Learn about Help Scout Docs
Docs is our knowledge base or help center product that allows you to empower your customers to find answers to their frequently asked questions, or simply to find more information about your company. This article is all about Docs.
What is Docs and how much does it cost?
Docs allows you to create a public support website, or knowledge base. It integrates directly with Help Scout, so you can write and manage all of your support documentation in one place. There is no limit to the number of articles you can add to a single Docs site.
All Help Scout plans include at least 1 Docs site. Visit Your Plan to see how many sites are included in your specific plan. You can add more sites for $20 USD per site, per month.
Do I need a Help Scout account to use Docs or use Docs without the Help Desk?
Yes you need an account, but there's no need to set up a Inbox or configure any mail forwarding if you only want to use Docs. If you decide to use Help Scout to manage your support email or chat later down the line, you can do so with just a few clicks.
Can customers comment on articles or create content?
Customers cannot comment on articles or publish new content. The knowledge base is strictly self help. Only Help Scout Users with access to your Help Scout account with the appropriate permissions can create and manage Docs content. See User Roles and Permissions for more on that.
Docs does allow customers to rate articles — check out Docs Article Satisfaction Ratings for more information!
What kind of branding options are available?
Check out Customize Your Docs Site for full details on what's built in and a little guidance to fully customizing things with CSS and JavaScript!
Can I use a custom domain?
Yes. When you install Docs, you'll be asked to fill in a subdomain, which is used to access your public facing knowledge base. You can share this subdomain with your customers, or you can setup a custom domain, such as support.yourdomain.com. Use Your Own Custom Domain With Docs has more details.
Do you offer a self-hosted version of Docs?
We built Docs from the ground up, and it's hosted on our servers just like Help Scout. We do not (and will not in the future) offer a self-hosted version. With that said, total creative control is available by leveraging the Docs API to create your own site and query the API for content.
Can I access articles while working on a conversation in the help desk?
The Docs search bar is a tool that will help you quickly locate, review, and link articles to a customer while working in a conversation. As you type within the search box, the Docs integration will suggest articles from your knowledge base. This allows you to link articles in your replies without ever leaving the page.
Is it possible to create an internal knowledge base?
Absolutely. Your knowledge base content can be categorized as public or private. Private content is viewable only by Users in your Help Scout account. Take a look at Browse Private Collections and Articles for more.
It is not possible to password protect a Docs site to serve a private site to anyone other than Help Scout Users, but you can Restrict Docs Site Access With Beacon.
Are there any space limitations associated with Docs?
There are no limits on how many articles you can create, or how many assets you can upload within an article. There is a 10 MB file size limit for individual file uploads though. We don't force any file or content types.
Is there a social widget to share articles?
Honestly, we're not too passionate about the whole social sharing thing for knowledge base articles. Docs should be a temple for all of your support content. It should be free of widgets and plugins and moderation requests. Copy and pasting article links is the best way to share your beautifully written support articles.