Article States: Draft, Published, Archived

Articles in Support Station have three possible states that control visibility and lifecycle. Understanding these states helps you manage your knowledge base content effectively.

Article States

State	Visible to Customers	Used by AI	Editable
Draft	No	No	Yes
Published	Yes	Yes	Yes
Archived	No	No	Yes

Draft

Draft articles are works in progress that haven't been published yet.

When to Use Draft

Writing new content that isn't ready
Major revisions to existing articles
Content awaiting review or approval
Placeholder articles for future content

Draft Behavior

Not visible in the public knowledge base
Not searchable by customers
Not used by the AI agent
Visible to your team in the editor
Editable at any time

Creating Drafts

New articles start as drafts automatically. Click Save Draft to save without publishing.

Converting Draft to Published

When your draft is ready:

Open the article
Review the content
Click Publish

The article immediately becomes live.

Published

Published articles are live and visible to everyone.

When to Use Published

Content that's complete and accurate
Articles customers should be able to find
Content the AI should use for answers

Published Behavior

Visible in the public knowledge base
Searchable by customers
Used by the AI agent for responses
Visible to your team in the editor
Editable at any time (changes are immediate)

Important Note on Editing Published Articles

When you edit a published article, changes go live immediately. There's no separate "staging" version. For major rewrites, consider:

Creating a new draft version
Completing the rewrite
Unpublishing the old version
Publishing the new version

Unpublishing Articles

To remove a published article from public view:

Open the article
Change status to Draft (temporary removal) or Archived (permanent removal)
Save

Archived

Archived articles are retired content that's no longer relevant but preserved for reference.

When to Use Archived

Outdated content that shouldn't be shown
Deprecated features no longer supported
Content replaced by newer articles
Historical reference you might need later

Archived Behavior

Not visible in the public knowledge base
Not searchable by customers
Not used by the AI agent
Visible to your team (marked as archived)
Editable if you need to revive it

Archiving vs Deleting

Archive when:

Content might be useful for reference
You might republish later
You want an audit trail

Delete when:

Content was created by mistake
It's completely irrelevant
You're cleaning up test content

Restoring Archived Articles

To bring an archived article back:

Open the archived article
Change status to Draft or Published
Update content if needed
Save

State Transitions

Draft → Published

Use when content is ready for customers.

Published → Draft

Use when temporarily removing content for major edits.

Published → Archived

Use when retiring content permanently.

Draft → Archived

Use when abandoning draft content you don't need.

Archived → Draft

Use when reviving old content for updates.

Archived → Published

Use when restoring content directly to live (only if it's still accurate).

Managing Article States

Viewing by State

Filter your article list by state:

Go to Knowledge Base
Click the Status filter
Select: All, Published, Draft, or Archived

Bulk State Changes

To change multiple articles at once:

Select articles using checkboxes
Click Change Status
Choose the new state
Confirm

State in Article List

The article list shows state with visual indicators:

Published: Standard display
Draft: "Draft" badge
Archived: "Archived" badge, dimmed appearance

Best Practices

Review Drafts Regularly

Don't let drafts pile up. Set a regular schedule to:

Complete draft articles
Archive abandoned drafts
Decide on stuck content

Archive Instead of Delete

When in doubt, archive rather than delete. Archived content can be recovered; deleted content cannot.

Communicate State Changes

If multiple people manage your knowledge base, communicate when you're:

Taking something to draft for major edits
Archiving content others might reference
Publishing significant new content