---
title: Creating predefined forums
related:
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/community-features/forums/creating-forum-groups.md
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/community-features/forums/publishing-a-predefined-forum-on-the-website.md
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/community-features/forums/adding-an-ad-hoc-forum-to-a-page.md
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

Predefined forums need to be created within a [forum group](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/community-features/forums/creating-forum-groups.md) before you can publish them on the website.

## Creating new forums

Open the **Forums** application and click **Edit** () next to a forum group. On the **Forums** tab, click **New forum**. Enter the following details:

- **Forum display name** – the name of the forum displayed on your website.
- **Description** – the description of the forum displayed on your website.
- **Forum base URL** – URL displayed when the user accesses the forum; e.g. _\~/MyForums.aspx_.
- **Forum unsubscription URL** – URL of the page where users can unsubscribe from the given forum.
- **Require email addresses** – indicates if the system requires email address from the post author.
- **Display email addresses** – indicates if the system displays email address of the post author to other site visitors.
- **Enable WYSIWYG editor** – indicates if the site visitors can use the WYSIWYG editor for entering text. For security reasons, we strongly recommend setting the value to _No_ for public forums.
- **Use security code (CAPTCHA)** – indicates if forum posting requires users to pass [CAPTCHA validation](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/securing-websites/designing-secure-websites/securing-and-protecting-the-system/spam-protection-captcha.md). This feature can help avoid spam in the forums.
- **Forum is open** – indicates if the forum is visible and can be accessed.
- **Forum is locked** – if enabled, users cannot add new posts to the forum, but the forum remains accessible for viewing.
- **Forum is moderated** – indicates if the posts need to be approved by a forum moderator.

The **Inherit from forum group** check boxes or radio button options displayed next to the properties are used to automatically load values from the settings of the parent forum group. To configure unique properties for a forum, clear the appropriate check box and enter the desired value.

Click **Save** to add the forum.

## Configuring forums

Now that the forum is created, you can further configure it. Switch to the forum's **General** tab, where you can edit properties entered upon forum creation, as well as the following additional properties:

- **Forum type** – determines the type of the forum. The system offers the following types:
  - **User can choose** – when creating a new thread, users can choose from the following two types:
  - **Discussion forum** – news threads use a standard discussion format where users reply to previous posts.
  - **Question-Answer forum** – in forums of this type, the initial post of a thread is usually a question and the replies are attempts to answer it. The forum includes a voting feature that allows users to mark individual replies as helpful answers. Once a post receives the amount of votes specified in the Minimum votes to mark post as answer property, it is designated as a valid answer and displayed accordingly.
- **Minimum votes to mark post as answer** – determines the minimum amount of votes that a post must receive before it is marked as answer in Question-Answer type forums.
- **Maximum image side size** – sets the maximum side size in pixels of images inserted into forum posts. If a larger picture is included in a forum post, the system resizes it so that its larger side is equal to the entered value.
- **Attachment max. file size (kB)** – sets the maximum file size of forum post attachments in kB.
- **User can edit own posts** – indicates whether users are allowed to edit their own existing posts.
- **User can delete own posts** – indicates whether users are allowed to delete their own existing posts.

The properties in the **Editor settings** section determine which [BB code](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/community-features/forums/using-bbcode-in-forum-posts.md) macros forum users can use to format the text of forum posts.

The properties in the **Double opt-in** section determine whether the users must confirm that the email address they're subscribing with really exists and belongs to them.

For information about the remaining tabs, see the following pages:

- [Managing forum posts](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/community-features/forums/managing-forum-posts.md)
- [Managing forum subscriptions](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/community-features/forums/managing-forum-subscriptions.md)
- [Moderating forums](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/community-features/forums/moderating-forums.md)
- [Managing forum security](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/community-features/forums/managing-forum-security.md)

Once you configure the forum, you can [place the forum on a website](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/community-features/forums/publishing-a-predefined-forum-on-the-website.md).