Getting Started
Setting Up a Custom Domain
Managing Users
Setting or Updating the Name in Your Profile
Can I Schedule a Demo?
The HelpDocs Trial
Setting the URL Style for your Articles
Switching Between Multiple Accounts
Adding or Changing Your Profile Image
Logging In To Your HelpDocs
Understanding Smart 404 Pages
Understanding Top Articles
Writing and Editing Articles
Stale Articles
Text Editor
Content Blocks
Using Markdown Blocks
Adding an HTML Block
Inserting Videos
Adding Embeddables
Using Code Blocks
Getting Started with Content Blocks
Using Quote Blocks
Editing Images
Inserting Images
Understanding Article Statuses
Article Backups, Revisions, and Versioning
Managing Clips
Text Editor Shortcuts
Adding Tags to Articles
Using Folds
Using Ordered Lists
Moving an Article to a Different Category
Inserting Images into Ordered Lists
Adding Note, Tip, and Warning Callouts
Switching the Editor Mode
Adding Buttons
Unassigned Articles
Hiding Articles from Public Search Engines
Exporting & Backing Up Your Articles
Understanding Search Results
Duplicating an Article
Incompatible Browser Extensions
Filtering Articles
Downloading Articles to PDF
Deleting an Article
What is Readability?
Collaborating on Articles with Presence
Adding a Table of Contents
Restoring Deleted Articles
Editing Category Metadata
Delete a Category
Featuring an Article
Creating Draft Versions of Published Articles with Working Copy
Bulk Select & Edit Multiple Articles
Creating a Subcategory
Hidden Categories
Linking to a Part of an Article
Previewing Articles
Using help.new to Create Articles
Setting Up Integrations
Front Integration
Slack Integration
Available Commands in Your Slack Workspace
Get Feedback, Activity, and Contact Form Notifications in Slack
Installing the Slack Integration
Sharing Articles From HelpDocs to Slack
Configuring Your Slack Integration
Intercom Integration
Drift Integration
Chrome Extension
Connecting Heap
Connecting Google Analytics
Adding a Feedier Carrier
Adding Hotjar
Connecting Gorgias
Connecting Lucidchart
Connecting GoSquared
Connecting Gainsight PX
Connecting Segment
Connecting Kommunicate
Using HelpDocs with Ticketing Systems
Connecting LiveChat
Connecting Chatra
Connecting Statuspage
Connecting Crisp
Connecting Belco
Syncing Content to elevio
Adding FullStory
Enabling Comments with Disqus
Connecting Doorbell
Connecting Sunshine Conversations
Connecting Hyperping
Customizing your HelpDocs
Code Snippets
Condense Top Article Spacing on Bars V4
Adding Lightboxes to Images
Overriding the Font on Your Knowledge Base
Making Your Printed HelpDocs Look Nicer
Making Video Embeds Responsive
Disabling Authorship and Updated Times
Getting Help with Code Snippets
Disabling Top Articles
Using Different List Styles
Using HelpDocs with RTL Languages
Disabling Related Articles
Using a Background Image in the Header
Making Tables Scroll When They're Too Wide for the Page
How to Change the Logo Link
How to Add Extra Spacing
Add HTML Before the Closing Body Tag
Customizing Feedback Icons
Custom HTML Templates
Setting a Custom Favicon
Customizing an Article Slug, Meta Description & Short Version
Understanding the Contact Form
Changing the Language in Common Phrases
Hiding the Contact Button
Adding Custom CSS
Setting Article Display Order
Adding Custom Navigation Links
Setting Category Display Order
Uploading Your Brand Logo
Adding URL Redirects
Featuring a Category
Adding Icons to Categories
Hosting HelpDocs at a Subfolder of Your Site
Adding an Open Graph Fallback Image
Choosing a Template
Testing Customizations with .dev
Adding Custom JavaScript
Adding Cookie Consent
Lighthouse
Understanding Lighthouse
Lighthouse Widget API
Integrating Lighthouse with Live Chat Providers
Installing Lighthouse
Adding Lighthouse Trigger Buttons to Webflow
Data & Analytics
Understanding Productivity with Leaderboard
Filtering Stats
Getting Team Event History with Audit Trail
Understanding Articles Clicked
What are Tickets Avoided?
Exporting Your Stats
What is the Happiness Score?
Multilingual Translation
Machine Translations
Understanding Machine Translation Credits
Customizing How Machine Translations Work
Automatically Translate Articles with Machine Translations
Setting Up Multilingual
Understanding Multilingual Translation
Translating Categories
Translating Articles
Permissioning
Creating a Read-Only Permission Group for Public Articles
Creating and Managing Permission Groups
Getting Started with Permissioning
Assigning Permission Groups to Categories
Assigning Permission Groups to Articles
Removing Permission Groups from Articles
Authentication
Setting Up Two-Factor Authentication
Setting Up and Using SAML Single Sign-On
Restricting your HelpDocs with Custom JWT SSO
Using OpenID Connect for Single Sign On
Configuring Slack Single Sign On
Restricting Your Docs to Logged In Users
Shared Password Protection
Accessing User Data in HelpDocs
Security & Compliance
Anonymizing IP Addresses
Setting Custom HTTP Headers
Is HelpDocs GDPR compliant?
Signing a Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
Is my data secure and protected?
Billing
Cancelling Your Account
Downloading Invoices and Receipts
Updating Your Billing Information
Changing Your Plan
Subscribing to a Plan for the First Time
European Union VAT Charges
Tax Residency Certificates and Forms
FAQs
Can I embed files into HelpDocs?
I can't log in to my HelpDocs account or complete signup
How do I reset my password?
How do I change my email?
Can I use multiple HelpDocs accounts together?
Can I migrate or import my data from another service?
Who counts towards the user limit on plans?
Can I Change the HelpDocs Branding?
Can I have a single article appear in multiple categories?
Can I host my internal docs in HelpDocs?
I’m seeing a blank screen when I load my knowledge base
Help! No articles are appearing on my knowledge base
What is an account slug?
I've added a script but it isn't working
Help! My app's not loading 😭
How do related articles work?
Can I host my API docs in HelpDocs?
Will translated articles be deleted if I remove that language?
My Article Has a Blank Space to the Left. What's Wrong?
One of my headings isn't showing in the table of contents
I'm getting 'Your connection is not private' on my custom domain
HelpDocs Support Scope
How do I publish an article that's not available in the default language?
Why isn't my contact form showing up?
Guides
Optimizing Your Knowledge Base for Search
Creating a Knowledge Base from Scratch
Finding CSS Selectors in Your Browser
Clearing the Cache in Your Browser
Writing Clear and Digestible Knowledge Base Articles
Resources
Table of Contents
- Knowledge Base
- Getting Started
- Setting Up a Custom Domain
Setting Up a Custom Domain
Updated
by Taylor Sloane
Every HelpDocs customer gets a custom subdomain that looks a little like this:
<your-subdomain>.helpdocs.io
It's yours—go wild.
Our subdomains make a lotta sense for customers already, but if you want to take the customer experience from good to great, you'll want to set up a custom domain. For example:
support.<your-domain>.com
It's super simple to set up a custom domain for your HelpDocs, but if you're not comfortable with DNS and CNAMEs, forward this article to your developers.
Setting up your custom domain
Set up a CNAME record
The first step is to log into your DNS provider (e.g. Route 53, GoDaddy, etc.) and set up a new CNAME record for the subdomain you'd like your HelpDocs to be available at. This should be pointed to domains.helpdocs.io
, not to your HelpDocs subdomain, and have the lowest possible TTL setting.
Let us know where
You'll need to tell us what domain will be accessing your HelpDocs. It's only a couple seconds' work, and you'll need to head to your account Settings.
Then type your custom domain into the marked field, and hit Save Changes. Easy as that.

Sit back and wait
Sadly some DNS providers aren't as fast to respond as we are 🙁 So depending on your provider you may need to wait up to 48 hours for the changes to be applied. Don't worry though—you can still access your HelpDocs at your subdomain, and they won't be interrupted.
Add SSL to Your Custom Domain 🔒
All HelpDocs plans come with free custom domain SSL as standard. There's nothing for you to pay on your end and all it takes is a click of a button. Here's how to request SSL for your shiny new custom domain.
- Make sure your custom domain is already working non-SSL
- Head to Settings > General
- Next to Custom Domain, click on Request SSL
- It should take a couple seconds to issue your certificateIf your certificate still isn't appearing when you visit your docs after several hours contact support and we can help you debug 🐛
- If the SSL was successful the Request SSL button will disappear and you'll see
https://
in the prefix of the field
letsencrypt.org
to your CAA record if you have one.Moving a Domain to HelpDocs with Zero Downtime
It's possible to move your docs to HelpDocs with zero downtime in most cases.
- Enter your custom domain in HelpDocs Settings > General and hit Save
- Switch the CNAME on your domain to point to
domains.helpdocs.io
(exactly as written, not replacing for your subdomain) - Wait for your custom domain to show HelpDocs when you access it
- Optional: Generate an SSL certificate for your domain in Settings > General by hitting the Request SSL button
If you had an SSL certificate before, there will be difficulties accessing your docs for people that’ve visited before until that SSL cert is issued. If not, it’ll just start working seamlessly.