How to Set Up a Simple Knowledge Base in Planfix (Video)
When answers to the same questions live in chats and people’s heads, set up a simple knowledge base in Planfix: an object for articles, a short set of statuses and one project that holds everything. Objects in Planfix each describe one type of task, so every article you write gets filters, comments and role-based access. This video shows the whole setup in under two minutes.
What you’ll learn: knowledge base setup in three chapters
- Create a Knowledge base object and set up its form (0:13).
- Trim the object’s status set to Draft, Active and Archived (0:45).
- Create a project where sections are tasks and articles are their subtasks (1:05).
- Decide who reads and who edits articles with roles in the project.
- Make Knowledge base the default object for new tasks in the project.
How to set up a simple knowledge base in Planfix, step by step
Step 1. Create the Knowledge base object
Go to Account Management → Types of objects, click New Object and name it Knowledge base. In the video, published in 2024, this section is still called Objects.
A new object starts with a standard set of fields. Remove the ones articles don’t need and keep those that help people find them, such as tags. Set Task description as the default view so articles load correctly, then click Save. The object now works as your knowledge base article template: every article gets the same form.
Step 2. Set up article statuses
Open the object’s Status set tab. Remove the statuses you don’t need, keep Draft and add Active and Archived:
- Active for articles in use;
- Archived for outdated articles you don’t want to delete;
- Draft for articles that are still being written.
Then set the transitions following the status set and transition rules: click the plus sign in a status row to add one, and click the added status to choose who can switch to it or to delete the transition. In the video, the three statuses are linked by transitions, so an archived article can go back to Draft or Active.
Step 3. Create the knowledge base project
Create a new project with the Standard template; its default fields are enough. Sections become tasks, such as “HR”, and articles become their subtasks, such as “How to request vacation”. Subtasks nest without limit, so sections can have subsections.
Step 4. Choose who reads and who edits
In Roles in project, add people or whole groups; the video adds an employee group. If a group is a participant, all its members get access, including new ones. Two roles cover a simple knowledge base:
- Default participants can read and comment on articles but can’t edit or delete them or change their status. Planfix suggests them for every new article, and the checkbox under the list adds them to articles already active;
- Auditors can edit articles.
Give the Auditor role only to a few editors. A project auditor can also delete and restore project tasks and edit or delete the project itself.
Step 5. Make Knowledge base the default object
In the project’s Details, change the default task object from Not set to Knowledge base. The New task button in this project now creates every article with the right object. For quick access, an account or technical administrator can add the project to a workspace’s main menu in Workspaces → Managing workspaces.
Example: the finished knowledge base from the video
At the end of the video, the finished Knowledge base project opens with a tree of section tasks on the left and an article on the right: an internal process guide with numbered headings, one of them on access management for company systems. Earlier, the video shows an FAQ article in the same kind of tree.
To find, fill and share articles once the base is set up, see how the knowledge base works day to day.
When a simple setup is enough
- Small teams: a knowledge base for small teams needs only one project, three statuses and two roles to start.
- Articles for specific people: opening single articles to certain employees is covered in the companion video linked above.
- AI answers for customers: Planfix AI has a separate Knowledge base search that works with documents you upload.
FAQ
How do I archive outdated knowledge base articles?
Change the article’s status to Archived. Default participants can’t change statuses, so leave this to your auditors. The article stays in the project instead of being deleted, and the transition back to Active returns it to use.
How do I set knowledge base permissions in Planfix?
Through project roles: default participants read and comment, auditors edit, so keep auditors to a few editors. Object access is separate: by default every user can use the Knowledge base object, and the permissions icon in the object card limits who can.
Is there a ready-made knowledge base template?
Yes. The ready-made Company knowledge base solution is free, but installing it requires the Professional plan, and only account administrators can install it. It adds a Knowledge base object, the Active and Archived statuses, a Tags field, a task filter, a workspace and demo articles.
Start with one section
Create the object, the statuses and the project, then add one section and the few articles your employees ask about most. For more detail on each setting, read the full written guide to the Planfix knowledge base. New to Planfix? Start your free trial.
This video was featured in What’s New in Planfix: November 2024.
