Configuring smart bars

Smart bars in Document360, similar to an announcement bar, banner bar, alert bar, or notification bar — let you display customizable announcement banners across your Knowledge base site. Each bar can carry any message — a feature release, a maintenance window, a localized promotion — and can be targeted by URL, browser, device, IP address, or language so it appears only where it's relevant.

When to use smart bars

Use Smart bars when you need to surface a time-sensitive message without editing article content:

• Announce a product update or new feature to all readers the moment it launches.
• Display a maintenance or downtime notice at the top of every page.
• Show a localized message in a specific language version of your knowledge base.
• Redirect readers to a support form or ticket deflector during high-traffic periods.

Smart bar overview

Navigate to Settings > Knowledge base site > Smart bars to open the overview page.

The overview page includes the following elements:

How to create a smart bar

1. Navigate to Settings in the left navigation bar of the Knowledge base portal.
2. In the left navigation pane, go to Knowledge base site > Smart bars.
3. Click New smart bar. A configuration panel opens.
4. In the Name field, enter a name for the bar.

5. The Status toggle is on by default. Turn it off if you want to save the bar without activating it yet.

Configuring the content

6. Expand the Content section.
7. Use the Global toggle to set language scope:
   • Global on — the bar appears on all pages across all language versions.
   • Global off — a language dropdown appears so you can target a specific language.
8. Enter your message using the inline formatting toolbar (bold, italics, underline, hyperlink, code view).

Customizing design and location

9. Expand the Design and location section.
10. In the Bar position field, select one of four positions:

11. In Bar styles, choose a color theme:

• Light theme — grey background, black text.
• Dark theme — black background, white text.
• Custom theme — set background color, text color, CTA background color, and CTA text color using the color picker or by entering Hex, RGB, or HSL values.

Setting advanced display conditions (optional)

12. Configure visibility rules to show or hide the bar based on context:

13. When combining multiple rules, select the logic operator:

• AND — all conditions must be true.
• OR — any one condition must be true.

14. To remove an individual rule, click Delete next to it.
15. Click Add. The new Smart bar appears on the overview page and goes live immediately if its status toggle is on.

How to edit a smart bar

1. Navigate to Settings > Knowledge base site > Smart bars.
2. Hover over the bar you want to modify and click the Edit icon.
3. Update the name, content, design, or visibility rules as needed.
4. Click Update. The changes take effect immediately for active bars.

How to delete a smart bar

1. Navigate to Settings > Knowledge base site > Smart bars.
2. Hover over the bar you want to remove and click the Delete icon.
3. In the confirmation prompt, click Yes. The bar is permanently removed.

Best practices

• Keep bar messages short — one sentence is ideal. Readers scan banners; they don't read paragraphs.
• Use a CTA link in the message to direct readers to a relevant article or ticket deflector rather than putting all the detail in the bar.
• Prefer Article top position for content-specific notices and Site top for site-wide alerts so readers see the right level of urgency.
• Deactivate a bar rather than deleting it if the announcement is seasonal and may recur — you can reuse the configuration next time.
• Use visibility rules to limit scope: a maintenance notice only relevant to one product section should target that category's URLs, not the entire site.
• Test each bar using the Preview link before activating it in a production knowledge base.

FAQ