Discourse Docs (Documentation Management)

:discourse2: Summary Discourse Docs provides the ability to find and filter knowledge base topics
:hammer_and_wrench: Repository Link https://github.com/discourse/discourse-docs
:open_book: Install Guide How to install plugins in Discourse

Features

The Discourse Docs plugin is a powerful tool that transforms your Discourse forum into a community-powered knowledge base. It provides a dedicated Docs section where users can create, update, and curate documentation. This plugin features a Docs button that allows easy access to this section. It’s a great way to leverage the collective knowledge of your community and provide a centralized resource for important information.

You can see it in action at https://meta.discourse.org/docs.

In essence, Docs allows for easier surfacing of knowledge-base style topics across a defined set of categories and/or tags.

Filter the list down by tags, search via the search bar, and click on topics to see the first post – all without leaving the context of the knowledge explorer.

Need to find a knowledge base topic from somewhere else in Discourse? Use the new search helper: in:kb.

Configuration

  1. Enable the plugin by turning on the docs enabled setting.

  2. Add categories and tags to the docs categories and docs tags settings.

  3. Find the Docs link in the navigation menu.

Screen Shot 2021-03-01 at 12.49.14 PM

  1. Profit with easier access to knowledge!

Settings

Name Description
docs enabled Enable the Docs Plugin
docs categories A list of category slugs to include in docs
show tags by group Organize tags using Tag Groups. Create groups to categorize related tags.
docs tag groups The Tag Groups used to show tags by group
docs tags A list of tags to include in docs
docs add solved filter Adds a filter for solved topics – requires Discourse Solved to be installed and enabled
docs add to top menu Adds a link to the top menu to navigate to the Docs view
docs add search menu tip Adds the tip “in:docs” to the search menu random tips

Helpful Pairings

Renaming the /docs path

If you have access to your server you can change the path of your /docs link by adding a DISCOURSE_DOCS_PATH: environment variable to your app.yml:

For the change to take effect you can either ./launcher rebuild app or, as it’s an environment variable, you can ./launcher destroy app && ./launcher start app to minimise downtime. There’s a little more info on that here - Set Environmental Variables

You may also want to change the site display text as well to match. You can search for all instances of ‘docs’ from your /admin/customize/site_texts page, but the main ones would be:

  • js.docs.title
  • js.sidebar.docs_link_text

:discourse2: Hosted by us? Renaming the /docs path is only available on our Enterprise plan. Please contact us if you’d like to learn more.

Development History

The Docs plugin was a continuation from the Knowledge Explorer Theme Component.


:discourse2: Hosted by us? This plugin is available on all of our hosting plans. Docs | Discourse - Civilized Discussion

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