Knowledge Action
A Knowledge Action is a configurable button on a Knowledge Article record that runs a defined operation: publish, archive, edit as draft, submit for translation, restore a previous version, or invoke a custom Flow.
Definition
A Knowledge Action is a configurable button on a Knowledge Article record that runs a defined operation: publish, archive, edit as draft, submit for translation, restore a previous version, or invoke a custom Flow. Knowledge Actions sit in the Article Actions section of the page layout and control how editors and reviewers progress an article through its publishing lifecycle. Beyond the standard actions Salesforce ships, admins can build custom Knowledge Actions that trigger Flows for review workflows, compliance approvals, or batch operations on related articles.
Knowledge Actions exist because the Knowledge publishing workflow has more states and transitions than typical sObjects. A Knowledge Article moves through Draft, Pending Translation, Published, Archived, and Edit as Draft states, with each transition requiring specific permissions and triggering different downstream effects (search indexing, channel visibility, translation queuing). Knowledge Actions are the UI surface for those transitions, giving editors a buttoned workflow instead of a manual status update sequence. Without them, the publishing lifecycle becomes a series of error-prone field edits.
How Knowledge Actions drive the article publishing lifecycle
Standard Knowledge Actions that ship with Lightning Knowledge
Salesforce ships a default set of Knowledge Actions: Publish (moves the article from Draft to Published), Archive (moves Published to Archived, keeping the URL valid for legacy links), Edit as Draft (creates a new Draft from a Published article without taking the Published version offline), Submit for Translation (sends the article to the translation queue), Delete Draft (removes a Draft without affecting the Published version), Restore (returns an Archived article to Published). Each is a button on the article page when the user has the right permission. The standard set covers the basic lifecycle; most teams add a few custom actions on top.
Page layout and Article Actions section
Knowledge Actions live in the Article Actions section of the Knowledge Article page layout. The layout is edited like any other Lightning page layout: drag the actions in or out, reorder them, set visibility per record type. Different record types (FAQ, How-To, Known Issue) can have different action sets. A Known Issue record type might include a custom Mark as Resolved action that a FAQ does not need. The page layout is the single configuration surface for the action set.
Permissions: who can run which action
Each Knowledge Action requires a specific permission. Publish requires the Publish Articles permission. Edit as Draft requires Edit Articles. Submit for Translation requires Manage Articles plus Translations. Archive requires Manage Articles. The platform hides actions from users who lack the permission. Most orgs structure permission sets around editorial roles: Author (Edit Articles), Editor (Publish Articles), Translator (Submit Translations). The permission set names align with the action names, which simplifies onboarding.
Custom Knowledge Actions through Flow
Beyond the standard set, admins can build custom Knowledge Actions backed by Flows. A custom action might be Approve for Legal Review (triggers a Flow that creates a task for the legal team), Bulk Archive Old Articles (triggers a scheduled Flow that archives articles past a retention date), or Notify Author of Customer Comment (triggers a notification Flow). The Flow is built once and exposed as an action through the page layout's Mobile and Lightning Actions section. The pattern lets non-developers extend the Knowledge workflow without Apex.
Quick Actions vs Knowledge Actions
Salesforce has two related concepts: Quick Actions (Object Manager, the action system used everywhere) and Knowledge Actions (the lifecycle-specific buttons on articles). Knowledge Actions are a superset of Quick Actions: they include the standard lifecycle buttons plus support for the Knowledge-specific publishing semantics. Custom Knowledge Actions are usually built as Quick Actions on KnowledgeArticleVersion and added to the page layout. The distinction matters mainly for the standard publishing actions, which are not regular Quick Actions and cannot be cloned.
Approval Process integration
Larger teams gate publishing through Approval Processes. An author clicks Submit for Approval (a standard Approval Process action), the article moves to a Pending Approval state, an approver receives a notification, the approver clicks Approve or Reject. On Approval, the standard Publish action fires automatically (configured as the Final Approval Action). The pattern combines Approval Processes with Knowledge Actions to create a multi-step review workflow without custom code. Many compliance-driven teams (financial services, healthcare) run their Knowledge publishing through this exact integration.
Translation actions and the master version
For multilingual Knowledge, several actions specifically target translations. Submit for Translation marks the master article version as ready for translation and creates Pending Translation records for each language. Mark Translation Complete promotes a Pending Translation to Published. Outdate Translation flags translations as needing review when the master republishes. These actions only appear when Multiple Languages is enabled on Knowledge Settings, and they only run for users with the right translation permissions. The action set encapsulates the translation lifecycle without exposing the underlying KnowledgeArticleVersion records.
Configuring Knowledge Actions on the article page layout
Configuring Knowledge Actions is a page layout exercise: pick the actions, place them in the layout, set per-record-type variations, and verify permissions on the user profiles or permission sets.
- Open the Knowledge Article page layout
Setup, Object Manager, Knowledge, Page Layouts. Pick the layout assigned to your authors and editors. The Article Actions section sits near the top of the layout editor.
- Add or remove standard actions
Drag Publish, Edit as Draft, Archive, Submit for Translation, Delete Draft, Restore in or out of the Article Actions section. The order is the order shown on the article page.
- Create custom Knowledge Actions through Quick Actions
For custom workflows, Setup, Object Manager, Knowledge, Buttons, Links, and Actions, New Action. Pick Action Type = Flow, pick the Flow to invoke. Add the custom Quick Action to the page layout.
- Verify per-record-type variations
Different record types (FAQ, How-To) may have different action sets. Use Record Type-specific page layouts or layout assignment to control which actions appear per type.
- Set permissions on user profiles or permission sets
Open the relevant Permission Set: Author, Editor, Translator. Grant Publish Articles, Edit Articles, Manage Articles, or Translations as appropriate. Without the underlying permission, the action button does not render.
- Test the workflow end-to-end
Log in as an Author, create a draft, submit for review, log in as Editor, run Publish. Confirm the standard actions appear when expected and not before. Test custom actions against the Flow paths.
Standard action that moves an article from Draft to Published, triggering search re-indexing and channel visibility updates.
Standard action that creates a new Draft version from a Published article without taking the Published copy offline.
Standard action that moves a Published article to Archived. URL stays valid; the article is excluded from search.
Standard action that marks the master version ready for translation and creates Pending Translation records for each language.
Admin-defined Quick Action that runs a Flow on the article. Used for approval workflows, custom notifications, or batch operations.
Page layout region where the standard and custom actions render as buttons on the article page.
- Standard Knowledge Actions require specific user permissions. A user without Publish Articles does not see the Publish button. Audit profile permissions when actions appear to "disappear".
- Different record types can have different action sets through layout assignment. A change to the FAQ layout does not propagate to the How-To layout automatically.
- Custom Knowledge Actions backed by Flow run with the Flow's current user context. Set the Flow's Run as User setting carefully; system-context Flows bypass sharing.
- Translation actions appear only when Multiple Languages is enabled on Knowledge Settings. Teams that turn off the feature lose the translation actions silently.
- The Edit as Draft action creates a new draft version each time. Multiple agents clicking it on the same article creates parallel drafts that have to be reconciled manually.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Knowledge Action.
- Knowledge ActionsSalesforce Help
- Configure Knowledge Lifecycle ActionsSalesforce Help
- Translate Knowledge ArticlesSalesforce 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.
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