How to redirect users from Outdated Version to Latest Version of article in the portal?

[Aicel]

We are using versioning of knowledge articles in ServiceNow. However, it is inevitable that some users copy the link from the address bar instead of getting the permalink from the Copy permalink button. Hence, even when an article is already updated, some users still go to the old version of the article as they are using the Direct URL or they bookmarked it in their browser. 
We are thinking of 2 options. Can someone help us how to set this up in the portal?

1. Option 1: When users go to an old version of an article in the portal, they will see a message at the top of the article: "This is an outdated version. Go to latest version of the article here." And it should have the link to the latest version. 
2. Option 2:  When users go to an old version of an article in the portal, they will not see the article but instead see an error message or a customized error message like this:  "The URL of the article you used is either retired or not available. Try searching for the title or KB# of the article in the Search bar."

[dmathur09]

Hi Aicel,

Option 1 is already available OOB.

Regards,

Deepankar Mathur

[Lauren Methena]

This is a constant problem for us - even among our own communications professionals whom we have told time and time again to use the permalink and not the URL.

Our solution was to create customization so that URLs will automatically redirect to the most current version of the article. This is what has worked best for us. (Worth every penny.)

Interesting thing came up recently regarding these automatic redirects - first time I've seen it in 3 years and hopefully I'll not see it again.

In this one-off case:

Someone had copied/pasted the URL to an article into a training document

> Sometime after that URL was copied/pasted, I removed CAN READ criteria from the article (the article had been open to 2 specific audiences; I then removed all criteria, opening it to all audiences)

> When people clicked on that URL, they were redirected to the current article, but anyone who wasn't part of the original 2 audiences got a "you don't have access to this article" error message.

> The redirect was happening, but somehow the criteria remained for that URL.

Solution was to use the permalink - and the URL from AFTER the criteria had been removed redirected fine.

This is just an interesting sidenote for those who are interested in these little quirks that pop up from time to time.

It's not common for us to remove CAN READ criteria like that, so it's mostly a non-issue.

Customizing your system to redirect to the most current version is going to allow for the best user experience overall - which means less work and hassle for you in the long run, too.

Good luck! Please mark as "helpful" if you find it so. 🙂 

[Mike Van Vooren]

@Aicel - Deepankar is correct that the system already defaults to a message similar to what you are asking for in Option #1.  However, there is a 3rd, and potentially better, option you should consider.  We recently learned of an OOB configuration where you can force the Service Portal to redirect the user to the latest version automatically.

1. While viewing an article from the Service Portal, Ctrl + right-click in the KA header and click on "Instance Options"

2. Check the box on the bottom for "Redirect to the latest article".

We enabled this and it works well.  You can click a link that is for an Outdated version and the system immediately redirects you to the latest version.  You can still see the clickable link next to the KB number where you can see the history of previous versions.  But clicking any of them also immediately takes you back to the latest version.

I hope this is a helpful solution for you as well, especially since it is OOB.

[Lauren Methena]

Thanks, Michael! Now I wonder if this is what we used and it wasn't as "customized" as I thought. OR, we customized it ages ago before this option was available. LOL! This is much easier. I second this method.