If you are implementing Salesforce Knowledge, one of the things that you may want to do is to import knowledge articles rather than creating it one by one in Salesforce. Importing knowledge articles is different than importing records in a standard/custom object using a data loader tool and is a bit tricky. But don’t worry. Now, here is a step by step guide to walk you through the entire process and make it a breeze.
Import Articles Tool
Import Articles is a tool provided by Salesforce which you can use to import articles to Salesforce Knowledge base. It’s a declarative, no-code, simple-to-use tool. Before you can import Knowledge Base, you must first create a .csv file, a .properties file, and then a zip file. It also gives you sample .csv and .properties files to view the file structure and prepare your files accordingly.
There are two ways in which you can import articles to Salesforce Knowledge:
- Import Articles Only
- Import Articles with Translations
Import Articles Only
If you have Knowledge set up in only one language then you can use this option. Create the files as specified in sample file and then import the zip file to bring articles in. There is no need to define Master Language for articles in this case.
Import Articles with Translations
If you have multilingual Knowledge base, then you need to use this option. There are separate sample files provided for this. When creating .csv file, you need to specify the Master Language. Enter article details in master language first in a row followed by all the subsequent translations. Import fails if Master Language is not specified.
In this step-by-step guide, that should take between 30-45 minutes for you to follow, we will cover how to:
- Create CSV File
- Create Properties File
- Create Zip File
- Import Zip File
- Monitor Article Import Queue
- Refer Article Import Log
- Review Imported Article
- Import Article with Translations
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References & Useful URLs
- Salesforce Knowledge – A Step By Step Guide to Getting Started – Blog Post (45 minutes)
- Import External Content into Salesforce Knowledge – Help Article (10 minutes) – https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=knowledge_article_importer.htm&type=5
- Create a .csv File for Article Import – Help Article (10 minutes) – https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=knowledge_article_importer_02csv.htm&type=5
- Set Article Import Parameters – Help Article (10 minutes) – https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=knowledge_article_importer_03parameters.htm&type=5
- Create an Article .zip File for Import – Help Article (10 minutes) – https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=knowledge_article_importer_04zip.htm&type=5
- Article and Translation Import and Export Status – Help Article (10 minutes) – https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=knowledge_article_importer_05status.htm&type=5
- How to Create a Zip File to Import Lightning Knowledge Articles – Video (4:28 minutes) – https://youtu.be/U1N18hmFjIU
Hi, how do you handle child and sibling data categories in the csv file header? I get an invalid error during the import.
This is one of the best article to migrate external knowledge into Salesforce. In fact, better than Salesforce Trailhead. Very much precise and due to deck containing steps with screenshot it is fastest to understand. Thanks for publishing it.
Just a suggestion: Can you make the presentation PDF available to download without premier membership? It will be convenient. You may include logo/name on every slide for copyright purpose.
Thanks Parag. Appreciate your feedback and suggestion. Please do take a look at the URL https://www.asagarwal.com/membership-plans/#switch-to-paid-guides where I have explained the reason to offer the PDF downloads as the paid option.
Thank You Anish.
I have file attachments (e.g. pdf, xls, etc.) with original knowledge articles and I would like to migrate these attachments as files with respective knowledge. Could you please suggest how can I do this?
Do I need to create a file folder under each article folder (same as data)?
If yes, what will be the field in CSV and waht should be mentioned under taht field?
Please reply. All you help is always highly appreciated.
Hi Parag, I haven’t tried this out so you will need to test it yourself. Though my guess is that importing files to knowledge articles will be like importing file to any other standard/custom object. I don’t think the process will be different for knowledge articles. But please test and validate.
Hi Anish,
Thank you for this helpful step-by-step guide, much appreciated!
One follow up question: If I have a library of PDF files to import rather than HTML articles, is there a solution to import them in batch?
Hi Ek,
This article outlines the process of importing files in Salesforce – https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=000314772&type=1
See if this helps.
Regards,
Ashish
how to import files which are hyperlinked in html file in an article
Hi Kareem, I am not sure if I have understood your question correctly. But Once you import the html file, the hyperlink that it contains will remain as is. So, when users click on the hyperlink, they will be taken to that URL. Are you looking for something else?
This is really a good demonstration.
Thanks Nancy
Encoding UTF-8 mismatch for the file Article.csv.
Great guide! thanks for sharing