At one point or another, we have all experienced being users who rely on articles and written material for learning and problem-solving. And with that, it’s undeniable how valuable well-formatted, well-written, and well-crafted resources can be. After all, clear and structured articles make it easier to find the right information quickly.
The Lightning Article Editor is a powerful tool in Salesforce Knowledge that enables users to create, edit, and manage articles efficiently within Lightning Experience. Whether you’re documenting internal processes, creating customer-facing FAQs, or updating product information, the Lightning Article Editor has a number of features that provide a seamless editing experience. Let’s take a closer look.
Prerequisites
Before you begin using the Lightning Article Editor, ensure that Salesforce Knowledge is enabled in your org. If you are a Knowledge author or manager, then you most probably already have the necessary permissions to create and edit Knowledge articles, including:
- Manage Articles
- Create, Read, and Edit Knowledge
Last but not least, confirm that you’re working in Lightning Experience – the Lightning Article Editor is not available in Salesforce Classic (but hey, is anyone still hanging out there?).
Accessing the Lightning Article Editor
To access the editor, go to the App Launcher (the nine-dot grid icon in the top-left corner) and search for “Knowledge.” From there, you can either click “New” to create a new article or open an existing one for editing.
Using the Lightning Article Editor
For this walkthrough, we’ll create a new article. Click “New”, and the usual prompt should appear. Select the appropriate record type (if applicable), then enter a clear and descriptive title and summary to help categorize the article. Fill out the usual required fields, like URL Name, then proceed to your article body. The article body is a rich text area field that is named depending on how Knowledge records are set up in your org.
The Lightning Article Editor provides a rich text editor that allows you to format text with bold, italics, and underlining, as well as add bullet points, numbered lists, tables, hyperlinks, and images to enhance readability.
I am aiming for this Knowledge entry to show the following sample content (see formatting notes in brackets):
- [title] Resetting Your Salesforce Password
- [bold] Summary
- Forgot your Salesforce password? Follow these steps to regain access quickly.
- [numbering, bold] 1: Go to the Login Page
- Navigate to the [hyperlink] Salesforce login page and click [italic] “Forgot Your Password?”.
- [insert image of login page]
- [numbering, bold] 2: Request a Reset Link
- [bullet] Enter your username (email address) and click Continue.
- [bullet] Check your inbox for a password reset email.
- [italic, colored text] Tip: If you don’t receive an email, check your spam folder or verify your username.
- [numbering, bold] 3. Set a New Password
- [bullets] Click the reset link in your email.
- Create a strong password (8+ characters: a mix of letters, numbers, symbols).
- Click Submit to confirm.
- [bold] Troubleshooting
- [insert table]
- [bold] Issue || Solution
- No reset email received || Check the spam folder or verify your username.
- Link expired || Request a new password reset.
- Still can’t log in? || Contact your Salesforce Admin for help.
Composing and formatting within the Lightning Article Editor is a breeze. The top bar gives you ready access to basic formatting tools, like bold, italic, and underline. There are other features as well, like alignment, bullets, numbering, and hyperlinks. You can click the three-dot button on the right to expand your tool array.
Using these tools is very similar to composing in your usual document editor, like MS Word or Google Docs. Highlight the text you want to customize, and then choose your preferred format. Consider the font size, color, and typeface. The Insert tab gives you options to add images, tables, or special characters and code samples.
One big improvement compared to the old editor is the table-editing capabilities. With the Lightning Article Editor, you can do a lot with tables – from adding and removing rows/columns, to resizing and merging cells, as well as formatting table borders and backgrounds.
Do note that modifying the table properties (like background color, border type, etc.) applies to the whole table – that’s why the whole image above is purple! In the future, I do hope Salesforce considers implementing more table customization capabilities so that the colors and border types can be applied only to selected cells.
The new Lightning Article Editor also allows you to copy and paste content from external sources with no problems, which the previous editor couldn’t do.
If you’d like to see what your content should look like so far, click the File tab (or the View tab) and select “Preview”.
Here’s a preview of how the content above looks with formatting applied:
Another way to view your content is with the fullscreen mode. To access this, just click the View tab and select “Fullscreen”. If you don’t feel like doing those clicks, you can also turn on full-screen mode with a keyboard shortcut like Ctrl + Shift + F.
The difference between this and the preview mode is that you can edit your content from here. It’s generally just a larger and wider version of the Lightning Article Editor. With this view, you won’t have to keep dragging the lower right corner of the editor to resize.
Before finalizing everything, you may want to explore other tools in the Article Editor. Close the preview and click the Tools tab. From here, you’ll notice that there is also a Word Count feature, which can help ensure articles meet content guidelines, as well as improve readability.
Another useful tool you may want to explore from the same tab is the Accessibility Checker. This can be great for scanning articles and flagging potential accessibility issues for authors to address, ensuring content is accessible to all users – including those with disabilities or low vision.
In this example, I clicked the Accessibility Checker from the Tools tab, and it flagged seven issues for me to go over, three of which you can see in the images below.
Do take note that it is not absolutely necessary for you to fix all of these issues, as they are merely suggestions. Each issue displayed will give you the option to either fix it or ignore it. In my case, I proceeded to fix the headings, change the font color, add alternative text to images, and make a title for the table. Once everything is all set, you should no longer see any accessibility issues.
Satisfying! You can now click “Save”.
Finalizing and Publishing Your Article
Once you’re happy with the content and formatting, it’s time to finalize and publish your article. Before doing so, consider reviewing the actual record and making sure everything is as it should be. During creation, you may have already dealt with formatting issues, but take one final scan to make sure there aren’t any grammatical errors.
If your org has an approval process for Knowledge articles, you’ll need to submit the article for review before it can be published. Otherwise, ensure the correct status is set and publish away! Adding categories and tags also improves searchability, which can be a big help for users to find your article more easily. Once published, Salesforce automatically tracks versions of your article. When updates are needed, you can create a new version without affecting the original published article.
Summary
The Lightning Article Editor is only one of the features that help simplify knowledge management in Salesforce. With its easy-to-use formatting capabilities and publishing tools, orgs can maintain a well-structured and accessible knowledge base for both internal users as well as customers. With content that is well-structured, accessible, and easy to find, improving the user experience is easy-peasy.
What are your thoughts on the latest version of the Lightning Article Editor and its built-in tools? Leave them in the comments!
