Zoho Support
Support Help

Forums Add-on

Forum is an online community which enables your customers to share and discuss ideas, issues, best practices, etc, in an existing or new thread. Every new topic can be converted to a request and be assigned to a specific department.

Start Building Your Customer Community with Zoho Support Forums Add-On!

  1. How to activate Forums Add-On?
  2. How to create a new Forum?
  3. Can I configure the Language and Time Zone for the Forums?
  4. Can I set permissions for the Forum?
  5. Can the forums be Moderated?
  6. How can a Support Rep create, reply and view the forum posts?
  7. How can a Customer create, reply and view the forum posts?
  8. How to manually create a request for a topic in the forum?
  9. Can I automatically create a request when a topic is posted in the Forum?
  10. I replied a Request which was created for a topic from the Forum. Does this post a reply in the forum too?
  11. What happens to a Support Request when its corresponding Topic or a Reply Post is deleted in the Forums?
  12. How can I change the department associated to a forum?
  13. How can I add a Sub-Forum under an existing Forum?
  14. How do I edit a Sub-forum?
  15. How do I delete a Sub-forum?
  16. I am unable to create more than one Forum. Why?
  17. I have activated Forums Add-on. Can I chose to show/hide forum in the Customer Support Portal?

1. How to activate Forums Add-On?

To activate Forums for your subscription,

  1. Log into Zoho Support.
  2. Goto Setup > Customer Portal Settings > Forums Configuration
  3. In the Forums Configuration Page, click Activate Forums Add-On Trail .

2. How to create a new Forum?

Once Forums Add-On is activated for your subscription, you will be directed to Enable Forum page.

  1. In the Enable Forum page, you can see the ' Enable Discussions Forum ' pre-checked.
  2. Give a suitable name to your forum in the Forum Name field (no space should be provided while filling this field)
  3. Provide a brief description about your forum in the Forum Description field.
  4. Choose a Department, to which the tickets created from the forum posts should be mapped.
  5. You can convert all forum post into support request automatically. To enable this option, check the tick-box next to Convert Forum Posts to Support Requests .
  6. Click Save .

3. Can I configure the Language and Time Zone for the Forums?

The Language and Time Zone for Forums is by default set to follow your Zoho Support settings. If you still need to configure these, please do the following:

  1. Goto Setup > Customer Portal Settings > Forums Configuration
  2. Click a Forum Name to display the settings for it.
  3. Under the heading ' Forums Language & Time Zone ', choose your preferred language and a Time Zone to be followed.
  4. Click Save .

4. Can I set permissions for the Forum?

Yes, you can set the following permissions in the forum.

  • Who can view the topics in the forum.
  • Who can create a new topic in the forum.

To configure the forum permissions, please do the following:

  1. Goto Setup > Customer Portal Settings > Forums Configuration
  2. Click a Forum Name to display the settings for it.
  3. Under the heading 'Forum Permissions', choose who can View the topics in the Forum.
    • Everyone (Includes Admins, Support Reps, Registered Customers and also anonymous users who are visiting the Customer Self Service Portal)
    • Logged in Users Or Agents
  4. Also choose who can Create a new topic in the Forum.
    • Logged in Users
    • Moderators Only
  5. Click Save .

5. Can the forums be Moderated?

Yes, you can chose who can be a moderator for a forum and also configure whose post need to be moderated.

To configure Moderation settings for a forum, please do the following,

  1. Goto Setup > Customer Portal Settings > Forums Configuration
  2. Click a Forum Name to display the settings for it.
  3. Under the heading ' Moderations ', choose who can moderate the topics in the Forum.
    • All Admins
    • All Admins & Support Reps
  4. Also choose whose post needs to be moderated.
    • None
    • Everyone

    When you chose to moderate all the posts in the forum(select Everyone), a new dialog box opens where you can set the moderation frequency of the Forum posts.

  5. Select a moderation preference between,
    • Moderate First Post only
    • Moderate Every Post
  6. Click Save .

6. How can a Support Rep create, reply and view the forum posts?

  • Support Reps can create a new post in a forum by accessing the Forums tab in the Support portal. In the forums, they need to click New Topic located on the right panel.

In the following page, they can describe the topic, chose a sub-forum, add attachments, check notification option and publish.

  • Support Reps can post a reply both in the forums view and the request view (when a topic is converted to a request).
    • In the forums view, the Support Reps can chose a topic for which they intent to reply and then click Reply to this Topic to provide their inputs.
    • In the Request detail view, Support Reps needs to click Post Reply to write a reply.
  • Support Reps can view the forum posts by clicking on Forums tab in the Support Portal. By default, forums view is set to list the recent topics posted in the forum.

7. How can a Customer create, reply and view the forum posts?

  • Customers can create a new post in a forum by accessing the Forums tab in the Customer Self Service Portal. In the forums, they need to click New Topic located on the right panel. In the following page, they can type a topic (title & description), chose a sub-forum, add attachments, check notification option and publish.
  • Customers can post a reply in the Forums view from their Customer Self Service Portal. They can chose a topic for which they intent to reply and then click Reply to this Topic to provide their inputs.

  • Customers can view the forum posts by clicking on Forums tab in the Customer Self Service Portal. By default, forums view is set to list the recent topics posted in the forum.

8. How to manually create a request for a topic in the forum?

  • In the forum, click on a topic you wanted to convert into a request.
  • On the right hand panel, under the heading Post Actions, click Add as Support Request.

This would convert the post into a request in the Support portal. A Support Rep can reply to this request by clicking Post Reply located below the body of the text. Also forum posts converted into a request will be notified by a special icon in the Request list view.

9. Can I automatically create a request when a topic is posted in the Forum?

Yes, you can configure a forum to create a request when a new topic is being posted. To enable this feature, follow the steps mentioned below.

    • Goto Setup > Customer Portal Settings > Forums Configuration
    • In Forum Configuration page, check the Convert Forum post to Support Request option to enable this feature.

Now you can find the topics posted under the Forum being generated as Requests in the support portal. Also when you click on a topic which was converted into a request, you will be informed with a message like " This topic is added to Zoho Support " in the top right corner of the screen.

10. I replied a Request which was created for a topic from the Forum. Does this post a reply in the forum too?

Yes. When you reply a request which was created for a topic in the forum it would add a reply thread under the existing topic in the Customer Self Service Portal.

11. What happens to a Support Request when its corresponding Topic or a Reply Post is deleted in the Forums?

You would be notified in the request, when a topic or a reply in the forum is subjected to deletion.

    • When a Topic is deleted, you would be notified by the following message, "This Post is Deleted in the Forums".
    • When a Reply is deleted, you would be notified by the following message, "Deleted in Forums". This message will be displayed only on clicking the respective reply thread.

Note:

  • A topic or reply would not be removed from the request, though it has been deleted in the forum.

12. How can I change the department associated to a forum?

You can change the department that is previously associated to a forum. On changing the department, the requests previously created from the forum would not be visible in the new department. Moreover requests created after the change would be assigned to the new department.

To change the department, follow the instructions provided below:

  1. Goto Setup > Customer Portal Settings > Forums Configuration
  2. Click a Forum Name to display the settings for it.
  3. In the Department field, click Change Department tab.
  4. Select a department from the drop down list.
  5. Click Save .

13. How can I add a Sub-Forum under an existing Forum?

You can add multiple Sub-forums to a Forum. This helps you to group a set of topics with similar headings, but yet related to the parent Forum.

To add a Sub-Forum, do the following:

  1. Goto Setup > Customer Portal Settings > Forums Configuration
  2. Click Add Sub-Forum below the heading ' Number of Sub-Forums .
  3. On the Sub-Forum configuration page, provide a name for the Sub-forum you wanted to create.
  4. Click Add tab to save your settings.

You can find that a new Sub-forum has been created.

Alternatively you can click Manage Subforums which takes you to Sub-Forum Configuration page allowing you to add a new Sub-Forum. Please be noted that the Manage Subforums link would be shown only when you have atleast one sub-forum.

14. How do I edit a Sub-forum?

You can edit the Name of an existing Sub-forum. Please follow the directions below:

  1. Click Manage Subforums which takes you to the Sub Forums Configuration page.
  2. In this page roll-over your mouse on an Active Sub-forum you intend to edit and click on the Edit tab when highlighted.
  3. Provide a new Name for the Sub-forum and click Save to close.

15. How do I delete a Sub-forum?

A . When you have more than one Sub-forum:

Roll-over your mouse on an Active Sub-forum you intend to delete and click on the Delete tab when highlighted

  1. To delete all topics under that Sub-forum, click the Delete tab directly.
  2. To retain the topics by moving it to another Sub-forum,
    • Select Move Topics to another Sub-forum option and choose a Sub-forum from the drop down list.
    • Click Move to delete the Sub-forum.

B . When you have a single Sub-forum:

Roll-over your mouse on the Active Sub-forum you intend to delete and click on the Delete tab when highlighted

    • Click Delete to delete the Sub-forum along with its topics.
    • Click Ok in the following dialog box to confirm your action.

16. I am unable to create more than one Forum. Why?

The trial option allows you to create only one forum for evaluation purposes. To add more than one, you need to purchase the Forums Add-on for your subscription. The Add-on would cost you $10 per forum/month.

17. I have activated Forums Add-on. Can I chose to show/hide forum in the Customer Support Portal?

On activating forums for your subscription you would be informed that it is not displayed in the Customer Portal.

To show or hide the forum in the Customer Portal,

    • Goto Setup > Customer Portal Settings > Customer Portal Access Settings
    • In the Customer Portal Access settings page, check the Display Forums in Customer Self Service Portal option to show forums in the Customer Portal.
    • Similarly uncheck the option to hide forums in the Customer Portal.

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