Like in Answers, you can do either of two search types (Quick Search or Advanced Search) anywhere in the Forum application, right on the homepage or inside each specific forum or topic that makes it easy to find the expected information.

Advanced search

The Advanced Search allows users to make a search with the particular criteria corresponding to the object you want to find. Using the Advanced Search, you can find forums/topics/posts exactly.

The Advanced Search icon is placed anywhere in the Forum application. To perform the advanced search, do as follows:

1. Click at the top right of the Forum homepage when being in the Forum application or in the search pop-up or in the Search this category/Search this forum/Search this topic/ on the action bar of each selected object.

Basing on where you want to search: Category, forum or post", the search criteria will be changed accordingly.

2. Define values of properties corresponding to each object that you want to search.

3. Click the Search button to do search or Cancel to quit. Also, click the Clear Fields button to reset the inputted values.

The list of the found objects will be displayed in the search result form or there will be an alert message when no objects match with the inputted properties.

• To find in categories, select Category from the Search in drop-down menu.

Details:

Fields	Meaning
Terms	The keyword related to your desired categories.
Scope	The search scale. With the 'Full' option, returned results are those matching both title and content containing the entered keyword. With the 'Title' option, only results matching the object's titles are returned.
User name	The name of the category creator. Input the name manually or click to select users from a specific group.
Created between - and	The created date interval for searching. Input dates manually or click to open the calendar pop-up.
Moderator	The name of the category moderator. Input the name manually or click to select users from a specific group.

• To find in forums, select Forum from the Search in drop-down menu.

Fields	Meaning
Terms	The search keyword.
Status	The status of the forums.
State	The state of the forums.
Posts	The interval of forum's posts number you want to search. Simply click and drag your cursor on the slidebar to define the post interval.
Topics	The interval of forum's topics number you want to search. Click and drag your cursor on the slidebar to define the topic interval.
Moderator	The name of the forums' moderators.

• To find in topics, select Topic from the Search in drop-down menu.

Field	Meaning
Terms	The search keyword.
Type	The type of the topic specified by the topic type name and its icon. It can be selected from the existing list.
Status	The status of the topics.
State	The state of the topics.
Created between - and	The created date interval in which you want to search for topics.
Last post between - and	The last post's created date interval in topics in which you want to search.
Posts	The number of the topic's posts interval in which you want to search for those topics. Simply click and drag the cursor on the slidebar to define the post interval.
Views	The mumber of the views interval of topics in which you want to search. Simply click and drag the cursor on the slidebar to define the views interval.

• To find in posts, select Post from the Search in drop-down menu.

Details:

Fields	Meaning
Term	The search keyword.
Scope	The search scale to search. With the "Full" option, returned results are those matching both title and content. With the "Title", the results only match the post titles.
Created between - and	The created date interval in which you want to search for posts.

See Also:

• View details of the Forum application

• Quick search

To start a new topic:

1. Go into the forum where you want to start a new topic.

2. Click .

3. Enter the topic title, content. The title must be less than 100 characters (special charaters are accepted). You may set other optional properties if you want.

4. Click Preview to see before submitting, or Submit to finish your topic.

When creating a topic, you can also add extra properties to this topic:

Follow this method when you are in your topic.

1. Click on the Action bar. For regular users, this button is only shown when you are the creator.

2. Click Edit from the drop-down menu.

3. Make changes to your desire. Also, leave the reason in the Reason field if needed.

4. Click Submit to finish.

Each topic may have a poll question with pre-defined options for users to select. As a regular user, you can only add a poll question to your own topic. Meanwhile, administrator and moderator can add the poll to any topics.

1. Go to the topic you want to add a poll.

2. Click on the Action bar and select Add a poll from the drop-down menu.

3. Enter the poll question and options.

4. Click Submit poll to complete. After adding a poll to the topic, the icon is then displayed in the topics list.

To perform further actions on this poll, simply left-click More actions on the Poll pane to open the drop-down menu. Here, you can edit, close/reopen or remove the poll by clicking the relevant button.

The Forum application provides an intuitive rating experience through a five-star scale. Your choice of five stars means the highest rating for the topic.

1. Go to the topic you want to vote.

2. Click on the Action bar.

The Rate this topic form will appear:

3. Rate the topic by clicking the star. The number of selected stars will be changed from grey into yellow.

This function is for all logged-in users. Tags are keywords which are used as labels to describe or categorize the topic contents. One topic may have several tag names. Using tags allows you to categorize topics based on the actual content. If used consistently, it could be a better way to find a specific topic than a full-text search.

To tag a topic:

1. Click on the Action bar.

An input text box will pop up.

2. Enter a tag name or select existing tags in the suggestion list that appears when typing.

3. Click Add tag.

You can assign multiple tags to one topic:

To untag a topic:

1. Click the tag name to be directed to the tags management page.

2. Ticking your desired topic checkboxes from the topics list.

3. Click on the Action bar, then select Untag from the drop-down menu.

You can post a reply quickly with plain texts without taking into account its format.

To post a quick reply:

1. Scroll down to the bottom of the topic to see the Quick Reply box.

2. Enter you message here. You can use BBCodes in your reply to insert images, videos, or links.

3. Click Quick reply to send you message.

After posting your post, it will be highlighted so you can notice it easily.

See also:

To post a reply with the full editor:

1. Go to the topic you want to post a reply.

2. Click on the top or bottom of the topic.

3. Enter your message in the textbox. Use BBCode to format texts, or insert images, videos, and links.

Optionally, you can:

4. Click Submit to finish.

See also:

You can send a private reply in a topic, which only allows the responded user to view the message content.

1. Go into the topic you want to post the reply.

2. Click under the post to open the Private Post form.

3. Enter your message and send your messages as described in the Post an advanced reply .

You can include a quote from the previous message in your reply to a specific post. This may substantially increase the readability of the discussion topics when it is used correctly.

To reply with a quote:

1. Click under the post you want to quote.

This will bring up the "Quote" form, with the previous message already quoted in the textbox:

2. Enter your message. Edit the quotation if necessary.

i. In the Content tab, the quoted content is wrapped between BBCodes tags [QUOTE][/QUOTE] which is automatically generated. Add your message content before or after this quoted content. You can create a quoted content manually by clicking from the WYSIWYG editor toolbar:

This will generate the quotation BBCodes tag for your message. After getting the quotation tag, enter your quotation between [QUOTE] and [/QUOTE].

ii. In the Icons and smileys tab, select an icon for your reply here.

3. Click Submit to finish.

After submitting your post, and you want to change it, you can do as follows:

1. Click under the post you want to edit.

2. Make changes on the post, then click Submit to accept your changes. When you edit a post, you also have the opportunity to upload an attachment, or delete an existing one.

1. Click under your post that want to delete.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message.

To send a private message:

1. Click the user name of the member you want to send message, then select Send private message in the drop-down menu:

The Private Messages form will appear:

2. Enter the username of the receivers and type your message title and contents.

3. Click Save to send the message.

When you have received a private message, there will be a notification on your User bar:

Click Private Messages to open the Private Messages form.

In which:

This function is for all logged-in users to save links to categories, forums or topics into the Forum Bookmark.

To bookmark an object:

1. Go into the object (category, forum or topic) you want to bookmark.

2. Click on the Action bar; or right-click the object title and select Bookmark in the drop-down menu. The bookmarked link will be added to your bookmarks list.

To view bookmarks, click on the Action bar. This will bring up the My Bookmarks form, with the list of your bookmarked links. To view the bookmark, click a desired bookmark title from the list.

By selecting the Profile tab, you can see your personal information and other preferences.

Here, you can:

Go to the Forum Settings tab in the Settings form. You can change preferences, such as time zone, date and time formats and other display options.

Check/Uncheck the Show forum jump to show/hide the Forum quick navigation at the bottom of Forum:

Go to the My Subscriptions tab in the Settings form, where you can update or delete existing subscriptions.

Next, click Save to accept your changes.

1. Go to the relevant forum.

2. Click on the Action bar, then click Edit from the drop-down menu.

3. Edit the forum properties.

4. Click Save to save all the changes.

Locking a forum will prevent all members from creating new topics and posting replies in this forum. All topics in a locked forum will be locked also, but their contents are still viewable. Moderators can only lock/unlock the forum that they manage.

To lock a forum:

1. Go to the forum.

2. Click on the Action bar, then click Lock/Unlock from the drop-down menu.

Closed forums are invisible to regular users. To the Administrators and Moderators, the contents in a closed forum are still viewable, but creating topics and comments is disabled. Moderators can only close the forum that they are assigned to manage.

To close/open a forum:

1. Go into the forum you want to close or open.

2. Click on the Action bar, then select Close or Open from the drop-down menu.

To move a forum into another category, do as follows:

1. Go into the forum you want to move.

2. Click on the Action bar, then select Move from the drop-down menu.

A list of existing categories will appear. Select a destination category to which your selected forum will be moved.

The moderator can approve pending topics in the forum that enables the 'Moderation topic'. All new topics added to these forums will be pending for approval. It means that nobody can view these topics except the Administrator and Moderators of this forum. Pending topic is only viewable when it was approved.

The Administrator and Moderator will know the total number of pending topics at the right corner of their Forum Administration bar and User bar:

Moderator can view the list of topics to be moderated. See View all pending moderation tasks for more details.

To approve topics, do as follows:

The first way:

1. Select topics by checking their relevant checkboxes, then click on the Action bar if you are in a list of topics.

Or if you are in a topic, simply click on the Action bar.

2. Click Approve from the drop-down menu.

The second way:

1. Click on the Action bar and click Approve from the drop-down menu. The Unapproved Topics List form opens.

2. Select checkboxes corresponding to the posts you want to approve. You can preview the post when hovering your cursor over the post title.

3. Click Approve to accept your approval. Approved posts are shown normally for regular users to view and take some actions.

1. Select a topic to edit by ticking its respective checkbox.

2. Click on the Action bar.

3. Click Edit from the drop-down menu that appears.

4. Edit the topic as you wish. Leave the reason for the editing in the Reason field if needed.

Only Administrators and Moderators can perform these actions. Closed topics will be invisible to regular users. Moderator can only close or open topics in the category that he manages.

To close or open a topic:

1. When you are in a topics list, select a topic by checking its corresponding check-box, then click on the Action bar.

When you are in a topic, click on the Action bar.

2. Click Close or Open from the drop-down menu that appears.

The icon of the closed topic will be changed to automatically.

Only Administrators and Moderators can perform this action. This function is used to move topics from a forum to another one. The Moderators can only move topics between forums that he manages.

To move a topic:

1. Select a topic by checking its corresponding check-box, then click on the Action bar when you are in a topics list.

Or, if you are in a topic, click on the Action bar.

2. Click Move from the drop-down menu.

3. Click to select a destination forum to move.

To delete a specific topic:

1. Select topics by checking their corresponding checkboxes, then click on the Action bar when you are in a topics list.

Or, if you are already in a topic, click on the Action bar.

2. Click Delete from the drop-down menu, then click OK in the confirmation message.

To delete topics of a specific user:

1. Right-click the username of the poster whose posts you want to delete.

2. Click All topics by [User name].

All topic posted by the selected user will be displayed:

3. Click corresponding to the desired topic, then click OK in the confirmation message.

This function is for administrators and moderators only to lock inappropriate topics. All posts in a clocked topic are still viewable, but posting reply will be disabled.

To lock or unlock a topic:

1. Select a topic by checking its corresponding checkbox, then click on the Action bar when you are in a topics list.

Or, click on the Action bar when you are in a topic.

2. Click Lock or Unlock from the drop-down menu that appears.

To stick or unstick a topic:

1. Select a topic by ticking its corresponding checkbox, then click on the Action bar when you are in a topics list.

Or, click on the Action bar when you are already in a topic.

2. Click Stick or Unstick from the drop-down menu that appears.

You can see the sticked topic in the top of the topics list:

When creating a new topic, you can also make this topic sticked by ticking the Sticky checkbox in the Options tab.

When there are two or more related topics, you may want to merge these topics into one as follows.

1. Go to the topics list.

2. Select more than two topics to be merged by checking their checkboxes.

3. Click on the forum Action bar.

4. Click Merge from the drop-down menu that appears. The Merge Topics form opens.

5. Select a destination topic which will be the main entry of the merged topic from the list of the existing topics. Give one name for the new topic in the New topic title field if you want.

6. Click Save to accept. After being merged, selected topics will be joined into one topic. All posts of the other topics are displayed as posts below the main entry.

A topic with more than two posts can be split into separate topics.

1. Go into the topic you want to split.

2. Click on the Action bar and select Split from the drop-down menu. The Split topic form opens.

3. Enter the name for the new topic in the New topic field.

4. Select posts by checking their respective checkboxes.

5. Click Save to complete.

The new topic will be displayed in the topics list with the new name. The last selected post will become the main entry of the new topic.

All posts in a topic that requires post moderation will not be viewable before approval. This function is to approve posts which are pending for approval.

You can select to approve a single post or multiple posts at the same time. The Moderator can view the list of tasks to be moderated. See View all pending moderation tasks for more details.

The first way:

1. Select the posts to approve.

2. Click on the Action bar and select Approve from the drop-down menu.

The second way:

1. Click on the Action bar and click Approve in the drop-down menu. The Unapproved Topics List form opens.

2. Select checkboxes corresponding to the posts you want to approve. You will see the preview of the post when mouse over the post title.

3. Click Approve to accept your approval.

Approved posts are shown normally for regular users to view and take some actions.

To delete posts:

The first way:

1. Click on the Action bar and click Show in the drop-down menu.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message.

The second way:

1. Click under the post you want to delete.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message:

You can move posts to a topic of your choice.

To move posts:

1. Select the post that you would like to move.

2. Click on the Action bar and select Move from the drop-down menu.

3. Select a destination topic in the topics list that appears.

The moderator will be checked for moving permission. He can only move post inside the forum that he manages. Therefore, at the destination topics list, only the topics which the Moderator who have the move permission, are listed for moving.

When a post is hidden, only Administrators and Moderators can view and mange it.

To hide a post, select on the Action bar and click Hide from the drop-down menu.

After being hidden, the hidden post is marked by 'hidden!' label and regular users can not view it.

You can show a single or multiple hidden posts at the sane time:

The first way: Select the post to be unhidden and click on the Action bar, then click Show in the drop-down menu.

The second way: Follow this method if you would like to show multiple posts.

1. Click on the Action bar and click Show from the drop-down menu.

2. Select hidden posts by selecting its checkboxes.

3. Click Show.

The administrator and moderator can censor all topics, posts containing censored keywords. These censored keywords are specified by administrator. All topics and posts containing these keywords will labeled with 'This topic is pending for Censor' (for post).

The first way: Follow this method to uncensor a specific post/topic.

1. Select hidden posts/topics by selecting its checkboxes.

2. Click the Moderation on the Action bar and select Show from the drop-down menu.

The second way: Follow this method to uncensor posts/topics in the list of existing hidden posts/topics.

1. Click Moderation on the Action bar and select Show from the drop-down menu. There will be a list of hidden posts appears.

2. Select hidden posts by selecting the respective checkboxes.

3. Click Show.

Only when you are assigned as administrator, you can do this function. Normally, one category is created as public that allows everyone to access without any restrictions. Meanwhile, one restricted category only allows specific users/groups/memberships to access. Also, you can assign moderators to your category and specify a set of permissions for members in the category.

To add a new category:

1. Click on the Forum Administration bar or click on the Action bar, then select . The Category form will be displayed.

2. Enter the category title into the Title field which is required. (Special characters are accepted)

Also, you can:

The first way: Enter names of users/groups/memberships that can access this category into the Restricted audience textbox. The different values are separated by commas.

The second way: Use selectors next to the Restricted audience textbox.

i. Click to select a specific user from the groups list.

ii. Click to select all users with the specific membership in a group.

iii. Click to select a group of users.

Administrators can specify which actions that a user/group/membership can perform in a category. You can also assign the moderator to that category.

i. Go to the Permissions tab in the Category form.

ii. Enter the names of all users/user groups/memberships who have the permission to create new topics/post messages/view posts only in the corresponding fields.

iii. Enter the names of all users/user groups/memberships that are going to be the category Moderators in the Moderators field.

3. Click Save to finish.

1. Select a category to edit, then click on the Action bar when you are in the categories list.

2. Click Edit from the drop-down menu.

3. Make changes on the category properties.

4. Click Save to save your changes.

1. Select a category to edit, then click on the Action bar when you are in the categories list.

2. Click Delete from the drop-down menu.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message.

When creating a new forum, you can also configure the forum notification settings and specify the permissions for members in that forum.

To add a new forum to a specific category:

1. Go into the category to which you want to add new forum.

2. Click on Forum Administration bar or click on the Action bar and select Add forum.

3. Enter the forum title which is required and description in the corresponding fields in the Forum form. The forum title must be less than 50 charaters.

4. Click Save to finish.

The administrators and moderators of a forum may want to get updated of what is new in forums under their management. This can be done when creating a new forum.

Only administrators can perform this action. When a forum is removed, all of its topics will then be deleted.

1. Go into the forum you want to remove.

2. Click on the Action bar, then select Delete from the drop-down menu.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The administrator can edit profiles of members and promote any user to administrator or moderator.

To promote a user to administrator/moderator:

1. Click on the Action bar. The User Management form will be displayed.

2. Click corresponding to the user you want to promote. The profile of this user will be displayed right below the users list.

In the Profile tab, you can see the following fields:

Field	Description
Screen name	The name displayed on Forum.
User title	The title representing the role of user.
Forum administrator	Grant the Administrator role to a selected user or not. The Administration role of the default administrator can not be edited in the User Management form.
Moderator of categories	The list of categories moderated by the selected user. Click to select a category.
Moderator of forums	The list of forums moderated by the selected user. Click to select a forum.

You can modify the forum settings that users set in their User settings.

Go to the Settings tab in the User Management form:

Now you can modify the forum settings that the selected user has set in their User settings. See User settings for the detailed descriptions in the User Settings form.

There are other methods to ban users from the Forum application or specific forums, categories. In case you know the username of the user who violated your forum policies, you can search and ban this user quickly.

In the User Management form, go to the Ban user tab:

Details:

See also:

To remove a user from Forum:

1. Go to MySpace > Administration > Manage users and groups on the Administration bar.

The User management form appears:

2. Click the relevant trash icon to remove, then select OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Although all topics and posts of this user will not be deleted, other users can not send messages to the removed user any longer.

Click on the Forum Administration bar and click Sort Settings from the drop-down menu. The Sort Settings form opens. Now, you can set properties for how forums and topics are sorted in Forum:

Censored keywords are those which are specified as inappropriate in the Forum application. If any topics or posts contain either of censored keywords, they will be hidden until being verified by Administrators or Moderators. Click on the Forum Administration bar and click Censor Keywords from the drop-down menu:

If there are new posts in the category or topic that a user has watched, the user will receive the email notification like this:

This section will describe how to create and edit the email templates that can be used to send emails to users.

Click on the Forum Administration bar and click Notifications from the drop-down menu to open the Notifications form:

Followings are variables which can be used in the template:

$OBJECT_WATCH_TYPE: Will be replaced with the watched object type: Forum/Topic.

$ADD_TYPE: Will be replaced with the new added object type: Topic / Post.

$OBJECT_NAME: Will be replaced with the name of the watched topics/forum/category.

$OBJECT_PARENT_NAME: Will be replaced with the category/forum name.

@POST_CONTENT: Will be replaced with the post contents.

$TIME: Will be replaced with the time when the post was added.

$DATE: Will be replaced with the date when the post was added.

$CATEGORY: Will be replaced with the category name.

$FORUM: Will be replaced with the forum name.

$TOPIC: Will be replaced with the topic name.

$LINK: Will be replaced with the link referring to the new post.

These variables are used to load the content dynamically. Thus, you should not edit them. In case the template is changed unexpectedly, you can go back to the default template by clicking . You can use the text editor to format the template as you wish.

By default, there are some default BBCode tags that are initialized via plugins: "[B]", "[I]", "[HIGHLIGHT]", "[IMG]", "[CSS]", "[URL]", "[LINK]", "[GOTO]", "[QUOTE]", "[LEFT]", "[RIGHT]", "[CENTER]", "[JUSTIFY]", "[SIZE]", "[COLOR]", "[CSS]", "[EMAIL]", "[CODE]", "[LIST]". You can add, edit or delete the BBCode tags.

Click on the Forum Administration bar and click BBCode from the drop-down menu to open the BBCode Manager form.

Here, you can do the following actions:

Add a new BBCode

1. Click on the Forum Administration bar and click Add BBCode from the drop-down menu.

2. Input values into the Add BBCode form.

Details:

Field	Description
Tag	This is the text for BBCode, which goes inside the square bracket.
Replacement	The HTML codes that replace the user-entered BBCode.
Description	The brief description about this BBCode tag.
Example Usage	The sample of the BBCode in use.
Use	Enable the tag attributes: [tag=option][/tag]
Preview dialog	Preview the rendered BBCodes.
	Click this icon to see descriptions of each field.

3. Click Preview to preview your created BBCode tag, or click Save to finish.

The pruning allows you to clean a large amount of obsolete and inactivate topics based on criteria.

1. Click on the Forum Administration bar and click from the drop-down menu to open the Auto Prune form.

2. Click to set the prune settings for the corresponding forum in the Prune Settings form:

3. Specify the criteria in each relevant field.

Field	Description
InActivateDay	The number of days/weeks/months that the topic has not been active.
jobDay	The number of days/weeks/months that the prune job will be executed to check for the old topics and deactivate them.
	Check how many topics will be pruned.

4. Click Save to accept settings.

After setting the prune successfully, the auto-prune will be run automatically on the forum that has been set to check for the inactivate topics.

The topic type is the visual indication for other users to know what is topic about at a glance. When creating new topic, users can select the topic type that they are going to start. The Administrator can define these topic types.

Click on the Forum Administration bar and click Topic types from the drop-down menu to open the Topic Type Manager form.

The Topic Type Manager form lists all topic types and allows you to add new topic types, edit or delete the existing ones.

To add a topic type:

1. Click Add Topic Type.

2. Enter the topic name in the Type field, then select an icon for this topic type:

3. Click Save to accept adding your new topic type.

You will see the new topic type has been added:

The Administrator can ban IP addresses that may be used by users who abuse the forum functions or violate the forum rules and policies. All Banned IPs can not be used to add posts to the Forum. Any user who uses banned IPs to add post, will be recognized as the banned user. As a result, the banned user can only view and is prevented from most of basic actions to the forum, such as adding topics, posting, or rating. This feature in the Administrative tasks is used to ban the IP on the Forum application, meaning that this will take effect on all forums.

Click on the Forum Administration bar and click Banned IPs from the drop-down menu. The Banned IPs form opens:

Besides, you can also filter the banned IPs if the Banned IPs are too many.

To filter banned IPs, enter a part of the IPs address into filter text box, all IP matching with filter term will be displayed.

The export function is a best way to back up data in the Forum application. This function enables you to export categories and forums in the Forum application into the .zip or .xml file. When a category/forum is exported, all its forum, topics, posts and its properties are exported exactly. The exported file can be used to import into the Forum application.

In the Scoping tab, you can show/hide categories and forums in the Forum portlet by selecting or deselecting their respective checkboxes.

In the Panels tab, you can enable/disable some components in the Forum portlet.

Simply select/deselect checkboxes of the components that you want to enable or disable.

The following components can be enabled/disabled:

Before doing this function, you first need to have a knowledge of Ajax. Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is used in the Forum application that aims at updating a whole webpage or a part of the webpage.

This feature defines how the links are generated in the Forum portlet. You can select to use Ajax or not.

This useful gadget displays the last posts in Forum, so that you can follow the activities in forum easily right in your Space. You can also go to the last post by simply clicking the post. Like other gadgets, you can add Last Post gadget to Dashboard by following these simple steps:

1. Click Dashboard on the Administration bar.

2. Click in the workspace.

3. Drag the Last post gadget to the workspace. The Last post gadget will be displayed.

Last post gadget settings:

Details: