How do I include more Spaces to my Knowledgebase Space?

[Sheila Glass]

We have lots of pre-existing Spaces (type Document) in Confluence. I just created a new Knowledge Base. Now I want to add / include the pre-existing Spaces to the Knowledge Base. How do I do that? Add "Space" to Knowledge Base.

Note: I have also just created Scroll Viewport Helpsite - to which I connected my new Knowledge Base.

This is the process I followed...

Create Document Space; (done)

Create Knowledge Base; (done)

Create Viewport Helpsite & Connect Knowledge Base (done)

1. Do I Add Document Space to New Knowledge Base? (then it will be accessible in the Viewport)? ....Or...

2. Do I Add Document Space to New Viewport Helpsite? 

I hope both 1 & 2 are possible, but #1 seems to make sense - what the point of having a knowledgebase if you can't add more document spaces to it?

Thanks :-)

Sheila

[Laura Parraga -K15t-]

Hi Sheila,

I'm Laura from the Scroll Viewport team. You are right, the app will allow you create multiple help sites, so you could decide to either split up your content across various sites or just one.

If it makes sense to keep it all together or not should ideally depend on the needs of your audience. If it makes sense for your audience to have everything in one single place or if you find that you have two audiences, each interested in other pieces of content.

Perhaps you could clarify what type of content is housed in the Knowledgebase and what type of content you have in the document space? That could help me give some guidance on what could work best for you.

Generally speaking, I can only stress Alan's points. The Knowledgebase is just another space that serves as a container for your content. In that sense, you could also decide to house ALL of your content in one single space.

Cheers,

Laura

[Alan Stephenson]

Thanks for the comment Laura. 

Sheila,

I wasn't able to add some additional info on my last post. Here is a link which covers more about what is a space:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/conf73/spaces-991927520.html

Basically, there is no right/wrong answer how to do a space. I am aware Confluence has a concept of sub-spaces which we don't use. What is nice about Confluence is you can structure your pages however you wish. You can have a knowledgebase space which contains the basic information on your product.

You can add links to reference to existing spaces in your knowledgebase, like

Click here to see more about Product X 

Where the link takes the user to a completely different confluence space. 

Hope this helps.

-alan

[Sheila Glass]

Thanks Alan - Yes, I will use the ability to add Links to other Confluence Docs/Pages. That link option will deliver an easy means to access information to pages in Spaces that are not necessarily added to the Viewport (correct me if I am wrong, but I think the links are not dependent on the Space being included in the Viewport). Also, the time it takes to Update my Viewport Help Center (long if you have a lot of content in Spaces that have been added to Viewport)... using link should lighten the load.

Thanks again :-)

Sheila Glass

SubC Imaging

[Alan Stephenson]

How long have you been using confluence? Confluence is a group of spaces, and spaces are categorized as to ‘types’ of spaces like documents or knowledge base. I haven’t heard of a viewport helpsite, I may need to research and get back to you.

a knowledge base space is a space or container, think of it like a folder that contains multiple articles and troubleshooting tips for your users. It can contain multiple pages and documents to help your users. Or reference to the Document space you created.

make sure you setup the permissions so users can see all necessary content.

[Sheila Glass]

Hi Alan,

I am new to Confluence - But I'm a quick study on these sort of things :-)

I have my  new Client Knowledge Base (CKB) Space created and successfully added (linked) 3 other new Product Line (PL) Spaces to it - and these PL's also have another Document Space (DS) linked. I added a "Livesearch" field in the KB (and to each of my PL Spaces) and I am able to search successfully from CKB - it returns content from the linked PL &  their linked DS Spaces.

CKB --> PL Space --> DS Space  <-- Search through layered Spaces from KB works

My Problem now appears to be with the Scroll Viewport...

- I created my new Viewport Help Center (V-HC)...

- "Add Content Source", I added my 3 new PL Spaces to V-HC - they are all visible on the V-HC page (icons located below the Search field)

- When I do a search in my V-HC I only see the content of the new PL Spaces... it does not search beyond these PL Spaces through to the DS Spaces... I expected that V-HC Search to drill into layered DS Spaces also. Is this possible? Search through layered Spaces?

Settings...

- The "Livesearch" fields in my CKB & PL Spaces are not restricted

- In the V-HC "Settings" I have selected "Display all included content".

- I also looked at the "Mange Redirect" settings - but I can't seem to find any documentation on what this does... Nothing added here. Do I need to add my DS Spaces here ?

- When I Update my V-HC, I do get a Warning that "Livesearch" macro is not supported... That could be a big clue! LOL :-)  Is thee another Confluence Search macro I should be using that is supported in Viewport?

Here is the flow of my Viewport / Confluence Configuration:

V-HC --> CKB --> PL Space --> DS Space

Again, KB --> PL Space --> DS Space works - from the KB livesearch field, I can search through both PL & DS layers

And V-HC --> KB --> PL Space - from the V-HC search filed, I can search through the KB & PL Layers... but not through DS Space layer.

* I will copy this Scroll Viewport issue to Laura on the Viewport support team also.

Thanks

Sheila

[Laura Parraga -K15t-]

Hi Sheila,

I assume when you say you have "linked" spaces (e.g. the DS space) to your other spaces, you mean that you have inserted links to pages of one space on the pages of your PL spaces? Or did I get that wrong?

Scroll Viewport will only really search through the content that is directly on the pages of your content sources, not beyond that. So for pages of the DS space to show up in search, ideally you just make the DS space part of your site's content sources. Is there a reason why you would not want to do this?

Alternatively, you could also include the content from the DS space in the pages of your PL spaces via the include page macro. More on what the include page macro is and how it works: https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/insert-the-include-page-macro/ 

Laura

[Sheila Glass]

Hi Laura,

Yes, you got that right... V-HC --> CKB --> PL Space --> DS Space

DS Space (contains content) is literally "linked" to PL Space

Laura: Scroll Viewport will only really search through the content that is directly on the pages of your content sources, not beyond that.

Ok, so Viewport can only see through to V-HC --> CKB --> PL Space, I see that - PL Space is as deep as a search from my Viewport Help Center (V-HC) can see.

Laura: So for pages of the DS space to show up in search, ideally you just make the DS space part of your site's content sources. Is there a reason why you would not want to do this?

There are two reasons why I rather not add the DS Spaces directly to the Help Center...

1.) Aesthetically - in the V-HC view, I want to keep it uncluttered. I just want it to have the Help Center Search field and my 3 primary (PL Spaces) showing neatly at the bottom. But now that I tried it - its not as cluttered as I thought it might be - my DS Space is under the new "Show More" button that was automatically added when I added my DS Space)  So "Show More" kind of resolves my desire for uncluttered. So I'm ok with this # 1. aesthetic concern now.

2.) Time to Update - Adding my DS Space(s) causes the Update of the Help Center to take an extra long time (because the DS Space is/are full of documentation content). I see Scroll Viewport is aware of this and is working on reducing the Update time. (see more comments below the image).

Having a long time to Update changes in the Help Center is an inconvenience at the moment as I am still populating my Confluence PL Spaces with How To's, FAQ's etc. However, if I leave my DS Spaces off for now and add them just before I am ready to put my Help Center into Production - there after, changes to the Help Center will be fewer and will occur during a maintenance/update window - so time to update becomes less of a concern.

I think I've worked out solutions to both of these problems :-) But, but all means Laura, if you have any other insights and suggestions to share with me, please do!

Thanks again!

Sheila Glass

SubC Imaging

[Laura Parraga -K15t-]

Hi Sheila,

Thanks for sharing your conclusions. I don't really have anything else to add. As you've already noticed, update times are something we are working on improving.

Ideally, your content choices shouldn't be guided by concerns about update times but I understand that they are currently, so your decision to postpone adding the space once you're ready for production, is totally fine in my view.

If more questions about Scroll Viewport come up, please don't hesitate to reach out via help@k15t.co. We are more than happy to help :)

Cheers,

Laura