The Article settings lets you configure various elements of your knowledge base site to improve reader experience and ensure consistency across all articles. Settings here cover accessibility features, article header elements, right sidebar content, article bottom elements, category navigation, site header options, and search behavior. All changes apply globally - every article in your knowledge base site reflects them automatically.
Why article settings matter
Article settings are global - changes apply to every article in your knowledge base site automatically. This makes them powerful levers for consistency and usability. A well-configured knowledge base:
- Reduces support tickets by surfacing related content and guiding readers to answers
- Builds reader trust by showing up-to-date article dates and contributor names
- Improves accessibility for users with reading difficulties via read-out-loud support
- Increases self-service success by enabling feedback, comments, and easy navigation
Example: A SaaS company configuring their help center enables Show read time estimate so technical readers can plan their time, Show related articles to reduce dead ends, and Show article contributors so customers know who to credit for high-quality docs. These small changes measurably increase time-on-page and reduce support escalations.
How to access article settings
- Navigate to Settings () > Knowledge base site in the left navigation bar of the Knowledge base portal.
- In the left navigation pane, navigate to Article settings.
- In the Article settings tab, locate the accordions covering each area of the knowledge base site.
By default, all article elements are displayed. Each can be individually turned on or off.
Changes made in Article settings apply to all articles in your knowledge base site. However, some settings — such as Table of contents or Allow commenting — can also be configured for individual articles from the article's Preferences tab.
Accessibility
The Accessibility accordion includes:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable read out loud | Turn on this toggle to enable the Read out loud feature, allowing readers to listen to articles instead of reading them. For more information, see Enhancing accessibility with our read-out-loud feature. |
If your audience includes non-native speakers or users with accessibility needs, enabling Read out loud is a low-effort, high-impact improvement. It requires no additional configuration per article.
Knowledge base portal
Knowledge base site view
Article header
The Article header accordion lets you customize the elements displayed at the top of each article. For a full walkthrough of each element, see Configuring article header.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Show article contributors | Turn on this toggle to display the list of contributors for each article on the knowledge base site. |
| Show read time estimate | Turn on this toggle to display the estimated reading time for each article. |
| Show Follow button | Turn on this toggle to enable the Follow button, allowing readers to subscribe to article updates. |
| Show Favorite button | Turn on this toggle to show a ❤️ icon on articles. Logged-in readers can save articles to their favorites and access them from their profile or the left sidebar. |
| Show share options | Turn on this toggle to enable social share options. Select the desired social media platforms. |
| Show print button | Turn on this toggle to enable the Print button, allowing readers to print articles directly from the knowledge base site. |
| Show published/updated date | Turn on this toggle to display the published and last updated dates. Published date is when the article was first published; Updated date is the most recent update. |
| Show download as PDF button | Turn on this toggle to let readers download articles, step-by-step guides, and page categories as a PDF. Sub-options: Allow multiple articles download — lets readers export multiple articles at once. Single exports go to local storage; multiple exports are delivered by email and available in the Notifications section for up to 30 days. Allow users to choose PDF template while exporting — lets readers pick a PDF template during export. |
Knowledge base portal
Knowledge base site view
Article right section
The Article right accordion controls what appears in the right sidebar of articles on your knowledge base site.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Show table of contents | Turn on this toggle and select the heading levels to display (H2, H3, H4). H3 or H4 can only be enabled if their parent heading is also enabled. For more information, see Table of contents. |
| Show article tags | Turn on this toggle to display tags added to articles. For more information, see Adding tags to an article. |
| Show article files | Turn on this toggle to display files attached to articles. For more information, see Adding files to articles. |
| Collapse TOC headers | Turn on this toggle to collapse H3 and H4 sub-headings in the table of contents by default, keeping H2 always visible. Sub-headings remain collapsed until the reader manually expands them. For more information, see Table of contents. |
| Show related articles | Move related articles from the article bottom to the right sidebar by enabling this option. Once in the right sidebar, you can reorder it with other modules such as Files, Tags, and In This Article using drag-and-drop. |
H1 is reserved for article or page category titles in Document360. Article headings begin from H2.
Knowledge base portal
You can drag and drop items in the Article right section to change the order they appear in the right sidebar. The order applies to all readers in your project. To reorder, navigate to Settings > Article settings and click Reorder sections under the Article right section.
All available sections appear in the reorder list, including sections that are currently disabled. This lets you configure their position in advance so the order is already set if you enable them later.
Knowledge base site view
Article footer
The Article bottom accordion controls the features displayed at the bottom of articles on your knowledge base site.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Show article comments | Turn on this toggle to allow readers to comment on articles using their Disqus credentials. Requires Disqus integration to be configured in your project. |
| Show feedback form | Turn on this toggle to display a feedback section at the bottom of articles. View feedback data in Feedback manager () > Articles and Analytics () > Feedback. For more information, see Feedback manager and Feedback analytics. |
| Show previous/Next navigations | Turn on this toggle to display Previous and Next navigation links at the bottom of articles. The first article shows only Next; the last shows only Previous. Only articles and category pages appear in this navigation — Index and Folder category types are excluded. |
| Show related articles | Turn on this toggle to display related articles added to each article. You can also move related articles to the right sidebar instead. Select the Enable dual linking checkbox to add reciprocal links between related articles automatically. For more information, see Adding related articles. |
What is dual linking? When dual linking is enabled, adding Article A as a related article in Article B automatically adds Article B as a related article in Article A. This saves time by eliminating the need to add related articles in both directions manually.
Knowledge base portal
Knowledge base site view
Category manager
The Category manager accordion controls how categories and article statuses appear in the left navigation of your knowledge base site.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Show first hierarchical level of categories | Enable this toggle to expand all main categories by default in the knowledge base site. When off, only the first level of the first main category is expanded by default. |
| Automatically set article status | Turn on this toggle to automatically display status tags (New/Updated) for newly published or updated articles. When off, no status tags appear by default — they must be added manually. Example: A New tag (green) appears for newly published articles; an Updated tag (orange) appears for edited and republished articles. For more information, see Status indicator. |
| Custom status indicator | Turn on this toggle to add a custom status indicator, such as Beta, to articles. If turned off, the custom indicator tag is removed from all articles in the knowledge base site. For more information, see Setting up the custom status indicator. |
| Show bubble up status | Turn on this toggle to allow readers to identify categories updated with the latest articles. The count of articles with New, Updated, or Custom statuses appears next to the category name. |
| Auto-collapse categories | Collapses categories by default in the knowledge base navigation tree. Clicking a page or index category collapses any previously expanded category. For folder categories, the reader must expand the folder and click an article for the previously expanded category to collapse. Disable to keep multiple categories expanded at the same time. |
Knowledge base portal
Knowledge base site view
Site header
The Site header accordion includes the What's New feature.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Show What's New | Turn on this toggle to display a What's New () icon listing recently published or updated articles in the selected workspace. For more information, see What's New. |
Knowledge base portal
Knowledge base site view
Search settings
The Search settings accordion controls how search behaves across your knowledge base site.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Highlight search keywords in articles | Turn on this toggle to highlight searched keywords within articles on the knowledge base site. |
| Enable advanced search | Turn on this toggle to allow readers to search across multiple workspaces and languages. For more information, see Search in Knowledge base site. |
| No search result feedback | Turn on this toggle to display a feedback form when no search results are found. For more information, see Search in Knowledge base site. |
| Show attachments tab in search | Turn on this toggle to display the Attachments tab in the search dialog of the knowledge base site. |
| Include common words in search | Turn on this toggle to include common words in search results for broader results. Turn off for more focused searches. |
Knowledge base portal
Article content
The Article content accordion controls table interactivity and FAQ display settings within your articles.
Table
Toggle on Enable table filter & sort to let readers filter and sort table columns directly within published articles in the Knowledge base site. For more information, see Filter and sort table data.
FAQ
Expand the Article content accordion to customize the AI FAQ generator settings at the project level. For more information, see Setting up the FAQ generator.
Knowledge base portal
Best practices
- Accessibility - Enable Read out loud if your knowledge base is public-facing or serves a global audience. It requires no per-article configuration and immediately improves accessibility for non-native speakers and users with reading difficulties.
- Article header - Enable Show contributors and Show published/updated date together. Readers use both to judge content credibility — who wrote it and how recently it was updated.
- Article right - Enable H2 and H3 in the table of contents for most knowledge bases, and reserve H4 for articles with deeply nested technical content. A TOC with too many levels becomes harder to scan than the article itself.
- Article bottom - Enable Show related articles and configure dual linking. Without it, you need to add related articles manually in both directions for every article pair — dual linking halves that effort.
- Category manager - Enable Automatically set article status when you publish frequently. Readers who return to your knowledge base use New and Updated tags to find what changed — without it, they have no signal.
- Site header - Enable Show What's New only if your team publishes regularly. A What's New panel with stale entries creates the impression that the knowledge base is not maintained.
- Search settings - Enable Highlight search keywords in articles and No search result feedback by default. Keyword highlighting helps readers confirm they landed in the right place; the no-results feedback captures what readers couldn't find.
- FAQ accordion - Configure the FAQ generator settings before enabling AI FAQs on individual articles. Project-level settings apply globally — setting them once saves you from having to override them article by article.
FAQ
How do I make only H2 headings appear in the table of contents across all articles?
Navigate to Settings () > Knowledge base site > Article settings. In the Article settings tab, expand the Article right accordion. Turn on the Show table of contents toggle and select only the H2 checkbox.
How do I localize variable text in article settings?
Navigate to Settings () > Knowledge base portal > Workspaces & Localization. In the Localization variables tab, expand the relevant accordion:
- Article right — update Table of contents, Tags, and Files labels.
- Article bottom — update Previous article, Next article, and Related articles labels.
- Category manager — update status badge labels such as New, Updated, Custom, and Deprecated.
- General — update the What's New field.
Click Save. By default, the system localizes variables to the respective language.
How do I set a status indicator for articles?
For a single article: Open the article in the Knowledge base portal. Click the More () icon and select More article options. In the Status indicator tab, choose the desired status and set the validity (1–90 days) in the Show status for field. Click Save.
For multiple articles: Navigate to Documentation () > All articles. Select the articles, click Status indicator at the top, choose the desired status, and click Apply.
How do I choose a background color for a custom status indicator?
Navigate to Settings () > Knowledge base site > Article settings. Expand the Category manager accordion and locate Custom status indicator. Click the color option, choose a color, and click the ☑ icon. Hover over the eye () icon to preview the selected color.
What happens when Automatically set article status is enabled and I manually change the status?
Project-level settings take precedence over individual article-level changes. For example, if an updated and republished article is manually set to New, the system still applies the Updated status based on global settings. This ensures consistency with the project-wide configuration.
How do I enable Bubble up status, and how does it work?
Navigate to Settings () > Knowledge base site > Article settings. Expand the Category manager accordion and turn on the Show bubble up status toggle.
Once enabled, the count of articles with New, Updated, or Custom statuses appears next to the category name in folders, indexes, and pages, including subcategories. The count disappears when all status indicators within the category expire. Clicking the Bubble up status does not affect its visibility.
Why don't I see the Share, Print, or Export PDF options in the Knowledge base widget?
The Share, Print, and Export PDF options are supported only on the Knowledge base site. These options are not available in the Knowledge base widget, which is designed to provide a simplified, embedded experience.
Why does the "Was this article helpful?" option still appear in the widget even after I disabled it in Article settings?
In the Knowledge base widget, the "Was this article helpful?" option always appears at the bottom of articles. The Article settings for disabling this option apply only to the Knowledge base site, not to the widget.