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What is a Page?A page is a container for content. Depending on your needs, it can hold simple content such as text, images, and embeds, or more advanced elements like blocks and databases. If you're comfortable with code, you can use our standard template logic to create highly customised layouts. The most common use however, would be our easy drag-and-drop page builder is available to assemble pages without any coding. Each page has its own URL and can be automatically added to your site navigation if desired. You can also set custom permissions, allowing you to control who can access the page. Ideal for creating staff-only or premium areas. Creating a PagePages are created within the following area of the Admin CP Pages → Pages Here a directory listing of your current pages is shown. Folders are supported, and the page URL will reflect this structure—for example, a page named index inside a folder called guides would have the URL <your community URL>/guides/index. When selecting 'Add Page', you will be asked whether you want to use the Page Builder or Manual HTML. Page Type Selection Page Builder After creating the page in the AdminCP, you'll be able to go to the front-end to add content to your page, using drag and drop from the sidebar manager. This option is best for those not familiar with HTML. Manual HTML When you choose this option, you'll be provided with a code editor to create your page. Within this code editor you're free to use HTML, as well as the full range of template logic supported by invision. With this method, you insert other items (blocks, databases etc.) into the page by using special tags. A sidebar on the editor show you the available tags. Drag/Drop Page BuildingIf you create a page using the Page Builder, once you have saved the configuration in the Admin CP, you can visit the page on the front end to manage its content. You can easily access it by selecting the View Page option from the menu on the page listing screen. By default, the page will be empty. Click the sidebar toggle to open the sidebar and view the available widgets. All standard widgets from across the suite are available, along with a selection of special reusable widgets under the Pages category: Example Pages Blocks You can add content to the page using drag and drop, as shown below. This allows you to build a page that suits both your needs and those of your members. Creating a Basic Page Manual HTML PagesWhen creating a page using Manual HTML, you can choose how much of the standard Invision wrapper to include. By default, the suite wrapper is enabled, which includes elements such as the header and navigation, placing your page content within it. If disabled, no wrapper is applied, meaning you are responsible for building the full page structure (though you can use a custom wrapper if preferred). If you use the suite wrapper, you can also choose whether to include the standard sidebar. Your code will form the main page content, while the sidebar can still be managed using drag-and-drop on the front end. Adding to NavigationWhen creating a page, you can add it to your site's main navigation menu using the Menu tab on the page edit screen. Alternatively, you can add it manually through the standard menu management options. Further Reading You can read more about the menu manager, by visiting our menu guide in 'Getting Started → Setting Up Your Menu' Setting as DefaultOften, you may wish to set the Pages application as your default, allowing you to use a custom page as your homepage. For guidance on this, as well as creating a basic homepage, please refer to the following guide. {linkToCreateaHomePage}

Invision Community makes it easy to customise the top-level menus on your site to suit the way you want your community to work. Whether you’re adding internal links, external URLs, or sub-menus containing other menu items, the Menu Manager lets you set everything up quickly and with minimal effort. Menu ManagerThe Menu Manager is located in the Admin CP at: System → Site Features → Menu Manager From here, you have control over the primary navigation menu shown across your community. Menu Manager Main View Available menu item types include: Suite Node – links to specific applications such as forums, gallery or blogs Activity Streams – direct access to a particular activity stream Links to Pages and Quests - direct links to specific pages and quests created in those applications Custom link – link to any URL you choose Tags - Link to the tag page of a specific tag Sub-Menu – A sub-menu which will contain one or more of the above items Adding An ItemTo add a new menu item, select the Create New button and choose a menu type. The options available will depend on which applications are installed and which menu items already exist. Some third-party applications may also add their own menu options. As shown below, the settings available will change depending on what you select. For example, you can create a link to an external website by entering a URL, or choose the Pages application and link directly to an internal page. You can also choose on which device types the menu item will appear. Creating a Menu Item For Downloads All menu items support full permission control. You can either inherit the permissions of the item being linked to, or define custom permissions by selecting which member groups are able to see the menu item. Reordering ItemsReordering menu items is as simple as drag and drop. You can move items along the menu bar or nest them inside other items to create sub-menus. Reordering a Menu Item Restoring defaultsIf you ever want to start again, you can restore the menu to its original configuration by selecting Restore Default Configuration in the top-right corner of the page. Restore Default Configuration Publishing Your MenuOnce you’re happy with your menu layout, don’t forget to publish your changes. Your updated menu will not be visible to members until it has been published. Making Sure To Publish Our New Menu

Default ApplicationYour default application controls what is displayed when someone visits your site’s main URL. For example, if you change the default application to Gallery, visitors will be taken straight to the gallery homepage instead of the forums. By default, your community is set up so that the Forums application is shown when visitors access your site. However, you may decide that a different application, such as Pages, Gallery, or Commerce, should be the first thing members see. This can be changed at any time. Changing Your DefaultYou can change the default application from within the Admin CP. To do this, navigate to the following loication: System → Site Features → Applications You’ll see a screen similar to the one shown below. Applications List Each application has a star icon on the right-hand side. The selected star indicates which application is currently set as the default. To change this, simply select the star next to the application you would like to use instead. Default ModulesApplications are made up of modules. In many cases, there may only one module — for example, the Forums application contains a single forums module. Other applications, such as Commerce or System, include multiple modules. This allows for more granular control. For example, you might set Commerce as your default application, but choose the Subscriptions module as the page that is shown when Commerce is accessed. The System application works in the same way. While it can be set as the default application, you’ll also need to choose which module is shown. A common example of this, is wanting to show the content discovery module as the default, so you see "All Activity" as the start page. Setting a Specific Module As Default This approach gives you full control over what your members see first when they visit your community.

When launching a new community, one of the first things people ask is how to make the site look exactly the way they want. Below, we’ll take a look at the tools available to help you customise the appearance of your community. This guide is intended as a high-level overview. Where appropriate, we’ve included links to more detailed guides, and you can also explore more in-depth topics in the Visual Design section of the left-hand menu. ThemesFirst, let’s take a moment to understand what a theme is. A theme controls the overall look and feel of your site, including colors, logos, layouts, and more. You can change your theme by uploading one created by a third party, or by creating your own using our advanced theme editor. Theme EditorThe theme editor allows to to change the color and layout of your site, providing an instant, live preview of your theme, as soon as you modify a setting. It's a zero-code approach to creating themes, and has been designed to ensure your theme adheres to your color scheme and looks great on every device, with very little effort. You would first create a new theme within your Admin CP, from the following location. You can set this as your default theme in the process, or leave it as a non-default, depending on your preference. Customization → Appearance → Themes Create New Theme Once you have created a new theme, head to the front end of your site. First of all, from the bottom of the page, click the theme menu, and select the new theme. Select Your New Theme From here, click on your name and select "Theme Editor". This will open the Theme Editor, where you can start customising your site’s colours, logos, layouts, and more. Theme Editor Further Reading For more information about using the theme editor, and more advanced functions such as adding your own CSS, Javascript, and hooking in your own snippets of HTML, please refer to the "Visual Design" section of our guides in the menu on your left. Third-Party Party ThemesFor some, uploading of a theme which has been created by a third-party, may be your preferred option. To do this, head to the following location in your Admin CP Customization → Appearance → Themes Once there, use the upload button provided to upload the theme from your provider Uploading a 3rd Party Theme WidgetsWithin the Invision Community platform, you can add content to your pages in the form of widgets, using the Page Editor. This drag-and-drop tool allows you to place widgets into various drop zones around your site, making it easy to customise layouts and add functionality exactly where you want it. This same system can also be used to create full customised pages on your site, enabling the simple creation of some quite complex pages without any technical knowledge. You can see more about the pages feature of our platform within the "Features" section of our guides, on the left menu. Adding WidgetsAdding widgets to your pages is straightforward. When you are logged in as a staff member with the moderator permission "Can use Page Editor", you’ll see a "Page Editor" link in your user menu, by clicking your profile image on the front end. Selecting this opens the Widget Manager and highlights the various drop zones where widgets can be placed. Adding Some New Widgets Editing WidgetsWidgets come with their own configuration and layout options. Clicking edit will allow you to customise how that widget behaves. For example, you may have a a pages database feed showing articles, but want to edit it to only show a specific category. Editing Your Widget Layout options allow you to set how the widget is displayed on the page. These vary depending on the widget you are using Changing the Widgets Layout Further Reading Further information on widgets can be found within the "Visual Design" section of our guides, in the left hand menu. LanguagesFor many communities that need a language pack other than the default, the simplest option is to use a third-party language pack. These are packs created and maintained by independent authors and are widely available online. Once you have obtained a language pack, you can upload it by navigating to the following location and selecting Create New → Manual Upload: Customization → Localization → Languages Uploading a Third-Party Language Pack Visual vs Full TranslationInvision Community offers two approaches to translating your site. Visual translation lets you make quick changes directly on the front end, allowing you to see and edit phrases in context—ideal for small tweaks or locating specific wording. Full translation, on the other hand, involves manually translating the entire language pack, which is better suited for creating a complete new language or making extensive customisations. Further Reading See more about how to use these tools in our "Localisation" section in the left menu

Giving Staff AccessAs the primary account holder for your community, you may have staff members or site co-owners who also need access—either to your community itself or to your Invision Community purchases. This guide will walk you through how to give them the right level of access. There are two main areas where you may want to grant access. You can choose to give access to one or both, depending on your needs. Alternative Contact - Our Client AreaThe Client Area is separate from your community site. It is the Invision Community customer portal, which can be accessed directly at invisioncommunity.com/clientarea, or from the provided link on our main page. This is where you manage purchases from invision, and account-level tasks. From here you can: View and manage your purchased products Access information related to support Pay invoices and manage payment methods Alternative contacts can access these areas based on the permissions you assign to them. To give someone access to the Client Area, there are two steps: Step 1: Register a Client Area AccountThe user must first register an account in the Invision Community Client Area. They do not need to purchase anything—this simply creates an account you can assign access to. You can share this registration link with them: https://invisioncommunity.com/clientarea/register/ Step 2: Head to your own Client AreaOnce the user has registered, log in to the Client Area: https://invisioncommunity.com/clientarea From the menu, go to My Details → Alternative Contacts. Here you’ll see a list of any contacts you’ve already added. Current Alternative Contact List To add a new contact, click Add New Contact in the top-right corner. Step 3: Choose PermissionsTo add a new contact with permissions, simply add their email address, and select whether this contact has access to deal with support and/or billing, as shown below Adding a New Contact Admin CP Access - Your CommunityAdmin access allows users to log into the Admin CP of your community and manage the site itself. You can grant full access or limit permissions to specific areas, depending on their role. For step-by-step instructions on setting this up, please refer to the dedicated Admin Access guide. TODO: LINK TO THE ADMIN/MOD GUIDE HERE

Creating Administrators and ModeratorsOnce your suite is installed, you’ll likely want to set up members of your team to help manage and run it. This may include staff who moderate specific areas of your community, as well as others who assist with broader administrative tasks. These roles are referred to as Moderators and Administrators. Before setting these up, it’s important to understand the difference between the two. At the most basic level, Administrators are members who have access to the Admin CP. No one can access the Admin CP unless they have been granted administrator permissions in some form. Moderators, on the other hand, carry out staff actions on the public-facing side of your site. This includes tasks such as deleting posts, moving gallery images, or editing another member’s content. Word From The Experts A common misconception is that Administrators automatically have access to everything. As mentioned earlier, the term Administrator simply means that a member has access to the Admin CP. It’s entirely possible for someone to have full Admin CP access while having no moderation permissions on the front end of the site at all. Because of this, if you want to give someone complete and unrestricted access, they should be set up as both an Administrator and a Moderator, either individually or via their member group. It is very important you give only people you trust, access to staff items Adding An AdministratorAdministrators can be created from the following location in the Admin CP: Members → Staff → Administrators → Add Administrator Once you choose to add an administrator, you can select either an individual member or an entire member group. Add Administrator After selecting the member or group and saving, they will be added immediately to the list of administrators. You can then edit the permissions for that administrator entry if needed. By default, new administrators are granted full permissions. Edit Administrator If you choose to display restricted permissions, you’ll be able to select or deselect specific areas that the administrator is allowed to access. Any areas that are not selected will be hidden from that user or group. Restricted Administrator Quick Note If you add an individual member, and a group that an individual is a member of, then the member entry permissions will override that of the group entry. Adding a ModeratorModerators can be configured from the following location in the Admin CP: Members → Staff → Moderators → Add Moderator When adding a moderator, you can assign the role to either an individual member or an entire member group. Add Moderator After selecting the member or group and saving, they will be added immediately to the list of moderators. You can then review and adjust the permissions for that moderator entry if needed. By default, moderators are granted all available permissions. Edit Moderator You’ll then be given the option to switch the moderator to a more restricted permission set. You can also choose whether the moderator badge is visible to members on the front end. Unrestricted Moderator If you enable restricted permissions, you can selectively choose which actions the moderator is allowed to perform. Adding Moderator Restrictions Top Moderator Tip In some cases, you may want a moderator to have permissions only in specific areas of your site — for example, moderating a single forum. When you deselect a permission, additional tabs will appear for each relevant section. In the example below, the “Can edit all content” option has been disabled. Any permissions you deselect will then appear under these item-specific tabs, allowing you to enable them only for selected areas. In this example, three permissions have been enabled for just two forums.

Changing Your DomainWe know how important it is to use your own domain and branding to make your community feel truly yours. After purchasing your Cloud community — or at any time you wish to change the domain or subdomain used by your Cloud account — you can follow the steps below. Your community can use any domain that you have purchased from a domain provider. Cloud communities support either a root domain (for example, domain.com) or a subdomain (for example, sub.domain.com). One of these options must be chosen for your community’s URL. Subfolder setups such as domain.com/mycommunity are not supported. How To ChangeTo change your domain, go to your client area, and select your license. Once selected, scroll to the licensed URLs section, and select the "click here" link to change your domain Where To Change Add your domain in the location provided, ensuring that you correctly select whether its a domain or subdomain Add Your Domain Here You will then be provided with the relevant DNS entries you will need to make on your selected domain. Please contact your domain provider with these details if you are unsure on how to add those. Details For Your Domain Provider Word From The Experts When you submit a request, this is received by a report technician. We will first of all check the domain entires, and only once these are correct can we apply your domain to the account. We would suggest using a tool such as DNSChecker or similar, to ensure your domain entries have been added correctly, in order to speed up your domain application https://dnschecker.org/

Get SupportYour first stop for troubleshooting should always be the Admin CP. Once logged in, head to the Support section, which will take you to the support dashboard. This can be found in the following location in your Admin CP. System -> Support - >Get Support. (Or by selecting Quick Links in the top right) Support Dashboard This area contains a number of built-in tools designed to help identify and resolve issues with your site. Any issues are noted at the side of the relevant items, as seen in the image above. Clicking on "Fix This" will provide you with more information on how to fix the issue in question. Know The Difference Its important to understand the difference between items shown in the support dashboard. Depending on severity shown, there are some issues which should be immediately addressed Critical issues - If there are critical issues that are showing in these area, you should address those immediately. These may be items such as incompatible items on the server, security patches, or upgrades which need to be run. Important issues - There are items which, while should be looked at, do not dall into the category of being critical. Things such as 3rd party item upgrades being available, or recommending of a higher server component (PHP version for example). Support LogsIn addition to issue reporting, this page also displays error information at the bottom in the form of a graph. A noticeable increase in errors can indicate a developing problem that needs attention. Various Available Logs The three error types shown are: Error logs These are expected errors that may still be shown to users, such as permission issues or unavailable resources. You’ll also find settings here that allow you to control how detailed this logging should be. System logs These relate to issues that would not occur during normal operation, such as database connection failures or unexpected application errors. Email logs These report any issues related to sending email from your community. Self Help ToolsAnd after reviewing the Health Dashboard, there are a few additional tools that may help resolve the issue. Starting here can often save you time in submitting a ticket, and often leading to self-resolution of issues. Word From The Experts If your issue relates to email or hosting and you’re using our environment, you can skip straight to submitting a support ticket. This allows us to investigate and resolve the issue for you as quickly as possible. Clear CacheOne of the first things you can try is clearing the system caches. You’ll find this option at the top of the Tools and Diagnostics section. Support Tools Disabling 3rd Party ItemsA key step in diagnosing issues is temporarily disabling any third-party customisations you have installed. The majority of issues we see in Invision Community are caused by custom themes, applications, ads etc, rather than the core software. It is therefore important you check these before continuing with anything further. You can disable these by entering the "Customizations Overview" link Customization Overview Disable all customisations using the button provided, then open your site in a new browser tab to see if the issue is resolved. If it is, you’ve confirmed that a third-party item is the cause. You can then re-enable items one at a time until the issue returns. Once identified, the problem should be reported to the developer of the affected item. Disabling Customizations Still Need Help?If you reach a point where none of the steps above resolve the issue, we recommend starting with our support community. The community is actively monitored and staffed by our team, making it a great place to get help and advice quickly. If your issue requires private information to be shared, or needs to be escalated to one of our developers, we can create a private support ticket on your behalf to ensure it’s handled securely and appropriately. Emailing SupportIf you need further assistance after that, you can contact us directly by email and our team will be happy to help. You can find links to both of these within your client area. Simply visit your client area, select your licence, and choose “Create Request”. Support Requests Client Area Classic - Self-HostedShould you require assistance for one of our classic licenses, where you are self-hosted, the following items should be observed when obtaining support All access details for your site should be updated within your client area, for the license in which you wish to obtain support. For any issues relating to mysql, php, email, or other environment questions, you would need to contact your hosting company, or person(s) who deal with your hosting environment Support for the Classic platform must be obtained via the support community. If a ticket is required, this will be created by our support team. Word From The Experts If you are unable to access your Admin CP on a self-hosted environment, you can try using recovery mode. In order to use this, add the following to a constants.php file, in your installations main directory <?php define('RECOVERY_MODE',True);Once this is added, you should be able to log into your Admin CP, and it will then disable all 3rd party items for you, allowing you access. To continue afterward, you need to remove the lines from your constants.php file.

Client Area Your Client Area is the central place where you manage everything related to your account. From here, you can manage your purchases with us, make payments, add contacts for your package for support, and generally stay in control of your client account with us. Below is an overview of the main areas you’ll find within your client area. Manage PurchasesWhen you first log into our client area, you’ll land on the Manage Purchases section. As shown in the screenshot above, you can see all of your active licences here. Manage Purchses Each item can be managed by clicking the "Manage this purchase" button on the right-hand side. Once inside a purchase, you’ll be able to view key details about your product, such as licensed URLs, renewal dates, keys and more. If you’d like to add additional items or services to your existing package, you can do this from the same area by selecting the “Manage your community” tab. OrdersThe Orders tab shows a full history of every order you’ve placed on our system. This includes new purchases, renewals, and any other transactions. Your Orders By clicking the "View Details" button next to an order number, you can see more information about that specific order, including the option to print your invoice or add a PO number. Order Details My DetailsThe "My Details" drop-down menu contains several areas where you can update and manage your account information. These are briefly outlined below: Personal Information Add or update details such as your telephone number and company name. Addresses Update your billing address and add any additional addresses required for your licences. Payment Methods Add and manage payment methods for purchases and renewals. If a valid payment method is saved, it will automatically be used for renewals. Account Credit Add credit to your account for purchasing IPS products. Please note that this credit cannot be used in the Marketplace — Marketplace credit must be added directly within your community. Alternative Contacts Add other people who are authorised to contact us on your behalf for billing, support, or both. You can also control which purchases they’re allowed to view. Change Email / Password Quick links to update your account email address or password. Network StatusThe Network Status tab shows the current health of our network. If there are any known issues or outages, they’ll be listed here along with relevant updates. You can also access this directly from the following URL, should the client area be affected - https://status.invisioncommunity.com/ Network Status Page

Welcome to Invision Community! When you visit your site for the first time, the very first thing you’ll want to do is log in to your Admin CP, using the account details that were emailed to you when your site was created. This initial account is part of the Administrator group, which by default has full access to all areas of your community and the Admin CP. Admin CPThe Admin Control Panel (referred to as the Admin CP) is the administration area of your community. This is where administrators manage all aspects of how the community itself is set up, and operated. Everything from basic settings, permissions, switching things on and off, and control how members interact with the site. Think of it as setup area for everything that happens in your community. First Login When you log into the Admin CP for the first time, you’ll be presented with the screen shown below. Quick Setup Skipping Quick Setup If you’d prefer to explore the Admin CP on your own, or you’re already familiar with how things work, you can safely skip this step using the link provided. Using the quick search mentioned in the section below can help you get to areas such as general configuration, and other items you would have set up in this quick configuration section. If you choose to continue, the quick setup will guide you through adding some key information about your site, such as your community name, logos, and other basic details. Quick Setup - Adding detail Quick Search Menu The Quick Search menu is one of the easiest tools to use in your Admin CP, along with being the most useful. One you’ll quickly learn to love! From here, you can search across the entire Admin CP, helping you do find things like : Search for specific settings Find Member accounts Lookup customer details like invoices or transactions Quickly navigate to specific areas such as the settings of a particular forum, gallery category, or club Admin Quick Search In Action Need to edit a member but can’t remember where to find them? Just type their name here. Looking for a specific setting but can’t recall which section it lives in? Search for it. Someone has asked you about an order and has the invoice number? Enter it and jump straight to it. Word From The Experts Quick search is not only a faster way for you to get around. It can also help you to find settings and functionality, when you are unsure of their location. Menu ReorderingYou can also reorder the main Admin CP menu to suit how you work. Menu items can be dragged into a different order, and if you move a section to the top level, it will become your default landing page when you log in. Reordering AdminCP Menu Items Small tweaks can make day-to-day admin work much quicker. DashboardThe Dashboard is usually the default page you’ll see when logging into the Admin CP (unless you’ve changed your menu order or access permissions). It provides a customizable overview of what’s happening across your community. You can add or remove widgets, and rearrange them to suit your own needs a community administrator Admin Dashboard This allows you to tailor the Dashboard so the most important information is always visible at a glance. There is one widget in particular that is important to note: Background ProcessesOne particularly important widget to be aware of is Background Processes. Certain actions within the community are handled in the background to keep everything running efficiently. These include things like: Sending bulk emails Notifying members of new activity, when there are quite a few to send Rebuilding content or search indexes after upgrades or other admin tasks Moving or deleting large amounts of content These tasks are queued, and intentionally built so you can continue using your community, while these are in progress. The Background Processes widget lets you monitor these tasks, see their progress, and check whether anything is still running. Background Process Dashboard Widget Admin CP NotificationsIn the top-right corner of the Admin CP, you’ll notice a notification bell icon. Notifications This highlights anything that may need your attention — such as system notices, errors, or events you’ve chosen to be notified about. Clicking the bell shows your current notifications. From here, you can: View the full list Jump directly to the relevant area Manage your notification preferences Notifications Panel Expanded Notification preferences are set per administrator by selecting Settings, so each admin can get notified of what is important to them . You can receive notifications for things like: New user registrations Members requiring validation Logged errors System or server issues Word From The Experts Some notifications are enabled by default in the admin CP, and cannot be deselected. This is intentional with notifications it is important that you see, and need to action at some point, such as important community updates You can choose what notifications you wish to recieve via the Admin CP notification area, or via email. Notification Settings