Every page of your help center is built the same way: a layout, six regions, and the components inside them. Once you know which of these you're changing, you know exactly where the change will show.
Who can do this: Owners and Admins (Editors through Customize on your help center) · Plans: All plans
Six pages
In the Pages tab, the page picker at the top switches between the six kinds of pages in your help center. Each has its own layout and components.
Page | What visitors see there |
|---|---|
Home | Your landing page. |
Category | A category with its articles and subcategories. |
Article | A single article. |
Search | Search results. |
Contact | Your contact form. |
Not found | The page shown for a link that doesn't exist. |
Six regions
Each page is divided into regions, and each region holds components in order. Click a region under Regions to see and change its components.
Region | Where it appears |
|---|---|
Header | The top of the page: logo, menu, search. Synced across all pages by default. |
Hero | The banner under the header, usually with a heading and a search bar. |
Sidebar | A column beside the main content, when the layout has one. |
Main | The page's own content. On the Article page, this is where the article sits. Main is never shared between pages. |
Footer | The bottom of the page. Synced across all pages by default. |
Utility | A narrow rail on the right in the Rail and Docked layouts. In the other layouts, it shows below the main content. |
Page layouts
Under Page setup, the Layout you choose applies to the current page only (it's marked Affects this page). It decides how the Sidebar, Main and Utility regions sit on a computer screen:
One column: everything in a single column. Sidebar components stack above the main content.
Sidebar: a sidebar column next to the main content.
Rail: the sidebar, the main content and a Utility rail on the right.
Docked: the sidebar is pinned to the edge of the screen and the content is centered beside it. On smaller screens, the sidebar opens from a Browse button.
For layouts with a sidebar, Sidebar width makes the column wider or narrower. On smaller screens, the columns stack so everything stays readable.
Region settings
Open a region and expand its settings card (for example Hero settings, marked Whole region) to style the region as a whole:
Background: a background color for the region.
Padding: None, Compact, Standard or Tall.
Border below: a divider line under the region.
Content alignment (Hero only): Left or Center.
Shared headers and footers
Your Header and Footer are Synced across all pages by default: one header and one footer for the whole help center. Change them on any page, and every page gets the change.
A synced region is copied from the page you're editing. When you change a synced header or footer, that page's version replaces the region on every other page. Some themes start with slightly different headers on different pages (Compass, for example, puts a search bar in the header of category and article pages only), so your first change can remove those differences. Make header changes on the page whose header you want everywhere, then check the other pages.
To give each page its own header or footer, open that region, click Manage and choose Give each page its own setup. Each page keeps its current version, and from then on you edit each page separately.
Use a region on other pages
The Hero, Sidebar and Utility regions belong to one page, and so does a header or footer you've unsynced. To reuse one elsewhere, open it and click Apply this hero to other pages (the name changes with the region). You get two choices:
Copy to other pages · one-time: tick the pages you want and click the Copy to button, which counts the pages you picked. Each page gets its own copy, and later edits don't travel.
Keep in sync · live link: click Keep in sync everywhere. The region becomes identical on every page, and later edits apply everywhere.
Both replace the region on the other pages, components and settings included, which is why the dialog warns Will overwrite. You can undo with ⌘Z. The Main region can't be shared, because it holds each page's own content.
What changes where
You change | Where it shows |
|---|---|
Brand, Theme, Navigation or Advanced | Every page |
A page's Layout | That page only |
A region's settings or components | That page only, or every page if the region is synced |
Copy to other pages | The pages you pick, once, as separate copies |
Keep in sync | Every page, now and for later edits |
As always, nothing reaches visitors until you click Publish.
Troubleshooting
I changed the header on one page and it changed everywhere. The header is synced. That's usually what you want. If a page needs its own header, use Manage → Give each page its own setup.
The search bar disappeared from my other pages' headers. You edited a synced header on a page without one, and that version was copied everywhere. Press ⌘Z, or add the search bar back on any page: the change syncs to all of them.
My sidebar components show above the content. The page uses the One column layout. Pick Sidebar, Rail or Docked to put them in a column.
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