Dynamics Community Forum Thread Details

Hello Jenone C,

The behavior you're observing with Knowledge Articles and Major Version creation in Dynamics 365 Customer Service is by design and not an issue. Here's why the old published version remains visible and active:

Understanding Major Versioning in Dynamics 365 Knowledge Articles:

The major versioning feature is designed to allow you to update and improve your knowledge articles without immediately impacting the live, published version. This ensures that users accessing your knowledge base continue to see a stable and approved version while you work on the next major iteration.

Here's how the process typically works:

Published Version: When you initially publish a Knowledge Article, it becomes the current, live version accessible to users. Let's say this is Version 1.

Create Major Version: When you choose "Create Major Version" on this published article:
- A new Knowledge Article record is created in a Draft status.
- The Major Version Number of this new draft article is incremented (to 2 in your case).
- The original Version 1 article remains in its Published state.

Editing the Draft Version: You then make your necessary changes, updates, and improvements to the Draft (Version 2) article.

Publishing the New Major Version: Once you are satisfied with the changes in the Draft (Version 2) article, you will publish it. At this point:
- The Version 2 article becomes the new Published version, replacing the older Version 1 as the primary live article.
- The system typically keeps the older Published versions (like Version 1) in a "Published" state for historical reference and potential rollback purposes.

Why the Old Published Version Remains Active:

Historical Record: Keeping older published versions allows you to track the evolution of the knowledge article over time. This can be valuable for understanding what information was previously available and why changes were made.
Potential Rollback: In some scenarios, you might need to revert to a previous published version if issues are found with the new one. Having the old version readily available in a "Published" state simplifies this process.
Internal Auditing: It provides an audit trail of the different published iterations of the article.

Is This an Issue?

No, this is the intended behavior of the major versioning feature in Dynamics 365 Knowledge Articles. It's designed to facilitate controlled updates and maintain a history of published content.

How to Manage Older Published Versions:

While the system keeps older published versions active, you can manage their visibility if needed:

Set to Expired: You can manually set the Expiration Date on the older published version (Version 1). Once the expiration date passes, the article will move to the "Expired" state and will typically no longer be visible in public-facing knowledge portals (depending on your portal configuration).
Set to Archived: You can change the Status Reason of the older published version to "Archived". This will move it out of the "Active Articles" view by default but will still be available for historical reference if needed. You might need to create a specific view to see archived articles.
Deactivate (Use with Caution): You could deactivate the older published version. However, be cautious with this as it might impact any internal links or references that might still point to that specific article record. It's generally better to use "Expired" or "Archived" to maintain the historical record while controlling visibility.

In summary, the fact that your old published Knowledge Article remains active after creating a major version is the expected behavior. It's part of the version control system designed for non-disruptive updates and historical tracking. You can manage the visibility of these older published versions using the Expiration Date or by setting their Status Reason to Archived.

If my answer was helpful, please click Like, and if it solved your problem, please mark it as verified to help other community members find more. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me.

My response was crafted with AI assistance and tailored to provide detailed and actionable guidance for your Microsoft Dynamics 365 query.

Regards,

Daivat Vartak

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