Customize the Help and sign-in page messages (FREE SELF)

In large organizations, it is useful to have information about who to contact or where to go for help. You can customize and display this information on the GitLab /help page and on the GitLab sign-in page.

Add a help message to the Help page

You can add a help message, which is shown at the top of the GitLab /help page (for example, https://gitlab.com/help):

1. On the top bar, select Menu > Admin.
2. On the left sidebar, select Settings > Preferences.
3. Expand Sign-in and Help page.
4. In Additional text to show on the Help page, enter the information you want to display on /help.
5. Select Save changes.

You can now see the message on /help.

NOTE: By default, /help is visible to unauthenticated users. However, if the Public visibility level is restricted, /help is visible only to signed-in users.

Add a help message to the sign-in page

You can add a help message, which is shown on the GitLab sign-in page. The message appears in a new section titled Need Help?, located below the sign-in page message:

1. On the top bar, select Menu > Admin.
2. On the left sidebar, select Settings > Preferences.
3. Expand Sign-in and Help page.
4. In Additional text to show on the sign-in page, enter the information you want to display on the sign-in page.
5. Select Save changes.

You can now see the message on the sign-in page.

Hide marketing-related entries from the Help page

GitLab marketing-related entries are occasionally shown on the Help page. To hide these entries:

1. On the top bar, select Menu > Admin.
2. On the left sidebar, select Settings > Preferences.
3. Expand Sign-in and Help page.
4. Select the Hide marketing-related entries from the Help page checkbox.
5. Select Save changes.

Set a custom Support page URL

You can specify a custom URL to which users are directed when they:

• Select Support from the Help dropdown.
• Select See our website for help on the Help page.

1. On the top bar, select Menu > Admin.
2. On the left sidebar, select Settings > Preferences.
3. Expand Sign-in and Help page.
4. In the Support page URL field, enter the URL.
5. Select Save changes.

Redirect /help pages

Introduced in GitLab 13.5.

FLAG: On self-managed GitLab, by default this feature is not available. To make it available, ask an administrator to enable the :help_page_documentation_redirect flag. On GitLab.com, this feature is available but can be configured by GitLab.com administrators only.

The /help URL of a GitLab instance displays a basic version of the documentation sourced from the doc directory of GitLab. /help links are often used for contextual help.

You can redirect these /help links to either:

• The more navigable and searchable version published at docs.gitlab.com.
• A destination that meets necessary requirements.

1. On the top bar, select Menu > Admin.
2. On the left sidebar, select Settings > Preferences.
3. Expand Sign-in and Help page.
4. In the Documentation pages URL field, enter the URL.
5. Select Save changes.

Destination requirements

When redirecting /help, GitLab:

• Redirects requests to the specified URL.
• Appends ee and the documentation path to the URL.
• Appends .html to the URL, and removes .md if necessary.

For example, if the URL is set to https://docs.gitlab.com, requests for /help/user/admin_area/settings/help_page.md redirect to: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/admin_area/settings/help_page.html.