Articles Troubleshooting
Symptom-by-symptom resolutions for the most common Articles administrative issues, including approvals, comments, notifications, sharing, Article Type Collections, and search visibility. If your symptom isn't here, double-check the Article Type's sharing settings, the Post's Status, and the user's Role and User Group memberships.
The Pending Approvals Tab Is Missing
Symptom: A user expects to see the cross-Article-Type Pending Approvals tab at Setup > Create > Articles but it is not visible, or the tab is visible but empty.
Cause: The Pending Approvals tab is restricted to users with publish permission on at least one Article Type. If the user has no publish permission anywhere, the tab does not appear.
Resolution:
- Confirm the user is an administrator OR a Publisher on at least one Article Type. Open Sharing Article Types to review.
- If the user should be a Publisher on more Article Types, add their Role or User Group to those types' sharing settings with the Publisher access level.
- Non-admin Publishers see only items assigned to them. If you expected to see another user's pending submissions, log in as an administrator instead.
A Post Is Stuck in Pending Approval
Symptom: A Post was submitted for approval and now sits in Pending status indefinitely. Approvers report not seeing it.
Cause: The approval step's assigned approver may have left the company, lost the relevant Role, or no longer has publish permission. The approval step itself may also be filter-gated to a category or formula that doesn't match the Post.
Resolution:
- Open the Article Type's Approvals tab and review each step's assignee or assignment rule.
- If an approver is no longer eligible, edit the approval step and reassign.
- If a Custom approval step has filter criteria, confirm the Post matches at least one configured branch (criteria-met or formula).
- As a temporary fix, an administrator can manually approve the Post from the Approvals tab on the Post itself.
- Confirm version control is still enabled on the Article Type. Approvals require version control; if it was disabled mid-flight, in-flight approvals can stall.
A Locked Post Cannot Be Edited
Symptom: After submitting a Post for approval, the author can no longer edit it.
Cause: Submitting a Post for approval locks it by design. The Article Type's Who can edit a locked post setting determines who retains edit access during approval.
Resolution:
- If the author should be able to edit during approval, confirm Allow Submission Recall is enabled on the Article Type. The author can then click Recall Submission in the Post's Approvals tab to unlock it.
- If broader edit access is needed during approval, change the Article Type's Who can edit a locked post setting.
- Publishers can always edit their own Posts and Contributor Posts, including during approval.
Comment Moderation Notifications Aren't Reaching Everyone
Symptom: When new comments arrive on Posts that require moderation, only the Article Owner is notified, not the configured Article Author or other recipients.
Cause: An older portal version routed comment moderation notifications only to the Article Owner. Current portal versions route notifications to all configured recipients including the Article Author.
Resolution: Confirm the portal is on a current version. The fix is included; no admin action is needed beyond verifying the Article Type's comment moderation recipients are correctly set in Managing Post Comments.
A Publisher Doesn't Receive Comment Moderation Email When No Template Is Selected
Symptom: Comment moderation is on for an Article Type, but Publishers don't receive the moderation email when no specific email template is configured.
Cause: An older portal version skipped sending moderation emails when the Article Type had no notification template selected. Current portal versions fall back to a default template so Publishers always receive moderation emails when moderation is on.
Resolution: Confirm the portal is on a current version. Optionally select an explicit template in the Article Type's comment notification settings for branded messaging.
Cloning a Post Sent Notifications to Users Outside the Security Roles
Symptom: After cloning a Post, users who should not have access to the Post received publish notifications.
Cause: An older portal version sent the cloned Post's publish notification using the original Post's recipient list, ignoring the cloned Article Type's sharing. Current portal versions correctly scope notifications to users in the cloned Post's security Roles.
Resolution: Confirm the portal is on a current version. Re-test cloning by publishing a test cloned Post and verifying only intended recipients receive the notification.
Post-Name Search Suggests Article Type Names Instead of Post Names
Symptom: When typing in a Post-name lookup or autocomplete, the dropdown shows Article Type names instead of Post names.
Cause: An older portal version had a regression in the Post-name suggestion logic. Current portal versions correctly suggest Post names.
Resolution: Confirm the portal is on a current version. If the issue persists, refresh the page to clear cached suggestions.
Article Type Collection Drag-and-Drop or Move Doesn't Save
Symptom: Reordering Article Types within a collection by drag-and-drop, or moving an Article Type from one collection to another, appears to succeed in the UI but does not persist after refresh.
Cause: An older portal version had several Article Type Collection persistence regressions affecting drag-and-drop saves, cross-collection moves, and order updates after deletion.
Resolution: Confirm the portal is on a current version. Repeat the drag-and-drop or move operation; the change should now persist. If you have already attempted the operation on an older version, the change may not have been saved — verify the current state in the collections list and redo if needed.
An Inactive Article Type Collection Throws an Error When Moved
Symptom: Attempting to move or rearrange an Article Type Collection that is marked inactive returns an error.
Cause: An older portal version did not handle inactive collections correctly during move operations.
Resolution: Confirm the portal is on a current version. Inactive collections can now be moved and rearranged the same as active ones.
A Published Post Doesn't Appear in Search
Symptom: A Post is in Published status but doesn't appear in Articles search or Global Search results for users who should see it.
Cause: Either the Article Type isn't shared with the user, the Post's search indexing hasn't completed, or AI Indexing storage is full.
Resolution:
- Confirm the user's Role or User Group is on the Article Type's share list with at least Read access. See Sharing Article Types.
- Wait a few minutes after publish for indexing to catch up.
- If the portal uses AI Tools for search, check Setup > Manage > Community Settings > AI Tools Settings for an indexing-storage-full warning. If storage is full, indexing pauses; clean up older content or expand the indexing limit.
- Test search as the affected user via Login As to confirm the search results match expectations.
A Subscriber Isn't Receiving Article Type Subscription Emails
Symptom: A user subscribed to an Article Type but isn't receiving email notifications when new Posts are published.
Resolution:
- Confirm the subscription is in Subscribed status on the user's side. See Article Type Subscriptions.
- Confirm the user has Read access to the Article Type. Subscriptions only deliver notifications for Posts the recipient is allowed to see.
- Confirm the user's email address is correct and not bounced.
- Confirm the Article Type has a notification email template selected (or the default template is in use).
- Check the Post's Status — subscriptions notify on Publish events, not Draft saves.
A User Can't Comment on a Post
Symptom: A user opens a Post and the comment box is missing or commenting is disabled.
Resolution:
- Confirm comments are enabled on the Article Type. See Managing Article Types > comment settings.
- Confirm the user has Comment access in the Article Type's sharing settings.
- Confirm the Post is in Published status. Draft and Pending Posts cannot accept comments.
- If the Post-level permission overrides the Article Type, check Managing Article Permissions on the Post Level.
A Tag or Category Page Returns No Results
Symptom: Clicking a Post Tag or Post Category navigates to a list page that shows no Posts even though Posts with that tag or category exist.
Resolution:
- Confirm the Posts are in Published status. Draft and Pending Posts do not appear in tag or category listings.
- Confirm the user has Read access on the Article Type those Posts belong to.
- If the tag or category is brand-new, allow a moment for indexing to complete.
- Confirm the tag or category itself isn't marked inactive.
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