__ul_zz2_rvc_x4b">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_cnf_rb1_y5b">Create an external source or
type</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_j4h_3vc_x4b">Edit an external source or type
name</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_f3d_tcy_x4b">Delete an external source or
type</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_cnf_rb1_y5b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Creating an external source and type</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">You can create new sources and types for your external content. However, if
you're using connectors or web crawlers to ingest external content, source and type
are automatically created, and unecessary for you to create manually. </p>
<p class="p">In the help center, the search results filter will show the source or type whenever
external content associated with that source or type appears in the search results. </p>
<div class="p" dir="ltr">
<div class="note tip" id="topic_cnf_rb1_y5b__note_dqq_3lt_ygc">
<span class="tiptitle">Tip:</span> To help users filter and locate content
quickly, consider useful groupings and names for your external content sources
and types when creating them. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408837910426#topic_ilh_5dk_ytb" target="_blank">Help center guide for end users (Using the
search filters)</a>.</div>
</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To create an external source or type</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_cnf_rb1_y5b__ol_dnf_rb1_y5b">
<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">Settings</strong> (<img class="image" id="topic_cnf_rb1_y5b__d8e85" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide_icon_settings.png">) in the sidebar.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Search settings</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Under <strong class="ph b">Search filters</strong>, click <strong class="ph b">Manage</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">On the <strong class="ph b">Sources</strong> tab, click <strong class="ph b">Create source</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_cnf_rb1_y5b__image_jly_b31_y5b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide-oneclick-searchfilters.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">In the <strong class="ph b">Name</strong> field, type a name that describes where this content
lives, then click <strong class="ph b">Create</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_cnf_rb1_y5b__image_hnf_rb1_y5b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide-ew-searchadmin-createsource-modal.png" width="400"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">On the <strong class="ph b">Types</strong> tab, click <strong class="ph b">Create type</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_cnf_rb1_y5b__image_oz4_f31_y5b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide-oneclick-types.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">In the <strong class="ph b">Name</strong> field, enter a name that describes what kind of content
this is, then click <strong class="ph b">Create</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_cnf_rb1_y5b__image_ebg_y31_y5b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide-ew-searchadmin-createtype-modal.png" width="400"></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_j4h_3vc_x4b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Editing an external source or type name</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">You can change the name associated with an external content source or type
if you want to control how that element appears in the UI. </p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To edit an external source or type name</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_j4h_3vc_x4b__ol_egn_bb4_ytb">
<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">Settings</strong> (<img class="image" id="topic_j4h_3vc_x4b__d8e85" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide_icon_settings.png">) in the sidebar.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Search settings</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Under <strong class="ph b">Search filters</strong>, click <strong class="ph b">Manage</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Select the <strong class="ph b">Sources</strong> or <strong class="ph b">Types</strong> tab, depending on the element that
you want to edit.</li>
<li class="li">On the row of the source or type that you want to edit, click the options
menu (<img class="image" id="topic_j4h_3vc_x4b__image_jxl_jc4_ytb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/sell_icon_menu_vertical.png" width="15">), and then click <strong class="ph b">Edit
name</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_j4h_3vc_x4b__image_jtd_jd4_ytb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide-oneclick-editnametype.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">In the <strong class="ph b">Name</strong> field, type the new name.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_j4h_3vc_x4b__image_inq_wd4_ytb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide-sc-edit-source-name.png" width="400"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_f3d_tcy_x4b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Deleting an external source or type</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">You can delete an external source or type if you no longer plan to ingest external
content associated with that source or type into your help center search.<div class="note important" id="topic_f3d_tcy_x4b__note_xny_k2h_xgc">
<span class="importanttitle">Important:</span> Do not delete the source or type for the
Knowledge connectors from this page. If you do so, the connectors will break and
you won't be able to reconnect them. To remove a connector, see the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9796599390874" target="_blank">Knowledge connector</a> article related to
the connector you wish to remove.</div>
</div>
<p class="p">When you delete an external source or type, the following will occur:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_f3d_tcy_x4b__ul_dxv_w24_ytb">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">External content records belonging to this source or type won’t be
included in help center results.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Any crawler or external content connection associated with this
source or type will be deleted, and the connection related to the deleted
source or type becomes unsyncable.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If you have any API integrations that add external records to this
source or type, they may break.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To delete an external source or type</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_f3d_tcy_x4b__ol_lzb_tpr_x4b">
<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">Settings</strong> (<img class="image" id="topic_f3d_tcy_x4b__d8e85" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide_icon_settings.png">) in the sidebar.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Search settings</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Under <strong class="ph b">Search filters</strong>, click <strong class="ph b">Manage</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Select the <strong class="ph b">Sources</strong> or <strong class="ph b">Types</strong> tab, depending on the element that
you want to delete.</li>
<li class="li">On the row of the source or type that you want to edit, click the options
menu (<img class="image" id="topic_f3d_tcy_x4b__image_q22_sg4_ytb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/sell_icon_menu_vertical.png" width="15">), and then click
<strong class="ph b">Delete</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_f3d_tcy_x4b__image_ovj_vf4_ytb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide-oneclick-searchfilterdel.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Delete</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Read the <strong class="ph b">Delete source</strong> confirmation content and select the check
boxes to indicate that you understand each item.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_f3d_tcy_x4b__image_c2x_fh4_ytb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide-sc-delete-search-filter+conf.png" width="400"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Delete</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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