question What is the best way to remove a duplicate Knowledge Block? in Community Central forum

What is the best way to remove a duplicate Knowledge Block?

DavidReynolds — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 22:00:10 GMT

Hello,

We recently moved our knowledge bases into a modernized version of Zurich. Until recently, there had not been any numbering issues.

We encountered some related to the Word Add-in for ServiceNow, which I thought was the only issue.

Earlier today I ran into a knowledge block that has three versions:

2 versions of the same contact with one being an update.
1 new version of something completely unrelated to the others but sharing the same number.

I'm reluctant to do anything because the unrelated version shares the same number as one used in more than 1,100 articles. I'm worried that deleting the "bad" version will delete the entire block, including the two good versions.

What makes the most sense here since the newer version is used in less than 12 articles?

Thanks for your comments.

Re: What is the best way to remove a duplicate Knowledge Block?

Rafael Batistot — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:39:04 GMT

Hi @DavidReynolds

This might help you

https://www.servicenow.com/community/developer-forum/how-do-you-retire-a-knowledge-block-when-it-exists-in-multiple/m-p/1783522

Re: What is the best way to remove a duplicate Knowledge Block?

Tanushree Maiti — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 04:00:21 GMT

Hi @DavidReynolds

You can retire a published knowledge block so that it's no longer available for users to view or search.

Before you begin

Role required: user must have contributor access to the knowledge base.

Procedure

Navigate to All > Knowledge > Knowledge Blocks > Published.
Open the applicable record.
Select Retire to retire the knowledge block.
Note:
- Starting from the Australia release, you can retire the knowledge block attached to an article by setting the (glide.knowman.allow_retire_block) system property to true.
- Any additional steps required to retire the knowledge block, such as approvals, depend on the workflow for the knowledge base. See Knowledge workflows for more information.
- A knowledge block can only be deleted if it's not being used in any knowledge article, including any retired article or previous version of an article.

Refer: Servicenow Documentation: Retire a knowledge block

https://www.servicenow.com/community/developer-forum/how-do-you-retire-a-knowledge-block-when-it-exists-in-multiple/m-p/1783522