Define a page-specific guide to appear site-wide in the Resource Center

Requirements

• Pendo admin account permission or the following:
  • Create guides permissions
  • Publish guides permissions
• Target segment: Everyone or a custom segment
• A guide that's tagged to a particular Page or element that you wish to also include in the Resource Center

Define your guide

There are four steps to defining a page-specific guide to appear site-wide in the Resource Center:

1. Get the permalink for the original Page-specific guide.
2. Create the guide for the Resource Center.
3. Add the guide to the Resource Center.
4. Test the guide.

This example explains how to create a one-step guide to place in the Resource Center. Wherever the Resource Center is displayed, the guide will be available on all those Pages. When users select the Page-specific guide in the Resource Center, it'll serve as a shortcut navigating them to that Page while automatically launching the guide.

Step 1. Get the permalink for the original Page-specific guide.

1. In Pendo, go to Guides > Guides and select the original Page-specific guide to view the guide’s details page.
2. Follow the steps in Create a guide permalink to get the permalink for step 1.
3. Save this value for later.

Step 2. Create the guide for the Resource Center

1. In the left-hand menu, go to Guides > Guides and select Create Guide.
2. In the Layouts page, select the Lightbox: Start from Scratch layout.
3. Provide a name for the guide, such as Guide A - Resource Center Step and select Create guide.
4. In the guide’s details page, select Manage in-app to open the Visual Design Studio.
5. Select the Activation icon in the top menu bar of the Visual Design Studio and turn off all activation methods. This ensures that this guide is only activated by the Resource Center.
6. Add text and buttons to the guide step to explain to the user that the guide starts on a different page in the application. Below is an example.
   
   
7. Edit the first guide button (‘Start now’ button in the example).
   1. Edit the text of the button to indicate that the user should select this button if they’re already on the correct page.
   2. Change the button action ‌from Next Step to Launch Guide.
   3. Select the original page-specific guide.
   4. Select Done.
      
      
8. Edit the second guide button (‘Take me there’ in the example)
   1. Edit the text of the button to indicate that the user should select this button if they aren't on the correct Page and want to be automatically redirected to the correct Page.
   2. Change the button action from Next Step to URL Link.
   3. Enter the URL Link of the Page that the user needs to be redirected to.
   4. Add the permalink for the Page-specific guide to the end of the URL. For example, if the URL Link is: https://app.pendo.io/reports, the full URL with the permalink added would look something like this: https://app.pendo.io/reports?pendo=26u5F_DJiXkOXc33-M1B2fOBGbw&step=A7t88OqRqJ3badBSDBd7m3WZWT0
   5. Clear the checkbox for Open link in new tab.
   6. Select Done.
      
      
9. Select Save and Exit.
10. From the guide details page, set the desired segment and save.
11. Set the guide to Public status.

Step 3. Add the guide to the Resource Center

Add your guide to either a Guide List module or Onboarding module. For step-by-step instructions, see Add guides to the Guide List in Guide List module.

Step 4. Test your guide

The end result is two guides in Pendo. The original guide retains its existing configuration to display automatically on a specific page or when a specific element exists. The newly created single-step guide is solely used for the Resource Center and acts as a bridge to help the user get to the correct page where the original guide is activated.

Additional configuration options if the URL isn't static

If the target page's URL varies, using the full URL in the second guide button's action won’t work. Instead, there are other options to use based on which part of the URL is unique:

• Use a relative URL for unique subdomains.
• Don’t use a second guide button for dynamic URLs.

Use a relative URL for unique subdomains

If the URL portion that varies is the subdomain (e.g. “https://customer1.pendo.io/reports” vs. “https://customer2.pendo.io/reports”), you can use a relative URL instead of the full URL link. This allows the button action to automatically pull in the domain the user is currently on, and adds the relative path that you place in the URL field to the end of the subdomain. Don’t forget to add the guide permalink at the end.

• Example full URL: https://customer1.pendo.io/reports
• Example relative URL: /reports
• Example relative URL with guide permalink added: /reports?pendo=26u5F_DJiXkOXc33-M1B2fOBGbw&step=A7t88OqRqJ3badBSDBd7m3WZWT0
  
  

Don't use a second guide button or dynamic URLs 

If the unique portion of the URL directs to anywhere other than the subdomain, you can’t use the second guide button to automatically take the end-user to the correct Page. This often happens when the URL contains IDs that change from end-user to end-user or session to session (e.g. “https://app.pendo.io/customer1/reports/” versus “https://app.pendo.io/customer2/reports”).

Instead, instruct the end-user to navigate to the correct Page in your application, and select Start now when they’re ready to launch the Page-specific guide.