The Announcements module delivers Announcement Guides in the Resource Center. Announcements can be used for in-app communication and notifications that are always available to users but not as direct as a lightbox or tooltip. Announcements work great for new feature releases, release notes, system events, or promotions.
The Resource Center badge and Announcements module have a notification that alerts users to the number of unread Announcements. Segments can be applied to the module or individual Announcements to target communications to certain user groups. Announcements use the same styling and customization features available to Guides in the Visual Design Studio. Build your Announcements using images or GIFs, add a text description, and finish with a link or button to more information or a Guide walkthrough.
Prerequisites
- Pendo Admin Users must add the Announcements module to the Resource Center
- Pendo Users with Create Guides from layouts or from scratch can create new Announcements
- Active Resource Center
- Agent version 2.18.4 or greater is required to access the Announcements module
- Agent version 2.99.0 or greater is required to reorder announcements
Upgrade Agent version manually
Add an Announcements module
- Hover over the Resource Center list and click Add Module.
- Hover over Announcements and select Module.
- Select Add Modules in the bottom right-hand corner. The module is now available in Draft state in the Resource Center view.
Note: You can add multiple Announcements type modules and segment each module as desired. You can add them at this time, or add them later by hovering over the Home View in your preview.
Create a new announcement
- Hover over the Announcements module and select View Module Details.
- Select +Create Announcement or Add Announcement > Create New.
- In the Default Layouts page, hover over a layout and select it. Once you choose your layout, the Announcement Details Page opens in a new tab.
- Click in the Content area, enter the application URL where you want to open the Visual Design Studio, or select Manage in my app and do the same, and select Launch Designer. The designer opens in a new tab. See Creating a Guide for more details.
Edit your announcement
Your editing experience is similar to creating a Guide in the Visual Design Studio. Each announcement is made up of Building Blocks. The following Building Blocks are available for Announcements:
- Text
- Button
- Multi Button
- Image
- YouTube Video
- Date
- Custom Code
Learn more in the Building Blocks article.
You can access the Building Blocks menu by placing your cursor inside a Guide and clicking on the blue horizontal line that appears. It will look like this:
If you want to edit any existing elements that are already in your selected layout, hover over the element to reveal the “Edit” icon and click on it.
Edit your Announcement and save your changes once you’re satisfied with your edits.
Add an existing announcement
Announcements were formerly known as “What’s New” Guides in our Classic Designer. If you have existing What’s New Guides, you can add them to your Announcements module.
1. Select Add Announcement dropdown arrow and select Choose from existing in the Announcements module in the Resource Center.
2. Select the existing What's New guide in the Content menu. Type to search or find the guide in the dropdown menu.
3. Save Changes to the module. The What's New guides will immediately display in the Announcements module. Republishing the Resource Center is not required.
Stage or test your announcement
Before you make your announcement public to your users, stage or test it to see how your users might experience it. To do this, make sure to segment your Announcement to yourself. You can achieve this by creating a rule with VisitorID equals yourself (“Yourself” refers to your actual VisitorID that’s set up in Pendo. For some, it’s an email address, and others might have a randomized alpha-numeric set of characters).
If you have a staging environment setup, change the Announcement status to “Staged.”
Publish your announcement
If you’re satisfied with your Announcement after you tested it, navigate back to the Details Page to re-adjust the segment to the correct audience.
To publish your Guide, you have two options to choose from:
- Publish your Guide now by updating the Guide status to Public.
- Schedule when your Guide will go live (and, if needed, when it will no longer be active).
Managing Announcements
Once you’re done with your Announcement, you will see it listed under “Content” in your Announcements Module details page.
From there, you will be able to click on the name of your Announcement to enter the individual Details Page again.
You can also drag and drop announcements in the list to reorder them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I style an individual announcement via CSS?
Yes. You can add a custom code block to style or code as you need.
Can I localize my Announcements?
Yes. If you have localization enabled, you will be able to localize your Announcement just like a Visual Design Studio Guide. However, if you have media (ie. links, images, or even custom code) in your announcement, you won’t be able to localize those elements at this time.
What if I have a module with no content?
If you have a module with no content and push the updates to production, the module will not display to your end users.
Do I need to disable my old Guide Center before enabling the Resource Center?
Yes. Be sure to disable the Guide Center first before pushing the Resource Center to Production. Pushing the new Resource Center doesn’t disable the Guide Center automatically. However, you will be able to edit the Resource Center in "Draft" or "Staging" states so you can prepare for the switch as you need.
How do I disable the Guide Center from Production domains?
To disable the Guide Center, first navigate to the in-app Classic designer and click on “Global Settings” at the top-right. In the new menu, click on “Guide Center” and perform the following steps:
- Disable all of the sections shown
- Click “Save” at the bottom
- Re-open the “Global Settings” and click on “Copy to Production.”
