Definition
An Article-Type Layout in Salesforce Knowledge defines the arrangement of fields and sections on a Knowledge article page for a specific Article Type. Administrators configure Article-Type Layouts to control which fields appear when agents or customers view or create articles, similar to how Page Layouts work for standard and custom objects.
Real-World Example
At their company, a customer success manager at CloudNine Solutions leverages Article-Type Layout to streamline support operations and reduce the backlog of unresolved customer issues. With Article-Type Layout in place, the team routes cases to the best-qualified agents, tracks SLA compliance automatically, and provides self-service options that deflect 30% of incoming volume.
Why Article-Type Layout Matters
In Classic Knowledge, because each Article Type is a separate object, each also has its own Page Layouts, called Article-Type Layouts. Administrators configure these layouts to control which fields appear, in what order, on create and edit screens and on the view screen for each article type. FAQs might have a simple Question and Answer layout, while Troubleshooting articles might have a more complex layout with fields for Symptoms, Root Cause, and Resolution.
Article-Type Layouts work the same way as standard object page layouts: drag and drop fields, add sections, include related lists, and assign layouts to profiles if different user groups need different views. In Lightning Knowledge, since all articles live on a single Knowledge object with Record Types, you configure standard page layouts assigned to Record Types instead, which is the same mental model but with less object-level complexity.
How Organizations Use Article-Type Layout
- •CloudNine Solutions — Built separate Article-Type Layouts for Customer-facing FAQs and Internal-only Procedures. The customer-facing layout hides technical fields, while the internal layout surfaces them for agents who need the details.
- •ShieldGuard Security — Still runs Classic Knowledge with several Article Types, each with its own layout. The layouts have been stable for years, which is why migration to Lightning Knowledge has kept slipping as lower priority.
- •Cyberdyne Co — Documented their Article-Type Layouts as part of a migration audit, mapping each one to a corresponding Lightning Knowledge page layout and Record Type. The documentation prevented any fields from being lost during the migration.