Managing knowledge categories

The KB Articles are organized by applying them to various knowledge categories. Each KB Article can be related to an unlimited number of knowledge categories (for details, see Categorizing objects). You can use knowledge categories to find appropriate articles when you perform an advanced search or browse the Knowledge Base.

The knowledge categories are organized in the hierarchial tree. When building the categories tree, you can add new categories and add new subcategories within existing categories as well as modify and delete the categories. The categories tree always includes system "All Articles" and "Uncategorized" nodes; "All Articles" includes all existing KB articles, "Uncategorized" includes Articles that are not assigned to any category. The "All Articles" category and the "Uncategorized" category cannot be changed in any way.

Each knowledge category can be either internal or public. Self Service Portal (SSP) customers can see only public categories, the internal ones are invisible for them. However, SSP customers can view all the public KB articles, even if they apply to internal categories.

By default, a new knowledge category is internal. You can make the category visible for Self Service Portal customers by marking it as public.

You can perform the following operations with knowledge categories:

• To add a new category:

  1. In the Categories pane, select a category of the same level, as the one you want to add, and click New > New Category on the Module menu.

  2. In the New Category window, enter a name and (optionally) description of the category.

  3. If you want to mark the category as public, select the Public Category check box.

  4. Click OK.

• To add a new subcategory:

  1. In the Categories pane, select the parent category, to which you want to add a subcategory, and click New > New Subcategory on the Module menu.

  2. In the New Category window, enter a name and (optionally) description of the category.

  3. If you want to mark the category as public, select the Public Category check box.

  4. Click OK.

  NOTE: If a category has subcategories, it is marked with the expand button on the left. Clicking the expand button unfold the subcategories. To view all subcategories in the tree, choose View > Expand All from the pop-up menu. To collapse the expanded categories, choose Collapse All.

• To modify a category:

  1. In the Categories pane, right-click the category and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

  2. Edit the name and description of the category as needed.

  3. If necessary, make the category public or internal by selecting or clearing the Public Category check box.

  4. Click OK.

• To move a category:

  • If you want to move a category to the root, right-click the category and choose Move to > Top Level from the pop-up menu.

  • If you want to move a category to another category, right-click the category to move and choose Move to > Category, then select the destination category in the Choose Category window and click OK.

• To make an internal category public:

  • In the Categories pane, right-click the category and select Mark as Public from the pop-up menu.

  NOTE: Those public categories and subcategories that do not contain any public KB articles with the Live status, will not be displayed in the Self Service Portal. For details on publishing KB articles, see Publishing KB articles on the Self Service Portal.

• To make a public category internal:

  • In the Categories pane, right-click the category and select Mark as Internal from the pop-up menu.

  NOTE: If you mark a category that has subcategories public or internal, you'll be asked whether to mark only this category or all its subcategories, too.

• To delete a category:

  • Click the category and click Delete on the Module menu.

Related Information:

Publishing KB articles on the Self Service Portal

Categorizing objects