Organize Help Center articles with collections

Create nested collections, organize articles alongside subcollections, and manage placement without changing article links.

Updated 2026-09-28

Collections give related articles a predictable home. A collection can contain both articles and subcollections, so an overview can stay beside more detailed topics.

Owners and Admins can change the collection structure. Keep navigation shallow enough for readers to follow: two or three levels are usually sufficient. Protodesk supports up to eight collection levels, including the top level.

Find a collection or article

Open Help Center → Articles to browse the collection library. Search collections by name, or open a collection to see its subcollections and directly assigned articles.

Use All articles beside collection search, or in the sidebar, to search and manage articles across the whole Help Center. Uncategorized contains articles without a collection. The collection sidebar uses chevrons to expand and collapse branches; selecting a collection opens it.

A parent's total can include articles in its subcollections. Its direct article list does not include those descendants. Administrative counts can include drafts; public readers only see eligible published content.

Create a collection

Open Help Center → Articles and select New collection, or use the plus control beside Articles & collections.
Enter a clear Name.
Choose Location. Keep Top level for a main area, or search for an existing parent collection.
Open More options if you want to add a description or customize the generated URL slug.
Select Create collection, then check where it appears.

Creating a subcollection from an open collection preselects that location. Confirm it before saving.

New collections begin in the Help Center's default language. Edit a collection to add its other enabled-language translations. A collection can already have articles and still be a parent.

Assign or move articles

For one article, open its editor, use Collection to search for the destination, and save the settings change. Choose an eligible collection with a translation in the article's language; it may also contain subcollections. Choose Uncategorized if the article should have no collection.

For several articles:

Open All articles, or the current collection's article list.
Find the intended articles and select their checkboxes.
Choose the destination in the collection control.
Leave the status control unchanged unless you also intend to publish or unpublish them.
Select Apply, then verify the resulting assignments and publication states.

Moving an article does not require changing its title, URL slug, language, or publication status. Keep its slug to preserve its existing article address.

Bulk updates can have partial failures. Check the reported result and refresh the affected records before trying again; do not assume every selected article changed.

Change nesting or reading order

To move a collection under another collection, open its edit control and change Location. Select Top level to make it a main collection again, then select Save changes.

Subcollections move with their parent. The destination picker excludes the collection itself, its descendants, and locations that would exceed the nesting limit. Article links stay the same; verify public navigation after the move.

Use the sidebar's drag handles to reorder collections within their current parent. Dragging changes sibling order, not nesting.

To reorder articles, open a particular collection, clear search and status filters, and select one language if needed. Then use the article reorder handles. Reordering is unavailable when the list does not represent the complete applicable collection order.

Rename, translate, or remove a collection

Open the collection's edit control. Change its display name without changing the existing slug when you only want clearer wording. Use More options for its description and slug. Save each language's changes separately.

Removing a collection is different from removing its articles. Direct articles become uncategorized, and direct child collections move to the top level. Review the dialog's impact and confirmation carefully. This is not an unpublish action: check publication separately for any content you want to withdraw.

Verify the public structure

After organizing content, check the live Help Center, its breadcrumbs, the relevant language, and previously shared article and collection links. Verify embedded Help navigation if you distribute articles through Live Chat.

Keep one canonical home for each article and cross-link related topics. Add deeper branches when real content makes them useful; avoid empty future-feature placeholders.