The Discussion Board App allows for employees to engage in topics of online conversation, subscribe to thread alerts, and search contents of discussions.
In This Article
Like other Apps, the Discussion Board (aka discussion forum) has various elements which can be customized so it works best for your organization.
Build Your Discussion Board
Start by following the process to add an App to a site.
Once you have the App in place, on the App Card change the title and/or description if you want to customize it for your intranet or specific purpose. Click Create if you'll return to it later, or Build if you want to start customizing or adding content right away.
Manage Discussion Board Categories
In order for users to add content, your first step will be to add at least one category - or topic - for postings. Categories allow you to group discussions in a logical way, so postings about policies are kept separate from postings about company events.
To add categories, hover over the Admin icon and click App Admin, then click Manage Categories. Type your category name on the left (or if there's already a category, click add categories in the middle of your screen). Click Save to retain your changes; you'll then see options for Topics as shown below, as well as options for category security, workflow, and advertising. Learn more in the App Overview article and the Security for Apps article.
Discussion Board Posts
To add a new post to a Category click Add (top right) within the Category. To add a reply to an existing post, click [Reply]. After writing a post, click Preview at the bottom of your screen, which brings you to a preview screen as shown in the image below. If you're satisfied with your post click Publish; otherwise click Change to edit it or Cancel to delete it.
The Home page of the App shows the current Categories, the number of replies and the date of the most recent reply, and allows users to subscribe to the Category for updates (i.e. receive site or email alerts). When you click on a Category name, the Topics - or conversational threads - under that Category are shown as in the image below, along with the number of replies and the person who started the Topic.
When you click on a Topic, all of the replies are shown with the most recent replies at the top, as shown below.
Related Articles