Questions and Answers vs. a SharePoint FAQ Page vs. Viva Engage: Which Knowledge Base to Choose

Overview

"Where do we put the FAQ?" has more than one good answer in Microsoft 365, and the right one depends on how many questions there are, who maintains them and whether employees should be able to ask. This article compares the five options that come up in practice - a modern page with collapsible sections, a list with the List web part, the classic wiki, Answers in Viva Engage and the Vitextra Questions and Answers web part - on the criteria that decide the choice.

The options in brief

A modern page with collapsible sections. Each question is a section heading with the answer in a text web part below it; the sections are set to be collapsible. Everything is authored in the page editor.

A SharePoint list with the List web part. Questions and answers are items of a list, shown on a page through the built-in List web part (or as a formatted view with JSON column formatting).

The classic wiki. A wiki page library or an Enterprise Wiki site: free-form pages with links between them, edited in the classic editor.

Answers in Viva Engage. A community-oriented question-and-answer option within Microsoft’s Viva Engage offering. Check current Microsoft documentation for feature availability, licensing and access rules.

Vitextra Questions and Answers. A web part that shows the items of a SharePoint list as a searchable accordion with categories, rich answers, comments and an Ask a Question button, with publishing controlled by a Published flag.

The comparison

When a page with collapsible sections is enough

For a short, stable FAQ - ten questions about a policy, a project page's "good to know" - collapsible sections on a modern page are the simplest tool: no list or dedicated FAQ web part, everything in the page editor, and a page anchor for each section. The limits appear with growth: no search beyond the browser's find, no categories beyond headings, editing a long page becomes slow, and employees cannot ask anything without leaving the page. When the page passes twenty questions, or when more than one person edits it, move the content into a list.

When the List web part is enough

A list keeps questions as data - sortable, filterable, exportable, editable in a grid - and the List web part shows it on a page. For an editor-facing knowledge base or a reference table (error codes and their meaning, say), that is adequate. What the List web part lacks is the reader's experience: no accordion, no full-text search box over answers, no rich answers beyond text columns, and no way to let employees ask without giving them Contribute on the list - in which case their question is visible to everybody immediately. Vitextra Questions and Answers uses the same kind of list and adds exactly these parts, so a list-based FAQ can be upgraded by connecting the web part to the existing list once the required columns exist.

When Answers in Viva Engage fits

Answers in Viva Engage represents the community model: employees discuss questions and share answers. A curated FAQ instead assigns responsibility for official, maintained answers. The right fit depends on your editorial process and the Microsoft features available in your environment; verify current Microsoft documentation rather than assuming a particular license or access rule.

When Vitextra Questions and Answers fits

Questions and Answers is built for the curated, owned FAQ with employee input:

• content in a SharePoint list of your site - permissions, retention, versioning and reporting as for any list;
• an accordion with search over questions, answers and contacts, categories with grouping or filter tabs, paging for large bases;
• rich answers: Markdown, embedded video, attachments, a detail link and a contact person with a live profile card;
• The button requires the web-part setting and Add Items permission. The form sends only Title and relies on the list’s defaults: newly provisioned Published defaults to No, but an existing list may differ. An editor can publish by changing Published; users with effective edit rights may also do so. The submission code does not check HTTP status, so verify the item in the list even after a success message.
• comments per question and deep links for support work;
• a channel tab in Microsoft Teams, 50 interface locales, theme and dark-mode support;
• The product stores questions, answers, attachments and comments in the site’s SharePoint list. This is not a guarantee that every browser request or every dependency stays within the tenant. The shown license request contains technical identifiers, not question or answer fields. External images in Markdown, remote video URLs and links can contact their hosts. The Application Insights SDK and SharePoint components also make requests; assess their configuration and the content you publish rather than treating this article as a guarantee of no third-party traffic or browser storage. The source includes 50 locale files, not 50 distinct languages. SPFx chooses the interface locale; content is the text stored in the list.

Its list must be on the site where the web part runs. Trial and subscription terms must be checked in current licensing guidance.

Which option to choose

• Up to ~15 stable questions, one editor, no employee input → a page with collapsible sections.
• A reference table maintained by a team, readers are editors too → a list with the List web part.
• Open peer-to-peer questions across the company → Answers in Viva Engage (Check current Microsoft licensing terms).
• An official FAQ with search, categories, rich answers and employee questions reviewed before publishing - on the intranet and in Teams → Vitextra Questions and Answers.