Launch of the New Article Editor
We have made a bunch of new and exciting updates to the way you edit an Article in Knowledge. We not only streamlined the user interface but also introduced some new features that improve the overall experience and workflow.
New Features & User Experience Enhancements
View State
You are no longer taken to the Edit State of a Draft when you click on one from the main Knowledge view. Similar to clicking on a Published Article Card, you will now be taken to the View State of the Draft. We also unified certain actions available so you can perform them whether in View or Edit State, depending on permissions. (e.g. Publish, Unpublish, Discard Draft, Comment, etc.)
Versions
We reworked the concept of Revisions. The Revisions picklist is now visible in the View State and will allow you to select what we are now calling Versions: Published, Draft, or Previously Published (formerly known as Revision). This will allow you to review different Versions individually and take appropriate action. When you unpublish a Published version, it will now convert to a Previously Published version. This not only gives you an audit trail but allows you to review the Previously Published version if you need to copy content from it. The timestamp for Draft versions is the last time the Save button was clicked. We moved the timestamp to the version picklist so you can quickly see when things were updated. The timestamp for Published and Previously Published versions is the date/time they were published.
Article Information Panel
We combined the 2 panels into 1 collapsable and resizable panel to give you more room for updating the content of the Draft. We also reorganized the Details tab and removed the individual Change/Done functionality for all of the fields in it. You can now update any of the fields directly without having to click Change first, then simply click the Save button.
To Do Tab
We created a To Do tab for adding and resolving comments and for future improvements and features such as Article Approvals.
Events Tab
We moved the Stats to the top of the Events tab and introduced a Load More Events button at the bottom. 15 event logs will load by default and 15 (or less depending upon the total number of event logs) will load every time you click it. We also cleaned up the logs themselves by getting rid of duplicate logs, removing extraneous information, and updated the verbiage to match the interface (e.g. Teams are listed by their actual name instead of their ID).
Labels
We updated the way you add Labels to an Article by mimicking the way Labels are displayed in the main Knowledge view. You can now search or simply click through the same style tree and check the boxes next to the Labels you want to add to the Article. This makes it easier to find the label you are looking for, especially if you have multiple sub-labels with the same or similar names.
Search Terms
Keywords are now known as Search Terms. Adding Search Terms will now behave more like adding Tags or Products. A removable badge will be added for every Search Term you enter. You can also add phrases for exact specific searches to improve search results.
Main Action Buttons
View State
Edit State
We moved the main buttons from the bottom right to the top bar with the Version picklist. This brings the most frequent actions you perform front and center of the editor. We broke out Publish into its own button to make the publishing process easier and faster. We also introduced a 3-Dot Menu for less frequent actions and to introduce more functionality in the future.
Cancel Button
We updated the behavior of the Cancel button. When you click Edit on a Published version that has no Draft, a new Draft gets created based on the Published version. If you don’t make any changes or click Save, clicking Cancel will discard the Draft for you and take you back to the View State of the Published version. If you do make any changes to a Draft and don’t click Save, you will receive a popup asking if you want to save your changes.
Discard Draft
You will now be presented with a confirmation popup when you click on Discard Draft to avoid accidentally deleting something you shouldn’t have.
Refresh or Close Tab/Window
If you refresh your page or attempt to close the tab/window you are working on while you have unsaved changes, you will be prompted by your browser.
Code View Saving
You can now Save any changes you make while in Code View without having to switch back to the standard view first.
File Manager
We added an option to the toolbar while you are editing an Article called File Manager. This will allow you to upload files you wish to reuse in multiple Articles throughout your entire library. Clicking on the thumbnail will insert the file into the article you are editing. Clicking the Replace icon will allow you to swap out the file and it will automatically update any Articles using the file without changing the Article status. Clicking the Delete icon will allow you to remove the file just from the File Manager itself or remove it from any Articles it is in.
Create Article Modal
We updated the way new Articles are created. When you click on Create > Article, you are now presented with a modal where you can enter the Title of your Article, select the Library it will be nested under, and optionally choose a Template. This streamlines the creation process and ensures Articles are also created in the Library they belong to.
Export to PDF
We added an option in the Three-dot Menu to export Articles to a PDF version whether you are in the View or Edit State.
If you are interested in using the new knowledge editor, email product@ovationcxm.com.