Definition
An Article-Type Template in Salesforce Knowledge determines the overall visual template used to render articles of a specific Article Type. Salesforce provides several built-in templates (such as Tab, Table of Contents, and Custom) that control how the article's fields and sections are displayed to end users when they view the published article.
Real-World Example
a service operations lead at ShieldGuard Security uses Article-Type Template to deliver consistent, high-quality support across all customer channels. Article-Type Template ensures that every inquiry follows the same process, agents have access to relevant customer history, and managers can track performance metrics in real time.
Why Article-Type Template Matters
In Classic Knowledge, each Article Type could be assigned an Article-Type Template, which controlled how the article was rendered to end users. Salesforce shipped a few built-in templates: Tab (which organized fields into tab sections), Table of Contents (which generated navigation links from article headings), and Custom (which allowed a fully custom Visualforce-based rendering). The template determined the visual structure of the final article as seen by agents, customers, or public viewers.
Article-Type Templates were distinct from Article-Type Layouts: layouts controlled the author's editing experience, while templates controlled the reader's view. This separation let authors work with a practical editing interface while readers got a polished, branded view. In Lightning Knowledge, this separation has been simplified, and article rendering is handled more directly through Lightning page layouts, Experience Cloud templates, and responsive design rather than a separate template concept.
How Organizations Use Article-Type Template
- •ShieldGuard Security — Used the Table of Contents template for long security advisory articles so readers could jump directly to the section they needed. This improved usability of articles that were otherwise walls of text.
- •CloudNine Solutions — Built a Custom Article-Type Template with branded headers and a specific layout for customer-facing FAQs. The template was Visualforce-based and gave customers a consistent look across every published FAQ.
- •Oceanic Corp — Used the built-in Tab template for their troubleshooting articles to separate Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Resolution into clear sections. Readers could quickly find what they needed without scrolling through the full article.