Managing content blocks in articles

After you create or insert a content block in an article, you can edit, unlink, or remove the content block as needed. You can manage a content block from within an article or from the content blocks list, which is the central repository of content blocks that can be shared between articles.

You must be a Guide admin to manage content blocks, as you must have admin permissions to access the central repository of content blocks. Agents can manage content blocks in articles where they have permission to edit.

This article covers the following topics:

• Viewing your content blocks list
• Editing a content block
• Unlinking a content block
• Removing a content block
• Deleting a content block

Viewing your content blocks list

If you are using content blocks in your articles, you can manage them from the content blocks list. You can see all of the content blocks that have been created in the account, when they were last edited, and in how many articles they are being used. From the list you can also edit or delete content blocks.

To view your content blocks list

1. In Guide, click Guide admin at the top of the page, then click the Manage articles icon () in the sidebar.
2. Under the Tasks tab in the left menu, click Content blocks.
3. Click a content block to see more information about that block.

   A sidebar appears, listing the articles in which the content block is used, as well as their current status. If the content block is used in one or more translated articles, the sidebar displays a list of the articles in which the content block is used and the translations that it's used in. You can click the article links to view a secondary sidebar that displays the status of the selected article and links to the translated versions of that article in which the content block appears. See Using content blocks in translated articles.

   

Editing a content block

You can edit a content block from any article that is using it. Any changes you make to a content block will affect all articles that use that content block. After editing articles using the content block (including changing the title of a content block), their status sets to “In progress”. This means you must publish/republish the articles to reflect the changes in your help center.

Both agents and admins can make changes to content blocks.

To edit a content block

1. Open the article that contains the content block you want to edit in Edit mode.
2. Hover over the content block you want to edit, click the Options menu icon (), then click Edit.
   Note: When you are editing a content block from within an article, the article remains open in the background. To return to the article without saving the content block, click the breadcrumb in the upper left corner of the window.

   
3. Make any necessary changes in the content block editor.

   You can edit the name of the block or any text in the content block. If you want to reformat the content (such as adding bold or inserting a link), use the content block editor toolbar. See Help center editor toolbar reference.

4. Click Update all articles.

   Your updates are saved and visible in all articles that use the content block. You must republish these articles to reflect the changes.

Note: When you edit content blocks from the content blocks list, you are editing the master version of a content block that doesn’t have any context of the articles in which it is used. Therefore, you cannot link a content block to the heading of an article that contains the content block. However, you can link a content block to other articles in your help center.

Unlinking a content block

To include the text from a content block in an article and modify it without affecting any other articles, you must unlink the content block. Once you unlink a content block, the text from the content block is inserted into the article as regular text and can be modified without impacting any other articles.

To unlink a content block

1. Open the article that contains the content block you want to unlink in edit mode.
2. Hover over the content block, click the Options menu icon () then click Unlink.

   The content block becomes regular text and is no longer a content block.

If you unlink a content block, it is represented in the source code as an alphanumeric ID and not as regular HTML. In the following example the highlighted content block will be unlinked.

After unlinking the content block, the section of text is represented in HTML as an alphanumeric ID.

Removing a content block

If you want to remove a content block from the article completely, use the remove option.

To remove a content block

1. Open the article that contains the content block you want to remove in edit mode.
2. Hover over the content block, click the Options menu icon () then click Remove.

   The content block disappears from the article. The content block remains in any other articles where it is being used and is still available for reuse.

Deleting a content block

When you delete a content block it is permanent and you cannot restore it afterwards. It’s only possible to delete a content block if it's not being used in any of the articles in your Knowledge Base.

Only Admins can delete content blocks.

To delete a content block

1. In Guide, click Guide admin at the top of the page, then click the Manage articles icon () in the sidebar.
2. Under the Tasks tab in the left menu, click Content blocks.
3. Hover over the content block that you want to delete, click the Options menu icon (), then click Delete.
4. If the content block is still being used in any articles, you’ll see a notification that it has to be removed from them first. Use the link to see a list of the articles.

   

5. Click Delete content block.