For new deployments, configure the three components independently. For legacy deployments still running Classic Answers, plan a migration to the modern stack.
- Configure Data Categories
Setup, Data Categories. Build the Category Groups (Product, Region, Audience) and the hierarchies inside each.
- Enable Lightning Knowledge
Setup, Knowledge Settings, Enable Lightning Knowledge. Configure record types, page layouts, channels.
- Build an Experience Cloud Customer Service site
Setup, Digital Experiences, New Site, Customer Service template. The template includes Q and A pages, Knowledge browsing, case logging.
- Enable Chatter Questions for community Q and A
Inside the Experience Cloud site, configure Chatter Questions. Users can post questions, others answer, and the best answer is marked through moderator action.
- Link Data Categories to Knowledge and Q and A
Tag Knowledge articles and Q and A threads with the appropriate Data Categories. The category browser on the site lets customers navigate by topic.
- For legacy Answers migration: plan and execute
Identify Classic Answers data, export the questions and answers, build the equivalent in Experience Cloud, retire the Classic feature.
Hierarchical grouping that persists from the legacy bundle into modern Lightning Knowledge.
The modern article system that replaces Classic Knowledge while inheriting Data Categories.
The modern community Q and A capability replacing the retired Classic Answers feature.
The Experience Cloud template that bundles Knowledge browsing, Q and A, and case logging.
Coordinated multi-step transition from the Classic bundle to the modern feature set.
- The phrase Category, Knowledge and Answers is mostly historical. New documentation uses the individual feature names. Map the legacy phrase to the modern stack when reading older material.
- Classic Answers was retired in stages between 2015 and 2022. Orgs still depending on it are at end-of-life and must migrate.
- Migration from Classic Answers to Experience Cloud Q and A does not auto-migrate existing Q and A data. Plan a manual rebuild or export-import.
- Data Categories carried forward through the migrations. Existing Category Groups and hierarchies work in Lightning Knowledge without rebuild.
- The Customer Service Experience Cloud template bundles Q and A and Knowledge browsing. Use it as the starting point for new self-service deployments rather than building Q and A separately.