Allowing public comments on Knowledge Base articles | Online Help - Zoho Desk

Allowing Public Comments on Knowledge Base Articles

Customer feedback plays an important role in improving products, as well as the instructional resources associated with them. With more organizations implementing self-service customer support models, it's imperative to give customers an opportunity to share their questions, issues, suggestions, and feedback.

By encouraging customers to provide direct feedback and suggestions on your published knowledge base articles, you can discover ways to improve them and keep them updated. Zoho Desk allows customers to post comments on the Knowledge Base (KB) articles, which your support agents can review and provide quick resolutions. 

Some benefits of allowing customers to comment on KB articles include:
  1. Give customers an opportunity to track their comments until resolution.
  2. Receive direct feedback and suggestions to help you edit and update content promptly.
  3. Allow other customers to read through the comments and find answers to their own similar questions.
  4. Take a proactive approach to win customers' trust by quickly addressing their questions and letting them know through comments.  
  5. Streamline communication about questions related to article content.
  6. Create and maintain a highly relevant knowledge base by ensuring customer comments on articles are addressed.

Setting permission to comment on articles

Administrators can set permissions that allow customers to leave comments on KB articles. 
To set permission
  1. Log into Zoho Desk with Administrative privileges.
  2. Access the Knowledge Base module from the top bar.
  3. Select Manage KB > Access Settings from the left panel.
  4. Toggle Allow Users to Comment on Articles. 

Posting comments on articles

Comments can be posted by customers and agents. Customers who access KB articles can leave comments on them and keep track of the resolution status. Agents can post a comment as a response to the customer's question or feedback. These comments are visible to the public, so they can benefit other customers with similar questions.
Consider an article on sign-ups and authentication methods. Only those users who have logged into their Zoho Desk account can post a comment. 

A user finds that the steps for the authentication method discussed in the article are different from what he sees on his interface. He leaves a comment on the article along with a screenshot of his interface. The agent responds to the comment and provides a solution. It turns out that other users have experienced a similar issue when they access the interface from a particular browser.
Because of the comments:
  1. The solution provided by the agent was readily available to all users, and helped prevent similar support requests, because users were able to find a solution on their own.
  2. The organization was able to update the article with the applicable information to prevent further questions.

Posting comments as a customer

A customer can log into the Help Center and leave a comment on an article that is published in the KB. By default, comments posted by customers are public. From the comment box, customers can:
  1. Tag other customers or agents. The person who is tagged will receive an email notification about the comment.
  2. Attach files up to a maximum of 20 MB.
  3. Format the comment using the text editor.
  4. Edit or delete a comment.
To post comments as a customer
  1. Log into the Help Center.
  2. Go to the Knowledge Base and select an article.
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the article.
  4. In the comment box, type your comment.
  5. Format the text to your preference (make text bold, underline, highlight, add bullets, inset links, and more).
  6. Type @ and choose users or agents from the list to tag.

  7. Type # and select the heading under which you want to add a comment.
  8. Click Attach a File, if needed.
    You can attach files up to 20 MB.
  9. Click Add Comment

Posting comments as an agent

Private or public

Agents can post private or public comments from the Agent Interface. Private comments can be used for internal reference and will not be displayed in the Help Center. For better distinction, private comments appear with a yellow background, while public comments appear with a blue background. By default, comments are set to private, but can be made public as needed.
Note: Light Agents do not have permission to comment.

Tagging agents or customers and notifying upon receiving comments

Agents can tag other agents, customers/users, and groups in a comment. Only agents, users, or groups that are associated with a department can be tagged. An email notification will be sent to the article owner whenever a customer or an agent leaves a comment. Notifications will be sent for both public and private comments regardless of whether the user is mentioned or tagged in it.




Highlight article heading

In a comment, agents can use the # key to select a heading and highlight it to provide better context to customers. For example, agents can note that browser details are available under #Authentication Tips. Agents can click on the Authentication Tips heading to access the necessary article using ASAP for easy reference.

Attach files

Agents can attach files from their computers or use the Cloud Picker to choose files from Zoho WorkDrive, Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, OneDrive, Evernote, and Zoho Docs.

Filter comments

All private and public comments made by agents or customers are displayed under an article's Comments tab. Agents can sort comments based on when they were posted.

Format content

Editor formatting styles can be selected to highlight text, insert links, underline important points, and more.

Edit or delete a comment

Agents can edit a comment, and change its setting to private or public. They can also delete a comment.

To post comments as an agent
  1. Log into Desk as an Agent.
  2. Go to the Knowledge Base and select an article.
  3. Click the Comments tab.
    All comments made by customers and other agents will be listed here.
  4. In the comment box, type your comment.
  5. Type # and choose an article heading from the list.
    You can also enter the # icon in the text editor.
  6. Type @ and choose agents, users, or groups from the displayed list to tag.
    Only Groups that are associated with a particular department will be displayed.
  7. Click the Cloud icon, and select an app from the Cloud Picker.
  8. Choose a file and click Attach.
    Alternatively, you can click the Attachment icon and select a file to attach.
  9. Hover over the dropdown arrow next to Comment/Private.
  10. Toggle Public, if you want the comment to be visible in the Help Center.   

Viewing comments

Customers and agents can view all comments posted on an article. Customers can edit or delete their comments. In every comment, the customer's label (their identification or grouping created in Zoho Desk) will be displayed for distinction and better identification. See also: Creating and managing user labels


To view comments
  1. Go to the Help Center and select an article.
  2. Scroll down to the bottom of the article to view the comments. 

Converting article comments to tickets

Agents or admins can convert the comments to tickets, so that the support team can also respond to the customer queries. By default, the article owner gets an email notification when a comment is made, however some questions may require the support teams involvement in such cases, the agents can evaluate the comment and convert it to a ticket. 

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