---
title: "Quickstart Guide"
description: "New to HelpDocs? Here's the order we'd set your Knowledge Base up in, from bringing your content over to turning on AI and inviting your team."
url: "https://support.helpdocs.io/article/dtci6u65tu-quickstart-guide"
category: "Getting Started"
updated_at: "2026-09-07T15:50:45Z"
---

# Quickstart Guide

Welcome to HelpDocs 👋 This guide walks you through setting up your Knowledge Base, in the order we'd do it in. Each step links out to the full detail. Answer one question and we'll walk you through the rest.

This is an interactive decision guide — please view it online.

‹ BackStart over

Do you have existing content?

YesNope

Use our migration tools

If your help content already lives on another platform, move it across before you write anything new. Our [migration tools](/article/9WWNm9f5h6-import-data-from-another-service) cover the common services, and importing saves you rebuilding hundreds of articles by hand.

[Go to migrations tab](https://my.helpdocs.io/app/settings?tab=migrations)

What's next?

Create a new category first

Every article in HelpDocs lives inside a category, so create one of those first. You can nest them as deep as you like using [subcategories](/article/cyyjJILZjs-can-i-have-categories-inside-other-categories).

1. Head to the **Content** page (or click [here](https://my.helpdocs.io/app/content))
2. Click **Create category**
3. Fill in your [category meta information](/article/o6dx9pp3l1-editing-category-metadata)
4. Hit **Save Changes**

![Create category and Create article action buttons with a filter icon in the dashboard toolbar.](https://files.helpdocs.io/Ytt2uahFxY/articles/dtci6u65tu/1788794687428/screenshot-2026-09-07-at-16-23-30-annotated.png)

And then what?

Write and publish your first article

Now you've got somewhere to put it, write something.

1. Click your new category and select **Add your first article to \[category]**, or click **Create article** in the top right
2. Write your content, saving as you go with Ctrl or Cmd + S
3. Click **Preview** to see how it will look to readers
4. Set the [Article Status](/article/oJI0ylcwEC-understanding-article-statuses) to **Published** and hit **Save Changes**

Callouts like this one, tables, Folds and Buttons all live in the [Block Editor](/article/ne4azki1bb-getting-started-with-content-blocks). They break up long articles so readers can scan them.

Not sure what to write first? Check out [our learn resources](https://www.helpdocs.io/learn/).

Published! What's next?

Set up your custom domain

Your Knowledge Base starts on a helpdocs.io subdomain. Moving it to something like `help.yourcompany.com` keeps readers on your brand the whole way through.

Start this one early. DNS providers aren't always as fast as we'd like, so the change can take a few hours to show up.

Here's [how to set up a custom domain](/article/ABfqGbX2fi-setting-up-a-custom-domain).

Ok, done.

Use HelpDocs AI to speed up your workflow

Two features are worth switching on once you have a handful of articles live:

- [Ask AI](/article/2igy0wvoj4-understanding-ask-ai) gives readers a short written answer at the top of their search results, built from your own articles
- [Improve with AI](/article/1hxswwbqcx-generate-improvement-suggestions) reads an article and suggests specific fixes, so you can tidy up imported content quickly

Both run on credits, and each action costs a different amount. Have a look at [how AI credits work](/article/pnlhzz2h5m-understanding-ai-credits) before you turn everything on, then head to [Configuring HelpDocs AI](/article/f3hmdnh38u-configuring-helpdocs-ai) to choose what's enabled.

Yep, enabled!

Invite your team

Different people on your team know different parts of your product, so let them write about what they know. Roles control who can create articles, publish them, and change your account settings.

Here's [how to invite users and set their roles](/article/CaKSeF9kSP-managing-users).

Invited!

Use Stats to optimize

Your [Missed Searches](/article/qh5mmhkpcm-using-search-stats-to-find-content-gaps) report is the most useful page in your account. It shows what people searched for and didn't find, which tells you exactly what to write next. It beats guessing, because it's about your customers rather than customers in general.

From there, [Permissioning](/article/9qsypn7zsx-understanding-permissioning) is worth a look if you need different content for different groups of readers.

All done.

Congrats! 🎉

You've started your self-serve journey. Keep those articles updated and see the support queue get clearer. For more resources, be sure to [check out our blog](https://blog.helpdocs.io) and the [learn page](https://www.helpdocs.io/learn/).

Result