Forums are custom taxonomies that organize topics. You can create, edit, restrict access, and set up subforums to structure your community effectively. Once created, forums integrate with your topic pages and user permissions.
- Go to Topics > Forums in your WordPress dashboard.
- Click Add New.
- Enter at least the forum name (title) and, optionally, a description.
- In the Group Restrictions section, select specific groups to limit access—only members of those groups can post topics or reply in the forum.
- Publish the forum.
Tip: Use the description field to provide guidelines or context for the forum. Group restrictions require the Groups plugin; unselected groups allow open access.
Note: There’s no limit to the number of forums or groups you can create. Once additional groups have been created, these are offered as options as well.
Subforums
Subforums create hierarchical structures, nesting child forums under parent forums for better organization (e.g., category > subcategory).
To create a subforum:
- Go to Topics > Forums and click Add New.
- Enter the subforum name and details as for a regular forum.
- In the Parent Forum dropdown (under the title), select the parent forum.
- Publish the subforum.
The subforum will appear nested under its parent in forum lists and archives.
Tip: Use subforums for progressive depth, like main topics > subtopics > detailed threads. Ensure parent forums have appropriate group restrictions that align with children.
Example: “Planets” as a subforum of “Universe” organizes planet-specific discussions within a broader universal forum.
Once created, this subforum will hang down from the parent forum previously created
Editing a Forum (Back End)
To update an existing forum:
- Go to Topics > Forums.
- Click Edit on the forum you want to modify.
- Update the name, description, group restrictions, or parent forum as needed.
- Click Update.
Tip: Changes to group restrictions take effect immediately—test access with a group member account to verify.
Forum Page
The Forum Page lists all forums, includes a search form, and displays a topic tag cloud for easy navigation.
To create it:
- Go to Topics > Settings.
- In the Forum Page section, click Create.
- The page is automatically generated with shortcodes for forums, search, and tags.
- Optionally, edit the page (Pages > All Pages) to customize layout or add content.
Shortcodes used:
- [groups_forums] for the forum list.
- [groups_forums_search] for the search form.
- [groups_forums_tags] for the tag cloud.
Tip: Go to Forums Page section for additional details.
Tip: Customize the page using the Block Editor—add blocks for styling or integrate with your theme. Publish and add it to your site’s menu for user access.
Additional Tips
- Permissions: Forum access ties into the Groups plugin—ensure groups are set up in Groups > Groups for restrictions to work.
- Display: Forums appear in topic archives, use WordPress’s template system or create your own Forum Archives template for advanced customization.