Configuring the Knowledge Sidebar is a Lightning App Builder activity: drop the component on the right page, configure the auto-suggest fields and default filters, save and activate.
- Enable Lightning Knowledge first
Setup, Knowledge Settings, confirm Lightning Knowledge is enabled. Without it, the Knowledge Sidebar component does not appear in the Lightning App Builder palette.
- Open the case Lightning record page
Setup, Object Manager, Case, Lightning Record Pages. Edit the default page or clone for the Service Console.
- Drag the Knowledge component into the right rail
The component appears in the Standard category. Drag it to the right rail or another suitable region.
- Configure auto-suggest fields
On the component properties, pick which case fields drive the auto-suggest query (Subject, Description, Type). Most teams default to Subject + Description.
- Set default filters
Configure default Data Category filters and Record Type filters. For multilingual orgs, set the default language filter to the case Account language.
- Activate the page
Save and activate as the default for the Service Console app. The Sidebar appears for every user assigned to the page layout.
- Repeat for chat and other surfaces
Add the Knowledge component to the chat console page, the messaging console page, and any custom Service Cloud surface where agents work with cases.
- Train agents on Attach vs copy-paste
The view-count and ranking signal depends on Attach. Train agents to click Attach, not copy-paste, when sharing article content with customers.
The case fields used to generate the article suggestion query. Subject + Description is the typical default.
Data Category and Record Type filters applied to the auto-suggest results. Configurable per page.
For multilingual orgs, the language used to filter articles. Critical for non-English customer support.
Attach, Share, Link buttons exposed on each suggested article. Custom Quick Actions can be added.
Touch-optimized version of the Sidebar that surfaces on the Salesforce Mobile App and Field Service mobile.
- The Knowledge Sidebar requires Lightning Knowledge enabled. Classic Knowledge orgs have a different Sidebar component with reduced functionality.
- Auto-suggest matches against the configured fields only. A case with empty Subject and Description gets no suggestions; ensure the case creation flow populates these fields.
- Without a language filter, multilingual orgs serve mixed-language articles to agents. Set the default language explicitly.
- Copy-paste of article content bypasses the view counter and ranking signal. Train agents to Attach instead.
- Custom Lightning components extending the Sidebar need to honor the Knowledge sharing model. Bypassing the model risks exposing articles to users who should not see them.