Is it possible to add a Search Facet for the "main topics" in the Advanced Portal Navigation?

[Johan van den H]

We are working on implementing Advanced Portal Navigation on our support portal to facilitate a more complex Mega Menu structure.

Advanced Portal Navigation gave us an extra set of "main topics" which are on top of the original topics and sub-topics.

When our portal visitors search for a knowledge article they can narrow their search results by using the available Filters (Search Facets) which OOTB contain Topic and Subtopics.

Would it be possible to create a Filter (Search Facet) where someone can choose from the "main topics" that came with the Advanced Portal Navigation?

[nityabans27]

Hi @Johan van den H 
Yes, it’s possible 👍 — but not out-of-the-box. ServiceNow’s Knowledge Search Facets only ship with the standard Topic / Subtopic taxonomy. When you enable Advanced Portal Navigation, those “Main Topics” are stored separately (in m2m tables tied to the navigation taxonomy, not the same table used for KB topics). That’s why they don’t automatically appear as filters.

[Johan van den H]

Thank you for your answer @nityabans27 

Are the "Main Topics" which are stored in m2m tables in any way connected to the Knowledge Articles that are connected to the Topics in the Mega Menu?

This connection is needed for the filtering to make any sense.

[nityabans27]

Hi @Johan van den H 
No, out of the box there is no direct connection between the “Main Topics” stored in the m2m tables for Advanced Portal Navigation and the Knowledge Article Topics/Subtopics that power the Mega Menu filters.

• The OOTB Knowledge Search facets (Topic/Subtopic) are built off the standard kb_knowledge → kb_category relationships. Those categories are what the Mega Menu topics and subtopics rely on.

• The new “Main Topics” in Advanced Portal Navigation are a separate metadata layer, designed only to give you an extra hierarchy for portal navigation. They don’t automatically cascade down to Knowledge Articles.