---
schema_version: "1"
id: 532d5798ea6ca15979cb712a6ccb203863c2602af58c017f7f12eecc4a70b9ac
title: Third-Party Knowledge Preparation
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/service/264-0-0/knowledge_uk_prep_third.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.knowledge_uk_prep_third.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 66ba5c2245916200710d9146120174ee6fdd464363e0abb77123aa39d4bc9537
description: Before you set up Unified Knowledge, prepare your third-party knowledge bases. Some preparation steps can require access or configuration of your third-party knowledge systems.
products:
  - Service Cloud
release: "264"
---
# Third-Party Knowledge Preparation

Before you set up Unified Knowledge, prepare your third-party knowledge bases. Some preparation steps can require access or configuration of your third-party knowledge systems.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in Lightning Experience. <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.service_editions_reference.htm&amp;language=en_US" target="_blank">View supported editions</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Content Preparation

- Determine the support content to import into Salesforce, and review it for accuracy, conciseness, and uniqueness. Make sure the content is useful for support rep troubleshooting, up to date, and not a duplicate of content in Salesforce or Lightning Knowledge.
- Optionally, map the taxonomy in your third-party system to data categories in Salesforce. Verify whether your third-party content has source labels associated with it to ensure the knowledge synced in Salesforce will have data categories associated with it.
- Check that your external articles are smaller than 131,000 characters, which is about 30 to 40 pages of text. Content that exceeds the character limit is shortened when imported. To increase this limit, contact your Salesforce account executive and ask about enrolling in the pilot program for Knowledge large content storage.

## Login Credentials

- Gather and test the login credentials needed to access your third-party knowledge. What you need varies by system. For example, you might need a username, token, and URL for Confluence, or a client ID, client secret, and refresh token for Google Drive.
- Work with your external system's admin to ensure you have the right access and credentials.

## Dedicated Directory

- If possible, copy or move all third-party articles you want to import and sync in Salesforce to one directory. Having one directory makes it easier to point to one location when connecting new sources of third-party knowledge to Salesforce. Importing and managing your files from one directory ensures cleaner data and potentially reduces the need for multiple connectors to third-party knowledge systems.
- If necessary, create a nested structure for your third-party articles so you can import and sync them all into Salesforce at or below that specific level.

## Data Category Mapping

Optionally, map data categories to your third-party knowledge to help you filter search results, report on article effectiveness by data category, and control sharing and record visibility. Add labels to your third-party source articles that you can then map to Salesforce data categories. See [Set Up Unified Knowledge](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.knowledge_uk_setup.htm&type=5&language=en_US).

#### See Also

- [Unify Knowledge from Various Sources](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.knowledge_uk_about.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Unify your company’s knowledge from third-party systems such as SharePoint, Confluence, Google Drive, and websites within Salesforce. Expose the unified knowledge base across every support rep and customer search experience, and ground generative AI features for Einstein for Service apps.")
- [Unified Knowledge Preparation](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.knowledge_uk_preparation.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "After you review the Unified Knowledge requirements, considerations, and limitations, plan your implementation. Preparation is necessary for third-party knowledge bases and Salesforce Lightning Knowledge and includes a few high-level steps.")
- [Zoomin Connector Preparation](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.knowledge_uk_prep_zoomin.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Before you set up Unified Knowledge, review Zoomin documentation to understand what you need to do for each connector you plan to use.")
- [Lightning Knowledge Preparation](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.knowledge_uk_prep_knowledge.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Before you set up Unified Knowledge, prepare your Salesforce Knowledge base.")