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Template. You can change anything about this app by describing it in its build chat. See App templates.
Build a library of guides and resources for your clients. Your team writes resources, groups them into topics, and publishes them when they’re ready. Clients read them in your client experience like a documentation site, search across everything they can see, and save the ones they come back to. Category: Knowledge base · Used by: your team and your clients · Works with: CRM

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Features

  • Topics that group your resources, in an order you set by dragging
  • Resources written in a rich-text editor, with headings, lists, quotes, callouts, images, files, and YouTube, Vimeo, or Loom videos
  • Resource types to label each resource, starting with Guide, Template, Video, Article, and Other, which you can rename, add to, or remove
  • Two statuses: Draft and Published. Clients never see drafts
  • Visibility on every resource: all clients, chosen clients and companies, or anyone whose custom field matches a value
  • Preview as any client, company, or custom field value to check what they see
  • Search and filters by status and type for your team, and search for clients
  • A Saved list where clients keep the resources they use most
  • Archive for topics and resources you want to hide without deleting them
  • A tab on each client’s and company’s CRM page listing the resources visible to them

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How to use it

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For your team

  1. Open the app and click New topic.
  2. Enter a Name, such as Onboarding.
  3. Click Create topic.
Drag topics in the list to reorder them. This is the order clients see topics in.
  1. Open a topic and click New resource.
  2. Enter a Title, and pick a Type and a Topic.
  3. Optionally add a Description. Clients see it as a short summary.
  4. Write the Body. Use the toolbar for text styles and lists, and the more actions menu to add a quote, callout, video, image, file, or divider.
  5. Click Save. The editor tells you when you have unsaved changes, and warns you before you leave with unsaved work.
Drag resources inside a topic to set their order. Clients see them in this order, with a Next link to the following resource.
In the resource editor, turn on Published and click Save. The resource goes live to the clients who can see it. Turn Published off to move it back to a draft. You can’t publish a resource that still has an empty video, image, or file block. Finish or remove it first.
In the resource editor, use the Visibility card:
  • All clients: everyone with portal access.
  • Pick clients & companies: search and add any mix of clients and companies. Adding a company includes every client in it.
  • Match a custom field: pick a client or company custom field and a value. Anyone whose field matches can see the resource. Only multi-select custom fields can be used.
Click Save to apply the change.
  1. On the Topics page, click Audience and choose all clients, a client or company, or a custom field value.
  2. Topic counts update to show how many resources that audience can see. Topics with nothing visible show as Hidden.
  3. Click Preview as to open the library the way that audience sees it.
You can also click Preview in the resource editor, or the preview icon next to any resource in a topic.
On the Topics page, use Search resources by title, or filter by Status and Type in the left panel. On smaller screens, click Filters.
  • Resources: click the archive icon next to a resource in its topic, or choose Archive from the editor’s actions. Archived resources are hidden from clients. Choose Unarchive to bring one back, or Delete to remove it for good.
  • Topics: from a topic’s actions, choose Archive topic to hide the topic and everything in it from clients, or Unarchive topic to show it again. Delete topic permanently deletes the topic and every resource in it. This can’t be undone.
  • Use Rename topic to change a topic’s name.
Choose Manage types from the actions menu on the Topics page, or click Add or edit types in the left panel. Add, rename, or remove types. You can’t remove a type that resources still use, and you have to keep at least one type.
Open a client or company in your CRM and go to the app’s tab. It lists the published resources currently visible to them, grouped by topic.

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For your clients

Clients open the app on the first resource in your library. Topics and their resources are listed in the side navigation, and each resource shows an On this page outline and a Next link. They can preview and download files attached to a resource.
Clients click Search resources to search the titles and descriptions of everything they can see.
Clients click Save on a resource to add it to their Saved list, and click it again to remove it. Saved is at the top of the navigation.
Clients only see resources that are published, not archived, in a topic that isn’t archived, and visible to them under the resource’s Visibility settings. Team members with limited client access can only see, edit, and preview resources for the clients and companies they have access to.

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Set it up

1

Add the template

Click Add App in the Dashboard sidebar. Find Helpdesk under Start from a template, or scroll down to Browse all apps and pick the Knowledge base filter.
2

Try it as your team

The app lands in your sidebar as a draft. Create a topic, write a resource, turn on Published, and limit its visibility to your test client.
3

Check the client side

In the builder’s Client view, pick your test client to browse, search, and save the resource.
4

Publish it

Publish the app with visibility set to Hidden from all people, or on plans with custom visibility, limited to your test client. Sign in as your test client to try it in the real client experience, then make it visible to the clients who should use it. See Launching apps.

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Change it with the app builder

This app is a template, so you can change anything about it by describing what you want.
1

Open the build chat

Open Helpdesk from your Dashboard sidebar, click its name at the top, then click Switch to builder.
2

Describe the change

Write what you want the way you’d ask a teammate. Say who it’s for and where it shows up, such as your team’s topic list or the client’s reading page.
3

Check the preview

The app builder makes the change and updates the preview. Switch between Team view and Client view to check both sides, and pick a client to see it as them.
4

Publish

Click Publish when you’re happy. Until you do, your clients keep seeing the last published version.
Changes people often make to this template:
  • “Group resources by service and pin the onboarding guide to the top”
  • “Notify clients when a new resource they can see is published”
  • “Show my team how many times each resource has been viewed and by whom”
  • “Let clients rate whether a resource was helpful”
  • “Add a Last updated date to each resource and show it to clients”
  • “Let clients filter the library by resource type”
See Iterating on apps for how to describe changes well and how to go back to an earlier version. To rename the app, or change who can see it and how it notifies people, click its name at the top and choose Rename app or Manage app.

Data room

Securely share sensitive documents

Internal wiki

Playbooks and guides for your team
View this template on assembly.com