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on
06-11-2020
07:51 AM
- edited on
06-12-2024
07:08 AM
by
Ashley Snyder
The ServiceNow® Knowledge Management (KM) application enables the sharing of information in knowledge bases.
Knowledge bases contain articles that provide users with information such as self-help, troubleshooting, and task resolution. You can check out the FAQ on the following aspects of Knowledge Management to help use the application efficiently.
User Criteria FAQ (Click to Expand)
User criteria FAQ
1. What are User criteria?
2. Why can't external or public users view articles after enabling the access controls?
3. What are the different parameters that can be added to user criteria?
Administrators can control access to knowledge bases and knowledge articles by defining user criteria based on role, department, group, location, or company.
For example, create a North America IT user criteria matching users who are both in the IT team and based in North America. Then apply this record to the IT Service Desk knowledge base, so only users matching the North America IT user criteria can access articles within the IT Service Desk knowledge base.
The Support article (KB0550924) provides recommendations and example use cases.
4. How are knowledge bases secured with user criteria?
At the knowledge base level, you can assign user criteria to control contribute and read access, where:
- Read access determines the ability to view knowledge articles in a knowledge base.
- Contribute access determines the ability to create, modify, and retire knowledge articles in a knowledge base.
For more information, see Managing access to knowledge bases and knowledge articles.
The following GIF shows the Can Read, Can Contribute, Cannot Read, and Cannot Contribute user criteria for the IT Service Desk knowledge base.
5. How are articles secured with user criteria?
At the knowledge article level, you can assign user criteria to control read access, where read access determines the ability to view the knowledge article. As an administrator, you can also configure the glide.knowman.apply_article_read_criteria property to secure knowledge articles from knowledge contributors not explicitly authorized through Can Read and Cannot Read user criteria.
Note: If the Can Read and Cannot Read fields aren't visible, configure the Knowledge form to display them. For more information, see Configuring the form layout.
6. How do I troubleshoot an access issue for a knowledge article or knowledge base?
You can manage user access to a knowledge base or a knowledge article using user criteria diagnostics. For more information, see User criteria diagnostics for Knowledge Management.
The following image shows an example of a diagnosis where the user Alene Reback does not have access to the IT knowledge base.
Alena can get access to the knowledge base if:
- Alena is added to one of the existing user criteria defined in the knowledge base.
- Alena is added to a new user criteria that is defined and added to the knowledge base.
Click the IT knowledge base link and provide access by adding Alena to a user criteria for this knowledge base.
7. I'm unable to edit the User Criteria from the Can Read and Can Contribute tabs of the Knowledge Base
8. Users without valid User Criteria are able to view KB articles
9. Knowledge Category (kb_category) is visible to users who do not have Can read access to the article
- Create more restrictive User Criteria for Can Read access to the Knowledge Base.
- Make the 'Restricted' category a sub-category of another category, and use article-level User Criteria to restrict read access to all articles that use the 'Restricted' category and its parent category.
Current Support Knowledge Articles for User Criteria:
- KB0866644 - User criteria on knowledge blocks not honored
- KB1220261 - All users can read the articles and users with at least one role in additional to snc_in...
- KB086407 - Enable external or public users to view knowledge articles from the Knowledge Management ...
- KB0787527 - How can knowledge articles be public, in an otherwise private Knowledge Base (i.e. logge...
- KB0997177 - Knowledge Users Need Both 'Can read' and 'Cannot read'
- KB11171908 - User criteria did not restrict KB knowledge access on the portal
- KB1225742 - User with Can Contribute access to an HR-scoped Knowledge Base unable to translate a kno...
Article Versioning FAQ (Click to Expand)
Article versioning FAQ
1. What is article versioning?
2. What happens to my existing articles if I enable the article versioning feature?
All existing articles are updated to version 1.0. You can continue editing the existing article by checking out and editing the latest published version.
3. What changes will I see in the Knowledge Management product as a result of activating versioning?
4. What is the difference between editing a versioned article and a non-versioned article?
- Navigate to Knowledge > Articles > Published.
- Select the desired article from the list.
- Click Checkout in the Knowledge form header.
- Navigate to Knowledge > Articles.
- Select an article from the Published or Unpublished category.
- On the Knowledge form, click Edit.
- Click Update.
5. What article information or metadata is carried over when the version of an article is changed?
The following information or metadata is carried over when the version of an article is changed:
- Valid to date (only when the Article Validity field in the knowledge base associated with the article is blank)
- View count
- Use count (appears in reports)
- Feedback and feedback tasks
- Related products
- Related articles
- Attachments
- Translated versions
6. What fields can be edited without a version update?
The fields are included in the glide.knowman.versioning.minor_edit_fields property. The default field is the Valid to field. Admins can add more fields to the property as needed.
Note: To edit a published article without having to create a new version, make sure the glide.knowman.versioning.enable_minor_edits property is enabled.
7. How many versions of a knowledge article I can compare?
You can select and compare two versions of a knowledge article. For more information, see Compare two versions of an article, this will show you how to compare in the Classic Environment. You can also compare versions in a workspace by following this product documentation (valid for both Configurable and Agent Workspace). The workspace UI will show a side-by-side format and highlight differences.
8. As a knowledge author, why am I not able to edit an article in the Draft state?
If the article versioning feature is enabled and a knowledge article is already checked out by the knowledge contributor of the article, a knowledge author can't edit the article. As a knowledge author, you can edit the article only after a knowledge contributor completes editing and then publishing the article. For more information, see Edit a knowledge article.
9. What Knowledge article version information can users see?
Current Support Knowledge Articles for Versioning:
- KB0713200 - Versioning in Knowledge Management - FAQ
- KB1047972 - "Latest Version" link shows outdated articles for end users
- KB0787528 - (glide.knowman.versioning.enable_minor_edit) Property not functioning
- KB1004996 - Error when saving translated version of knowledge article: "Read operation on scope 'nul...
- KB1122213 - KB Article Content showing draft version of article in Knowledge portal
- KB0957704 - Knowledge Article versions - article body comparison
- KB1002847 - Knowledge Management Versioning - UI Action link "View version" updates the fields 'Modi...
- KB0779996 - Knowledge Versioning - Hyperlink embedded into a knowledge article displays outdated art...
- KB1156602 - System is creating a new Draft version of article, when Valid To date is reached
- KB0748038 - When trying to compare two versions of a Knowledge article, nothing happens
Knowledge Management Service Portal FAQ (Click to Expand)
Knowledge Management Service Portal FAQ
1. How can users leave knowledge feedback?
2. Is AI Search supported on the Knowledge Management Service Portal?
3. Which portals support knowledge articles?
- Multiple knowledge bases
- A Knowledge Management article view page with feedback options
- A Knowledge Management search results page with options to filter and sort search results
- A number of widgets to enable searches, display search results, display knowledge articles, and so on
4. How do I enable feedback management, subscriptions, and related articles for a Service Portal?
The following table shows the requirements for enabling a feature.
Feature | Requirements |
Feedback management |
Enable the glide.knowman.feedback.enable_actionable_feedback_for_helpful property. |
Knowledge subscription |
Activate the Knowledge Management Advanced plugin (com.snc.knowledge_advanced). Enable the glide.knowman.enable_km_subscriptionproperty. |
Related articles | Activate the Predictive Intelligence for Knowledge Management plugin (com.snc.knowledge_ml). |
5. What are the different feedback options available in the Knowledge Management Service Portal?
- Rate an article
- Flag an article
- Add comments
- Mark an article as helpful or not
6. Why can't I view a knowledge article in Service Portal even though I have access to the article?
or
Why can I view the article in Knowledge Management v3, but not in certain portals?
Verify that the knowledge bases are associated with the portal. Portals restrict articles based on the knowledge bases associated with the portal record. For more information, see Configure knowledge bases for a portal.
7. Why don’t I see all knowledge bases in a service portal?
or
After upgrading to New York, why don’t I see all knowledge bases in a service portal?
- Navigate to Service Portal > Portals.
- In the Title column, click the link to your service portal.
- On the Service Portal form, in the Knowledge Bases related list, check whether any knowledge bases appear. Note: If there are no knowledge bases selected in the Knowledge Bases related list, all knowledge bases are made available on the service portal.
- (Optional) Make only specific knowledge bases available within the selected service portal.
- In the Knowledge Bases related list, click Edit.
- Select one or more knowledge bases from the Collection column and use the add icon ( > ) to add them to the Knowledge Bases List column.
- Click Save.
Current Support Knowledge Article for the Knowledge Management Service Portal:
Feedback Management FAQ (Click to Expand)
Feedback Management FAQ
1. What are the options to provide feedback on a knowledge article?
2. How do I track flagged knowledge articles?
3. Are feedback tasks the same as feedback?
4. What reports are available for knowledge feedback and flagged articles?
- % of published articles flagged
- % of published articles marked as not useful
- % of published articles marked useful
- Number of flagged knowledge articles
5. Can I send notifications to end users regarding flagged articles?
Yes, the feedback tasks for flagged articles are integrated with notifications. The notifications are sent to the user who flagged a knowledge article either when the state of a feedback task changes or if there are any comments added to the task.
6. Can I track feedback tasks?
Yes, we have reports to track feedback tasks on our dashboards. Feedback task assignees will have modules in the All menu to track their assigned feedback tasks. You can track the progress on a feedback task and view the duration of time spent in each state. See this product documentation for more information.
7. Are there parameters for ratings, and other feedback that is controlled by number of days?
No, we do not have any properties to control parameters on the number of days for ratings, the rating field shows the overall average rating of the article.
Current Support Knowledge Article for Feedback:
- KB0712422 - How to set up Knowledge Feedback and Knowledge Feedback Task
- KB0862352 - If a comment is added with a rating on a knowledge article, it is not updated in the kno...
- KB1177565 - KB Feedback Task description shows HTML tags
- KB1315527 - Knowledge feedback task is being generated despite the high rating on the article
- KB0954803 - User with the 'sn_hr_core.writer' role is not able to edit the 'Flagged' field present o...
Knowledge Management Microsoft Word Add-In FAQ (Click to Expand)
Knowledge Management - Add-in for Microsoft Word FAQ
1. Why I am unable to login into the Knowledge Management-Add-in for Microsoft Word using a Safari browser?
2. What do I do if there's an error in the Microsoft Word Add-In?
3. Why does the Knowledge Management - Add-in for Microsoft Word fail to load?
If your administrator hasn’t configured the sn_km_word.glide.knowman.word.xframe property correctly, the Knowledge Management Add-in for Microsoft Word fails to load in the Word document.
For more information about resolving such errors, see the Knowledge Word Office Manifest fails validation [KB0860916] article in the Now Support knowledge base.
If the article content does not appear in the Document pane and the editing options are disabled, you might need to reload the Knowledge Management-Add-in for Microsoft Word by clearing or refreshing your browser cache memory. If the issue persists, contact the Customer Service and Support team for further help.
4. How to find the domain names that need to be entered in the system property (sn_km_word.glide.knowman.word.xframe)?
- In your web browser, load the Knowledge Management Add-in for Microsoft Word.
- Open the Knowledge Management pane element in the developer tools. For example, in the Google Chrome browser, right-click the Knowledge Management pane and select Inspect.
- In the developer tool, navigate to the Console tab and select the add-in iFrame parameter starting with{"baseFrameName" : _xmd_0_ as displayed in the following screenshot.
- Select the domain from baseFrameName" : _xmd_0_ parameter and enter the domain name along with its parent domains in the sn_km_word.glide.knowman.word.xframe system property.
5. Why don't videos show up in knowledge articles created using the Knowledge Management - Add-in for Microsoft Word?
The videos don't appear because Document Viewer used by the Knowledge Management - Add-in for Microsoft Word to convert a Word document to HTML doesn't support videos. For more information, see Document Viewer.
Current Support Knowledge Articles for the Microsoft Word Add-In:
- KB1080421 - Error when publishing a Knowledge Article in online Word using the Knowledge Management ...
- KB0957550 - How to manage which fields of the article should be displayed in the MS Word add-in
- KB0957385 - Need information on enabling Knowledge Management Add-In for Microsoft Word
Localization and Translation FAQ (Click to Expand)
Localization and Translation FAQ
We have a product hub dedicated to this subject and there is a comprehensive In-Platform Language Support Guide that provides resources on Localization and Knowledge Management.
Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) FAQ (Click to Expand)
Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) FAQ
See our FAQ on the Support site for more information on how we're a KCS v6 verified tool. For more information on the KCS methodology, visit the Consortium for Service Innovation website.
Miscellaneous FAQ (Click to Expand)
Miscellaneous FAQ
1. Why is the Attachment link option behavior not replicated when an article with attachments is embedded as a link in another knowledge article?
The Attachment link option applies to knowledge article links accessed from the search results only. Therefore, you cannot download attachments of a knowledge article when the article is embedded as a link in another knowledge article. For more information, see Create a knowledge article in Agent Workspace. This product documentation applies to configure workspaces as well.
2. Why is there a delay in displaying search results for knowledge articles in a Service Portal?
One probable cause for search slowing down is the size and number of article attachments. The search index includes attachments; and therefore, the size and number of knowledge article attachments might slow down the search results for knowledge articles. For a faster search results display, set the value of the glide.knowman.search.attachment system property to Do not show attachment or Show only link for attachment. For more information, see Knowledge Management properties.
3. Can I use the machine translation feature to translate knowledge articles?
Yes, by a combination of the Translation management and Dynamic Translation features. You must activate both features. For more information, see Translation management and Activate Dynamic Translation.
4. Does the translation management feature require the article versioning feature?
Yes, you must have the article versioning feature enabled to use translation management. To enable the article versioning feature, ensure the glide.knowman.versioning.enabled property is enabled. This property is available when your administrator activates the Knowledge Management Advanced plugin
(com.snc.knowledge_advanced).
5. How do I manage duplicate article numbers?
- Do not import demo data articles in a production environment.
- Verify the numbers of the articles to be inserted to make sure they are not already in use.
- Create a before insert business rule on the Knowledge table (kb_knowledge) to ensure the new number is not already in use.
- Navigate to System Definition > Number Maintenance.
- In the Table column, search for and select Knowledge.
- In the Controls related list, in the Number field, update the count to a number greater than the largest value already in the system.
- Click Update.
6. Why is the Valid to date of an article not derived from the default article validity value?
The possible reason could be that the default article validity value is modified or blank. To show the accurate valid to date for an article, you need to set the default value of the dictionary entry of kb_knowledge.valid_to column to javascript: current.kb_knowledge_base ? new global.KBCommon().getDefaultValidToDateFromCurrentDate(current.kb_knowledge_base) : '';.
7. Why is the Valid to date of a knowledge article updated to a random value?
or
Which date formats to avoid for using the article validity feature?
If the system date format or user preferences is set to use yy year format, you might face issues when the Valid to date is set to the default date. You can contact your administrator or modify the user preferences to use a date format with the yyyy year format.
For more information, see Global date and time field format and Personalize the system date format.
8. Why can’t I find some knowledge articles?
The article visibility in search relies on various parameters like the article state, access criteria, validity, and Knowledge Management properties.
9. Why doesn’t the view count in the Knowledge Use [kb_use] table match with the view count in the Knowledge [kb_knowledge] table?
The view count in the Knowledge [kb_knowledge] table is controlled by the Number of days (integer, default 30) used when summing article views property (glide.knowman.view_age.days). The default value for this property is set to 30, meaning only views in the last 30 days will be considered. Therefore, there's a discrepancy between the view count of both the tables. For more information about the glide.knowman.view_age.days property, see Knowledge Management properties.
10. Why am I not able to modify the Knowledge Management V3 UI or $knowledge.do ?
The Knowledge Management V3 UI or $knowledge.do is not available for customization. Use the Knowledge Management Service Portal for an easily configurable user experience. For more information on Knowledge Management V3 homepage, see Knowledge Management v3 homepage.
11. Why I do not see any images in a knowledge article?
The most probable reasons are:
- Images are missing from the Attachments [sys_attachment] table.
- The Exclude large attachment data option was selected when cloning an environment from production to sub-production. To resolve this issue, re-clone and clear the Exclude large attachment data check box when you submit a clone request. For information, see Request a clone.
- The Article body section of the knowledge article contains an invalid reference to the image.
12. Why I do not see articles in a knowledge base?
The glide.knowman.apply_article_read_criteria property determines read access to an article for a user with contribute access to a knowledge base. To enable read access at the article level, your administrator must enable the glide.knowman.apply_article_read_criteria property to override contribute access at the knowledge base level. For more information, see the Determining contribute access to a knowledge base and its articles using user criteria section in Managing access to knowledge bases and knowledge articles.
13. How can I set up and test the Self-Service Analytics/deflection configuration for any task type, such as case and incident?
You can set up and test the Self-Service Analytics/deflection configuration for any type of task in the context of a user table, such as User [sys_user], Contact [customer_contact], and Consumer [csm_consumer]. For more information, see theSelf-Service Analytics Implementation Guide for Incidentscommunity article.
14. Can I associate multiple activity contexts with the same table for the Self-Service Analytics/deflection configuration?
Currently, you can associate only one activity context with a table in the Self-Service Analytics/deflection configuration.
15. Can you provide more information on glide.knowman.view_age.days?
This property is deprecated as of Vancouver, the recommendation is set the property to 0 and to not use it. This property does not apply to use counts, only view counts.
16. I have articles with 0 view counts, but has use counts.
When an article is attached to an incident from contextual search without viewing, the view count will not increase but the use count will.
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Great article
But is there any documentation about the glide.knowman.apply_article_read_criteria ?
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It will be available in Paris documentation as the property was introduced in Paris.

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Very helpful. I was initially looking for a way to set an article to "featured" on the portal.
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Click this link for doc about that property
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For documentation, you can check the ServiceNow Doc Site: https://docs.servicenow.com/
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Very helpful article!
I have included it in my "Knowledge Sources To Go"
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THANK YOU for this!!! My In house team (and frankly myself) have NEVER understood the purpose and/or advantages of the Knowledge Management Service Portal. This spells out a lot of good.
I'm still a bit grey as to how we should get "from here to there", but we need to evaluate how our system has been configured and decide the best route. We desperately need to empower ALL Knowledge Searchers with the KCS and full-power KB functionality so self help users aren't so isolated from the ITIL KB functionality.
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Is it possible to use AI search on Knowledge Management Service Portal or is AI search only for Service Portal in Quebec?

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You will need to be in the Quebec release to utilize AI search functionalities in the platform.

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Hi Thomas,
AI Search can be configured on any Service portal including Knowledge Management Service Portal. We have not shipped any default configuration for KM Service Portal.
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I keep seeing this:
"The Knowledge Management Service Portal is an end user-facing portal instead of the classic Knowledge Management v3 homepage."
What I NEED to know is... if I setup the new, does it remove the old? if I'm in the Native UI (Fulfiller side for itil users) and click Knowledge Homepage, will it take me to the Knowledge Management Service Portal?
- Will a KB Search from either the NativeUI, Agent Workspace, Search KB from Incident, or a Portal page ALWAYS and ONLY take me to the Knowledge Management Service Portal with all the new filters, and widgets, and cool?
Or
- Do I get a KMv3 UI in the Native UI and Search KB from Incident (NativeUI-code), and then the "Knowledge Management Service Portal" in Agent Workspace (portal code?) and/or Portal pages?
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As discussed in the Knowledge Management Service Portal properties topic, the sn_km_portal.glide.knowman.serviceportal.enable_redirect property when set to true, users navigating to the listed Knowledge Management v2 or v3 pages - kb_home, kb_find, kb_view_customer, kb_list, kb_tree, $knowledge - will be redirected to the equivalent Knowledge Management Service Portal UI.
For searches, any searches in native UI open in the native view of the article, searches in workspace open in workspace view, and searches in portal open in the portal view.
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Thank you for your reply. I'm still missing something but this is not the right venue to continue the discussion. I'll try another avenue.
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hi Sweta,
I noticed that your links to Product Docs are intuitively going to the "latest content", whenever I add a link to my internal docs it saves the specific release in the URL.... I have seen those not work if the release is no longer visible on product docs and take me nowhere. Can you advise how you did this magic? here is one example from your content.... when I click it it redirected me to Tokyo and the URL updated as it took me there.
https://docs.servicenow.com/csh?topicname=make-knowledge-visible-to-public&version=latest
Thanks in advance,
Valerie
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Great article and thanks you. I have an existing KM setup in ServiceNow and it is really rubbish (it was an afterthought when we went live) and I would like to use the 'Guided Setup' to start again. If I do that will it delete all of the existing Knowledge Articles?
Thanks for replying
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How do you manage governance and auditing within ServiceNow with Tokyo, given then edit text option has been removed from Out of the Box?
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Hello!
How do you update who can retire and article?
Also is there a way to adjust the wildcard settings in search portal to allow for partial text search of words?
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This article is being updated August-September 2023 so old information relating to releases prior to San Diego may be removed and comments may be reflecting older content. This article will continue to receive updates.