Forum Topics widget

This widget acts as a window into one or more forum channels, displaying collections of forum topics from around your digital workplace. The different display options allow you to show various elements of the channels you select. Use the widget to show people the contents of different forum entries, and use the filter bar to sort entries on the fly.

Sections in this article:

Set up

Follow these steps to set up this widget:

  1. Place a  Forum Topics widget on a page, space, or dashboard. For more information, see Placing and setting up a widget. 
  2. Select the placed widget's Edit button.
  3. Review and make changes to the settings on the Options, Layout, and Appearance tabs. You can find details about the widget's settings in the Settings section below.
  4. In the widget editor, select Update to apply your changes or Cancel to discard them.  
  5. At the bottom of your page, space, or dashboard, select Publish or Save as Draft to save your changes.

Settings

Setting Description
Title

Enter a title for the widget. The title appears as a heading above the widget's contents. You should use the title to provide context to the widget and better structure a page's content by clearly denoting different sections.

When entering a title, you do so only for your currently selected language. If your digital workplace supports multiple languages, you should select  Translation and enter a title for each supported language. 

This field can contain a maximum of 140 characters.
Title Link Enter the URL of a location in your digital workplace. Users who select the widget's title, if it has one, will go to this location. Whether you enter the link as a relative URL or an absolute URL does not matter, it will convert to an absolute URL the next time you edit the widget.
Description

Enter a description for the widget. The description appears between the title and the widget's contents. You can use this text to provide information to users about the widget.

When entering a description, you do so only for your currently selected language. If your digital workplace supports multiple languages, you should select  Translation and enter a description for each supported language.
Sources

Select from which forum channel(s) the widget displays content.

Access rules determine what users will see when configuring and viewing the widget: 

  • Users who are configuring this widget will only see channels to which they have at least Read access. Users can still select forum channels that they don't have access to by selecting groups of forum channels (see step 4 of adding sources below).
  • Users who view the published widget will only see content from a forum channel if they have at least Read access to that content.

To add sources:

  1. Select add source(s).
  2. Select the Forums tab.
  3. Search for a forum channel by its name or a portion of its URL. This search will return up to 100 results and include the pages and spaces that contain a forum channel that matches the search query.
  4. Select a forum channel from the list of search results. In addition to selecting sources individually, you can select groups of forum channels:
    • Select the All option to select all forum channels in your digital workplace.
    • Select pages or spaces to select all forum channels below that location.
  5. Repeat this process until you have added all your sources, and then select Done.

To remove sources:

  1. Select add source(s).
  2. While on the Selected tab, unselect the source(s) that you want to remove.
  3. Select Done.
Include

Select which topics to include in the widget. You must select a Status and Topic. Only topics that match these criteria and that are from the connected source channel(s) will display in the widget.

Status options include:

  • All
  • Unresolved
  • Resolved

Topic options include:

  • Topics (selects all topic types)
  • Questions
  • Ideas
  • Problems
  • Discussions
Sort options

Select how to sort topics in the widget. Options include:

  • Recent Activity: New topics or topics with recent replies appear at the top of the Widget.
  • Popularity (Ascending/Descending): Sort topics by their number of Likes.
  • Post Date (Ascending/Descending): Sort topics by their creation date.
Number of results

Enter the maximum number of results to increment by, and to display initially. You must enter a value between 1 and 99. If there are additional items to display, users can select Load More, found at the bottom of the feed, to load additional results.

Show add link

Select to add an Add Topic button to the widget. Only users with at least Write access to any of the connected forum channels can see this button. These users can click this button to add content to the forum channels that they have at least Write access to.

Show follow icon

Select to add a  Follow button to the widget. Users can select this button to subscribe to all channels displayed in the widget to which they have at least Read access.
Options tab
Setting Description
User Photo Select to display the author's profile photo for each post in the feed.
Created By Select to display the author's name for each post in the feed.
Activity Date Select to display when activity last occurred on for each post in the feed. Hover over this period to view an exact date.
Type Select to display the topic type for each post in the feed.
Resolution Select to display a Concluded marker on each post in the feed that has had a comment marked as an answer.
Replies Select to display the number of replies for each post in the feed.
Locked Select to display a Locked marker on each post in the feed that has been locked.
Channel Select to display a channel link for each post in the feed.
Likes Select to display the number of likes for each post in the feed
Show filter bar

Select to include a filter bar above the feed. User can use the filter bar to display specific posts based on the filter criteria that they've selected.

Filters are provided for:

  • Resolution status
  • Topic type

Sorting can be done by:

  • Recency
  • Popularity
  • Post Date
Show pinned items Select to display pinned posts at the top of the feed.
Layout options
Setting Description
Class Enter CSS class selectors to provide additional styling to the widget. For more information, see Applying custom CSS to widgets.
Height Select the height of the widget. Options include:
  • Auto: The leftmost slider position. The height of the widget will increase and decrease to contain what it is displaying.
  • Fixed: Select a fixed height between 50px to 600px in increments of 50px. A vertical scrollbar will appear on the widget if the content exceeds this fixed value.
Appearance tab

Note

Your digital workplace's theme overwrites many of the settings on the Appearance tab. However, the settings listed above are usable.