- 5 minutes to read

Create an Article

Start every Nodinite Article already shaped the way you want it, from wherever you are in the knowledge base, and write it with an editor that needs no training.

  • ✅ Start blank, from a Template, or with a Document Profile
  • ✅ Open a pre-shaped new Article from an intranet link with templateId or profileId
  • ✅ Let the slug follow the title while you type, and never break a saved link
  • ✅ Write in WYSIWYG (HTML) or Markdown, with images from the Image Library and tables

Animation: Add Article, From Template, pick Contoso Runbook Template, type the title while the Slug follows, write two lines, Save, read the Article (7.12)
Walkthrough of Add Article > From Template…: the editor opens with the Template's content, the Slug follows the title, and the saved Article records the Template as its Source Template.

Ways to Create an Article

New 7.11

Every entry point below opens the Article editor on the Repository route and on the Admin route, and is shown only to users with the Create Article permission (Repository_Article_Create) in the Permission Set, the same permission as the plain Add Article button.

Start from Where Opens the Article editor with
Blank Add Article (the main part of the split button) on the Articles Overview An empty Article, as before
A Template Add Article dropdown > From Template… on the Articles overview The Template picker. The chosen Template's content is applied, and the Template is recorded as the Source Template
A Template Create Article From Template row action on the Templates overview That Template applied. The row action is now on the Repository route too, not only on Admin
A Template Create Article from this Template in the Template's editor header or reader page That Template applied
A Document Profile Add Article dropdown > With Document Profile… on the Articles overview The Document Profile picker. The chosen profile is preselected and the composite workspace is open
A Document Profile Add Article using this Profile row action on the Document Profiles overview That profile preselected
A Document Profile Add Article using this Profile in the Document Profile's editor header or reader page That profile preselected

Copy API URL, Search content, and the Add Article split button with From Template and With Document Profile in its dropdown (7.12)
Example of the Add Article split button with its two starting points, next to Copy API URL and Search content (Content Search).

Document Profile reader page with the Add Article using this Profile button highlighted (7.11)
Example of the Add Article using this Profile button on a Document Profile's reader page.

Animation: Add Article, With Document Profile, Contoso Integration Runbook, fill Overview, Details and the required Owner and contacts, Save, read the Article with its header and footer Snippets (7.12)
Walkthrough of Add Article > With Document Profile…: the composite workspace shows the profile's sections; the saved Article reads in the profile's section order, between its header and footer Snippets.

While a Required section is empty, the composite workspace shows a Documentation health warning. You can still save.

Template Variables and Macros

When a Template has variables the editor can't resolve on its own, it shows Some template variables could not be resolved automatically with a field per variable and Apply Variables. Macros such as {{ Resource.Name }} are not variables: they stay in the text as typed, also in the editor's preview, and resolve when the Article is read. Read from a Monitor View for a Resource, the macro shows that Resource's name; read from the Articles list, with no Resource, it renders empty. See the Macros Reference.

The Snippets overview has no new options; Add Snippet stays a plain button. The reader's Edit button opens the editor of the item's own kind (Snippet, Template, or Document Profile) directly.

Deep Links to a New Article

The Article editor accepts two query parameters when it opens a new Article, so a link on an intranet page or in another Article can start a pre-shaped Article in one click:

Parameter Effect
templateId=<id> Starts from that Template: content applied, Source Template recorded. A profile-based Template also preselects its Document Profile and fills each Content Part, and wins over profileId
profileId=<id> Composes from that Document Profile: profile preselected, composite workspace open

Both work on the Repository route (/Repository/Article/add?profileId=12) and the Admin route (/Admin/Article?templateId=7). They're ignored when the id doesn't point at an item of the right kind, or when an existing Article is opened.

Slug Auto-Fill

When you create a new Article, Snippet, Template, or Document Profile, the Slug field follows the Title as you type:

Rule Behavior
Derivation Lower case, & becomes and, every other run of non-alphanumeric characters becomes one hyphen, no leading or trailing hyphens, at most 256 characters. The server uses the same rule, for example when it derives the slug of a Clone
You type in the Slug field The slug stops following the title
You clear the Slug field The slug follows the title again
A saved document's title changes The slug is never rewritten. Slugs are link targets in {nda}/slug and {nds}/slug tokens (see the Macros Reference), so changing one is always a deliberate edit of the Slug field

For example, the title Orders & Invoices – ERP (v2) becomes the slug orders-and-invoices-erp-v2. The C4 Diagrams article editor uses the same shared rule.

Rich text editor helps you create and manage Articles

The following features are available when working with Articles:

  • WYSIWYG Editor – No learning curve empowers anyone to write awesome Articles
    • Embed images and videos – Make your articles more attractive and user-friendly; reuse images from the Image Library
      • Clipboard – Simply paste the image into the article
      • From file – Select a file from the filesystem
      • Drag and drop – Can't be much simpler than that
    • Style your text
    • Provide hyperlinks to other pages and Articles
  • Tag your articles with Tags
  • Code view for fine-grained control, or write in Markdown
  • Easily create tables (with code view, you can style these as you like, for example, add table-striped)
  • Full-screen support
  • Adjust editable area – Simply drag and drop vertically
  • Type faster with shortcuts – Get the list of shortcuts in the editor help page

WYSIWYG editor toolbar for Articles, with the Segoe UI font button (7.12)
Example of the WYSIWYG editor toolbar. In the split editor it wraps onto several rows.

Keyboard shortcuts in the editor's Help dialog (7.12)
Example of the editor's Help dialog (the ? button) with the keyboard shortcuts.

Next Steps