Help center with Cliedesk Pro

Every edition has help articles, categories, search, feedback and articles in replies, with two levels of Who can read it: Everyone and Agents only (internal) (see the Free guides Write help articles and Set up the help center). Cliedesk Pro adds the options below.

More levels of who can read an article

In the article’s Help center panel, Who can read it gets two more choices:

• Anyone with the link (not listed or searchable): the article opens by its address but is not in lists, search or the sitemap.
• Signed-in customers: guests are sent to the WordPress sign-in page and then back. Signed-in customers find it in lists and search. Turn on Hide articles for signed-in customers from guests (under Who can open the help center) to show guests “not found” instead.

A category can be for Signed-in customers too; its articles and sub-categories are then at least that private. If you insert an article for signed-in customers in a reply, Cliedesk warns you that the customer must sign in. These articles are never indexed by search engines.

A private help center

In Settings → Help center → Who can open the help center, set Open to:

• Everyone
• Signed-in visitors only
• Some WordPress roles only (for example customer, wholesale)
• Anyone with a shared password. Visitors who type it stay in for 30 days. Only a hash of the password is kept.

Agents always get in. A closed help center is hidden from search engines, and its search, suggestions and articles in the widget and portal answer nothing.

Change many articles

Select articles in Help articles, choose Edit and Apply. Besides WordPress’s own fields you can change who can read them, the owner and On the home. Up to 100 articles change at once. Larger selections change in the background; the list shows the progress. Undo puts back the old values for 10 minutes.

Import articles from files

In Settings → Help center → Import articles, choose up to 50 files (2 MB each). HTML, Markdown, TXT and Word (DOCX) files become one article each; a CSV file gives one article per row (title, content, category). You see the list first; nothing is written until you choose Create drafts. Articles are created as drafts.

Unpublish on a date

Set Unpublish on in the article’s status panel (site time). Cliedesk checks every 5 minutes and archives the article. Publishing on a date is WordPress’s own Schedule and works in every edition.

If Cliedesk Pro is turned off

• Articles for Signed-in customers or Anyone with the link become Agents only: customers and guests no longer see them until you choose another level or turn Pro on again. Nothing becomes more public.
• Who can open the help center is a Pro setting: without Pro the help center is open to everyone again. Make the articles you need to protect Agents only before you turn Pro off.
• Planned unpublish dates are kept but not acted on until Pro runs again.

Settings

Setting	What it does	Default	Allowed values	Who can change it
pro_knowledge.access	Help center open to everyone, signed-in visitors, some roles, or with a shared password.	public	public, logged_in, roles, password	Manage the help center
pro_knowledge.access_roles	Roles that can open the help center when access is set to roles.	Empty	A list	Manage the help center
pro_knowledge.access_password	Hash of the shared help center password (set it through the help center settings).	Empty	Text, up to 255 characters	Manage the help center
pro_knowledge.hide_restricted	Hide articles for signed-in customers from guests (404) instead of asking them to sign in.	Off	On or off	Manage the help center