Vanilla Knowledge User Guide
Here's a quick take on a user manual:
Vanilla Knowledge User Guide
Overview:
Vanilla Knowledge is a feature that lets you create knowledge bases.
KB types
Two KB types are supported: 1) Guide type KBs and 2) Help Center KBs. The Guide type is for a series of articles that should be consumed in sequential order, for example a product user guide. Help Center types are for articles that are consulted individually and are usually found via search. Both Guide and Help Center types support creating categories to organize content.
Help Center:
Guide:
Multiple KBs & Localization
Vanilla supports creating multiple KBs of either type. Multiple KBs are useful if you want to create several KBs for several products or if KBs in multiple languages. Vanilla supports localization of the user interface, presently article content cannot be automatically translated.
Permissions
Before getting started, make sure that the user roles adding KB articles have the correct permissions. In your Dashboard under Roles & Permissions click on the edit icon next to the role(s) that can create. Under Knowledge > Articles select ‘ADD’. Additionally, you can select which user roles have the ability to view KBs. At this time, the permission will apply to all KBs.
Creating a KB
To create your first KB go to your Dashboard and under the Settings Tab go to Knowledge > Knowledge Bases. Click on ‘Add Knowledge Base’.
Enter the KB name, the URL code (the URL slug), a short description that will show on the KB home page if you create multiple KBs, an image icon, a banner image that will be displayed at top of page (size recommendation ??), the type (Guide or Help Center) and the article sort order.
Adding KB Articles
Go to the KB home page or category in an existing KB where you would like to add an article and click on ‘Add Article’. This will bring up the editor that lets you compose an article. You can specify in which category the article will be published to by clicking the category folder that appears above the article title.
Creating Categories
You can create a category by going to the Organize Category page and clicking on ‘New Category’.
You can also create a category while adding or editing an article. While editing an article, click on the category name above the article title.
Click on the chevron ‘>’ to go into the category list for the selected KB. From here you can create a new category.
Organizing Categories
Clicking on ‘Organize Categories’ in the left margin brings you to the Navigation Manager where you can create categories, order categories, next categories and move articles by dragging and dropping them.
Importing Content
If you already have content and would like to import it to Vanilla, please contact your CSM to see if this can be performed by our professional services team. Self-serve imports or referencing content on a source code control platform such GitHub is not available at this time.
Creating a KB Article from a Community Post
(Not sure if released to demo cluster - not working for me) Navigate to the discussion that you would like to convert to a KB article
Using the Editor
The Editor makes content creation easy and intuitive. The content created will display consistently on any device and adheres to the WCAC AA 2 standard.
The simplified button bar lets you add an emoji, insert an image, attach a file or embed media such as a YouTube video. The editor supports file and image drag and drop and will auto-generate a preview of embedded URLs.
To format text, select the text to be formatted.
To edit a paragraph (set heading level, create bullets, format code, etc.) click on the pilcrow (¶) .
The editor is a true WYSIWYG editor and does not support nor require markdown or HTML taks.
Editing Articles
To edit an article, navigate to the article and click on the ellipsis to bring up the article options.
Drafts and Revisions
When composing an article, Vanilla automatically saves drafts. An article will remain in draft mode until it is published. Article revisions are saved each time an edit is published. You can revert to a previous revision by selecting the desired version under Revision History in the article options.
Theming your KB
You can upload a KB icon for each KB and upload a banner image. Currently, there is no support for CSS or HTML. Please consult your CSM to see if theming can be performed by our professional services team.