---
sourceDocument: Australia ServiceNow AI Platform Capabilities
sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/servicenow-platform

 Release :

    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia ServiceNow AI Platform Capabilities

ft:clusterId :

    - platcap

bundleId :

    - platcap

workflow :

    - Platform


---

# Knowledge article templates

# Knowledge article templates {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated March 12, 2026  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read
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## Summary of Knowledge Article Templates

Knowledge article templates provide a structured format for creating consistent knowledge articles within ServiceNow.
As a knowledge administrator, you can create, customize, and manage these templates, while security administrators can control field visibility.
Authors utilize these templates to streamline article creation.
Show full answer Show less  

## Key Features

* **Pre-defined Templates:** Use standard templates or specific ones like How To, What Is, FAQ, and KCS. All pre-defined templates are inactive by default until activated.
* **Activation and Management:** Knowledge administrators can activate templates through the Knowledge \> Administration \> Article Templates menu. Only active templates linked to knowledge bases are visible for use.
* **Field-Level Security:** Security administrators can set visibility for specific fields in templates, ensuring sensitive information is only accessible to authorized users.
* **Non-deletable Templates:** Article templates cannot be deleted due to their association with child tables. Instead, they can be deactivated by unchecking the Active box.

## Key Outcomes

By utilizing knowledge article templates, ServiceNow customers can ensure a consistent format for knowledge sharing, improve the efficiency of article creation, and enhance the overall management of knowledge articles. This leads to better organization and accessibility of information within the organization.  
Article templates have pre-defined fields structured in a specific order. These
templates help create a consistent structure for knowledge articles.

Using the Knowledge Article Templates feature, as a knowledge administrator (a user with
knowledge_admin role), you can create article templates, add or customize fields in a
template, and activate or deactivate a template.

As a security administrator (a user with security_admin role), you can configure field-level
security in any template to make it visible to specific users.

As an author, you can create articles using pre-defined article templates or any newly
created article templates.

## Pre-defined knowledge article templates {#knowledge-article-templates__section_x3w_kx1_zbb}

Use either the standard template or one of the pre-defined How To, What Is, FAQ or KCS
article templates.  
Note:  
When you upgrade Knowledge Management to Kingston or later releases, all the
existing articles from the earlier version automatically use the standard template of
the upgraded version. For example, if you upgrade Knowledge Management from
Jakarta to Kingston, all existing articles use the standard template available in the
Kingston version.

All pre-defined templates are inactive by default. If you do not activate a template,
the articles automatically use the standard template. As a knowledge admin, you can
activate a template by navigating to KnowledgeAdministrationArticle Templates. Then in the article template list, set the Active

field to true for one or more templates you would like to activate.

Templates are associated with knowledge bases. Only templates which are active and associated with a knowledge base are shown.

The template structure is stored in kb_article_template while the fields for each template are stored in kb_article_template_definition. For creating and manipulating templates navigate to KnowledgeAdministrationArticle Templates.

The table below lists the fields available in each template and the name of the template
table.  
{#knowledge-article-templates__table_mqs_grq_lbb__entry__4}

| Template name | Template fields | Maps to table | SEO Description Tag |
|-|-|-|-|
| FAQ | * Question * Answer {#knowledge-article-templates__ul_nqs_grq_lbb} | FAQ \[kb_template_faq\] | Question |
| How To | * Introduction * Instructions {#knowledge-article-templates__ul_ww3_rtq_lbb} | How To \[kb_template_how_to\] | Introduction |
| What Is | * Introduction * Explanation {#knowledge-article-templates__ul_yhv_b5q_lbb} | What Is \[kb_template_what_is\] | Introduction |
| KCS Article | * Issue * Environment * Cause * Resolution {#knowledge-article-templates__ul_p5g_r5q_lbb} | KCS Article \[kb_template_kcs_article\] | Issue |
| Standard | Text | kb_knowledge | Text |
[Table 1. Pre-defined knowledge article templates]

{#knowledge-article-templates__table_mqs_grq_lbb}

## Activating knowledge article templates {#knowledge-article-templates__section_jr1_bmk_tbb}

The Knowledge Article Templates feature is activated with the Knowledge Management Advanced (com.snc.knowledge_advanced) plugin. After the feature is activated, when creating an article, option to choose a template for the
article appears. For details, see [Activate the Knowledge Management Advanced plugin](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/5N80Ri3iFeljtUtjTfIybw "Activate the Knowledge Management Advanced plugin (com.snc.knowledge_advanced) to enable advanced features for Knowledge Management.").

## Deactivating knowledge article templates {#knowledge-article-templates__section_yvj_xyh_f3b}

You cannot delete an article template because article templates have an associated child
table. Deleting a template would also require deleting the child table. Due to the
limitations on dropping tables, article templates and template columns are explicitly made
non-deletable. Instead, you can disable the Knowledge Article Templates feature by clearing
the Active check box on the Article Template form.  
Note:  
The Standard template is available by default and can't be made inactive.
**Related concepts**   

* [Configure knowledge article templates](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/WX699hIY_wBBdVN06vSkOA "Configure knowledge article templates to customize and display content as per your requirements.")

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