Manage Articles
Articles hold your team's knowledge: runbooks, integration descriptions, and how-tos that readers open from the Repository Model and from Monitor Views. A knowledge base grows fast, so over time it collects outdated drafts, test Articles, and long revision histories. This page shows how to keep it clean and correct.
- ✅ Add and edit Articles, and see everything you can do with one Article from its Action menu
- ✅ Delete, restore, purge, or export many Articles at once with With Selected
- ✅ Permanently delete Articles you're sure you'll never need again
On this page, an administrator, or a user whose Role may modify Articles, learns to manage the knowledge base. Readers and authors who find, read, and download Articles start with the Article Overview instead.
Understanding delete, restore, and permanent delete
Delete in Nodinite is a soft delete: the Article is flagged as deleted and hidden from the list, but it stays in the database, so you can restore it. Only Permanently Delete removes it for good. See Show deleted records for how this works across Nodinite.
soft delete"] Gone["fa:fa-trash-xmark Permanently deleted"] Active -->|"Delete"| Deleted Deleted -->|"Restore"| Active Deleted -->|"Permanently Delete
Administrator only"| Gone style Active fill:#93d16d style Deleted fill:#FFD525 style Gone fill:#c33d34,color:#fff
An Article's life after Delete. Green: active. Yellow: deleted, and anyone who may modify Articles can restore it. Red: permanently deleted by an Administrator, and it can't come back. See Show deleted records.
Who can do what
| Action | Who can do it | Can you undo it? |
|---|---|---|
| Add an Article | Create on Articles in the Role | ✅ Yes, delete it |
| Edit an Article | Modify on Articles (Permission Set for the Repository Model) | ✅ Yes, restore an earlier revision (see Revision History) |
| Delete, one or many | Modify on Articles | ✅ Yes, restore it |
| Restore, one or many | Modify on Articles | ✅ Yes, delete it again |
| Permanently Delete, one or many | The built-in Administrator Role only | ❌ No |
Everything except Permanently Delete also works from the Repository menu for users whose Role allows it; the Administration menu needs the Administrator Role. Purge revisions, Add Tag, Remove Tag, Apply Document Profile, and Export are on the same With Selected menu; see Bulk Actions for each one.
Shipped by Nodinite
Nodinite installs a few ready-made documents, marked Shipped by Nodinite. They belong to Nodinite, so an upgrade can change them, and Apply Document Profile never changes a shipped Article. To make your own version, clone the document and change the copy. See Shipped by Nodinite.
Every right is set per Role on its Repository Permissions tab. Users first need the global Access right on Repository (Repository Access), then Access on the Articles row; Create and Modify sit on the Articles Permissions for all row. A Deny in any of the user's Roles always wins. The Articles rights also cover Snippets, Templates, and Document Profiles.
Find the Articles list
Open All Articles from the Repository menu, or the Articles list from the Administration menu. From Administration, clicking an Article's title opens it for editing; from Repository, it opens it for reading.
Use the filters, Hide shipped documents, and Include deleted to narrow the list before you select Articles. The filters are described in Find Articles.
Add an Article
Click Add Article to open the Article editor. Open the dropdown next to it to start from a Template or a Document Profile instead of a blank page. See Add or manage Article for every field.
The Add Article button opens the Article editor.
Edit an Article
Click the Article's title in the Administration list, or choose Edit from its Action menu. Every Save stores a revision, so you can restore an earlier version from the History card in the editor (see Revision History).
The Action menu
Click Action on a row to open the Action menu for that Article.
The Action menu for one Article; Purge Revisions shows how many revisions the Article has.
| Menu item | What it does |
|---|---|
| View | Opens the Article for reading (see Reading Articles) |
| Edit | Opens the Article in the editor |
| Duplicate | Creates a copy of the Article with a new title and slug |
| Compare… New 7.12 | Compares the Article side by side with a document you pick (see Compare Articles) |
| Copy as Template | Creates a new Template from the Article; the Article stays as it is |
| Download (.md) / Download RAW (.md) | Downloads the Article as one Markdown file (see Download Article as Markdown) |
| Show in Mapify / Show in Mermaid | Shows the Article and its relations as a diagram in Mapify or as Mermaid |
| Delete | Deletes the Article; you can restore it |
| Purge Revisions New 7.12 | Removes the stored revisions of this Article (see Revision History) |
Work with many Articles at once
New 7.12
Tick the checkbox on each Article you want, or the checkbox next to With Selected to tick every Article in the list. With Selected shows how many Articles you've ticked, and each menu item shows how many of them it applies to.
The menu changes with the selection: Restore and Permanently Delete count only the deleted Articles.
| Menu item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Delete | Deletes the selected Articles; you can restore them |
| Restore | Restores the selected deleted Articles |
| Permanently Delete | Removes selected Articles that are already deleted, for good |
| Purge revisions | Removes stored revisions of the selected Articles, all of them or all but the newest |
| Add Tag / Remove Tag | Adds or removes one Tag on every selected Article |
| Apply Document Profile | Moves the selected Articles onto a Document Profile (see Move many Articles onto a Document Profile at once) |
| Export | Downloads the selected Articles as a ZIP file |
| Compare (2) New 7.12 | Opens exactly two selected Articles side by side (see Compare Articles); shown only when two are ticked |
Every action asks you to confirm, then shows what happened to each Article. See Bulk Actions for every action, step by step.
Delete and restore Articles
Delete Articles
- Tick the Articles you want to delete, click With Selected, and choose Delete.
Delete counts only the active Articles in the selection. - In Confirm intent to Delete, click Yes.
The confirmation repeats how many Articles are deleted, and that you can restore them.
To delete one Article, choose Delete from its Action menu instead.
Restore Articles
Tick Include deleted to list deleted Articles, tick the ones you want back, and choose With Selected > Restore.
Restore counts only the deleted Articles in the selection.
Permanently Delete Articles
New 7.12
Important
Permanently Delete needs the built-in Administrator Role, and it can't be undone.
Permanently Delete is offered only for Articles that are already deleted, so delete an Article first, then permanently delete it. Tick Include deleted, tick the deleted Articles, and choose With Selected > Permanently Delete.
Two of the three selected Articles are soft deleted, so Permanently Delete counts 2.
Purge revisions
New 7.12
Every Save of an Article stores a revision, and revisions take up storage. To remove them, tick the Articles and choose With Selected > Purge revisions, or choose Purge Revisions in one Article's Action menu. Then pick whether to remove all revisions or keep the newest. A purge can't be undone; see Purge Revisions for the options and the result.
Purge revisions counts the selected Articles whose history it removes.
Export Articles
New 7.12
Tick the Articles and choose With Selected > Export to download them together as one ZIP file, for example to back them up or to share them outside Nodinite. To download a single Article, use Download Article as Markdown instead.
Export downloads one ZIP file with the selected Articles.
Copy API URL
Click Copy API URL to see the underlying REST call to the Web API for the list as filtered, and copy the query string. Use it in custom Reports, automation scripts, or DevOps pipelines.
Frequently asked questions / Troubleshooting
I deleted an Article by mistake. Can I get it back?
Yes, as long as nobody permanently deleted it. Tick Include deleted, then restore it.
Why is Permanently Delete missing?
Permanently Delete is offered only for deleted Articles, and only to members of the Administrator Role. Tick Include deleted, and delete the Article first if it's still active.
Why did Apply Document Profile leave some Articles unchanged?
Shipped and deleted Articles are refused, and so is an Article with a content section the profile doesn't have. The result dialog gives the reason for each one; see Bulk Actions.
Next Steps
Add or manage Article
Bulk Actions
Revision History
Manage the Repository
Related Topics
Knowledge base Articles - What an Article is
Article Overview - Find, read, and download Articles
Permission Set for the Repository Model
Show deleted records
Log Audit Search - See who deleted or restored what
Document Profiles
Compare Articles