Overview
This knol describes how to use the Knol tools to create, edit, and publish your knols. Here are some links to other pages that will help you:
You can also send us email at knolhelp@google.com.
Creating and Publishing a New Knol
To create a new knol page, click Write a New Knol at the right side of the screen, under your profile. If this is the first time you have accessed the Knol site, the system will automatically create a new knol for you and put you in edit mode.
For every knol:
- Enter a title. Try to include keywords in the title for easier searchability.
- Enter a subtitle. The subtitle is optional but it makes it easier for readers to get an idea of the knol content.
- Enter a summary at the top.
- Set the publishing mode for the knol. By default your knol starts out unpublished. You can decide to publish your knol at any time by clicking on the Publish button in the author controls on the right hand side of your knol.
- Set the permissions for who can edit your knol. By default, Moderated Collaboration is set (at the right). This means that if someone suggests a change to the page, you must approve the change before it is made. You can also disable collaboration entirely or make pages open to anyone who wishes to change them.
- Select your copyright settings at the right. By default, a Creative Commons Attribution license is specified. You can change this to “All Rights Reserved” (a non-public, traditional copyright choice that prohibits reuse of your materials without express permission) or to a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license, which permits reuse of your knol, provided the reuse gives proper attribution and is not for commercial purposes. Learn more about license options for your knol here.
Saving and Publishing Your Work
As you work on your knol, you can click Save to save drafts of your work (the button at the left of the toolbar). When your knol is complete, click Close to exit editing mode. If your knol is currently published (i.e. visible to the public), then every time you click on Save, your saved knol will be made public, replacing the previous version. Please remember to publish your knol only when you are ready to share it with the public.
Entering Text into a New or Existing Knol
To edit an existing knol, first display the knol. You can see a list of all the knols you have written by clicking on the My Knols link at the top of the screen. Initially the knol displays in View mode. To edit your knol, click on the Edit tab.
To enter the contents of your knol:
- The Knol platform provides basic tools to create your own knol. Simply type your knol into the editing screen and use the formatting tools (described below) to enter your text.
- If you prefer, you can type your text using another editor and paste the contents into a knol. Just use the copy and paste commands in the usual way.
- Import another document (e.g. a Microsoft Word document or a .PDF file) and create a new knol. To import a document, click on the Settings link and choose the General tab. Then click on Import Knol to proceed.
Using the Formatting Bar to Edit a Knol
The formatting bar allows you to format your text. If you put your mouse pointer over each of the icons, a box will appear, describing what the icon does. The tools work in a standard way, just like other editors including Microsoft Word and Google Documents. For example, highlighting a word and then clicking on the B icon will make the word bold.
The standard browser editing controls should also be available. For example, using Internet Explorer or Firefox under Microsoft Windows, these shortcuts will work:
- Ctrl+B = bold
- Ctrl+U = underline
- Ctrl+I = italics
Headings and Text Formats
The Format pull-down menu allows you to format text as headings or subheadings. You can also use the Format menu to choose a font and a font size directly.
Creating a Table of Contents
To create a "parent" category:
- Highlight the text you want to appear on the table of contents
- Go to the Format pull-down menu
- Select Heading (H2)
- Save your changes and Close to exit editing mode
- Admire your new table of contents at the top of your knol
- Highlight the text you want as an indented item under the parent category
- Go to the Format pull-down menu
- Select Sub-Heading (H3)
- This will tab the selected text under a Heading (H2)
- Or Select Minor Heading (H4)
- This will tab the selected text under a Sub-Heading (H3)
- Save your changes and Close to exit editing mode
- Admire your new indented link on your table of contents at the top of your knol
For help on more advanced editing techniques (including tables, images and HTML), go to Advanced Knol Techniques.





P V Ariel
Invite as author
Great Info.
Stephen Sandecki
Invite as author
Curious about Wiki like tags...
This page tracks some feature requests which users have made. We may be implementing some of them: http://knol.google.c
EditSaveCancelDeleteDeleteBlock this userReport abusive commentHide report window
Anonymous
Invite as author
How it is possible to delete my own review on a Knol written by other person?
See:
http://knol.google.c
http://knol.google.c
EditSaveCancelDeleteDeleteBlock this userReport abusive commentHide report window
splogger splogger
Invite as author
Untitled
Jean Jacques Itzhak Martinez
Invite as author
2 big problems with KNOL
2- when you look for something in KNOL - you will receive a list of KNOLs with your demand. BUT after you looked at the first and second pages - the other pages disappear!!!!!!! you can't continue your research!!
Regarding #2, is there a specific example you can give that demonstrates what you are describing when you say "the other pages disappear"?
EditSaveCancelDeleteDeleteBlock this userReport abusive commentHide report window
I found an example of the case you describe in #2. For the query [atorvastatin], we initially return an estimate of 67 results, but we only show 21 results; if you have 10 results per page you cannot navigate to pages 4-7.
This occurs when, for a particular query, we have large number of duplicate or very low quality results which are suppressed from being returned. You can see the same effect in google.com websearch on long tail queries such as [atorvastatin itzhak Frieman cytochrome].
However, google.com explains this effect with a message like this:
"In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 15 already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included."
We can look into providing similar handling for knol.google.com, since the present experience is awkward.
EditSaveCancelDeleteDeleteBlock this userReport abusive commentHide report window
Anne
Invite as author
Will the formatting bar work in Windows 2000 and SeaMonkey?
EditSaveCancelDeleteDeleteBlock this userReport abusive commentHide report window
EditSaveCancelDeleteDeleteBlock this userReport abusive commentHide report window
Pablo Negretti
Invite as author
Reference title in the "content" zone
I've seen this example of reference in content zone, but I think that he made it manually, not with the reference tool:
http://knol.google.c
Can you help me? or, Is there a way to fix this bug?
Thank you in advance.
Pablo
We do not currently support that. The only style of reference we support is a number in brackets, for example: [3].
EditSaveCancelDeleteDeleteBlock this userReport abusive commentHide report window
David Blomstrom
Invite as author
Vanishing Named Anchors
How can I insert a named anchor that won't get deleted?
Luk Van Loock
Invite as author
Hier vindt u de Nederlandse vertaling van deze pagina / Here you find the Dutch translation of this page
DEAD ACCOUNT DO NOT USE SEND TO -- howard@grc411.com
Invite as author
Q: style sheet within MS Word document... no frills content template...?
this would provide a no frills template for offline content development
EditSaveCancelDeleteDeleteBlock this userReport abusive commentHide report window