Create FAQ pages on Modern SharePoint

There are already numerous articles online on the subject FAQ’s. Yet, here is another, maybe because a lot of organizations ask 🙂
This one uses standard Modern SharePoint features: Site Pages, Page Templates, Enterprise keywords and Highlighted webparts. 
Nothing more to give you all freedom to create nice looking FAQ pages you can let surface everywhere in SharePoint.

Some FAQ solutions for Modern SharePoint make use of custom lists for FAQ’s and views, others use collapsable sections.
Some are using advanced things like configuring SharePoint search, or Content Types, requiring you to be a SharePoint administrator or Global Administrator.
All good stuff, having some drawbacks too (like difficult to edit rich text (lists), or reorder (sections)).

But what if you are a site owner or site designer and have no access to all those guts and glory under the hood? 

In this article I will describe a practical method that makes use of standard features.

I assume you have access to a Communication site where you can edit Pages and Page Templates. You will need site owner or designer access to the site. As site member you can of course create FAQ pages with ease, but for the initial setup you’ll need to have a least designer rights.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Create FAQ pages using Enterprise keywords and Page templates

In this example I created 3 templates to create FAQ pages on a theme basis. For example sake, quit dull named: Theme1, Theme2, Theme3. Of course you can choose whatever labels your Theme’s need.

Step 1: Add Enterprise Keywords to your Site Pages

We will use Page properties based on SharePoint built in Enterprise Keywords to find back FAQ pages for a certain Theme. So let’s add that keywords field to our Site Pages library.
Go to your Page library and go to Library Settings and add the Enterprise Keywords to your library

Tick the box to Add Enterprise keywords columns and click OK

Good work! Now let’s proceed to the next step and that’s creating some FAQ page templates.

 

Step 2: Create a couple FAQ Page templates

Onto the nextstep, create some Page Templates. Here’s how: Just go to your Home page and click New Page:

Pick the Blank page template and Save that as a Page template after completing the basics.
Here my example for FAQ template for Theme 1. Give it a title “FAQ Template Theme 1”, give it a header background image that suits your theme and click Save as template (upper left corner). 

Of course you can add more to the template or use different layouts and page elements,

Note I switched off comments, but in case you need commenting, leave that switched On.
(BTW: Notice that this approach with a template gives you a way to deal with comments always on by default as setup bij Microsoft, no more “Oh no! I forgot to switch off comments!”)

 

Open the template again (stored in Site Pages folder named Templates) and click Template details in the top bar

Now add Enterprise Keywords: “FAQ-Theme 1”, we will use those values later.
See screenshot below:

Now use “Copy to…” from the FAQ template you have created to create a couple more Page templates (be sure to store those copies in the Site Pages Templates folder).

I created templates for FAQ without a theme, FAQ for Theme 1, Theme 2 and Theme 3. Do remember to Edit the Template details and set the value of Enterprise Keywords to match the Theme. The end result looks like this in your Site Pages Templates folder:

 

 

Step 3: Let’s produce some FAQ pages

Given we have now a couple FAQ page templates, let’s create some pages using those templates.

Go to your site Home page and click New Page

Pick the FAQ template of choice to create new FAQ pages. Notice the pages inherit the keywords attached to the template.

Great! in your Site Pages you’ll now have a couple of FAQ pages for each theme (and optionally without a theme).
The list of pages might look like this:

 

Step 4: Let’s display those FAQ pages

Final step. Put it all together.

Let’s create a new page and create the following page navigation structure and display the FAQ pages
(or just add the highlighted content webparts an existing page(s) on your site):

Job well done!

 

The final FAQ page looks something like this.