Knowledge article versioning

Any changes that users make to a published knowledge article are tracked through versions of the knowledge article. When users with appropriate permissions want to update published knowledge articles, they can edit the existing version for minor edits, or create a major version for adding or deleting information.

At any given time, only one version of a knowledge article is published. You can view the version number of a knowledge article in the Knowledge Console and also when you open the article. The version number is displayed with the version creation date.

The following image shows an example of the version and date that is seen for a knowledge article:

Major and minor edits

A knowledge article can have major or minor edits. A major version of a knowledge article is created when a user adds or deletes information from the knowledge article. When you create a major version of a knowledge article, data from the existing version is copied to the newer version. The new version becomes a draft knowledge article and can be updated till it is published. When the newer version is published, the older version becomes inactive and moves to the Closed status. The latest version of the knowledge article becomes the active version.

When you want to make minor changes to a knowledge article, such as fixing typos, you can edit the same version of the knowledge article.

All versions of a knowledge article have the same ID. When case agents search for knowledge articles from Quick Case, Create Case, global search, or BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced, only the latest, published versions of knowledge articles are searched. From the Knowledge Management console, you can view all versions of the knowledge articles.

Knowledge article versions in reports

You can view the different versions of the knowledge articles in the Article feedback and Knowledge Article Details reports. For more information about the reports, see Knowledge reports.

Related topics

Searching for knowledge articles