Groups setup

Overview

Groups extension allows users to create and join groups around shared topics, interests, etc., and increase user interaction on your site. This document provides instructions on how to setup Groups extension.

Contents

Settings
A group settings
A group settings on the frontend
Configure notifications

Settings #

Extension's settings #

Once you activate the Groups extension, you will see the Groups tab on the page [Ultimate Member > Settings > Extensions]. On this page, you can find the following options:

Edit Groups slug, Category slug & Tag
Turn on/off group avatars "Show group avatars"
Setup the number of displayed posts for the mobile/desktop view
Setup comments order
Setup number of initial comments/replies to display per post

[Ultimate Member > Settings > Extensions > Groups]

Profile Menu settings #

The extension adds settings to the page [Ultimate Member > Settings > Appearance > Profile Menu]. These settings allow you to manage the "Groups" item in the profile menu:

Groups Tab – Allows enabling/disabling the "Groups" item in the Profile menu.
Who can see Groups Tab? – Manage access to the "Groups" tab in the Profile menu

Pages settings #

Once you install the Groups extension, it creates these pages:

Groups - Displays all public and private groups
My Groups - Displays current user groups
Create New Group - Displays a form to create a group

Page "Groups" contains a shortcode [ultimatemember_groups] that shows a list of all public and private groups. Members can use this page to search a group, see a group description, info, and join a group.

Page "My Groups" contains a shortcode [ultimatemember_my_groups] that shows a list of groups, which current member has joined.

Page "Create New Group" contains a shortcode [ultimatemember_group_new] that gives members the opportunity to create a group. The user, who created the group, is the first group member and has the group role "Administrator."

You can create these pages manually if they were lost in wp-admin>Pages.

Once the pages are created, you should configure them using options on the page [Ultimate Member > Settings > General > Pages]

A group settings #

Add a new group #

The Groups extension will add a Groups section on the Dashboard where you can add a new group or edit your group settings.

Group settings are divided into 4 main widgets: Settings, Invites settings, Add New Members, and Manage Members.

Settings section #

Privacy - set privacy settings for your group:
- Public, Public for Role - Any site member can join this group. This group will be listed in the groups' directory and in search results. Group content and activity will be visible to any site member.
- Private - Only users who request membership and are accepted can join the group. This group will be listed in the groups' directory and in search results. Group content and activity will only be visible to members of the group.
- Hidden - Only users who are invited can join the group. This group will not be listed in the groups' directory or search results. Group content and activity will only be visible to members of the group.
Role list - limit access by user role if "Privacy"="Public for Role".
Post Moderation - enable/disable post moderation by admins or group moderators.

Invites settings section #

Enable Invites feature - enable/disable invites for the group.
Who can invite members to the group? - select how new group members will be invited:
- All Group Members
- Group Administrators & Moderators only
- Group Administrators only
Enable Invites search - enable/disable searching tool.
Enable Invites filters - enable/disable filtering tool.
Choose field(s) to enable in search - select fields for filtering if "Enable Invites filters" is enabled.

How it looks like on the group page:

Add new members section #

You can add new members to the group by searching for registered users and clicking on the "Add member" button.

Step 1 - Search a member

Step 2 - Add a member

Manage members section #

Manage members section allows you to manage group members:

Change member status - Hover over the status of the member to select the following status from the drop-down menu: Pending Admin Review, Pending Member Review, Approved, Rejected, and Blocked
Assign/change member role - Hover over the group role of the member to select the following group role from the drop-down menu: Administrator, Moderator, Member and Banned.
Send invite or expel members from the group

Group setting on the frontend #

On the group page on the frontend 3 main sections are available:

Discussions tab represents the main group discussion feed
Members tab displays all group members
Send invites tab can be used to send invites to other members

Admin users or group moderators can access group settings on the frontend by clicking the "gear" icon on the upper right side of the group page. All group settings can be changed on the frontend by group admins or moderators.

Configure notifications #

The "Ultimate Member - Groups" extension has email notifications and real-time* notifications.

Note: Real-time notifications require the extension "Ultimate Member - Real-time Notifications".

Email notifications:

'Groups - Approve Member Email' - Send the user an email when the user is approved to a group
'Groups - Join Request Email' - Send the user an email when the user has requested to join their group
'Groups - Invite Member Email' - Send the user an email when the user has been invited to join a group
'Groups - New post' - Send the user an email when someone posts on the group wall
'Groups - New comment' - Send the user an email when someone comments on the group wall

The Administrator can edit email templates: enable, disable, change subject or body. Go to the admin page [Ultimate Member > Settings > Email], find the needed email template, and click the button "Edit" (gear icon). You'll see email template settings. Change what you want and save changes.

[Ultimate Member > Settings > Email]

Each member can enable or disable email notifications 'Groups - New post' and 'Groups - New comment' using settings on the page [Account > Notifications]. These settings are disabled by default.