KB User's Guide - Migrating from Confluence Wiki to the KB
Tip
Watch the recording of our Lunch & Learn to see a comparison of the Wiki and the KB, as well as a demo of the KB's Wiki import tool.
Request a KB Space
To request a new KB space, please fill out our request form. We will create the space for you and add you and any other admins you specify as users.
If you have any questions or are unsure whether the KB will be a suitable replacement for your Wiki space, please feel free to reach out to us at kb-team@doit.wisc.edu.
Set User Permissions
The KB allows for either permissive and restrictive editing controls, depending on what you prefer. In the KB, we often categorize users as either admins or authors, where authors are typically limited to content creation and upkeep, and admins have broader access to manage the space (e.g. setting user permissions, managing notification settings, etc.).
Authors
If you were using the Wiki to allow your users to freely create, edit, and republish content without the need for review and approval, we would recommend setting up user permissions as follows:
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Follow the basic steps for adding a new user: KB User's Guide - Users Tab - Adding a User.
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When selecting their permissions, keep the first four default boxes checked, and also check the last box for Publish rights. The first four permissions together allow them to access published internal content as well as create and edit draft documentation. The "Publish" permission allows them to activate (aka publish) drafted changes.
Admins
Following the same instructions above, check the same five boxes, and check any or all additional boxes to add administrative permissions.
Migrate Content
Once your space has been created, you have the option of importing content from the Wiki into the KB as a batch or page-by-page:
Batch Import
The KB team has developed a tool that allows you to perform a bulk import of pages from your Wiki space.
- Note: If you need your Wiki page ownership to be mapped to your KB document ownership, you will need to add all your current users to your KB space before requesting an import. This will allow KB document ownership to be assigned based on who created the corresponding Wiki page. In the absence of a matching user, or if you do not require this mapping, a default owner of your choosing will be used.
First, export your content from the Wiki:
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In your Wiki space, go to Space Tools > Content Tools.
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Click on the Export tab, then select HTML and click the Next button.
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Choose Custom Export. You will then see a list of all pages in your Wiki appear below the radio button. Review this list and deselect any pages you do not wish to import to the KB.
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Note: Comments will not be imported into the KB regardless of whether they are included in the export.
Please keep in mind that limiting the number of pages you export now will make it easier to review and manage content in your KB space. For the KB, we recommend only exporting pages that you expect to actively reference. If needed, you can always export a larger archive later on to store elsewhere.
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Click Export.
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On the following screen, a progress bar will show the status of your export. When it is complete, a message reading, "Export complete. Download here." will be displayed, where "here" is a link to download a .zip file with your exported HTML content.
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Upload the .zip file to Box and create a shared link.
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To initiate the import of your Wiki content into the KB, send an email to the KB team with the following information:
- The name of the Wiki space you are exporting from
- The name of the KB group space you want to import to
- The shared link to your exported .zip file
- The name of the KB user who will be used as the default document owner
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Someone from the KB team will notify you when your import is complete. All documents will be imported as "In Progress" so that you can review and publish them when you are ready.
Considerations
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In cases where one Wiki page links to another and both pages are imported, the link will be converted to an appropriate KB document link.
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Attachments, including images, will be uploaded into the KB, and the new source path will be referenced in your KB document.
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Like in the Wiki, all attachments for a page will be included as links at the bottom of the resulting KB document.
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The KB document "Summary" field will be populated with the creation and modified tagline from the Wiki, e.g. "Created by [user], last modified on [date]." This can later be replaced by a more appropriate summary as desired.
Page-by-Page Migration
This method may be preferable if you feel you would benefit from reviewing the individual pages in your Wiki space and identify any that need updating or are no longer needed.
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Open a browser tab with your Wiki space, and a second tab with your space in the KB Admin Tools.
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In the KB Admin Tools, go to the Documents tab, then click Create a Doc. For an overview of the document creation process, please see KB Author Training - Creating a New Document.
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Working off of your page tree in the Wiki, open the first page. Copy the page title into the KB's Title field. Add appropriate keywords into the Keywords field, then either paste the first sentence of the page into the Summary field (if appropriate), or write a new summary.
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Copy the rest of the page into the Body field of the KB document. In the case of any attachments or images, download any files that were embedded or linked in the Wiki page. These should be uploaded to the KB and re-embedded in your document as described in KB User's Guide - Documents Tab - Adding Images and Other Files to Your Documents.
Please take note of any links that point back to the Wiki, as these will need to updated later on as you re-create the pages they linked to.
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Once the four required fields have been populated, save your document. At this stage, you may wish to simply submit your document as In Progress until you have finished adding the rest of your documents.
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Repeat steps 2 through 5 for each of the pages in your Wiki space (with the exception of those you no longer need).
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When you are ready, either submit documents as Active by editing them individually, or activate them all at once using the Batch Access Change tool: KB User's Guide - Documents Tab - Batch Access Change