The Article Sidebar displays what articles are available to the user within the current section they are currently viewing on the help center. This article covers the following topics:

• Types of sidebar options available

• Standard sidebar

• Dynamic sidebar

• Activating the Dynamic sidebar

• Other sidebar options

Types of sidebar options available

There are two options for the sidebar viewing of an article.

1. You can either use the default view, which will show other articles in the same section
2. Utilize the dynamic sidebar which will show all categories, sections and articles within your help center.

Examples:

Standard sidebar

The standard sidebar maintains the same default behaviour that is used within the default Zendesk Copenhagen template; in which only articles are shown from the section that the current article is housed within.

Dynamic sidebar

The dynamic sidebar uses the Zendesk API to scan the entire Help Centers articles, sections and categories. These are then shown to the user in a tree layout, which allows easy navigation across different sections.

This not only shows on the article page but is also present on any category and section pages as well. It works best with Help Centers that have both categories and sections configured. 

Activating the Dynamic sidebar

The dynamic sidebar can be activated within the Theme settings under Article Page Elements.

Additional Notes:

• The dynamic sidebar uses Session Storage to cache the data. This improves load times and additionally reduces the number of API calls needing to be made. If you wish to use this but not store the results, you can deactivate the use of Session Storage within the Advanced Settings section of the Theme. Bear in mind this will increase the amount of API calls being made.
• If the initial load encounters an error the Standard sidebar will be loaded.
• If you're experiencing issues previewing the Dynamic sidebar, try loading the page in an incognito/private browsing window simulating an end user to preview the results. 
• When using the preview mode in Guide, the dynamic sidebar is unable to detect changes in the preview mode. For instance, if 'Anonymous' is selected as the preview mode, you may see articles that are not viewable to anonymous users. This is due to the way the API is called in preview mode, though when viewing this page in an incognito/private browsing window as an anonymous user, the correct articles will be displayed. 
• The dynamic sidebar takes a moment to load initially. While loading, an animation will play.
• The dynamic sidebar will honour the chosen arrangement for the articles, though, unlike the standard sidebar the current article will be displayed in the original order as opposed to being placed at the top of the list. 

Other sidebar options

• Deactivating the sidebar: You can choose to deactivate any sidebar from showing.

  1. Navigate to your Theme settings and open the Article Page Elements section.

  2. Confirm that the Dynamic Sidebar and Articles in this Section settings are unchecked.

  3. Click Publish.
• Renaming the 'Articles in This Section': This can be renamed within the Article Page Elements section. You can additionally use Dynamic Content to provide alternative translations based on the locale being displayed to the end user.