# Using Discourse as a internal Knowledge Base / Intranet
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [September 28, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857 "2015-09-28T21:01:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Ryan\_Nix](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ryan_Nix)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/21 "2018-01-25T21:15:30Z")
Thanks, @jaevanryssel. This definitely helps a bit. We use Slack too and so there has been some discussion on when Slack is appropriate vs Discourse.
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### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2018, 12:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/22 "2018-01-26T00:42:47Z")
funny that this thread is being reawakened now. I am working on this right now - we use discourse as a community forum and for internal staff discussions. I’d like to reconfigure things so it’s optimal for both, but it’s been a bit of a challenge. For example internal discussions swamp the frontpage for staff so sometimes it’s hard for them to see and deal with community discussions. For today I am trying out the “hide category from frontpage” setting and [adding a link to that category on the top menu, visible only to staff](https://meta.discourse.org/t/categories-in-top-menu-displayed-only-to-groups-with-access-to-the-category/79057).
I also am looking to create a wiki category with sub-categories, to contain operating procedures and how-to docs for staff. This is working well, especially with the “boxes with topics” category view - like the #howto category here - see screenshot. I like! I think it will be a big improvement over the google docs we were using previously for this purpose. Especially when considering that it can respect permissions and show people only the sub-category of procedures that they need to see according to their role.
Up next, I think, is to figure out a way to present the wiki topics in a structured interface externally, so it can be used without the distraction of discourse discussion features, safely also when discourse is down, and also perhaps even offline saved as structured PDFs.
The learndiscourse experiment might be a help for this - and if anyone has done it recently with success and has a recipe for it I’d love to see it! Sadly, [learndiscourse.org](http://learndiscourse.org) is not working right now.
[https://github.com/erlend-sh/learndiscourse/blob/gh-pages/about.md](https://github.com/erlend-sh/learndiscourse/blob/gh-pages/about.md)
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### Author:  [@Juno](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Juno)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2019, 6:27pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/23 "2019-01-15T18:27:48Z")
This is great! I’m also thinking about using discourse as a KB. Only issue I’m seeing so far is localization, seems like that would be a bit more painful than the solution we have now.
There isn’t really a way to have a single topic localized is there?
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### Author:  [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2019, 6:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/24 "2019-01-18T06:59:33Z")
> [@Juno](#):
>
> There isn’t really a way to have a single topic localized is there?
The same topic translated into multiple languages? Not really, no. Once you get to that kind of upscale requirement I think it’s time to transition to a specialized docs platform. Using something like [https://www.gatsbyjs.org](https://www.gatsbyjs.org) you could continue using Discourse as the data source for your English content, whilst translating the rest in Transifex.
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### Author:  [@Joaquin\_Menchacha](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Joaquin_Menchacha)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/25 "2020-04-13T17:13:14Z")
**Wiki vs. Bulletin** : I am not completely sold on idea to have bulletin system for Knowledge Management. Generally speaking, if everyone is familiar common location in a hierarchy, it is easy to reference something. Searching, you may not recall the exact word or key word needed, but you’ll know the location. I look toward analogy of having an index vs. sleuthing through lot of information to extract the exact information you need.
**Confluence wiki vs. Other Wiki** : I am open to using an alternative code-friendly wiki, maybe something that can be integrate changes that occur with code, so that it is refreshed, e.g. [https://www.mkdocs.org/](https://www.mkdocs.org/).
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### Author:  [@misterjtc](https://meta.discourse.org/u/misterjtc)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/26 "2020-10-07T18:28:16Z")
I stumbled upon this post as I to am searching for a good knowledge base/wiki solution for my company.
I noticed that discourse has this setup and I like it.
Is this something that is easily configurable out of the box? I like the clean look and organization through categories and tags.
Edit: I am also wondering if there are a couple of other feature sets available within this:
1. Version control with rollback
2. Approval/pull request type pipeline for certain items
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### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2020, 6:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/27 "2020-10-07T18:50:43Z")
Hi Jordan! Yes, this can be enabled using the official [Discourse Docs](https://meta.discourse.org/t/knowledge-explorer-plugin/130172).
Topics are normal discourse topics, which provide version control. Not sure about the pull request type pipeline - can you expand on that?
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### Author:  [@misterjtc](https://meta.discourse.org/u/misterjtc)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/28 "2020-10-07T19:19:16Z")
@tobiaseigen Perfect! Thank you for this. I will look into it further.
Regarding the approval/pull request type scenario I’ve tried to put some more clear thoughts below:
I say pull request as an example because I think it works pretty well for soft dev and could also (and is in some wiki type software such a gollum I imagine) as a way to control updates of certain KB articles. To clarify, it really could be any type of approval workflow, I am just using a pull request as a familiar example.
ie. Someone owns that article and any updates to that article need to be submitted as a pull request (or similar) for review and approval.
Does that make sense?
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### Author:  [@justin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/justin)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/29 "2020-10-07T19:21:30Z")
> [@misterjtc](#):
>
> Version control with rollback
This is built into Discourse-core version edit history.
> [@misterjtc](#):
>
> Approval/pull request type pipeline for certain items
You can set topics to require moderator approval for new topics in a category. We do not have this feature in core, but there’s an open feature request for it.
> [@Require staff approval for wiki edits in selected categories](https://meta.discourse.org/t/require-staff-approval-for-wiki-edits-in-selected-categories/130222):
>
> I would like to see something to keep some category’s topic edits under control. In my community we have todo/guide category with staff “seal of approval”. We want to make all topic in this category wiki mode for community to be able to update guides but then we don’t have under control what changes are being made. Option in category settings to require staff or selected group approval would be much appreciated slight_smile
This would not be for the topic creator, however. Only staff could approve posts.
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### Author:  [@Aaron\_Yanofsky](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Aaron_Yanofsky)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/30 "2020-11-18T21:17:49Z")
Hello,
I work for a large global insurance company, and am tasked with designing an internal knowledge base capturing built up knowledge around a range of topics. I was wondering if the Discourse platform is able to sync with Microsoft Office products. For example, in my company, we use Microsoft Office (Outlook for email, SharePoint for file storage, etc.) Could a discourse forum be integrated with Microsoft Office in some way to enable users of the organization to access it?
If the answer is yes to the above question, are there developers out there with experience in developing discourse platforms for organizations (via an intranet system) that are available for hire?
Thanks in advance.
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/31 "2020-11-18T21:50:04Z")
> [@Aaron\_Yanofsky](#):
>
> Could a discourse forum be integrated with Microsoft Office in some way to enable users of the organization to access it?
You mean to configure Discourse to outsource login to Microsoft 365?
> [@Aaron\_Yanofsky](#):
>
> If the answer is yes to the above question, are there developers out there with experience in developing discourse platforms for organizations (via an intranet system) that are available for hire?
We offer integration services like that in our Enterprise hosting plan. Check it out at [Discourse Enterprise | Discourse - Civilized Discussion](https://www.discourse.org/enterprise) and contact us with details.
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### Author:  [@Aaron\_Yanofsky](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Aaron_Yanofsky)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/32 "2020-11-18T22:26:27Z")
Thank you for this response. I’ve emailed your team privately about my request 🙂
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### Author:  [@Mohammad\_Azzam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mohammad_Azzam)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2021, 7:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/33 "2021-03-31T07:42:41Z")
This is a good discussion. Maybe someone here can help me. I am trying to use Discourse internally within my company as both user generate content (Forums) and an internal KB.
I like the screen @tobiaseigen shared back in Jan '18, this is exactly what I’m looking for, but is there a way I can have an editorial control, like, I want to specify the order of the articles to have a certain narrative. Also, not sure if that view can support more than just top 3 articles. Can anyone help?
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### Author:  [@gmoirod](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gmoirod)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2022, 10:40am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857/34 "2022-12-23T10:40:42Z")
> [@Aaron\_Yanofsky](#):
>
> I work for a large global insurance company, and am tasked with designing an internal knowledge base capturing built up knowledge around a range of topics. I was wondering if the Discourse platform is able to sync with Microsoft Office products. For example, in my company, we use Microsoft Office (Outlook for email, SharePoint for file storage, etc.) Could a discourse forum be integrated with Microsoft Office in some way to enable users of the organization to access it?
I am also facing users asking how to share documents in Discourse.
I did not find any official plugins allowing that.
But this one seems to boostrap something interesting : [Discourse OneDrive Picker](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-onedrive-picker/207655)
Would be great to integrate filesharing solutions to Discourse 😍
[Previous page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-discourse-as-a-internal-knowledge-base-intranet/33857.md?page=1)