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Customize knowledge article search filters

  • Article

Applies to: Dynamics 365 Contact Center—standalone and Dynamics 365 Customer Service only

You can configure standard and custom fields as filters to help your agents find the right content through knowledge search and thus improve their productivity.

The fields that are present on the knowledge article entity are the fields that are available as filters. Additionally, filters can be defined on fields that have the following data types:

  • Options set
  • Multiselect options set
  • Lookup
  • Two choices
  • Date and time

Any filter configurations that you set will be available wherever the knowledge search experience is configured, such as the form-based knowledge control, knowledge search page, productivity pane-based knowledge search control, embedded search control in Unified Service Desk, and the application tab search experience in Customer Service workspace or Contact Center workspace.

The Enable search filters option is set to Yes by default. To disable search filters, you can set it to No on the Filters page.

If you choose to retain the Enable search filters option as Yes, then the filter configurations made in Power Apps will be deactivated. Additionally, the archived and discarded status filters will no longer be supported.

The settings that you've previously configured for your organization, including the default language configured for your organization in the Power Apps filter configurations, will no longer be applicable. You'll need to configure the language as default using the filter configurations.

Search filters are enabled by default.

Customize search filters

You can customize the search filters for knowledge articles in the Customer Service admin center app.

  1. In the site map of Customer Service admin center or Contact Center admin center, select Knowledge in Agent experience. The Knowledge page appears.

  2. On the Knowledge page, go to the Filters section and select Manage. The Filters page appears.

  3. To enable agents to personalize knowledge article search filters, set the Allow agent to personalize toggle to Yes.

  4. Select the filters you want to make available for knowledge search.

  5. Move through the Filters page to view the filters.

  6. To set predetermined values that will appear for agents by default, select the ellipsis in the upper-right corner of a filter area, and then select Preselects.

    Select filter preselects.

  7. To make a filter value available by default, turn on the Set as preselected filter toggle, so that Preselected appears next to the filter name, and then select Done.

    Values that are set as preselected automatically participate in the filtering without requiring the agent to manually select them. Only values made visible can be preselected.

    Toggle filter to show as Preselected.

  8. If you want to set the filters that must be shown to the agent, select the ellipsis in the upper-right corner of a filter area, and then select Visibility.

  9. Select the values that you want to show the agent, and then select Done.

  10. When you're finished with configuring the values you want, select Save.

Enable custom fields as search filters

To configure custom fields as search filters for knowledge articles:

  1. Enable the standard search filters.

  2. Add the custom fields to the Quick Find view columns. To add a field to the Quick Find view column, see Configure searchable fields for Relevance Search.

Additional configuration settings

  • If Dataverse Search is enabled and if you have selected the Archived, Discarded, or Expired values for the Status filter, articles that contain these values aren't displayed.

  • To view these articles in your Dataverse Search results, you must delete the Archived, Discarded, Expired, and Is Latest Version filters in the Quick Find Knowledge Article > Edit Filter Criteria dialog.

Note

These filters will only work if you have Dataverse Search enabled.

Add a default filter configuration

The following steps apply to these data types:

  • Options set
  • Multiselect options set
  • Two choices
  • Date and time

You can add a default filter in the Customer Service admin center or Contact Center admin center app.

  1. In the site map of Customer Service admin center or Contact Center admin center, select Knowledge in Agent experience. The Knowledge page appears.

  2. On the Knowledge page, go to the Filters section and select Manage. The Filters page appears.

  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page, select the filter type you want from the dropdown list, and then select Add. The filter is added to the page.

    Add a default filter.

  4. Select the values or clear the selection to customize the filter, and then turn on the Set as a preselected filter option to display the filter to the agent by default.

  5. Select Save.

Configure fields with data type as lookup as filters

Some configurable filter values may include lookup types, where there are numerous value options that can be set. Some examples of these filters are Created by, Modified by, and Owner. For these types of values, when you add the filter, you can manually search for and select the records that you want to use.

You can configure a lookup type filter in the Customer Service admin center or Contact Center admin centerapp.

  1. In the site map of Customer Service admin center or Contact Center admin center, select Knowledge in Agent experience. The Knowledge page appears.

  2. On the Knowledge page, go to the Filters section and select Manage. The Filters page appears.

  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page, select the filter type you want from the dropdown list, and then select Add. The Lookup Records flyout menu appears.

    Lookup Records field.

  4. To find the values you want, either enter the value details in the field or select the search icon to list the available records.

  5. Select the records that you want in the results, and then select Add.

  6. If you want to set the values as defaults, turn on the preset next to the filter to the right so that Preselected appears next to the filter name.

  7. Select Save.

Deactivate or reactivate a filter configuration

There may be times when you want to temporarily suspend a filter configuration but don’t want to lose the configuration settings. You can deactivate a filter configuration and then reactivate it later on.

Note

If you deactivate or delete all of the filters, then agents will see the following message on the personalization page: "No filters have been configured. Contact your administrator."

Keep in mind the following:

  • If you delete a knowledge article field for which a filter has been created, your agents won't see the filter, and they won't be notified about the change in the UI. You, as the administrator, will see the filter with a message indicating that it has been deleted.

  • If you deactivate the filter, it will show as deactivated to you as the administrator, but your agents won't see the filter on the knowledge control. When the filter is activated again, the filter configuration will remain as it was previously configured.

  • If an agent doesn’t have permission to see a specific field because of field-level security, then a filter created on that field won't be visible to the agent.

  • Filters that are available in the default, out-of-the-box configuration can't be deleted.

  • If an agent sets default values, those values will persist and cannot be overwritten by changes made by an administrator.

You can deactivate or reactivate a filter configuration in the Customer Service admin center or Contact Center admin center app.

  1. In the site map of Customer Service admin center or Contact Center admin center, select Knowledge in Agent experience. The Knowledge page appears.

  2. On the Knowledge page, go to the Filters section and select Manage. The Filters page appears.

  3. Select the ellipsis in the upper-right corner for the filter you want to deactivate, and then select Deactivate.

  4. Select Done > Save.

  5. When you're ready to reactivate the filter, go to the Filters page, select the ellipsis next to the value you want to reactivate, and then select Activate. All of the previous configurations are reinstated.

Allow agents to personalize their knowledge article search filters

You may have scenarios within your organization where agents are working on different areas and don’t all need the same filter settings. For example, an organization may have agents working on different product areas. One agent might need to see knowledge articles for Product A, while another agent might only want knowledge articles for Product B, and so forth.

You can allow your agents to personalize the knowledge article search filters for their areas, from the Customer Service admin center or Contact Center admin center app.

  1. In the site map of Customer Service admin center or Contact Center admin center, select Knowledge in Agent experience. The Knowledge page appears.

  2. In the General settings section, select Manage. The General settings page appears.

  3. Select the values or clear the selection to customize the filter, and then turn on the Set as a preselected filter option to display the filter to the agent by default.

    Note

    This option is available only if Enable custom filters is set to Yes.

  4. Select Save.

After you've enabled the option, your agents will be able to view all the configurations that you previously set for them and personalize the knowledge search filters for their areas.