I'm brand new to IPB 4.x.  Everything is different and I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the sidebar to display to the right on my main forum page.  Typically, you have things there like recent posts, etc. but I don't know where the settings are and all I have is forums only.

Maybe it's because you haven't added any blocks there. There should be a small button on the left side of your screen that says "Manage Blocks" when you hover over it. Click that and you should see sidebar area appear. Placing blocks there will keep the sidebar visible.

I see the option under Pages in the ACP to add blocks, but I don't know how to get those blocks to display on my forum page.  There is no button on the forum page that says "manage blocks", either in the acp or on the user side.  I understand that I need the forum page to be two columns so that the column on the right is where my blocks would go, but I don't know how to achieve this.

Edit: Scratch that.  I was using a custom dark theme and didn't see the arrow.  Thanks for the help!

Hi Reagan,  I see that you have figured it out.  For others having the same problem here is a quick little tut to show how it is done.

Start on your main front page of the site and look over on the left hand side edge and you should see a small arrow thing...See image!

 

Click on that and it should open up the sidebar blocks menu.....See image!

 

 

Those are all drop down menus so you can then choose from the standard stock ones to possibly some that you have created yourself.  Drag them over to the side bar and drop them into the blank boxes that should be showing.  You can then edit some of them to your personal liking if that option is available.

 

Final step is to save your changes and make them active....See next image!

 

That should do it for you.