Working with Article Revisions

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

Overview

Knowledge base articles can change over time, and at some point you may need to look back at the different saved versions of an article. Each time you publish changes to an article, the knowledge base creates a separate, historic version called a revision. Opening a revision allows you to see what was revised, who made the changes, compare two revisions, and restore a previous revision if necessary.

Where to Find This

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

Navigate to article revisions following these paths:

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

Using Article Revisions

Viewing Revisions

  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 newest version at the top. Click on the Revision name to open it and see the details.
  5. The revision page will display the content of the article as it appeared at the time it was saved. 

Screenshot of Revisions list

 

Restoring a Revision

If after looking through the differences on an older revision you decide the older content is better, you can restore the old revision. This will replace what is currently live in the knowledge base.

To restore an older revision:

  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. Click the Restore to this Revision button.
  5. Confirm OK in the modal.
  6. The revision table will display the restored version of the article as a new revision at the top of the list. To see the newly published revision, click the article title in the breadcrumb.

Comparing Revisions

On the Revision page, a Compare Revisions button will appear above the text. This will allow you to compare the differences between two versions of the article.

A couple things to note about comparing revisions:

  • The Compare Revisions button will not appear on the very first version of an article (Revision 1).
  • A revision can only be compared against older revisions. The most recent, live version of a page can be compared against all previous revisions. If there are five revisions for an article, you will not be able to open revision three and then compare against revision four. You would need to open revision four and them compare against revision three.
  • Some formatting, such as tables, cannot be compared, but text within formatted areas will still be compared when possible. 

To compare revisions:

  1. In TDClient, open the Knowledge Base, and navigate to the desired article.
  1. Click the Edit Article button.
  2. Click the Revisions tab.
  3. Click the Compare Revisions button.
  4. On the modal that opens, select the previous revision you want to compare this revision against from the dropdown.
  5. Click Compare

The page will display the content of the two revisions inline. Text and images will be highlighted in green with underline for newer content, highlighted in red with strikethrough for removed content, and highlighted in blue for formatted/modified content. Some formatting, such as tables, is not able to be compared, but text within formatted areas will still be compared when possible. 

When you click Compare Revisions, a menu will let you select which revision you want to compare to, choosing among the versions that are older than the revision you are viewing. 

When you click Compare, you will view the results of the comparison. Text and images will be highlighted in green with underline for new content, highlighted in red with strikethrough for removed content, and highlighted in blue for formatted/modified content. Some formatting, such as tables, is not able to be compared, but text within formatted areas will still be compared when possible. 

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