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Can I merge two or more answers together into a single answer?

Environment:

Answers, Merging similar answers

Resolution:

You can use the Smart Merge feature to search for similar answers and merge the content of each field together. You can also use the Search button on the Answer Text page to manually search for a specific answer of interest and then append the link or the text of the answer to the answer you are editing. The Search feature works similar to the Search option in the Support Console.

For more information on the Smart Merge feature, refer to the 'Merge similar answers' section in the Online Help User Guide documentation. To access Oracle B2C Service manuals and documentation online, refer to the Documentation for Oracle B2C Service Products.

Smart Merge Feature

The Smart Merge feature allows you to find similar answers based on content of other answers in your knowledge base. Smart Merge performs a search to compare the answer that is open for editing with other answers in your knowledge base. You can choose to compare answer content based on the Summary, Keyword, Question and / or Answer fields. You can also restrict the comparison to only published answers that are visible to your end-user pages or compare the answer to all other answers in your knowledge base.

Based on your criteria, Smart Merge returns answers that have some shared content with the edited answer. Answers with higher weights indicate a stronger match in comparing the content between the answers.  This allows you to review which answers are most closely related and should be considered to merge. This also allows you to reduce and eliminate redundancy in your answers.

To use the Smart Merge feature, use the steps below:

1. Open an answer for editing.
2. From either the Question or Answer field, click the Content tab and the toolbox will be displayed.
3. Click Smart Merge from the toolbox. The system searches and weights answers compared to the content of the Summary, Keywords, Question, and Answer fields.
4. In the pop-up window, you can disable specific fields or check End User Visible and then click Refresh to re-execute the comparison.
5. Click Action and select a merge option or select Show to view the answer.
6. When finished, click Close to close the pop-up window.
7. In the open answer, review the content and edit accordingly and save the answer.

When you merge an answer into another answer, the content of the merged answer is appended at the bottom of the primary answer. The content of the two answers is separated by a row of asterisks. When the content is appended, it is still your responsibility to edit the answer to remove any redundancy between the two sets of content and to make the content easy to read and comprehend.

Available Actions: In the merging process, when you highlight an answer and right click, you have the following options:

	Merge: This action appends the content of the highlighted answer to the end of the open answer.
	Merge and Delete: Select this option to merge the answer with the answer you are editing and then delete the answer once it has been merged. Caution!  Selecting this option will permanently delete the selected answer from the knowledge base. This action appends the content of the highlighted answer to the open answer and then deletes the highlighted answer. Use this option sparingly and ONLY if you do not want to retain the highlighted answer for historical purposes or future reference.
	Merge and Make Private:  Select this option to merge the answer with the answer you are editing and then sets the status of the highlighted answer to the Private answer status so that it is no longer visible on the end-user pages. A warning will prompt you to verify the action.
	Show: Select this option to view the answer in a separate window before you merge it with the answer you are editing. This action does not merge the content of the highlighted answer.
	Cancel: Select this option to cancel the current selection.