All authors with permission to view an article can view its versions and notes in the editor. Only authors with appropriate editing permissions can edit a version or update its version notes:
Authors with the default Editor or Writer role can edit article versions and custom content category versions, including adding Version notes and marking ready for review. If you're using a custom role:
- To edit article versions, you'll need the Articles custom author role permission to Edit versions of articles.
- To edit custom content category versions, you'll need the Categories custom author role permission to Edit categories.
All versions for an article are stored in the Versions section of the righthand panel of the article editor.
The information below varies based on whether you're using our 2026 new editor or old editor.
To figure out which instructions to follow:
- Open any article for editing.
- If the lefthand navigation is collapsed and there's a link near the top of the page to Switch to old editor, follow the New editor documentation.
- If the lefthand navigation is expanded and the top of the editor and the righthand column have a heavier grey background, follow the Old editor documentation.
Here are side-by-side examples of the new editor and the old editor:
Sample New editor
Sample Old editorTry out the new editor
We'd love your feedback on the new editor. To switch to the new editor, open any article for editing and select the Switch to new editor link at the top of the editor.
In the new article editor, the Versions section is within the top section of the righthand column, directly beneath the article's Status:
Sample Versions section with the 2023.12.21 version open
This section displays a list of all versions for a given article:
- The current active version is marked with a green Active badge next to the version number. (In the screenshot above, version 3.00 is the current active version visible in the knowledge base.)
- The version you're currently viewing gets its card highlighted in white and has a little eyeball next to the version number. (In the screenshot above, version 2023.12.21 is currently open.)
- Any versions marked ready for review have a yellow Ready for review badge next to the version number. (In the screenshot above, version 4.01 is marked ready for review.)
- Select the card of another version to view that version.
- When hovering over the card of an inactive version, select the triple dot versions menu to mark/unmark the version as ready for review, activate it, open it, or delete it.
- If you have many versions, only the four most recent are shown and the rest can be viewed by selecting the Show x older versions option. (In the screenshot above, we could select Show 2 older versions to view the complete list.)
View the version notes for any version by hovering over the version's card and selecting the notes icon next to the triple dot menu:
Sample version notes icon and modal
In the custom content category editor and the old article editor, the Versions section is beneath the Publishing Status section (articles) or the Category Type section (categories):
Sample Versions section with the 2023.12.21 version open
This section displays a list of all versions for a given article or custom content category:
- The current active version is marked with a green Active badge to the right. (In the screenshot above, version 3.00 is the current active version visible in the knowledge base.)
- The version you're currently viewing has a black Viewing badge to the right, and the version's number won't be underlined. (In the screenshot above, version 2023.12.21 is currently open.)
- Any versions marked ready to review have an orange Ready To Review badge to the right.
- Select the hyperlink of another version to view that version.
- When viewing an inactive version, the triple dot Version actions menu allows you to mark/unmark the version as ready for review, activate it, or delete it.
View the version notes for any version by selecting the notes icon to the right of the version's number:
Sample version notes
Once you've opened a version, make your changes to the version's body or title and save them just as you would a regular article or custom content category. No changes in an inactive version will be visible to your readers until you activate that version.
Custom role nuances
Authors with custom roles without the permission to edit article versions will be able to view version notes, but will not be able to add, edit, or remove them.