The quick answer
Go to Setup > Intranet > Tabs, click New, then New Presentation Tab. Name it Knowledge Base, pick your site, and on the Audience subtab check Select All next to Employees. Save, and the tab joins the navigation bar. Then go to Lists > Support > Knowledge Base, click New, choose the Topic, the Site, and the new tab in Publish to, give it the same employee audience, and save. The tab now lists the topic and its approved solutions.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and company names are fictional. Use your own site, topics, and audience when following the steps.
Before you start
This example uses Ridgeline Outfitters, an outdoor gear retailer whose support team keeps its answers in NetSuite. The knowledge base is made of Topics and Solutions. Topics form a tree, and each solution is attached to one or more topics. The goal is a Knowledge Base tab where employees can browse the Shipping Delays topic and its two solutions without opening list pages.
You need the Knowledge Base feature, which sits with Customer Support and Service on the CRM subtab of Setup > Company > Enable Features. An internal tab also needs the Intranet feature on the Web Presence subtab. Whoever creates and publishes the content needs the Knowledge Base permission at Full; the Administrator role has it.
A solution only shows in a published topic when it's active, its Status is Approved, Display Online is checked, and it's attached to that topic. The topic itself has to be active too.
01. Check the feature and the content
Go to Setup > Company > Enable Features and click the CRM subtab. Under Support, Customer Support and Service and Knowledge Base are checked.
Go to Lists > Support > Topics. Customer Orders and Gear Care are parent topics, with their subtopics indented under them. The # of Solutions column shows 2 for Shipping Delays.
Click Shipping Delays. Its Solutions subtab lists SOL-0101 Tracking a late shipment and SOL-0102 Backordered items on a split order, each with its abstract.
Click Tracking a late shipment. Its Status is Approved, Display Online is checked, and its Topics subtab lists Shipping Delays.
02. Confirm nothing is published
Go to Lists > Support > Knowledge Base. The Published Knowledge Base Topics list shows Total: 0.
Open the ••• menu at the end of the navigation bar. It ends with SuiteApps and Support. There's no Knowledge Base tab.
03. Create the Knowledge Base tab
Go to Setup > Intranet > Tabs. The Web Site Tabs list shows the site's existing tabs. Click New, then New Presentation Tab. A knowledge base goes on a Presentation tab.
In Label, type Knowledge Base. In Web Site, choose Ridgeline Outfitters. This example leaves Display in Website checked; it matters when the same content also goes to a public website.
On the Audience subtab, check Select All next to Employees, so every employee gets the tab. Internal roles, departments, and groups can narrow it instead.
Click Save. The Web Site Tabs list now has a Knowledge Base row for Ridgeline Outfitters, type Presentation.
Open the ••• menu again. Knowledge Base is now its last entry.
Click it. The tab opens with a Knowledge Base heading, a search box and a navigation box, but no topics, because nothing has been published to it yet.
04. Publish the topic
Go to Lists > Support > Knowledge Base and click New. The Publish Knowledge Base form opens. In Topic, choose Shipping Delays. In Site, choose Ridgeline Outfitters. In Publish to, choose Knowledge Base, the tab you just made. This example checks Display in Website to match the tab.
The published topic has its own Audience subtab. Check Select All next to Employees here too. The two audiences don't have to match, but only people in both see the topic on the tab. A topic published with no audience is a common reason for an empty tab.
Click Save. Published Knowledge Base Topics now shows Total: 1: Shipping Delays on Ridgeline Outfitters, with Published Location Knowledge Base : Shipping Delays.
Publishing a parent topic, like Customer Orders, publishes its subtopics too.
05. Read the topic from the tab
Open ••• and click Knowledge Base. Shipping Delays is listed with its brief description, and it shows under Knowledge Base in the navigation box.
Click Shipping Delays.
Check the result
- Knowledge Base is an entry in the navigation bar's ••• menu.
- The tab lists Shipping Delays with its brief description.
- Shipping Delays shows its 2 solutions, the same two the topic held in Lists > Support > Topics.
A topic's Brief Description shows under its name on the tab, and a solution's Abstract shows under its title, so fill both in. In a live account, a new publication can take up to about an hour to appear on the tab, and new solutions can take longer to become searchable.
Common questions
Why is my published knowledge base tab empty?
Start with the published topic's audience. A topic published with no audience doesn't show, and a person has to be in both the tab's audience and the topic's. Then check that the topic is active and that Publish to names the right tab. In a live account, give a new publication up to about an hour.
Why doesn't my solution show on the published tab?
It has to be active, with Status Approved and Display Online checked, and it has to be attached to the published topic or one of its subtopics. A draft or unapproved solution stays off the tab even when its topic is published.
What's the difference between topics and solutions?
A topic is a folder in the knowledge base, like Shipping Delays, and it can sit under a parent topic. A solution is the answer itself, with a title, an abstract, and the full text. One solution can belong to several topics.
How do I control who can see a published topic?
Use the Audience subtab on both the tab and the published topic. Employees > Select All is the simplest choice; internal roles, departments, and groups narrow it. Only people in both audiences see the topic on the tab.
What does Publish to mean on the Publish Knowledge Base form?
It's the tab the topic appears under. Here it's the Knowledge Base presentation tab created on Setup > Intranet > Tabs, and the Published Location column then reads Knowledge Base : Shipping Delays.
Which features do I need to enable?
On Setup > Company > Enable Features, turn on Knowledge Base on the CRM subtab, where it sits with Customer Support and Service. For an internal tab, also turn on Intranet on the Web Presence subtab. Whoever publishes needs the Knowledge Base permission at Full.