Use this article to format and style your Help Center articles using the Articles API, and to export your article content programmatically. The Articles API lets you create and update articles by sending HTML in the body field — this article covers every supported HTML element, how to style them, and what gets stripped or converted.

If you prefer to format articles manually, you can do this within the articles editor instead.

Note: For a full API reference guide, see our developer documentation.

Note: This article is aimed at developers integrating with the Intercom Articles API (application programming interface). You'll need an API key to authenticate requests — see the API reference for authentication details.

Formatting your public articles

All body text must be placed within paragraph (p) tags:

<p>This is a paragraph</p>

To add a line break within a paragraph, use a line break (br) tag:

<p>This paragraph<br>has a line break in it</p>

There are two heading levels supported in articles; H1 and H2:

Any other heading tags sent via the API (H3 - H6) will be converted to H1 and H2. This normalization is relative: if the body lacks an <h1>, Intercom shifts all headings up so the top level starts at <h1>. If the body includes an <h1>, lower heading levels are preserved.

<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<h2>This is a sub-heading</h2>

Note: The title and body fields are treated independently — the article title is automatically rendered as <h1> but does not affect how headings in the body are normalized. To preserve <h2> and deeper heading levels, always include an <h1> in the article body.

Note: The Help Center editor shows H3 and H4 heading options, but these are normalized to H1 or H2 when the article is saved or accessed via the API. If heading levels change unexpectedly in your articles, this is expected behavior — content pushed through the API or processed by a translation service will trigger normalization.

To add an image, use an image (img) tag, with the image URL as the “src” attribute:

The image will be uploaded to Intercom from the source you specify, and an Intercom link will be used to display it in your article. Supported file types are PNG, JPEG, SVG & GIF.

Important: Your image source must be a complete URL (e.g. https://examply.io/image.jpeg) not a relative URL (e.g. /image.jpeg) and the file must be publicly accessible

<img src=”https://examply.io/image.jpeg”/>

Pro tip: you should also include a description of your image with an “alt” attribute. This makes your articles more accessible to customers using screen readers, and helps search engines (SEO — search engine optimization) index your content accurately:

<img src=”https://examply.io/image.jpg” alt=”Examply project page”/>

Add links to your articles with anchor “a” tags. Include the destination URL as the “href” attribute:

<a href=”https://examply.io”>This is a text link</a>

To display links as buttons add the “intercom-h2b-button” class:

<a href=”https://examply.io” class=”intercom-h2b-button”>This link is a button</a>

To use an image as a link, place it between link tags:

<a href=”https://examply.io”>
  <img src=”https://examply.io/image_link.jpeg”/>
</a>

Note: The “target” attribute is not necessary. All links in your articles will open in a new tab.

Bulleted and numbered lists can be added with “unordered list (ul)” and “ordered list (ol)” tags:

Each item in your list must be within a list item (li) tag.

Bulleted (unordered) list:

<ul>
  <li>First bulleted list item</li>
  <li>Second bulleted list item</li>
</ul>

Numbered (ordered) list:

<ol>
  <li>First numbered list item</li>
  <li>Second numbered list item</li>
</ol>

Tip: For nested lists, include an “ol” or “ul” tag within another list item.

Videos from YouTube, Wistia, Vimeo, Loom, Vidyard, or StreamIO can be added using an iframe (inline frame) tag:

<iframe src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/jqO8AQHj7Fw”></iframe>

Note: You must use the embed URL for your video as the “src” attribute, not a direct link to the video itself. Sending an unsupported URL will cause your API request to fail.

Code can be added inline or in code blocks with “pre” and “code” tags.

Code block:

<pre><code>This is a code block, perfect for larger blocks of code</code></pre>

Inline code in a paragraph:

<p>This paragraph contains some <code>inline code</code>.</p>

Styling your articles

For bold text use “b” or “strong” tags:

<p>This paragraph contains <b>bold words here</b> and <strong>here</strong></p>

For italic text use “i” or “em” tags:

<p>This paragraph contains <i>italic words here</i> and <em>here</em></p>

Note: When creating articles, “strong” tags will be converted to “b” and “em tags will be converted to “i”.

Headings, paragraphs, images and buttons can be aligned to center

Headings, sub-headings and paragraphs

Add the class “intercom-align-center” directly to the h1, h2 or p tag:

<h1 class=”intercom-align-center”>This heading is centered</h1>
<h2 class=”intercom-align-center”>So is this subheading</h2>
<p class=”intercom-align-center”>This paragraph is also centered.</p>

Images and buttons

To center align an image or button it must be wrapped in a “div” tag with the “intercom-align-center” class applied:

Image:

<div class="intercom-align-center">  <img src=”https://examply.io/image.jpg”/></div>

Button:

<div class="intercom-align-center">
  <a class="intercom-h2b-button" href="https://examply.io">Centered Button</a>
</div>

Important: These are the only supported “div” tags. Any other “div” tags will be converted to paragraph tags.

Tables

Any “table” tag must contain at least one row (“tr”) and one cell (“td”):

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>
     
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

Note:

Tables cannot be nested within other tables.
If you send thead, tfoot or tbody tags their contents will be treated as normal rows.

Dividers (Horizontal Rules):

<hr>

What’s not supported?

Divs and spans

Any “div” or “span” tags you send will be replaced with “p” tags.

Note: This excludes the two specific div containers supported for center-alignment: one wrapping an img tag, and one wrapping an a tag with the intercom-h2b-button class. These are documented in the "Headings, paragraphs, images and buttons can be aligned to center" section.

Forms and inputs

Any “form”, “input” or “textarea” tags and their contents will be removed from the body of your article.

Scripts

Including custom CSS or Javascript is not supported. Any “script” tags and their contents will be removed from your article. This means buttons in articles cannot use onclick handlers — they will render as styled links but will not execute JavaScript when clicked. To open the Messenger from a button, link it to a page in your app where Intercom is installed and trigger the Messenger there using JavaScript (e.g. Intercom('show')).

Other elements

Any tags or attributes (such as "width" or "height") not listed in this article will be replaced with paragraph tags. This includes “head”, “html”, “footer”, “meta” etc.

Exporting Help Center article content

You can export the full content of your Help Center articles — including the HTML body, title, metadata, and localization data — using the Articles API. Each article is retrieved individually by its ID. Authentication is required via your API key.

Exporting articles through the Intercom UI isn't supported. Use the API reference documentation to retrieve article content programmatically. The reference covers the full response schema, available fields, and authentication requirements.

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Formatting and exporting your public articles with the Articles API