How to Export and Backup Knowledge Base

Export your entire knowledge base into a PDF format or selected pages in multiple formats and create backups. This feature gives you the flexibility to either download your entire knowledge base as a PDF or select specific pages to export in formats such as JSON, XML, or CSV.

This help article will guide you on how you can use this feature for exporting your knowledge base, and discover how to customize your exports for different scenarios.

A few use cases for this feature:

• If you have a product that requires a lengthy installation process, you can easily create a PDF manual and share it with customers.

• If you plan to overhaul your help site, you can create a backup to secure the critical website data.

• The export & backup feature lets you provide the option of the offline manual to end users by allowing them to download a PDF of the whole site or a particular page.

In this article, you will learn:

1. How to Export Sites to PDF

2. How to Export Page Details
3. How to Backup Sites
 

 How to Export Sites to PDF

Step 1: Go to Settings > Export Sites in your Knowledge Base account.

Step 2: Click "Save Site as PDF."

Step 3: Edit the PDF settings.

PDF Name: Enter the name of the PDF file. For ex., widgetco-manual.pdf.

Cover Page: Select the checkbox to include a cover page, i.e., the manual’s first page. Click Edit to modify the page. The cover page can also use merge tags (see below).

Title Page: Select the checkbox to include a title page. A title page is used for the author’s name, version, company name, copyright disclosure, date printed, etc. Click Edit to modify the page. The title page can also use merge tags (see below).

Table of Contents: Select the option to include the TOC in the PDF. In addition, this will also add bookmarks to the PDF (Bookmarks appear on the left side of a PDF document. To view bookmarks, choose Show Bookmark from the Window menu in Acrobat).

Header/Footer: Select the checkbox to include a header & footer in the PDF to provide additional information. It could be page numbers, dates, folder names, your logo, etc. To edit the header and footer, click Edit. The header/footer can also use merge tags (see below).

Extra Spaces: Select the option to remove excessive spacing in the PDF resulting from additional spaces and tags in the HTML code.

Links: Select the checkbox not to include hyperlinks on pages.

CSS: A PDF will default use the site’s CSS styles. Select this option to use a print-only CSS file. To edit the CSS, click Edit.

Page Size & Orientation: Choose the preferred page size and orientation from respective drop-down lists.

Toolbar: By default, your users will get the option to save your site as a PDF from the toolbar. You can uncheck the respective boxes if you do not want your users to download a PDF version of your page/site.

When you select the toolbar option:

When you uncheck the option:

File: Select this option to store the generated PDF on the server. It will significantly improve the loading time for end users who download your PDF since they will download a copy of the stored PDF instead of waiting for it to generate. The server will hold only one PDF at a time, so it will overwrite the previous version when you generate a new one. Thus, ensuring that the most recent PDF is available to your end users.

Pages: The PDF setting will select “All pages checked, Show in PDF” by default. However, you can use this option select specific pages or folders to be included/excluded in the PDF.

Step 4: Click Save to finalize your changes and Generate PDF to download the site.

You will see the following screen.

How to Export Page Details

Step 1: In the Export Site page, select the "Export page details" option to proceed.

Step 2: In the Export page details

1. Choose the "Status" of the pages you wish to export:

• All: Includes both draft and published pages.
• Draft: Only includes pages that have not been published.
• Published: Only includes pages that are currently live on your site.

2. Choose the "Format" in which you want to export the details:

• JSON: A versatile and commonly used format, ideal for data interchange.
• XML: A markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable.
• CSV: A simple format that is compatible with most spreadsheet applications, useful for tabular data.

3. After setting your preferences, click the "Export" button. This action will initiate the process to compile the page details.

Once finished, your page details will be available for download in the format you selected.

 How to Backup Sites

Step 1: Go to Settings > Export Sites in your Knowledge Base account.

Step 2: Click "Back Up Site."

Step 3: Choose the options to include in your backup file and click Export Sites.

You will see the screen below

Step 4: Go to Files in the header menu to access the zip file. A new window opens.

Step 5: Select the file and click Download. It will download your site backup zip file successfully.

You must first enable the Toolbar settings to allow your customers or website visitors to download a page or the entire help site as a PDF without requiring them to sign up or log in.

Your customers can then follow these steps:

Step 1: Go to the required product page on the ProProfs website and click Help.

Step 2: You’ll find the three vertical dots or the kebab menu icon on the far right. To save the entire help site as PDF, click the option Save site as PDF.

If you want to save a particular page as a PDF:

1. Go to the required page you want to download.

2. Click the three vertical dots or the kebab menu icon on the far right.

3. Click the option Save page as PDF.

That is all about exporting & backing up your knowledge base. If you encounter any issues or have any questions, feel free to reach out to our support team.