Working with Article Drafts

This introduction article will help content editors and authors to learn the basics about managing article drafts in the Knowledge Base. The user must have access to the knowledge base application in the Client Portal, and permissions in their Client Portal security role to Add Articles, Edit Articles, Review and Approve Drafts as appropriate.

Overview

The knowledge base allows you to create a draft version of any article, which can be reviewed while the old version remains available. Each article can have only one draft at a time. The status of the article's draft is available in the Article Details pane and in the knowledge base report source as the Draft Status.

Where to Find This

This feature appears in the TDClient interface, and is within the Knowledge Base application.

Navigate to article drafts following these paths:

  • TDClient > Knowledge Base > [Article to modify] > Edit Article

Using Article Drafts

Creating a Draft

Depending on your permissions, you have two options when you create or edit an article. All users who can create or edit articles can save the article as a draft, and users with the Review and Publish Drafts permission will be able to make changes directly to the article. Once a draft is created, it is available in the Revisions list for the article. 

To create a draft:

  1. In TDClient, open the Knowledge Base, and navigate to the desired article.
  2. Click the Edit Article button.
  3. Make your changes to the article content in the rich text editor.
  4. Add a summary of your changes in the Draft Summary field.
  5. Click the Save Draft button.
  6. The rich text editor and the draft summary field will display your draft.

Reviewing and Publishing Drafts

As a knowledge base reviewer with the Review and Publish Drafts permission, you can search for articles that have a pending draft on the Article Search page.

To find draft articles:

  1. In TDClient, go to the Knowledge Base.
  2. Select the Search page in the lower navigation bar. A search page will display.
  3. Select the “Pending” Draft Status in the search filters.
  4. Enter any other search filters as desired.
  5. Click the Search button.
  6. A list of articles with a pending draft will display.

Screenshot of Article Search page with draft status filtering highlighted

To view a draft’s details:

  1. In TDClient, open the Knowledge Base, and navigate to the desired article.
  2. In the Details panel on the right, click on the Draft Status to open the draft details.

You can also view a draft’s details from the Article Revisions page:

  1. In TDClient, open the Knowledge Base, and navigate to the desired article.
  2. Click the Edit Article button.
  3. Click the Revisions tab.
  4. A table will display each saved revision of your article, with the latest draft at the top, if it exists. Click on the draft to open it and see the details.
  5. The draft details page will display the content of the latest draft.

From the draft details page, you can approve, edit, reject, or delete a draft. You can also compare different revisions.

To approve a draft and make the version available to end users:

  1. In TDClient, open the Knowledge Base, and navigate to the desired article.
  2. In the Details panel on the right, click on the Draft Status to open the draft details.
    • Or, click Edit Article, navigate to the Revisions tab, and click on the draft to open the draft details.
  3. In the draft details page, click Approve This Revision.

To edit a draft:

  1. In TDClient, open the Knowledge Base, and navigate to the desired article.
  2. Click the Edit Article button.
    1. Or, click Edit Article, navigate to the Revisions tab, and click on the draft to open the draft details.
    2. In the draft details page, click Edit This Revision.
  3. Review the blue alert box above the article editor to ensure you are editing the draft.
  4. Make your changes to the article content in the rich text editor.
  5. Add a summary of your changes in the Draft Summary field.
  6. Click the Save Draft button to save the draft, or Update Article to publish the draft with the appropriate permission.

To reject the draft and notify the person who wrote the draft:

  1. In TDClient, open the Knowledge Base, and navigate to the desired article.
  2. In the Details panel on the right, click on the Draft Status to open the draft details.
    • Or, click Edit Article, navigate to the Revisions tab, and click on the Draft to open the draft details.
  3. In the draft details page, click Reject This Revision.
  4. Choose if you want to notify the draft author.
  5. Add any comments.
  6. Click Save.

To delete a draft:

  1. In TDClient, open the Knowledge Base, and navigate to the desired article.
  2. In the Details panel on the right, click on the Draft Status to open the draft details.
    • Or, click Edit Article, navigate to the Revisions tab, and click on the draft to open the draft details.
  3. In the draft details page, click Delete This Revision.
  4. Click OK to confirm deleting the revision.
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