Managing Knowledge Base Categories

Knowledge Base article categories organize content and manage access. You can create categories with different permission levels, and use inheritance so articles follow their parent category's settings. This allows sections like "Internal Knowledge" for staff and public categories for customers. For full separation, multiple client portals can host separate internal and external knowledge bases, each with unique branding and URLs.

In this article, we'll explain how to:

• Manage Categories through the Client Portal
  • Create a New Category or Subcategory
  • Restrict Access to Categories by User Group
  • Make Some Categories Public
• Review Categories through TDAdmin or the Client Portal Admin

Managing Categories through the Client Portal

Create a New Category or Subcategory

Categories created in the Client Portal will automatically inherit permissions from the selected parent category. When creating a category at the top level on the Knowledge Base landing page, it will automatically be made public.

To create a category:

1. In the Client Portal, click the Knowledge Base in the top navigation
2. If you aren't adding a top-level category, navigate to the category where you want to add a subcategory
3. Click the + New Category button
4. Enter a Name
5. If this is not a top-level category, select the Parent Category
6. Set the Order or leave as 1 for the default, alphabetical
7. Enter a Description that will appear on the list of contents
8. Optionally, select an Icon to appear on the content list
9. Click the Icon Color field to open the color picker, or enter a hexadecimal value
10. Click Save

To edit a category:

1. Navigate to the category in the Knowledge Base
2. Click the pencil icon on the right side of the page
3. Make the needed changes and click Save

Restrict Access to Categories by User Group

To restrict user access to a category using Groups:

1. In the Edit Category popup, click the Permissions tab
2. Uncheck the Inherit Permissions box
3. Uncheck the Public box
4. Under Category Permissions, select one of the following options:
   • Allow ONLY the associated groups below to view this category
   • Allow all individuals to view this category EXCEPT the associated groups below
5. Click the Add Groups dropdown and select all the applicable groups
6. Click Save

Please note that it can take several minutes for access changes to take effect in the Client Portal.

Making Some Categories Public

If the knowledge base application has been set as Public or Auto in the Client Portal settings, you can grant public, non-authenticated users access to select sections of content:

1. In the Edit Category popup, click the Permissions tab
2. If the Parent Category shows as "Public," check the Inherit Permissions box
3. If the Parent Category is "Not Public," check the Inherit Permissions box, then check the Public box
4. Click Save

Reviewing Categories through TDAdmin or the Client Portal Admin

Although categories can be created in the admin interface, all category visibility and access settings are managed through the Client Portal. The primary advantage of the administrator view is the ability to view a comprehensive list of categories, along with metadata for each category.

The available category metadata includes:

• Parent category
• Access settings
• Number of articles in the category
• Number of subcategories
• Shortcuts to or from the category

To review all categories in a Knowledge Base:

1. Open the Categories page:
   • Client Portal Admins: In the Client Portal, click your name in the top right > Admin > Knowledge Base > Categories
   • Global Admins: In TDAdmin, click Applications > [the Client Portal name] > Knowledge Base > Categories
2. ​​​​​​​Explore the category table. Click the column headings to change the sort order.​​​​​​​

To create a category:

1. Click the + New button
2. Enter a Name
3. If this is not a top-level category, select the Parent Category
4. The Order value updates automatically to reflect the category's alphabetical position among all items.
5. Click Save.

To edit a category:

1. Locate the category in the list.
2. Scroll to the right end of the category row and click Edit.
3. Make the needed updates, then click Save.