Knowledge Base integration with ServiceNow

[LoriC]

We have a large amount of articles in a knowledge base that resides in ServiceNow. Because of the limitations we've encountered with keeping the formatting from the source document (Word, etc). We created pdfs from the articles and then added the pdf as an attachment with some code to actually render the pdf on the page. However, this method has proven clunky and time consuming - what are people using to make their KBs more robust? Are there authoring tools that can be used that integrates with ServiceNow?
Thank you

[Claude DAmico]

I know you mentioned some issues with formatting using Word, but there are two Word methods I'm aware of: Import and Authoring. I imagine the Import option is one that is problematic. Here is the link to the documentation for the Authoring option. My KM team doesn't have an integration otherwise. It's all typically modified quite a bit from the Word document they are provided.

[Keryn]

Hi. I've experienced this before so I know what you mean! 
Word files: When we copy and paste from a Word file into a ServiceNow article (whether new or an existing one), we always select "Remove formatting."  Otherwise, you're importing the Word formatting code (which isn't always compatible and which I've spent many hours cleaning out (via the source code window/HTML window).  After that, you need to save each image, upload to the KBAs, and insert them into the article body.

PDF files:  Having them as a downloadable attachment is a good workaround until you get the articles created. Two questions to consider: 1) Do they need to be made 508 compliant? If yes, then the time to get them 508 compliant may be about the same time spent getting them made into ServiceNow article. 2) When users search for an article with just an attachment, will your ServiceNow's search engine find the right article?  I've tested this with Excel and PDF file attachments and it works for us. 

I highly recommend learning some basic HTML skills for cleaning up and using Notepad to "Find and replace" any remaining issues you may see.  I've posted a short list of the HTML skills I recommend in a previous post last year somewhere. 

[SRegier]

Is there a reason that you do not customize the CSS for your knowledge base and provide everyone with guidelines? This way, everyone could develop their documents directly in SN and you retain your versioning. 

For example, tell everyone to use the WYSIWYG editor like the Word style gallery, using the headers and "normal " options for all other font. 

You can still attach PDF and DOCX to open in the article or using another window if needed.