KB User's Guide - Documents Tab - Request that a Document Appear on Your External KB Site

You have requested to share a document from another KB site. That document now appears in your internal KB site. You would like that specific shared document to ALSO appear on your external facing KB site. This document will tell you how to make this happen.

    Methods to Request a Document to be Shared with Your External KB Site

    The Request Button

    The Use Documents from link will lead you to a screen with filters to help you locate documents on a specific topic. The image below shows that a search term was entered to locate a specific document. Please note that the Document ID appears next to the Title of the document and also appears at the bottom of the screen. Click on the Request button to communicate with the owner of the document.

    use doc from other groups screen showing one document and highlighting the request button and the document's id

    Upon clicking the Request button, an email form appears. The Cc and Bcc fields are auto-filled by the KB.

    • The Cc: field is populated with the email the Admin of the KB Space who owns the document you are requesting to share.
    • The Bcc field is populated by the Admin of the Requesting KB Space.

    In the Note field, please explicitly request that document you would like shared be allowed to appear on your External KB site. Click the Request Share button below the Note field to send your email.

    Document sharing request form with typical email fields, a note field to be filled out, and highlighted request share button

    Click Document Title Next to the "Use"Button

    The Use Documents from link will lead you to a screen with filters to help you locate documents on a specific topic. The image below shows that a search term was entered to locate a specific document. However, the Use button appears next to the document you wish to have shared out to your external site. From here, click on the title link of the document. The image below shows the link of the document highlighted in red.

    Use documents from other groups screen showing one document highlighting the document title link

    Next, scroll down to the bottom of the document to the Review Options/ Comments section. Write the owner a note requesting that this document be shared out to your specific external KB space. Please be sure to click on the "Send comments to owner" checkbox. Click Submit to send your request.

    Review Options / Comments screen with a filled out comment and a checked send comments to owner checkbox

    Note: This method only notifies the document owner. If you do not get a response in a day or two, contact the KB Space Admin (Navigation: KB Admin Tools > SitePref tab > Group Space link) of the document you wish to have shared out.

    Click on the Comment Button of a Live Document

    If you come across a KB document while looking at an Institution's Unified KB Site/ specific External KB site and are interested in requesting that it be shared with your external site, scroll to the bottom of the page to the Document Information Table. There is a Comment button that you can click. The image below shows the Comment button in the Document Information Table of outlined in red. The Group field shows that Voice Services (highlighted in yellow) is the KB Group who owns this document.

    Document information table on a live kb document with the comment button highlighted

    You will be led to a Feedback email form. Manually add your email address and write out your request. Do the little math problem and click on the Submit button to send your request. The image below shows the email form, in the Comment field is a written request. The math equation in the image is solved to prove the request is coming from a human and the Submit button circled in red.

    Document feedback email form with fields for email, subject, and comment, as well as math problem and submit button


    Note:     This method only notifies the document owner. If you do not get a response in a day or two, contact the KB Space Admin (Navigation: KB Admin Tools > SitePref tab > Group Space link) of the document you wish to have shared out.

    Why The KB Errs on the Side of Caution: Document Security

    There are some external KB sites that are configured so they are not exactly public facing as they:

    • Are IP restricted
    • Require a generic username and password for access
    Also, while the KB Admin may have created topics with the intention to publicly share documents under that specific topic, its possible that, over time, the content in that topic may need to be re-evaluated for public consumption.

    The image below shows a Topic called "User Feedback". According to the checked boxes,  this Topic is intended to:
    • appear in the Internal and External KB site
    • appear in the Live Site Dropdown Menu
    • can be updated only by Admins
    • will get Reminders
    • will be shared publicly, thereby appearing in the Use Documents From Other Groups screen if sought out.
    Options for a topic named user feedback with the public share option selected and highlighted
    It is possible that, over time, documents assigned to this "User Feedback" topic may need to have its content revisited and approved for public consumption.
    • KB Admins occasionally inherit KB Sites and are not aware that a Topic was set to Public Share
    • KB Authors may erroneously assign a document to the wrong Topic
    At the time of the explicit and deliberate email request, the KB Admin has a chance to re-evaluate the document and its content and grant access or discuss things further with the Requester.

      Long Term Plans for Sharing Documents

      Currently, the KB is working on a Redesign of the Admin Tools and the Live Sites. In the future, we hope to make the process for the document sharing:

      • have a more intuitive flow for single document requests
      • have a batch share request method (example: new/ existing Institutions who wish to share all of the UW Office 365 KB documents with their external KB site)
      We also hope to make the "Public Share of Documents" something that the Admin can enable/ disable in Admin Settings.

      Thanks for your patience.



      Keywords:requesting use share external site KB admin security ask sharing   Doc ID:36790
      Owner:Leah S.Group:KB User's Guide
      Created:2014-01-28 17:08 CDTUpdated:2022-08-18 12:22 CDT
      Sites:KB User's Guide
      Feedback:  0   0