Once you turn on Required Reading, the article editor displays a Required Reading section so you can mark articles as required and set start dates for acknowledgements.
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.
Make article required in new editor
To mark an article as required in the new editor:
- Open the article for editing.
- In the top section of the righthand column, select anywhere in the No acknowledgment required text next to Required reading:
The required reading modal opens.
Select anywhere in No acknowledgment required next to Required reading - Select Acknowledgment required. An Effective start date appears using today's date:
Select Acknowledgment required. The Effective start date is autopopulated with today's date.- If you need to adjust the start date for tracking acknowledgments, select the date field and use the date picker that opens. Then select Set start date in the date picker to push those changes back to the main modal.
- If you need to adjust the start date for tracking acknowledgments, select the date field and use the date picker that opens. Then select Set start date in the date picker to push those changes back to the main modal.
- Be sure to Save your article.
Make article required in old editor
To mark an article as required in the old editor:
- Open the article for editing.
- In the righthand column, check the Required box in the Required Reading section, below the URL Redirect section.
- Select Set Next Start Date. Select today's date.
Your Required Reading should look something like this:
Sample Required Reading section once you've set it up.Start Date required
A Start Date must be set for the article to appear as required for readers and for acknowledgements to be properly reported. - Be sure to Save your article.
Limitations
You cannot set articles in topic display categories, URL redirect articles, or custom content categories to be required. If you're interested in marking topic display categories' articles or custom content categories as required, please contact us and let us know you'd like to be added to our feature requests for this functionality!
What happens next
Once you save an article as required and add a start date:
- The article displays in the Required Reading page and the Required Reading article list (if used).
- The article displays the required reading flag and acknowledgement to readers.
- Readers' acknowledgements will be tracked and added to the Required Reading report.
Refer to Retrigger the same article for new acknowledgement for adding additional Start Dates. If you need to remove a start date or remove an article from the required list, refer to Remove requirement or start date.