Migrating to Front Knowledge Base

Ready to migrate your existing knowledge base to Front Knowledge Base? Review these tips to help you plan your migration process and set your team up for a smooth transition!

Who is going to help with key migration tasks? Identify teammates who can own the following items:

• Exporting and importing your knowledge base articles.

• Managing and verifying knowledge base content accuracy.

• Customizing brand design for your knowledge base website (logo images, color scheme, font).

• Setting up the more technical elements of your knowledge base: domain setup (external knowledge bases), contact form, Front Chat, Google Analytics, URL redirects, etc.

The time it takes to migrate from your existing knowledge base to Front can vary depending on various factors, such as the amount of information you’re migrating or the size of your team. Be prepared to allot at least 2-3 weeks minimum to complete the migration.

We suggest auditing your articles and categories prior to importing the data into Front. This ensures your knowledge base content is up-to-date when you start using Front Knowledge Base.

What you should think about:

• Are there articles that are no longer needed? Remove them from your previous provider or import file.

• Are there outdated articles that need to be updated? You can modify the content in your previous provider, in your import file, or in Front Knowledge Base.

• Is the category structure and nesting in your previous provider supported in Front Knowledge Base? Nesting options vary between providers and Front pricing plans, so you may need to reorganize your categories.

• How many articles do you need to import into Front Knowledge Base? Article limits vary by pricing plan, so you may need to remove articles or upgrade to another Front plan.

You have two options to import your knowledge base content into Front Knowledge Base:

1. From CSV: See this article to download a CSV template and review the supported import fields.

2. From URL: See this article if you're using Help Scout, Intercom, or Zendesk and want to migrate an external visibility knowledge base.

A Front company admin can grant knowledge base permissions to teammates based on the tasks they need to complete. See this article to learn more about managing Front Knowledge Base permissions.

See this article for instructions on importing knowledge base articles into Front using a CSV file, or see this article to for instructions on importing articles via URL.

After importing your knowledge base content into Front, review all articles and categories in the website view of your knowledge base to ensure they are formatted as expected. It may be helpful to have your previous provider and Front Knowledge Base open side-by-side to compare them.

What to think about when spot-checking articles:

• Categories: Does the category nesting display as expected? Are articles located in the correct categories?

• Headers: Are the headers formatted correctly? Are they the size you’re expecting? Do they appear in the table of contents?

• Hyperlinks: Do the links redirect users to the correct pages?

• Images: Are the images the size you’re expecting? Are there any broken images?

• Quotes: Are your quotes formatted correctly?

• Tables: Are your tables formatted correctly?

• Videos: Are your videos displaying as expected?

Check out the following articles to learn how to edit your content in Front:

• Add and edit knowledge base articles

• Organize knowledge base articles with categories and sections

• Add and edit knowledge base resource links

See this article for instructions on setting up the following items:

• Website view design

• Site visibility settings

• Front Chat

• Google Analytics

• Domain settings

• Article URL redirect settings

Once you’ve finalized your knowledge base content and settings, it’s time to publish your site and let your team or customers know they can use your new knowledge base!

Click the Go live button in the Settings tab of your knowledge base to publish it. If applicable, have your IT team redirect your existing knowledge base traffic to your new knowledge base.

Tips on content you can share:

• Send an announcement email to your team or customers to show off your new knowledge base.

• Record a short tutorial video to help new users navigate and utilize your knowledge base.

  • Showcase the interface by clicking through categories and articles

  • Search for articles

  • Navigate articles by clicking on headers in the table of contents, and copy header links

  • If applicable, click links to your hidden categories, contact form, Front Chat, or external links to demonstrate expected behavior

• Let teammates know how your new knowledge base is integrated with other Front features. See our Using your knowledge base with Front article as a starting point.

Front Knowledge Base is available on the following plans: 

• Latest Starter plan or above (May 2023)

• Any Scale plan or above

If you are on a legacy plan and don't have access to this feature, you can update to one of our latest plans in your Billing settings or contact your account manager.