Set Up a Public Knowledge Base Portal
Published on June 3, 2026 Article Hub
Set Up a Public Knowledge Base Portal with DRTEKnowledgeArticle
This guide walks you through turning installed DRTEKnowledgeArticle content into a public, self-service help center. You'll verify the package, stand up a Digital Experience site, open guest access safely, publish a sharing rule, and organize your articles into a browsable category structure.
| Before You Begin | You'll need System Administrator access, the DRTEKnowledgeArticle package installed and active alongside the core DRTE package, and basic familiarity with Salesforce Digital Experiences (Experience Cloud). Note: After successful installation, Assign DRTE Knowledge Article Admin Permission Set to your Admin users/Knowledge Article Creators |
Step 1: Verify the Package Installation
Confirm that DRTEKnowledgeArticle by CodeyLabs is listed as installed and active in your org, alongside the core DRTE package.
Installed Packages list showing DRTEKnowledgeArticle as active.
Step 2: Create Your Digital Experience Site
2.1 In Setup, go to Digital Experiences → All Sites and click New to launch the site creation wizard.
All Sites page with the New button highlighted.
2.2 Choose the Build Your Own (LWR) template — use the enhanced version for the best performance and flexibility — then click Get Started .
Template selection screen with Build Your Own (LWR) selected.
2.3 Name the site — for example "help" — which also sets its URL path, then click Create .
Site naming screen with the site name and URL path fields.
Step 3: Open Experience Builder
Once the workspace finishes initializing, click the Builder tile from the management dashboard to open Experience Builder and design the page layout.
Experience Workspace dashboard with the Builder tile.
Step 4: Enable Public Guest Access
4.1 In Experience Builder, click the gear icon for Settings , open the General tab, and under Public Access check "Guest users can see and interact with the site without logging in."
General settings panel with the public access checkbox.
4.2 Click the Guest User Profile link directly below that checkbox to open security settings for unauthenticated visitors.
Public Access section with the Guest User Profile link.
4.3 On the guest user's detail page, open the assigned Site Guest User configuration to prepare for permission set assignment.
Site Guest User configuration on the guest user detail page.
4.4 Under Permission Set Assignments , select DRTE Knowledge Article Guest User , click Add to move it to Enabled, then Save .
Permission Set Assignments with DRTE Knowledge Article Guest User added.
| Keep Guest Access Minimal | Assign only the DRTE Knowledge Article Guest User permission set to unauthenticated visitors. This exposes just the knowledge components they need, without broadening guest access to other org data. |
Step 5: Add the Knowledge Base Component
Back in the Experience Builder canvas, open the Components drawer, find the Knowledge Base component under Custom Components , and drag it onto your page layout.
Components drawer with the Knowledge Base custom component.
Knowledge Base component placed on the page canvas.
Step 6: Activate the Site
Return to the Experience Workspace dashboard, click Administration , and under Settings click Activate to turn on the public URL.
Administration settings with the Activate button.
| Site Is Live | Your public URL is now active. Two more steps — sharing rules and category setup below — are needed before articles actually appear on it. |
Step 7: Create a Knowledge Article Sharing Rule
Visiting the public URL right after activation shows an empty container with a "No published articles available" message — expected, since guest access still needs a sharing rule.
Empty public portal showing "No published articles available."
Go to Sharing Settings and create a Knowledge Article Sharing Rule where criteria is Status EQUALS Published, sharing with the help Site Guest User profile at Read Only access. This routes published articles to the public portal while keeping drafts hidden.
Knowledge Article Sharing Rule with Status = Published criteria.
Step 8: Configure Categories and Product Lines
8.1 In Object Manager , locate the two custom objects the package deploys: Knowledge Article and Knowledge Article Version .
Object Manager listing the Knowledge Article objects.
8.2 On Knowledge Article → Fields & Relationships , open the Section/Service/Product Name picklist field.
Section/Service/Product Name picklist field definition.
8.3 In the field's Values list, click New to add your own product lines beyond the default "General" and "Service" placeholders.
Values related list with the New button.
Example values Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini added as product lines.
8.4 On the same object, open the Category (Managed) picklist field to define documentation types.
Category (Managed) picklist field definition.
Category values: Getting Started, How-To, FAQs, Troubleshooting, Best Practices, Reference.
These two picklists build your public portal's folder structure:
| Picklist Field | Controls | Example Values |
| Section/Service/Product Name | Top-level portal folders | Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini |
| Category (Managed) | Sub-folders / article type | Getting Started, How-To, FAQs, Troubleshooting, Best Practices, Reference |
Watch the Full Walkthrough
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHowlstRe2o
| FAQ: Portal still shows no articles? | Double-check that the Knowledge Article Sharing Rule (Step 7) is active and that the articles you expect to see have a Status of Published . Guest users can only see records the sharing rule explicitly grants them. |
Get Support
If you run into issues completing any step above, reach out to your Salesforce administrator or the CodeyLabs Support at support@codeylabs.com
Knowledge Article Number: KA-00288