Salesforce Knowledge is a platform where the organization can create articles about their products, categorize them, and publish it as an online library of company information. It serves as a help center and information base for their respective customers and business partners.
Articles in Salesforce Knowledge go through various steps before they are published. There is a publishing cycle that starts with a draft article and ends with it being published on the company’s website or through a Salesforce Knowledge widget. This post will explain what happens when an article is still considered a Draft Article.
Definition of Draft Article
A Draft Article is simply an unpublished article going through the publishing cycle process. Every time a new article is created, it is automatically saved as a draft article version. Once draft articles are completed, they will be published and will turn to Published Articles.
The Publishing Cycle
Knowledge has created a publishing cycle where all draft articles have to go through before it is published:
- A new draft article is created in the Article Management tab
- It is assigned to a user or a collaborator
- The draft article is translated, as needed
- The article is published
Draft articles turn to Published once they are completed. Published articles may revert back to Draft Articles if editions need to be made. Old published articles can be archived or deleted accordingly.
Creating a New Draft Article
Salesforce Knowledge requires user permissions before new draft articles can be created and published. Check that the system was configured to allow Salesforce Knowledge before attempting to start creating articles. Once done, users may proceed to creating a draft article for publication.
- Assign an article type to the new draft article.
- Write the draft article under the Article Management Tab. Users can either write their own articles or assign it to a collaborator.
- If the article needs to be translated, this can be done by using the Draft Translations selection. Write the translation then save the work.
- The draft article and its translation is then published by clicking on the Publish option found on the Article Management Tab. The draft article is now published to the portals the administrator has set (Internal Salesforce app, public websites, company websites, customer portals, widgets, or a public knowledge base).