Find knowledge articles from within a record in Dynamics 365

Applies To: Dynamics 365 (online), Dynamics 365 (on-premises), Dynamics CRM Online, Dynamics CRM 2016

For any customer service team, it’s important to give customers the right information at the right time. After your administrator sets up knowledge management for your organization, you can search for articles while working on a customer’s case or other records in Microsoft Dynamics 365, give customers accurate and consistent information, and also redirect frequently-asked questions. With rich knowledge at your fingertips, you’re likely to spend less time finding information, potentially reducing issue handling time and increasing customer satisfaction.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 supports two knowledge management solutions:

• Native Dynamics 365 knowledge management: This option is available for both Dynamics 365 (online) and Dynamics 365 (online) on-premises users. For Microsoft Dynamics 365 (online) organizations, the native Dynamics 365 knowledge solution is only available if you've installed the CRM Online 2016 Update. For on-premises Dynamics 365 organizations, this feature is only available if you've updated to CRM 2016.

• Parature knowledge base: This option is available only for Dynamics 365 (online) users. This feature was introduced in CRM Online 2015 Update 1.

Interested in getting this feature? Find your Dynamics 365 administrator or support person.

Depending on the knowledge solution your organization chooses, you’ll see knowledge articles residing either in Microsoft Dynamics 365 or in Parature.

The search options that you get while you search for knowledge articles will differ based on the knowledge management solution your organization is using.

1. Go to Service > Cases.

2. Open a case record.

3. On the Activity wall, click KB Records.

   You’ll see a list of suggested knowledge articles based on the case title. You’ll also see a short description of the article along with its rating and number of views the article had.

   If an article is still in draft or is expired, you’ll see its status before the title, so you know if you really want to share the article with the customer.

   Important

   • If your organization uses the Parature knowledge base, the search results are filtered and shown based on the default language of your Parature department. To view or edit the default language of your Parature department, in Parature Service Desk, go to Setup > Department Management > Department Profile.

   • If you see a message that knowledge management hasn’t been set up, ask your system administrator to set it up for you.

4. If you want to search the knowledge articles for a different keyword, start typing the keyword in the Search box and you’ll start seeing matching results as you type.

5. To sort articles in the search results, in the Select how to sort results drop-down list, select a sort order. If your organization is using the Parature knowledge base, you can sort the search results based on relevance, rating, number of views, or modified date.

   If your organization is using the native Dynamics 365 knowledge management solution, the option to sort results based on rating is not available.

   

6. To filter the search results, in the Filter Result By drop-down list, select a filter.

   If you’re using the Parature knowledge base, you can filter the search results to show all articles, all draft articles, or all published articles.

   

   If you’re using the native Dynamics 365 knowledge management solution, you can filter the search results to show all draft articles, all approved articles, or all published articles.

7. To see the full content of the article, select the article name link.

   You’ll be able to see the full content of the article along with images and videos, if the article has any.

8. You can take the following actions on the search results:

   1. To associate a knowledge article with the current case, select a knowledge article, and then click the Link the KB article to the current case button . Microsoft Dynamics 365 adds the associated knowledge article to the Associated Knowledge Base records section. This association helps customer service managers determine which knowledge articles were effective in resolving cases.

      You can also choose to disassociate the article from the case by clicking the Unlink the KB article from the current record button .

   2. To copy the external URL of the article so you can share it with your customers over channels like chat or email, click the Copy Link button . This option is available only if you are using Internet Explorer.

      Note

      If you don’t see a URL when you try to paste it, it could be because the article is still in draft state or is expired.

      If you’re using the native Dynamics 365 knowledge management solution, the Copy Link option is available only for published articles.

   3. To associate an article with a case and share the article link with the customer through email, click the Link the KB article to the case and email the link to the customer button . An email form opens with the To field automatically filled with the customer’s information and the link added to the email body. Fill in any additional details, and then click Send.

      This action also associates the knowledge article with the case automatically.

      If you’re using the native Dynamics 365 knowledge management solution, the Email Link option is available only for published articles.

      For published articles, an external link is copied to the email body.

      If you’re using the native Dynamics 365 knowledge management solution, and if your administrator has not selected the Use an external portal option when setting up knowledge management, the Email Link option will not be available.

      If you’re using the native Parature knowledge base, and if the article is a draft, an internal Parature Service Desk link will be copied into the email. The customer may not be able to view this knowledge article.

   4. To associate an article with a case and share the article content with the customer through email, click the Link Article to the Case and Email Content button . An email form opens with the To field automatically filled with the customer’s information and the knowledge article content added to the email body. Fill in any additional details, and then click Send.

   5. To open the article in a new window, click the Pop Out button .

See Also

Create and manage a case (Customer Service)