Why only Admin users can create Knowledge Categories, but Knowledge Managers and KB Owners cannot.

[saikumaranu]

Hi Community,

I’m working on an OOB Knowledge Management setup in ServiceNow and noticed an issue with Knowledge Category creation access.

Here’s what I’m seeing:

We’re using the out-of-box ACLs and UI Action “New” for the kb_category table.

ACL scripts use the default logic:

answer = new KBCategory().canWrite(current.parent_id);

UI Action condition is also OOB:

(RP.isRelatedList() && (new KBCategory()).canCreate(RP.getRefRecord())) ||

(!RP.isRelatedList() && (new KBCategory()).canCreate(null))

Observed behavior:

Users with the admin role can create new Knowledge Categories without issues.

Users with the knowledge_manager, knowledge_admin, or even the Knowledge Base Owner role can see the “New” button, but when they click it, the form is read-only, and they can’t create or save.

We want to stay 100% OOB (no ACL or script customization).

[Kieran Anson]

Along with the role, are the users with either the manager or owner role assigned to the knowledge base via the kb_managers or owner fields? If not, they won't have access even with the role