One Helpdesky account can run more than one help center. Agencies use this to manage a help center per client, and product companies use it to keep separate docs for separate products. Each help center has its own URL, branding, articles, inbox, team and settings, while you sign in once and switch between them.
This guide explains workspaces, how to create and switch between help centers, and how team access and settings work when you have several.
Workspaces explained
Every plan, Free and Pro alike, includes one workspace. A workspace is the unit a plan pays for: one complete help center with its own public site, widget, inbox, branding and domain.
The help center that uses your workspace is covered: it gets your plan's full article and conversation limits and paid features such as badge removal. Any other help center you own is uncovered and runs on Free plan limits (15 articles, 15 conversations per month, badge shown). You can own as many help centers as you need; the workspace decides which one gets the Pro limits.
You decide which help center uses your workspace. Open the profile menu at the top right, choose Billing, and scroll to Workspaces to see the workspace and what it covers. The line Paid features active on X of Y helpdesks tells you whether it is in use.
Create another help center
A new help center always starts in your workspace, so the workspace has to be free before you can create one. If you open the setup page while it is in use, you will see You're out of workspaces with a Manage workspaces button that takes you to Billing.
- Go to Billing and scroll to Workspaces. If a help center is already using the workspace, click Drop from plan on it and confirm. It keeps working with Free limits.
- Click the Empty workspace card and choose Create a new helpdesk.
- Enter a name and a URL handle. The handle becomes your public address at
https://helpdesky.io/help/your-handleuntil you connect a custom domain. - Finish the setup and the new help center opens in your dashboard, using your workspace.
If you would rather keep the Pro limits on the original help center, drop the new one from your plan afterwards and attach the original one again, as described next.
Cover or uncover a help center
In the Workspaces section:
- Click the Empty workspace card and choose Attach an existing helpdesk to cover a help center you already own but that is currently uncovered. Any articles that were unpublished for exceeding Free limits are republished automatically.
- Use Drop from plan on the covered help center to free the workspace. A confirmation dialog explains that the help center falls back to Free limits and that published articles above the Free limit will be unpublished (kept as drafts, never deleted).
Uncovered help centers stay fully accessible in your dashboard. Only the limits change.
Switch between help centers
At the top of the dashboard there is a help center switcher showing the name of the help center you are working on. Click it and pick another one. Every page in the dashboard (Overview, Articles, Messages, Settings, Team and so on) then shows that help center's data.
The Billing page is the exception: it belongs to your account rather than to a single help center, so it always shows your plan and your workspace.
Settings are per help center
Each help center is configured independently. When you set up a new one, walk through these again:
- Branding and the widget appearance, see Branding Your Help Center.
- Custom domain, see Setting Up a Custom Domain.
- AI Settings (provider, model and API key) in Settings. Each help center stores its own AI provider key.
- API key for the REST API, generated per help center in Settings.
- Messaging channels such as the contact form, ticket center and email forwarding.
- Categories and articles are separate. There is no sharing of content between help centers.
Team access across help centers
Teammates are invited per help center, and a person only sees the help centers they were added to. When you have access to several, the invitation form on the Team page shows an Invite to list so you can add someone to many help centers in one go, with the same role and permissions on each. Details are in Inviting Teammates and Managing Roles.
Help centers you do not own
The Billing page also lists Other helpdesks you're connected to. These are help centers where you were invited as a teammate. Their primary owner manages the plan and workspace, and the list shows whether each one is covered and by which account. You cannot cover them with your own workspace. If you should become responsible for one of them, ask the current owner to transfer ownership to you.
Related guides
- Plans, Limits and Billing for the full plan comparison and how to upgrade.
- Creating Your First Helpdesk if you are still setting up your first one.
- Account and Profile Settings for the account level details that apply everywhere.
Start with one help center, and when the second product or client arrives, add it and keep everything under the same login.