Using the Front Plugin

Got your Front plugin all set up? Awesome. Let's start using it.

Opening/Closing the Front Plugin

Like any Front plugin, you can expand it by clicking the HelpDocs plugin button in the right sidebar. To collapse it, click the same button again.

The plugin's buttons are icons, so hover over one to see what it does. You'll find them under each search result and at the top of an open article.

Paste in Relevant Articles

One of the best uses of the Front plugin is pasting in relevant articles for customers. For example, if a customer is asking how to customize their knowledge base using CSS I might write something like:

Hey! 👋

You can add CSS by heading to Settings > Customize > Code and hitting Save. You can find out more here: Adding Custom CSS. Hope that helps :)

This saves me and the customer time because they can read the article at full length and I don't have to write an essay. 📝

1. Search for an article
2. Click the Insert URL icon
3. The title and a link will be inserted into the composer

Insert the Short Version

If you're writing a short version for your articles, you can easily insert the text into the composer. This makes it even easier to answer customer queries while keeping things personal at scale.

1. Search for an article
2. If available, click the Insert Short Version icon
3. The text will now show up in your Front composer ✔️

Create a Draft Article

Need to quickly jot down some notes on an article? You can create an article and assign it to a category directly from the Front plugin.

1. Open the More actions menu (the icon at the top left of the plugin, beside the search box) and click Create article
2. Write a title, assign to a category, and write a short body
3. Click
   1. Just Save
      1. This will save the article and return you to the main screen
   2. Save & Edit
      1. This will save the article and take you to the article editor in your default browser

Copy the URL of an Article

Want to link to the article without the title or need to paste it somewhere else? No problem, you can copy the link and paste it wherever you like.

1. Search for an article
2. Click the Copy URL icon
3. Paste the URL wherever you like ✨

Read an Article Inside the Plugin

Need to quickly check something or follow a process without leaving Front? Yep, you can do that.

1. Search for an article
2. Click on the article
3. Start reading 🦉

Insert Anchor Links

Share a link to a specific section whether you have a Table of Contents or not.

1. Search for an article
2. Click on the article
3. Click the heading you want to jump to
4. It'll get automatically inserted and copied to your clipboard ✂️

Search in Another Language

If your knowledge base has more than one language, you'll see a language dropdown beside the search box. Choose a language and your search results will follow it.

Quickly Access the Dashboard

Need to update an article or view some stats while you're in email? You can totally do that with this plugin.

1. Open the More actions menu and click Manage content
2. The HelpDocs dashboard will be shown in your default browser

Already reading the article you want to change? Click the Edit on HelpDocs icon at the top to jump straight to it in the editor.