Template Updated October 2026

IT knowledge base template employees and AI can both use

Most IT knowledge bases fail for one of two reasons: nobody writes the articles, or nobody can find them. This template fixes the format part. Each article answers one question, starts with the answer, and names the exact error messages people search for. That also happens to be the format AI assistants answer from best.

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One article, one questionThe title is the question an employee would type
Answer firstA short answer at the top, steps below
25 articles to startThe questions that cause most IT tickets
AI-readyThe same format works for an AI helpdesk bot
Template

IT knowledge base article template

Copy it into Confluence, SharePoint, Google Docs or any wiki.

IT knowledge base article 
TITLE: [Write the title as the question an employee would ask]
Example: How do I reset my password?

APPLIES TO: [Who and what this covers, e.g. "All employees, Windows and Mac"]
LAST REVIEWED: [DATE]
OWNER: [NAME OR TEAM]

SHORT ANSWER
[One or two sentences that answer the question directly.]
Example: Go to [password reset link], enter your work email and follow the steps. You need your phone for the verification code.

STEPS
1. [One action per step. Name the exact button or menu.]
2. [...]
3. [...]

IF IT DOES NOT WORK
- Error "[exact error message text]": [what to do]
- [Other common problem]: [what to do]

STILL STUCK?
[How to get help: channel, ticket form, phone, and expected response time.]
Include: [what the employee should put in the ticket, e.g. device name, screenshot of the error].

RELATED
- [Link to related article]
- [Link to related article]
Starter List

The 25 IT articles to write first

Starter article list 
ACCOUNTS AND SIGN-IN
- How do I reset my password?
- How do I set up multi-factor authentication on a new phone?
- I am locked out of my account. What do I do?
- How do I get access to a system or shared folder?

DEVICES
- How do I set up my new laptop?
- My laptop is slow. What can I check first?
- How do I request a new laptop, monitor or headset?
- How do I return equipment when I leave?

NETWORK AND REMOTE WORK
- How do I connect to the VPN?
- How do I connect to the office Wi-Fi?
- The VPN connects but I cannot reach internal sites. What now?

EMAIL, CALENDAR AND CHAT
- How do I set up work email on my phone?
- How do I share my calendar or book a meeting room?
- How do I create a shared mailbox or distribution list?
- How do I join or create a team, channel or space?

SOFTWARE
- How do I request new software?
- Which AI tools are approved, and how do I get access?
- How do I install the printer driver?

FILES
- Where should I save my work files?
- How do I recover a deleted file?
- How do I share a file with someone outside the company?

SECURITY
- I think I clicked a phishing link. What do I do?
- How do I report a lost or stolen device?
- How do I report a suspicious email?

GETTING HELP
- How do I open an IT ticket, and how fast will I get an answer?

These cover the questions that fill most internal IT queues: passwords, MFA, VPN, new devices, access requests and phishing. Write the first ten, publish them, then watch which questions still arrive as tickets and write those next.

Writing Rules

How to write IT articles people (and AI) can find

  • Title each article with the question an employee would ask, not an internal name. "How do I connect to the VPN?" beats "GlobalProtect client config".
  • Put the answer in the first two sentences. People and AI both read the top first.
  • Copy exact error messages into the article. Employees search by the words on their screen.
  • Keep one topic per article. A 20-page "IT guide" is hard to search and hard to update.
  • Write steps as text, with screenshots as extra help. Text inside a screenshot cannot be searched.
  • Date every article and name an owner. Out-of-date steps cause more tickets than missing ones.
  • Say what to do when the steps fail, and how to open a ticket.
Use It With AI

Turn the knowledge base into an IT helpdesk bot

Articles in this format work well for retrieval: the bot finds the article that matches the question and answers from it. With ChatGridAI you connect the files from Confluence, SharePoint, OneDrive or Google Drive, or upload them, and employees ask in Microsoft Teams or Google Chat. Each answer names the article it came from.

When the article does not solve the problem, the bot can collect the details, show a summary and, after the employee confirms, open a ticket in Jira or ServiceNow. See IT helpdesk AI chatbot and Jira tickets from chat.

FAQ

Common questions

A title written as a question, who it applies to, a short answer at the top, numbered steps, what to do if it fails (with exact error messages), how to get more help, related links, an owner and a last reviewed date.
Start with the questions that cause the most tickets: password resets, MFA setup, account lockouts, VPN and Wi-Fi, new laptop setup, access requests, software requests, email on mobile and reporting phishing.
Wherever your company already keeps documents: Confluence, SharePoint, Google Drive or a wiki. The tool matters less than the format and keeping articles current.
Yes. A retrieval-based bot searches your articles at the moment of the question and answers from them, with a link to the source. Short, single-topic articles with the answer first give the best results.

Put your knowledge base in chat

ChatGridAI answers IT questions from your knowledge base in Teams and Google Chat, and opens tickets after the employee confirms.

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