How to Create Forums and Categories in PHPBB Forum
In this tutorial I will show you how to create your forums and categories in your PHPBB forum. When you installed the forum it gave you a test category and a test forum by default. Now you will need to create your categories and forums before you start advertising your forum.
Before you create forums you will need to create categories for your forums to go in. It is up to you how many categories and forums you create. You can only create a one category and many forums under that one category if you want to. But it’s up to you. So let’s begin.
Creating Categories and Forums in PHPBB
Login to the admin area of your forum. For those that don’t know how to login to the admin, you simply login as if you were logging in to the forum, then when it brings you back to the forum index, scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see where it says “Go to Administration Panel”, click that link. Now you should be in the admin section. On the left hand side of the admin panel you will see a row of links. Look under the Forum Admin category and click on the Management link.
In your main window you will see your Forum Administrator page. This page will show you your test category and test forum. Click the Delete link beside the Test Forum. On the next page click Move and Delete. Now click the “Click Here to return to Forum Administration” to return to the Admin Page.Once you have deleted the forum, click the Delete link beside the Test Category. On the next page click the Move and Delete button. Now click the “Click Here to return to Forum Administration” to return to the Admin Page.You must delete the forum before you can delete the category. Now you have deleted the forum and category so we can begin creating new ones.
Creating Categories in PHPBB
On the Forum Administrator page you should see one field where you can type in the name of your category. Type the name of your first category and click the Create New Category button. Now click the “Click Here to return to Forum Administration” to return to the Admin Page. On the Admin page you should see the category that you just created. To create another category, simply type the name in the category field and do the same thing we just did. Keep repeating those steps until you have all the categories created that you want.
Creating Forums in PHPBB
So you have created your categories, now it’s time to create your forums. On your admin page you will notice that between every category is a Create New Forum field. This is where you will enter the name of your new forum. So create a forum in one of your categories and click Create New Forum.
The next page will ask you for information about your new forum. The fields are:
Forum Name – If you wish to change the name of that forum you can do so in this field.
Description – Enter a short description about this forum. For example, who can post in it or what the forum is about.
Category – If you wish to change the category just drop down the box and select the category that you wish to use.
Forum Status – You can choose to lock or unlock this forum by selecting one of the options.
Auto-Pruning – You can enable this feature or disable it. This allows post to be removed that don’t have any activity after a certain amount of days. You can enter the number of days or you can just disable it. By default it is already disabled.
Once you are finished click the Create New Forum button. Now click the “Click Here to return to Forum Administration” to return to the Admin Page. Now you should see your forum name under the category that you created it under. To create more forums just follow the steps above. Continue repeating these steps until you have all the forums and categories that you want on your forum.
