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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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)
Thanks for your patience.