Article
An Article in Salesforce is a Knowledge Article, the platform's unit of structured help content.
Definition
An Article in Salesforce is a Knowledge Article, the platform's unit of structured help content. Each article carries a Title, URL Name, a rich-text Body (organised into one or more body fields per article type), data category assignments, channel assignments (Internal App, Customer, Partner, Public Knowledge Base), and version metadata. Articles are written by Knowledge authors, reviewed by editors, and published into the org so agents, customers, and external users can find them. Articles live on the Knowledge object (originally several per-article-type objects, unified as KnowledgeArticleVersion since Lightning Knowledge) and are the primary content asset Salesforce service organisations curate.
Articles are how organisations capture institutional knowledge in a way the platform can serve. Agents reading a case can pull up the relevant Article through the Knowledge sidebar. Customers searching the Help Center site can find the same Article ranked by relevance. Einstein for Knowledge can recommend Articles based on case content, suggesting reply text grounded in the right source. The Article's lifecycle (Draft, Online, Archived) governs which version is visible. Articles connect to Cases through Case Articles, to Chatter through @-mentions, and to Search through the standard Salesforce search index.
How Articles are authored, published, and consumed
Article types and the Lightning Knowledge model
Classic Knowledge had separate objects per article type (FAQ, How-To, Process). Lightning Knowledge unifies everything under the standard Knowledge object with Record Types replacing the per-type objects. Admins create record types like FAQ, Procedure, and Release Note, each with its own page layout, but they all share the same Knowledge object. Migration from Classic to Lightning Knowledge is a one-time exercise most large orgs have completed.
Drafting and version history
Authors create an Article Draft, write the content in a rich-text editor, assign Data Categories, set channel visibility, and submit for review or publish directly. Every published article retains its version history. New Drafts created against a published article do not replace it until the new draft is itself published, which lets editors revise without interrupting current customer-facing content.
Data Categories and channel visibility
Data Categories are the taxonomy used to organise articles (Product, Topic, Geography). They control both author/reviewer permissions and external visibility. Channel checkboxes (Internal App, Customer, Partner, Public Knowledge Base) decide which audiences see the article. The combination of category and channel is the most-edited piece of any Knowledge program; getting it right is half the curation work.
Articles attached to Cases
Agents can attach Articles to Cases through the Case Articles related list. The attachment captures which Article resolved the Case, supports reporting (resolved-by-article metrics), and enables Einstein Reply Recommendations to learn which Articles are useful for which Case types. Attached articles also display on Case feeds for the customer when configured.
Articles in Service Console and Knowledge sidebar
The Service Console exposes Knowledge through a sidebar component that searches Articles based on the open Case's subject and description. Agents can click any returned Article to read it inline, attach it to the Case, or send it to the customer as an email. The sidebar is the most-used Knowledge surface for human agents.
Articles in Experience Cloud Help Centers
Customer-facing Help Centers built on Experience Cloud expose articles through the Article component, searchable index, and category navigation. Customers find articles through search, category browse, or via deep links from automated emails. The same article that helps an agent through the sidebar helps a customer through self-service; channel visibility decides what each audience sees.
Einstein for Knowledge and AI integration
Einstein for Knowledge analyses Case content and recommends Articles to attach. Newer integrations with Agentforce ground generative answers in published Articles, ensuring the AI's response cites a real source rather than confabulating. The Article remains the authoritative answer; the AI is the discovery and synthesis layer on top.
Article reporting and content health
Standard report types cover Article views, votes, search-no-results, and article-to-case attachment counts. Mature Knowledge programs build dashboards that track new article publishing rate, average article age, top-viewed articles, search misses, and articles archived without replacement. The dashboards keep the program healthy at scale.
How to author and publish a Knowledge Article
Article authoring is mostly writing and curation. The platform handles the surfacing; authors handle the content and the taxonomy.
- Open the Knowledge object and click New
Pick the Record Type (FAQ, Procedure, Release Note, and so on). The Record Type determines the page layout and the body fields available.
- Write the content
Provide Title, URL Name, Summary, and Body. Use rich text for formatting, embedded images, links, and tables. Keep the title scannable and the body succinct.
- Assign Data Categories
Categorise the article so it appears in the right slice of the taxonomy. Categories drive both author permissions and external visibility.
- Choose channel visibility
Check Internal App, Customer, Partner, Public Knowledge Base based on the audience. Articles can be visible to all four or restricted to one or two.
- Submit for review and publish
Send the draft through approval if the org requires it. Once approved, publish. The article goes Online and becomes searchable for the chosen audiences.
Human-readable article name; the most-scanned field in search results.
URL-safe identifier; appears in the article's permalink.
Decides the page layout and available body fields.
Rich-text article content.
Taxonomy that controls permissions and external visibility.
Audiences (Internal, Customer, Partner, Public Knowledge Base) for the article.
- Articles are visible only to channels checked on the article. An Article missing the Customer channel will never appear in the Help Center, regardless of search.
- Data Category visibility is permissioned. Authors who lack visibility to a category cannot publish articles into it.
- Version history is preserved but only the latest Online version is searchable. Prior published versions remain queryable but do not surface in search results.
- URL Name once set should not change. Inbound links from Cases, Emails, and external sites depend on the URL staying stable.
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- Salesforce Knowledge OverviewSalesforce Help
- Knowledge ArticlesSalesforce Help
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Article.
- Create a Knowledge ArticleSalesforce Help
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is an Article in Salesforce Knowledge?
Q2. What are the main states in an article's publishing lifecycle?
Q3. In Lightning Knowledge, how are different types of articles modeled?
Discussion
Loading discussion…