Creating a Knowledge Article is more than typing a title and saving. You pick a record type, write content for one or more channels, attach data categories, and decide whether to publish immediately or route through draft review.
- Open the Knowledge app
Switch to the Knowledge app from the App Launcher. The home page shows article queues and recent drafts. Click New, then pick the record type. The choice is locked once the article is created, so pick deliberately.
- Fill in the Title and URL Name
Title is what shows in search results and on the article page. URL Name is the slug used in the canonical URL on the Help Center. Keep URL Name lowercase, hyphenated, under 60 characters. Salesforce will not let you change the URL Name once the article publishes without consequences.
- Write the Summary and Body
Summary is a one-paragraph abstract used by search and Einstein. Body is the rich text content. Use h2 and h3 headings, bullet lists, and short paragraphs. Pasted Word formatting bloats the HTML and breaks responsive rendering.
- Assign data categories and topics
Open the Data Categories panel and pick the category group values that match the article. Topics are added separately under Topics for Objects. Without both, search ranking drops and the article does not appear in topic-based navigation.
- Select channels
At the bottom of the article record, check the channels where the article should be visible: Internal, Customer, Partner, Public. Public makes the article SEO-indexable on the Help Center. Customer requires a Community login. Skipping this step is the single biggest source of missing-article tickets.
- Publish or submit for review
Click Publish to go live immediately, or Submit for Approval if the org has an approval process on KnowledgeArticleVersion. After publishing, the article URL becomes permanent and the article counts toward the Knowledge license metrics.
Display title used by search and the article header. Required on every record type. 255-character limit.
Slug used to build the canonical article URL. Unique within the org. Cannot contain spaces.
Determines the page layout, field set, and template applied to this article. Selected at creation and not changeable later.
Short abstract that drives search ranking and Einstein retrieval. Skipping it weakens the article in every AI surface that retrieves Knowledge.
Determines visibility across Internal App, Customer, Partner, and Public Knowledge Base. An article with no channel selected is invisible everywhere except the author view.
- URL Name changes silently break inbound links from old support emails and search engines. Pick the slug like you would pick a permalink: once and final.
- Translations do not auto-republish when the master changes. After republishing the English master, kick off a translation cycle or the translated articles stay outdated.
- Data category visibility is set on profile and role, not on the article. If a user cannot see an article in search, check Data Category Visibility before opening the sharing settings.
- Lightning Knowledge replaced Classic Knowledge. Migration is a one-way conversion and breaks any custom code that referenced the legacy KnowledgeArticle__kav object.
- Article counts are licensed. Many orgs hit the Knowledge user-license ceiling not because of usage but because every author needs a Knowledge license, not just a Salesforce license.