Copy / Duplicate Help Centre articles

Hi all,

we're currently working on a reusable content feature that will help with this scenario.

Users will be able to define reusable blocks, that can be managed centrally and placed in different articles.

@Bogdan this is great news. Do you have a timeline yet?

This would be really helpful to be able to copy/clone articles. I want to be able to follow the format from a previous article (headers, paragraphs, image sizing references in the source code, etc.) rather than having to enter content from an external source, then format to fit the styles and needs of our help center. It would be A LOT EASIER to copy/clone an article or even have a saved Template that I could choose from a menu to populate formatting for the majority of the article then allow me to solely focus on content.

For this reason, I don't care as much about reusable content, I care about templating and following format without having to reinvent the wheel or add an extra 30 minutes going back and forth between articles to see how formatting was done to ensure it's consistent (doing a revamp and addressing the ad hoc mentality we had prior to my arrival and other business changes, this generates a lot of time waste to update articles where a template would have done wonders and saved lots of time). 

Definitely interested in this. Very important for what we do in our Doakio technical documentation agency.

I'm really disappointed with this -  such a key function which is clearly needed ( and has been raised for 5 years!) We were told it was an active development 3 months ago and still no timeline or update?

Waiting for this as well and I am with Jeremy on this one: no need to reinvent the wheel.

Hi all - I'm trying to get an update from the product team. Thanks for your patience. 

Hi Nicole - do you have an update on the time-frame for this. 

We're deploying Zendesk in coming weeks and its an opportune moment to lock this in for our scenario.

Thanks

@Nicole - Community Manager Any update...?

Seems asking for this is a waste of time, as it's been frequently asked for what appears to be 4+ years.

Maybe sharing why this isn't yet available would foster some understanding from us frustrated Administrators? ;)

Hi

Cloning articles would be helpful for a few reasons.

Also publishing articles across multiple brands would be great and not just at the point of creation.

Thanks

@Bob Bowden, maybe they still haven't figured out how to charge customers extra for this feature? Would explain the delay on this and other rather simple workflow improvements.

@Nicole - Community Manager any updates on this? I can't image a cloning button to be terribly hard to develop.....

Hi,

We've recently upgraded from Professional to Enterprise, and the multi-branding was part of that choice. We want to move some sections to the new brands. Such a disappointment to realize we can neither duplicate a Help Center nor move an article from a Help Center to another!

A lot of work if we have to do it manually:

• Copy/Paste the source code from one article to another.

• Re-upload the pictures: pictures are only stored in each specific article, if you don't re-upload them, they don't display and other readers see a cross instead.

• Re-configure the article settings: permission view, labels, etc.

This is basic functionality and it's absence results in significant number of hours per month of additional effort. It significantly hamstrings our effort to fully leverage the Guide product.

An alternative / complimentary approach would be to provide a real article import option. The Google doc import is very limited and doesn't really work because formatting and images are not retained. We also need to be able to use other tools for authoring content, such MS Word or Adobe Robohelp. 

I was referred to this articles and community postings from here

https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115013332528?page=1#comment_360004728934

@Nicole - Community Manager

You mentioned 7 months ago that you were trying to get an update from the product team. Any luck?

Hi Alejandro, they're working on some functionality related to creating content that can be reused in multiple places around the Help Center. The product team will provide an update in this thread when they have something substantial to share, such as an EAP. 

Nicole - Community Manager

Thank you for responding.

But, I am not sure that is what this specific request is about. 

I would consider this request as a request to have the ability to duplicate an existing article and keep all of the information including attachments. 

I'll have to let the product manager speak to that. 

I'm disappointed to see that after seven months or more of following this thread and receiving updates on it, what seems to be a clear and simple request in the original post (to duplicate content) seems to be either difficult to implement, or perhaps unclear in the impact and value it could have. 

Hoping this reaches a positive outcome soon!

Just seen this come through, maybe Zendesk is dealing with it in a different way? Or an additional solution: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360043990214-What-is-the-Content-Blocks-EAP-and-how-do-I-use-it-?

Yes @Kalsey, I'm very happy to announce that we have opened a sign-up for Content Blocks EAP.

With this new feature, you’ll be able to capture things like common troubleshooting steps, rules and regulations, disclaimers, etc. as a reusable block, and then insert into multiple articles and across multiple help centers. 

I hope it will help you to streamline some of the most repetitive work. You can read more in the documentation for content blocks which is posted in the EAP discussion topic.

If you'd like to try out content blocks you follow below link: Sign up for the EAP here