Organizing articles with categories

Categories keep your Customer Portal organized and help customers find what they're looking for faster. Each article belongs to one category. A category appears on your portal's home page once it holds at least one published article.

Creating a category#

1. Go to Customer Portal → Content → Categories.

   

2. Click Add category.

   

3. Fill in the category details:

   • Thumbnail — A visual image representing the category, shown on the portal homepage. Choose between uploading a pre-made Image or using Custom to build one from the icon and background color.
   • Icon — An emoji or icon that visually represents the category. Shown on the category card depending on your category display settings.
   • Name — The category title displayed to customers on the portal (e.g. "Getting started").
   • Slug — The URL-friendly version of the category name, used in the category's web address. Auto-generated from the name but can be edited manually.
   • Description — A short optional summary of what topics this category covers, shown below the category name on the portal.

4. Click Add.

Reordering categories#

The order of categories determines how they appear on your portal homepage. To change the order:

1. Open your portal and click Branding.

2. On the Sections tab, open Help categories.

3. Under Category order, drag the categories into the order you want. Click a category to order the articles inside it.

   

4. Click Save.

One category per article#

An article can be in one category at a time. You pick it in the Category field of the article. The same article can't appear under several categories. If a topic fits two categories, put the article where customers are most likely to look and link to it from an article in the other category.

Article order inside a category#

Articles are listed in the order they were added to the category, with the newest at the bottom. An article you move in from another category also goes to the bottom.

To set your own order:

1. Open your portal and click Branding.
2. On the Sections tab, open Help categories.
3. Under Category order, click a category to open its Article order.
4. Drag an article, use the up and down arrows (hold one to keep moving), or type a position. To find an article quickly, type its title in Jump to article.
5. Click Save.

Visitors see this order on the category page. Draft and archived articles are in the list too, dimmed with a badge, so you can place them before you publish. Translations follow the order of the original article, so you only order a category once.

The Popular articles section on the home page is separate. In Manual mode you choose its articles and their order. See Customizing your Customer Portal.

Empty categories and deleting a category#

• A category with no published articles doesn't show on the portal home. You don't need to delete it.
• Deleting a category doesn't delete its articles. They are no longer listed under a category on the portal until you pick a new one for each.

Tips for good categories#

• Use broad, intuitive names that match how customers think about their problems — not how you think about your product.
• Aim for 5–10 categories. Too few makes articles hard to find; too many is overwhelming.
• Keep categories balanced — if one category has 20 articles and another has 2, consider splitting or merging.
• Review your categories regularly as your portal grows.