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When you're looking for technical information about IBM Spectrum Control, you want to find it fast, right? Spending time paging through reams of documentation for help probably isn't high on your to-do list. To make it easier to find what you're looking for, the documentation for Spectrum Control is now available in the new look IBM Knowledge Center.
 

If you've accessed the IBM Knowledge Centers on ibm.com at any time over the past few months, you might have noticed that the interface is quite different from before. The new, streamlined look went live in late May 2016, and represents the latest iteration of the IBM Knowledge Center, building on the framework that was introduced back in 2014. If you haven't seen it yet, take a look.
 

In this blog, I'll show you how to quickly find information in the new IBM Knowledge Center, and share some tips for getting the most out of its new interface.

Finding IBM Spectrum Control (and other product documentation)

You know the product that you want help for, and you want to find that help quickly. IBM Knowledge Center now has a dedicated "product finder" that helps you do just that.

1. Go to the home page for IBM Knowledge Center: http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter

2. Click Products in the upper-right corner.

3. Type the name of the product that you want to find. Any product that has a knowledge center will show up in this list, and with the smart search feature you don't even have to type the full name of the product to find it.

4. Click the name of the product and then select the version that you want to view.

Finding information in the knowledge center for IBM Spectrum Control

Now that you've opened the knowledge center for IBM Spectrum Control, there are a number of ways for you to find the specific information that you need.

Navigating the table of contents

1. Click the hamburger icon to show the table of contents.

2. Navigate through the topics using the table of contents, expanding sections and using the scroll bar.

Searching on a keyword

Maybe you find the table of contents to be slow or feel it has too many topics to choose from. If that's the case, IBM Knowledge Center includes a dedicated search tab on every page so you can find information without needing to touch the table of contents.

1. Click Search in the upper-right corner of any page in the knowledge center.

2. Select the scope of your search:

• All knowledge centers for all products
• The knowledge centers for IBM Spectrum Control only
• (default) The knowledge center for a specific version of IBM Spectrum Control only. 

3. Type the term that you're looking for and press Enter.

 

4. Click the topic that you want to view.

Pro tip: You can preview the contents of a topic in the search results window. Simply click the "+" and "-" next to any topic to show or hide its contents -- without leaving the search results. If you want to view the topic in a full window, click it's title to jump to it.

Finding the right version of information

Have you ever searched on a term for IBM Spectrum Control, found what you thought was the right information, but then realized it was for the wrong version of the product? The new IBM Knowledge Center solves this problem by providing you with the ability to switch between versions of information on the fly.

For example, imagine that you want to find information about the new features in the latest version of IBM Spectrum Control. To do that, you go to your favorite search engine and type in "spectrum control what's new".

 At the top of your search results, you find the topic that you're looking for and jump to it.

You quickly realize that the topic is for the wrong version of the product.

Now with the new IBM Knowledge Center, you can quickly jump to the version that you want to see.

After the you select the version, the correct topic is displayed.
 

IBM Knowledge Center in a nutshell

Here's a summary of links and tips that can help improve your experience while using IBM Knowledge Centers.

What do you want to do?	How to do it
Go to the knowledge center for IBM Spectrum Control 5.2.11	http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SS5R93_5.2.11
Search on  term in the knowledge center for IBM Spectrum Control 5.2.11	http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/search/?scope=SS5R93_5.2.11
Show or hide the table of contents in a knowledge center
Navigate back and forth between topics
Change versions of any topic
Find the knowledge center for a product
Watch a video tour of the new IBM Knowledge Center
View the latest release notes for the new IBM Knowledge Center

What's next?

Check out IBM Spectrum Control V5.2.11 Pearls in the documentation for highlights of some key information in the 5.2.11 knowledge center.

Joining the conversation

We are always striving to improve the information that we deliver, and how we deliver it. At the bottom of every page in IBM Knowledge Center is a "Feedback" link. Please use this link to reach out to us and help influence the information experience in IBM Spectrum Control.

For continuing information about the documentation for IBM Spectrum Control and IBM Storage Insights, follow me on Twitter, @chris_tking.

Join the conversation with #softwaredefinedstorage and #IBMStorage.