XenForo How-To: The Basics

New to XenForo? In this thread, I'll be sharing instructions for how to handle basic forum tasks.

Glossary
XenForo uses some terms that are slightly different from vBulletin (and other forums). Here are some key ones to be aware of:

• Messages – These are what vBulletin calls “posts”. Your number of posts will be migrated over to become your current number of messages.
• Alerts – These replace vBulletin’s “notifications”. You’ll see an Alerts menu at the top right of the page when you’re signed in (next to your profile information). Here you’ll see notifications on threads and forums you’re watching, and you can manage your alert preferences from here.
• Conversations – These are private messages you have with other users.

 

How to Log in
The login/sign up button is at the top right (there’s also a larger, orange button a bit below the header). Input your username and password and make sure to check “Stay logged in” in case you don’t want to enter your password each time you start a new session.

 

How to View Threads
Click on any forum title to view the threads in that forum. You’ll see the name of each thread, who started that thread and when, the number of replies and views, and the name of the last contributor to the thread (and when that contribution occurred).



Click on the date below last message to be taken directly to the latest message in the thread.


Hover over the thread title to view the number of pages in the thread. You can then click on any of those page numbers to be taken directly to that page in the thread.

 

How to View New Posts/Activity
If you want to see what’s new across all forums, click on New Posts in the sub-menu under Forum in the main menu.


Here you’ll see a list of all threads with unread messages; somewhere on the list you’ll see a note that says “Threads below this have not been updated since your last visit but have unread messages.” This means that anything above this note is new since your last visit.


If you just want a straight list of the most recent posts, click “Recent Posts” at the top right on that New Posts page.

 

How to Start a Thread
To start your own thread, go to any forum and click the orange “Post New Thread” button.


You can then add a thread title and add content to the first post and click “Create Thread”. You can choose whether to watch a thread and receive email notifications when there are new responses.


How to Add A Post in a Thread
Adding a new post to a thread is very similar to creating a thread, except you don’t create a thread title first. Simply go down to the bottom of the thread and you’ll find a Post Reply input box. The “More Options” button allows you to Preview the post and sign up for thread notifications.

 

How to Create a Poll
If you’d like to add a poll to your thread, you can use the Post a Poll option when creating a thread. Add a Question and add responses in the appropriate fields, then click Create thread.

 

How to Format Your Posts
The toolbar includes any formatting you should need, including lists, smilies/emoticons, and code display.

Note: XenForo displays only BBcode (all old posts have been converted from HTML). You can find a list of relevant BBcode formatting in the help pages here: http://forum.brighthand.com/help/bb-codes

To add an image to your post, you have two options:

1. Insert from a URL. Click the image icon in the toolbar to insert an image directly from a URL.

2. Upload an image from your computer.
a. Click the orange “Upload a File” button below the post box. A window will pop up allowing you to navigate to the file on your computer.

b. Once you’ve selected the file, you will see it under the Attached Files section. You can then choose to insert it as either a thumbnail or a full-size image. (Note: If you see a blank image, you may need to refresh the page.)
c. Click either and the image should appear in your post (or BBcode for image insertion). If you already have an image code in mind, you can use the code to add it in.

To add video to your post, click the Media icon and add a video URL (YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Dailymotion, Liveleak, Metacafe) and click “Embed”.

To insert spoilers into your post:

1. Click the Insert icon and choose “Spoiler”.
2. Choose a Spoiler title if desired (you can leave it blank) and click "Continue".
3. Add your actual spoiler text within the SPOILER tags in your post.

To insert a code block into your post:

1. Click the Insert icon and choose “Code”.
2. Choose a language (HTML, PHP) or just leave as “General Code” and add your code in the input box.
3. Click “Insert” to see your code block in your post.

You can preview your post by clicking the orange “Preview” button.

 

How to Quote Other Users’ Posts
If you’re in a thread and want to reply specifically to another user’s post, use the “Reply” link at the bottom right of the post. This will start a new post with that user’s post quoted. You can then add any additional information you want and submit your reply.

 

How to Multi-Quote Other Users’ Posts
If you want to include multiple other posts within your post, use the Multi-Quote option. Go through a given thread and click the “+Quote” link on all the posts you want to include in your response.


Once you click it it will show with a “-Quote” (you can click again to de-select).

Once you’ve selected all of the quotes, go down to the bottom of the thread and click “Insert Quotes…” in the Post Reply box. A box will pop up with all the quotes you’ve selected, which you can re-order if desired.

Click insert and you’ll see the quotes in your post.

 

How to Watch a Forum for New Threads
Want to know when new threads are created in a certain forum? Click the “Watch Forum” link at the top of any forum. You’ll then have the option to select the notifications you want to receive, and how – via email (notifications of new threads will come immediately after they are posted) or via alerts (alerts will update at the top right of the forum, next to your profile info and inbox).


How to Watch a Thread for New Posts
If you just want to know when a certain thread is updated, you can click “Watch Thread” at the top of that thread and choose whether you’ll receive email notifications or not (if not, notifications will be given to you as alerts). You can also sign up to watch a thread via the “More Options” button when making a post.