hello this is Greg from SharePoint Maven and in this video I would like to demonstrate to you the three available options we have when it comes to creating a Wiki in SharePoint so let me first Define what I mean by Wiki by Wiki uh because it means different things to different users of different organizations by Wiki I mean some sort of uh knowledge base maybe it's a frequently asked questions uh kind of list maybe it's a a little bit more more formal uh knowledge base uh with instructions and uh you know text and images uh in any case um we need to capture some knowledge within SharePoint now there are three distinct uh ways of doing so and what I would like to doing this tutorial is show you uh the three available options and we'll even uh set them up together uh I'll show you how easy it is uh to achieve it in a SharePoint in my opinion of course uh you know I think a SharePoint is a perfect fit for some sort of knowledge base or Wiki uh the first option uh to uh build a a Wiki in SharePoint would be through the custom uh list function ality uh essentially we're going to rely on the lists application we're going to create a list and uh think of it is almost um like something you would maintain in Excel right uh a table with rows and columns and each row would uh essentially represent a question uh and an answer right the columns would be the question the answer and the beauty about this approach is that it's relatively simple to implement and um you know you can also categorize uh those various you know questions uh through various metadata tags so let's build one together and I think you will be amazed by the result so uh here I have this uh human resources employee fac Insite this is a communication site of course uh we are going to create a new list so we're creating a new list just like that and well we can choose um you know different templates I guess you can even maybe import if you have a a list of questions and answers in Excel you can do so but in our case let's build everything from scratch so we're going to create blank list and uh let's just call it um FAQ frequently asked questions uh week whatever you want to call it and I'm going to click uh create and essentially the idea here obviously it's a blank uh list at this point uh the idea here is that we have uh essentially um you know a column for um you know questions we have a column for answers and we can also create additional columns to categorize uh to categorize our Wiki so for now the list of course contains just one title column we will actually reuse it we will reuse it for the question and uh then we will um you know create additional columns for the answer and other um you know other metadata maybe uh category and so on so let's uh go ahead first of all and rename this column all right this uh we are going to use this this will be the question this will be the question that the users will type in uh or HR whoever will manage this uh list all right just like that so one column is ready uh essentially we just reuse the default column uh we're going to create another column that will be the answer and um you know we can either choose the single line of text on multiple but because you know obviously sometimes the text could be the answer could be pretty extensive let's go for multiple lines of text just like that and uh that will be uh the answer all right just like that and let's see uh we can actually um leave it as is if you want um you know within the answer maybe uh to um uh play with fonts and maybe make some text bold and stuff like that we can actually do so um this will allow you to add some color to your text and you know you format the text and all that so you can do that uh you know what let's not worry about it but essentially this is something you can do this is something you can do uh we can also make the column required just so that when we add a question we also provide the an so I guess let's do that and uh click save so here we go two columns uh two necessary columns already exist now uh because by utilizing the list functionality this is where the metadata is a great fit right we can we're not restricted to just question and answer we can also uh create other metadata for example um you know category right maybe uh it's a question related to um on boarding or maybe it's a question related to benefits and so on so let's do that uh we are going to add um this is obviously category so we are going to choose Choice column and we'll uh do something like this all right category and we don't need to have uh any formatting the colors but I guess we'll accept the default so let's just create a few uh categories so we can organize and uh I will actually show you the benefit of this once we uh once we fill it out uh and uh let's just say uh uh I don't know um medical something like this all right whatever the categories are within your organization you can add additional ones if necessary but that's good enough for now uh let's not worry I mean we'll leave it as optional uh all right I don't think this is mandatory so we'll click save let's play with it a little bit more you know what the another column I'm going to add uh would be the person column and essentially what I want to to do here is you know let's say there are several people in HR so if uh people have additional questions they can can contact um you know specific individuals right so we'll just um create uh this column contact and it's going to be a person um you know type of column right and you know let's also show the profile picture and again we'll click save and let's do one more uh add column uh you know what um let's say for each right because this is just a brief you know question and you know quick answer kind of thing maybe there is additional information that um you know users can check out and um we'll add a hyperlink column this way uh HR can maybe uh create a link to additional resource maybe it's a document handbook uh some policy page where users can read additional information about a particular uh you know particular subject so we'll do that and we'll call it additional information just like that all right and that's a hyperlink and again click save all right now that we created our uh frequently asked questions list uh let's um you know fill it out a little bit so I'm going to click new I'm going to essentially uh fill it out uh so the first question uh let's just say when is the benefits um enrollment uh deadline all right so that's uh the question and um it is let's just say you know here's the answer all right uh category is obviously benefits uh in terms of contact uh let's add Mary so if uh users have additional questions they can contact Mary and this is the URL uh it could be pretty much um I'm not going to fill it out let's not worry about it but this is where you fill out will fill out uh essentially the URL for additional information maybe like I said it's a page to a document um or handbook or you know some page and so on so I'm going to click save so here we go we filled the one row uh let's do uh another one what is our vacation policy all right uh just like that and then for once we'll just say please check out HR page all right something like that for category let's just say it's on boarding and and you know what we want uh everyone to contact Greg if they have any additional questions and once again additional information over here uh so that's pretty much the idea behind this FAQ now um let me show you a few additional uh tricks related to this list so uh there is a reason why we uh essentially created uh all this additional metadata because uh we can do a few things so first of all uh obviously right ufq will probably have maybe uh I don't know 50 maybe even 100 entries uh right and you want to easily uh allow users to easily sort and filter and group things so let's uh take care of that uh what I'm going to do is I'm going to pen those two columns to this filter span let me show you what will happen when we do that so I'm going to choose pen this to the filter Spain and I'm also going to choose this column as as well pen to the filters pan uh Let me refresh and let me show you what we just did now when users click on the uh filters span they will get to you know uh to see those filters they can easily you know again pretend we have 100 rows on here I quickly want to see just this ones all right just this ones or the ones where I need to contact Mary so essentially users can easily filter and find uh the appropriate uh you know uh categories uh let's do something else what we can do is the following we can actually create a view where we Group by category so I'm going to click on this drop down and I'm going to say Group by category just like that and you can see obviously if we have 10 questions related to benefits and maybe five questions related to on boarding they will all appear here and what I'm going to do I'm going to save this view uh and so it is available um you know uh for for users to choose just like that and uh you know what I'm going to do I'm actually going to make it a default view what does it mean uh it means that when users navigate to this list this is the view they're going to see they're not going to see uh like a table you know rows and columns right flat list view they are going to see this view so it's going to be nicely organized for them so let's uh do that Set current view as a default and just to show you what we just did so I'm back on my homepage but if users click on FAQ uh they will now see uh this default view essentially right it defaults to this particular view so it's nicely organized uh so that's pretty much it in terms of this first option the ability you know to create a list uh now so in addition what I really like about this option first of all it's uh super simple to implement as you just saw uh the users have the ability to filter by any metadata they want and it's all searchable don't forget get we can also search this list so whatever you type in in here will pick up on any of the keywords we have within this list so it will pick up on metadata it will also pick up on the text uh of the question or the answer so let me prove it to you I'm going to type in the word vacation right we have it as part of the um you know our question if users type in you know that keyword look at this it actually picks it up so it's all searchable you can filter groups sort um you know whatever you want and then you can also search by keyword so extremely extremely powerful so in my opinion this list option is great when you have some uh quick questions and quick answers not too much information not too much text um this is super easy super simple to implement uh if you do have um if you do have lots of content to share maybe your answer is I don't know paragraphs and paragraphs of text uh then this would not be the best option because you're kind of limited in terms of the information you could you can put in those fields in here and display um in those cases I recommend uh the other um you know two um features that I'm about to show you in this video so the second way of building a SharePoint Wiki would be to utilize a functionality called a collapsible sections uh collapsable sections on a page that is uh let me explain to you what what I'm talking about so uh with the first option of course we uh used uh the the list functionality so we had a SharePoint site and we pretty much created a list and populated it with information uh for the second option we are going to create a page and on that page we are going to have different sections that will correspond to questions and answers uh let me show you how this works so I'm going to create a new page page not a list page this time and let's start with the blank one and uh once again I'm going to call it FAQ uh let's not worry about um you know the images or anything like that so here we go and let's just delete this default uh section over here so um here is how this works the idea is that uh in SharePoint on a SharePoint page you can add a section and when you add a section you can actually make it collapsible uh so that's the key that's the key uh for us to uh create in this week so let me uh once again show you how this works uh the idea is that uh remember with the list uh each question had its own row within the table right within the list uh the idea here is that each question will have uh its own section within a page so uh once again let's proceed and you will see how this works it's actually pretty cool so we are going to add a section with one column and uh the first thing you need to do is click on this edit section option over here so obviously right this is where we can add our web parts and stuff but that's not what we're going to do now on the right side make this section uh collapsible so you kind of need to do that and what actually happens you see when I uh um toggle the switch on and off it gets this extra uh kind of Field section name so section name will be our question and then whatever we add below would be our answer so uh let's do that all right so I'm going to uh once again utilize the same uh when uh when is the benefits uh enrollment deadline all right just like that all right so that's the question that's the section uh title and below this is where you add your answer now for this one I'm going to just add some text all right um you know so it will be uh essentially an answer through uh a text um some sort of message uh through text so uh we'll just say uh May 31st just like that so again a question one section a question and an answer so let's add another one let's add another question uh for that once again it's just another section you have to add uh all right and again you know the first thing we need to do is make it collapsible and what we're going to do here is we are going to say you know what for this uh question uh how do I submit uh um vacation request all right just like that so that's the question and um once again we can provide the answer but actually let me show you something um uh something cool here um we can pretty much embed any web part right don't forget this is just a regular page a regular you know section that we have we can pretty much you know embed any widget any web part so if you have a video to embed or you know an image you know anything you want anything you want in my case I want to embed a Microsoft form um essentially which is the V vacation request so let's do that I'm going to navigate to my forms uh application and I already have uh essentially the vacation request form you see this is what users need to fill out uh when they uh need to request vacation and I'm going to copy that link and what I'm going to do now I'm going to go back in here and instead of providing an answer by typing some text I'm actually going to embed a Microsoft form so it's going to be a pretty slick experience for my users um they see the question and then they will uh see the form right inside of the answer pretty much and I already have a form so I'm going to just paste the URL and let's see what will happen so uh I'm going to click okay and look at this you see essentially the users can pretty much right now um they don't even need to go to any other page they can just submit their vacation request right from here so that's pretty cool now um obviously this is the idea right if you have another you know question you just add another section but I think this is good enough so let's publish it and let's see the result let's see what we just did so essentially this is uh this is the idea behind this um collap I sections uh approach uh instead of the you know a row within a list right it's essentially a section within a page so each question and answer combination gets its own uh section and uh here's the experience you see how do I submit a vacation request well you know here we go you just pretty much fill it out and click submit right from within uh right from within the page all right so pretty neat experience uh let me show you a few other things that we can do with those collapsible sections so we can actually tweak the Behavior Uh by default if I'm not mistaken it um uh makes uh this section expanded right but obviously let's say you have 10 20 uh you know questions right you probably want this accordion style uh to be compressed so we're going to do just like that collapsed by default and I'm going to do the same here on this other one as well it's going to be collapsed another thing you can do uh and this is just you know from the design standpoint right you can actually um you know do do two different colors uh for example you know what this one will look like this this section uh will make it look like this so different colors all right another thing we can do here uh I guess we can change the alignment of this um uh you know drop down uh by default it's left you can make it on the right I usually never worry about it I think it looks just fine uh another thing you can do and again I think this is great if you have way too many um you know questions on the same page uh you can uh add a divider so let me actually show you how to do that uh right here this is the toggle switch and it just adds this additional line between the uh you know the questions so once you're done with the changes uh don't forget to uh republish and essentially this is the uh this is the uh end result uh of how it will look like uh again pretty in my opinion pretty uh slick experience um another thing you can do um it's not really obvious but if you hover over uh each and every uh section um you know title right um you get this little link thing and this is actually a permanent link this is the URL to this specific um to this specific uh question uh let me tell you why this is going to be um super useful um let's again pretend I have like uh 50 or 100 questions in here so it's going to be a long list and you need to scroll down quite a bit what you can do is you can hover over that particular uh question you get this little icon right click and you copy that link address and then what will end up happening you can actually create a link from anywhere to that particular address so uh let me actually do that right now I'm going to uh maybe uh add a link here and I'm going to paste and you will see how this works you see it's a direct link to this page to this particular section to this particular you know question in our case all right and yeah let's call it benefits all right just like that all right and you can of course change the icon let's not worry about it all right again I'm going to click republish so now it's republish so um let's say the user sees this icon and they click on it let's see what will happen so it brings them to that page now you didn't actually quite see the effect of it because I only have two questions uh and uh there is really no nothing else in here but if I had way too many you know way too many questions it would actually scroll down and bring us to the right uh section to the right place within the page so uh pretty uh once again pretty cool experience regarding that with this second option so so far we covered the list option and this uh collapsible uh sections option obviously uh this is a better option if you have a little bit more information a little bit more maybe text to share right with the list it was kind of limited real estate within the table but here obviously um you can do so much more and in my opinion it just a little bit more visually appealing uh the only thing we're not getting with this option is obviously that ability to group and sort and filter right um there is no additional metadata here but uh it's just a very different way of doing um uh you know creating a week creating a an fq list um so definitely feel free to consider this option as well the third and final uh option I want to show you when it comes to cre cre in SharePoint Wiki would be to utilize the concept of uh SharePoint Pages now I just showed you a scenar where we created a single page and then essentially use different sections um uh within the page for questions and answers but at the end of the day all the information uh was still on the same page the idea behind this third approach is that uh we have pretty much a page for each and every question answer combination uh and the idea behind this third approach is that uh you don't just create a list you don't just create a single page you create many pages so uh here is what it looks like um um I actually have a dedicated site uh for the wikii for the knowledge base right here and the idea behind this is that there is a page for each and every question answer combination so for example again you know uh people ask how to submit vacation request you are getting a whole separate page uh for uh for the response for the question and response uh and uh this is obviously the most kind of flexible option why because um you're not limited to the real estate you have on the single page and or within a list you pretty much um you know can uh you know because you're getting a dedicated page here uh you you pretty much um you know getting all the this additional real estate you can add images videos uh you know any other web Parts uh for the um you know for for the response uh now I actually recorded a totally separate video uh step by step on how to build this knowledge base so I'm not going to repeat this um um you know the same instructions in this video uh feel free to check out that other video uh on my YouTube channel but just to briefly show you the idea behind it so uh again we have a dedicated site for all the um you know for the knowledge base and let's say I need to um you know post uh uh some sort of article in here right a knowledge based article so you would click new page uh the idea here is that something that I actually built already uh I have a dedicated template for users you know to fill out and here we go you see it's a template so um essentially users uh maybe this would be the question and this would be the answer and uh obviously right we have the whole dedicated page for uh you know for the knowledge based article and because it's a page once again we can add uh all this additional widgets to it and once it's all set and done all right essentially you you getting a site with all these different pages which are pretty much different articles within the knowledge base and everything is searchable everything is searchable all the pages just to show you all all the pages that you create uh end up in the site Pages Library so remember it's not just a single page uh anymore with um you know with the different sections you are getting a separate page for each and every article you know obviously this option is the most scalable one uh why because um you you have pretty much a dedicated site for the whole knowledge base uh you can add so much content to each and every page and everything is searchable once again if users type in you know a vacation or something right uh they can easily they can easily find that particular article uh just like that everything is searchable uh so this almost resembles uh Wikipedia style experience right where you have uh different pages with text links uh all the pages linked up uh that would be the idea behind this third option uh as I mentioned already uh what I will do in the this description of this video I will include the link to that other um you know video where I explain how to build this uh third uh option uh the dedicated knowledge base through pages uh but this were the three options I wanted to demo to you today um again depending on your scenario depending on the uh you know who will maintain all this depending on the amount of information you want to share you might want to choose a list you might want to choose a single page with collapsible sections or finally you might choose choose something uh like you see right now on the screen a dedicated site for the knowledge base where uh each um you know each article get its own uh page so the most uh this is actually my favorite option the most scalable option uh but for now thank you very much for watching this video hopefully you learned something new is always happy to see you again on my blog SharePoint maven.com as well as my YouTube channel thank you very much have a great rest of the day goodbye