# The Help Center: a self-service site for your customers Section: Help Center Description: What the Help Center is, what your customers see, what the Content, Appearance and Setup tabs do, how articles feed Lyro and Copilot, and who on your team can do what. Verified against Tidio panel 12.304.0 Last updated: 2026-11-02 Source: https://help.tidio.com/articles/help-center-overview/ Want your customers to find answers on their own, at any time of day? With the **Help Center**, you can build a self-service website full of help articles - organized into categories, searchable, and styled to match your brand. The same articles can also teach **Lyro** (the AI agent) and **Copilot**, so your customers, your AI agent, and your human agents all work from one set of answers. **In this article, you'll learn:** - [How your Help Center looks to your customers]() - [How to find your way around the Help Center section]() - [How Help Center articles feed Lyro and Copilot]() - [How to tell what's free and what needs the add-on]() - [How to decide who on your team can do what]() - [How to get started in 5 steps]() [Video]() Silent walkthrough. The Help Center: a self-service site for your customers. ## What your customers see Each Help Center is its own website, with its own address. By default, it's served on a Tidio address (like **yourbrand.tidio.help**), and you can connect your own domain instead (for example **help.yourbrand.com**). When your customers visit it, they will find: - A **homepage** with your heading (like "How can we help?"), a **search bar**, and your categories shown as cards - in a grid or a list. - **Category pages** listing the articles inside each topic. - **Article pages** that can show breadcrumbs, related articles, the previous and next article, the author, the last updated date, the reading time, and a quick vote on whether the article was helpful. - A **header** and **footer** with your logo and your own links, plus your social channels in the footer. - Optionally, your **Tidio chat widget**, so a reader can start a chat from any page if the article didn't answer their question. Your Help Center can also run in several languages - visitors see it in their browser language when it's available. You can see how it all comes together in the live preview on the **Appearance** tab: ![The Appearance tab of a Help Center, with the Help Center preview on the right showing the homepage on Desktop: a hero with the heading "How can we help?", the search bar, and six category cards in a grid]() 💡 **Please note:** your customers can only visit a Help Center once it's **Published**. Until then, only your team can see it, here in the panel. ## Finding your way around Head over to the **Help Center** section in the main menu. If you haven't created anything yet, you'll see the **Turn your knowledge into a Help Center** screen with the **Create Help Center** button: ![The Help Center section with no Help Centers yet: the "All Help Centers" header with the Create Help Center button in the top-right, the "Create a Help Center for your customers" call-out, and the "Turn your knowledge into a Help Center" empty state in the middle]() Once you've created one, the **All Help Centers** page lists every Help Center in your project. Click on one to open it. Inside, you'll see its name and address at the top, the **Preview Help Center** button, the status (**Published**, **Not published**, or **Unavailable**), and three tabs: ![An opened Help Center on its Content tab: the Help Center name and tidio.help address at the top, the Preview Help Center button and the status pill on the right, the Content, Appearance and Setup tabs, and a list of two categories with a few articles showing the Status, Views and Helpfulness columns]() - **Content** - your categories and articles. Use the **Add content** button to add an article or a category, search your articles, and check each article's **Views** and **Helpfulness**. - **Appearance** - how the site looks: **Branding**, **Homepage**, **Header**, **Footer**, **Category cards**, and **Article pages**, with a live preview on desktop, tablet, and mobile. - **Setup** - how the site works: **General** (the name), **Languages**, **Domain**, **Embed Help Center**, **Chat widget**, and **SEO & Search**. ![The Setup tab of a Help Center, scrolled to show the General, Languages and Domain cards, with the Save changes button at the bottom]() ## Help Center articles for Lyro and Copilot Every article has its own switches for **Lyro AI Agent** and **Copilot**, in the article's sidebar. Turn them on, and the article becomes knowledge that Lyro can use to answer your customers, and that Copilot can use to suggest replies to your agents. You can also choose the **Audience** the article is used for. ![The article editor drawer with the sidebar on the right, the Lyro AI section expanded showing "Make this article available to Lyro AI Agent and Copilot" and the Lyro AI Agent and Copilot switches both on]() An article can also be **Unlisted**: it isn't published in your Help Center, but it's still available to Lyro, Copilot, and your human agents. That's handy for internal answers you don't want on the public site. See [Use Help Center articles with Lyro and Copilot]() for all the details. ## What's free and what needs the add-on You can try the Help Center before paying for anything: create your first Help Center, add categories, and write your articles. 💡 **Please note:** publishing a Help Center so your customers can visit it, using its articles in Lyro and Copilot, and creating a second Help Center all require the paid **Help Center** add-on. Please see [The Help Center add-on]() for what it includes and how to get it. ## Who on your team can do what [Video]() Silent walkthrough. Set the Help Center permissions for a role. Go to Settings \> Team, open the Roles tab and click Create role. Type "Help Center editor" as the Permission role name and open the Sections Access tab. Set Help center content, Help center settings and Delete help center to Able to edit, then close the window without saving. The Help Center has three permissions of its own. You'll find them in **Settings \> Team**, when you edit an agent's permissions or a role in the **Roles** tab - open the **Sections Access** tab: ![The role editing modal opened from Settings \> Team \> Roles, on the Sections Access tab, with the three rows Help center content, Help center settings and Delete help center visible and their dropdowns showing Able to edit]() - **Help center content** (**Able to view** or **Able to edit**) - create and edit categories and articles. With view access, an agent can read articles but won't see **Add content** or the **Edit** button. - **Help center settings** (**Block Permissions** or **Able to edit**) - manage languages, the domain, appearance, and publishing. Without it, an agent only sees the **Content** tab, can't change the Help Center's status, and can't create a new Help Center. - **Delete help center** (**Block Permissions** or **Able to edit**) - delete an entire Help Center. Since the **Delete Help Center** button sits on the **Setup** tab, this one also needs **Help center settings**. Naturally, the project owner can always do everything. When you create a new role, it starts with **Able to view** for content and **Block Permissions** for the other two. To learn more about agents, roles, and permission levels, please see our [Permissions]() guide. ## Get started in 5 steps 1. **Create your Help Center** - pick a name, its languages, and a few starter categories ([Create and manage your Help Centers]()). 2. **Organize and write your articles** - add categories, then write articles with headings, images, videos, and tables ([Organize articles into categories](), [Write and format Help Center articles]()). 3. **Make it look like your brand** - add your logo, colors, and links on the Appearance tab ([Customize your Help Center's appearance]()). 4. **Set the address** - keep the tidio.help address or connect your own domain ([Your Help Center's address and custom domain]()). 5. **Publish** - get the add-on, publish your articles and your Help Center, and turn on the switches for Lyro and Copilot ([Publish, preview and manage articles](), [The Help Center add-on]()). That's it\! Your customers can now find answers on their own. ## Further reading - [Create and manage your Help Centers]() - [Use Help Center articles with Lyro and Copilot]() - [Run your Help Center in several languages]() - [Help Center visibility in search engines]() - [Add the chat widget to your Help Center, and the Help Center to your website]() - [Article feedback: see which articles help]() - [The Help Center add-on]()