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Documentation Index

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Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Articles are the core content pieces in your Help Center. Learn how to create, organize, and publish documentation that helps your customers find answers.

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Creating Articles

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Article Structure

Every article requires:
  • Title - Clear, descriptive heading
  • Content - Main article body with rich formatting
  • Author - User creating the article
  • Portal - Parent Help Center portal

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Optional Fields

  • Description - Short summary (used for meta tags and search previews)
  • Category - Organizational grouping
  • Slug - Custom URL identifier (auto-generated if not provided)
  • Locale - Language code (inherited from category or portal)
  • Meta - Custom JSON metadata
1

Navigate to Help Center

Access your portal’s article management interface
2

Click Create Article

Start a new article in draft mode
3

Add Content

Write your article with the rich text editor
4

Assign Category

Optionally place the article in a category for organization
5

Publish

Change status from draft to published to make it visible

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Article Status Lifecycle

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Draft (Status: 0)

Articles start as drafts. They are only visible to team members and won’t appear on the public portal.
Use drafts for:
  • Work-in-progress content
  • Articles pending review
  • Content preparation before launch

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Published (Status: 1)

Published articles are visible to all customers on your Help Center portal.
Published articles:
  • Appear in search results
  • Show in category listings
  • Increment view counts when accessed
  • Are indexed by the full-text search

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Archived (Status: 2)

Archived articles are hidden from the public portal but preserved in your database.
Archive articles that are:
  • Outdated or superseded
  • Temporarily irrelevant
  • Historical reference material

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Writing Article Content

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Rich Text Formatting

Articles support full HTML and Markdown: 
# Main Heading

## Section Heading

### Subsection

Paragraphs with **bold** and *italic* text.

- Bullet lists
- Multiple items

1. Numbered lists
2. Sequential steps

[Links to other pages](https://example.com)

![Images with alt text](image-url.jpg)

```code blocks```

​
Automatic Features

The portal automatically generates a table of contents from <h1>, <h2>, and <h3> tags in your article.Each heading gets:
  • A unique slug-based ID
  • A permalink anchor (# link)
  • An entry in the sidebar TOC
// From portalHelpers.js
element.id = slugifyWithCounter(headingText);
element.className = 'scroll-mt-24 heading';
Each article view increments the view counter:
def increment_view_count
  update_column(:views, views? ? views + 1 : 1)
end
Use view counts to identify popular content and areas needing improvement.

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Article Organization

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Positioning

Articles have a position field for manual ordering within categories: 
# Auto-generated on creation
max_position = Article.where(category_id: category_id).maximum(:position)
new_position = max_position.present? ? max_position + 10 : 10
Positions increment by 10 to allow easy re-ordering without affecting all articles.

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Updating Positions

Reorder articles using the position update API: 
Article.update_positions({
  article_id_1 => 10,
  article_id_2 => 20,
  article_id_3 => 30
})

​
Sorting Options

Articles can be sorted by:
  • position (default within categories)
  • updated_at (most recently modified)
  • views (most popular)
# Available scopes
Article.order_by_position
Article.order_by_updated_at
Article.order_by_views

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Multi-language Articles

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Associated Articles

Create translations by linking articles: 
# Link a translation to its root article
article.associate_root_article(parent_article_id)

# Schema relationship
belongs_to :root_article,
           class_name: :Article,
           foreign_key: :associated_article_id

has_many :associated_articles,
         class_name: :Article,
         foreign_key: :associated_article_id

​
Locale Handling

Article locales are automatically set: 
def ensure_locale_in_article
  self.locale = if category.present?
                  category.locale
                else
                  locale.presence || portal.default_locale
                end
end
Articles inherit locale from their category. If no category is assigned, they use the portal’s default locale.

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Searching Articles

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Full-text Search

Articles use PostgreSQL’s full-text search with weighted ranking: 
pg_search_scope(
  :text_search,
  against: {
    title: 'A',         # Highest weight
    description: 'B',   # Medium weight
    content: 'C'        # Lower weight
  },
  using: {
    tsearch: {
      prefix: true,           # Match partial words
      normalization: 2        # Divide by log(length)
    }
  },
  ranked_by: ':tsearch'
)

​
Search Filters

Combine search with filters: 
Article.search(
  query: 'installation guide',
  locale: 'en',
  category_slug: 'getting-started',
  author_id: 123,
  status: 'published'
)

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API Search Endpoint

// From portal/api/article.js
searchArticles(portalSlug, locale, query) {
  let baseUrl = `/hc/${portalSlug}/${locale}/articles.json?query=${query}`;
  return axios.get(baseUrl);
}

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Article Slugs

​
Auto-generation

Slugs are automatically created from titles: 
def ensure_article_slug
  self.slug ||= "#{Time.now.utc.to_i}-#{title.underscore.parameterize(separator: '-')}"
end
Example: 
Title: "How to Install Chatwoot"
Slug:  "1709567890-how-to-install-chatwoot"
Slugs include timestamps to ensure uniqueness. You can customize the slug before creation.

​
Best Practices

  • Use clear, descriptive titles
  • Break long content into sections with headings
  • Start with a brief introduction
  • Use bullet points and numbered lists
  • Add images to illustrate complex steps
  • Write unique descriptions for each article
  • Use relevant keywords in titles and headings
  • Keep slugs concise and descriptive
  • Structure content with proper heading hierarchy
  • Review article view counts regularly
  • Update articles when product features change
  • Archive outdated content instead of deleting
  • Link related articles for better navigation
  • Translate high-traffic articles first
  • Maintain consistent structure across locales
  • Use associated_article_id to link translations
  • Ensure categories exist for all target locales

​
API Reference

​
Key Model Methods

# Status transitions
article.draft!              # Set status to draft
article.published?          # Check if published
article.archived?           # Check if archived

# View tracking
article.increment_view_count

# Associations
article.associate_root_article(parent_id)

# Positioning
Article.update_positions({ article_id => position })

​
Scopes

Article.search_by_locale('en')
Article.search_by_category_slug('getting-started')
Article.search_by_author(user_id)
Article.search_by_status('published')
Article.text_search('search query')

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Troubleshooting

Article not appearing in portal - Ensure status is “published” and the article’s locale matches a portal-supported locale.
Search not finding article - Published articles are indexed. Check that the article status is published and the content contains your search terms.
Category change resets position - When moving articles between categories, positions are automatically recalculated.

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