Adding subsections for more levels

Six levels are possible and 200 subsections fit in one section, but a new subsection may not appear until the Category page template is changed.

Sections can hold sections, up to a maximum of six levels: Category > section > section > section > section > section. Each section takes up to 200 subsections. The catch that costs an afternoon is at the other end: a new subsection may not appear on your site until the Category page template is changed.

Add one

1. Click Add in the top menu bar and select Section.
2. Enter a Name and, optionally, a Description.
3. Confirm the Source language.
4. Under Order articles by, choose how articles are listed.
5. Under Hierarchy, select the section it should sit inside rather than a category.
6. If your live theme has more than one section template, pick one from the Template menu. With a single template that menu is not there.
7. Click Add.

You need to be a Knowledge admin. Articles can sit at any section level, so a subsection holds articles exactly as a top-level section does.

Your theme may need changing to show them

Adding a subsection does not guarantee a reader can see it. You might need to modify the code for your Category page to display subsections, so check the live site after adding the first one rather than after adding twenty.

If the subsection exists in Knowledge admin and nothing appears for readers, that is a theme question, not a content one.

When it is the right call

A section that has grown past roughly a dozen articles and splits naturally into groups a reader would recognise. Not groups your team recognises: groups a customer would.

When it is not

An article every reader wants, moved two clicks further away because the parent section looked untidy. Depth is a cost paid by readers to solve a problem the maintainer had.

The reader's route to an article gets longer with every level, and every level is a place they can take the wrong turn.

Five levels of sections is the ceiling, two is the advice

Category, section, subsection is enough for almost everything. The product allows five levels of sections below a category, and that headroom exists for genuinely large libraries rather than as a target. Past two levels, navigating becomes a memory exercise and search stops being a convenience and becomes the only workable route.

Check the top level still reads

After adding subsections, look at the category page as a stranger. If the parent section now shows only subsection names and no articles, the reader has to guess before they can see anything.

See also

• Creating a category or section
• Moving sections and articles
• Categories, sections and articles: how to organise them