Install and configure bbPress

This section will help you set up your new bbPress-powered site. This section will go through installing and configuring your settings and importing forums to bbPress from another forum solution. The following are some guides to check out and get you started with bbPress

Installing bbPress

It is recommended that you take a backup before you install bbPress. Please read the the guides below and follow the step by step instructions:

Automatic Plugin Installation

  1. Log into your WordPress back-end.
  2. Go to Plugins > Add New.
  3. You will see bbPress part of the featured plugins and you can install from there, or you can type “bbPress” into the search bar and hit enter to search the plugins.
  4. Click Install Now.
  5. Now Activate the bbPress plugin.

Manual Plugin Installation

  1. Download bbPress from here
  2. Go to Plugins > Add New.
  3. Click Choose File then choose your the bbPress zip file you downloaded.
  4. Hit Install Now, now activate.
  5. Now Activate the bbPress plugin.

Configuring bbPress

Upon activation, bbPress will add menu items to the WordPress backend menu. These are:

  1. bbPress creates three custom post types and adds them to the navigation menu: Forums, Topics, and Replies. Use these menu items to create and manage your forums.
  2. A sub-menu found at Settings > Forums. Customize these settings for greater control over bbPress.
  3. The default URL slug of the forum if ‘/Forums’ and can be changed from Forum Root Slug under Settings > Forums

Styling bbPress

bbPress default style is overwritten by our theme in order to look nice and fit the design of the theme. Some styles are fixed but others are dynamic and inherited from the theme options panel. By changing all these options from Sway->Theme options will change bbPress styling too:

Make bbPress forum as homepage

  1. Create a new page
  2. Add the bbPress ShortCode for forum index: https://codex.bbpress.org/shortcodes/  which is [[bbp-forum-index]]
  3. Go to Settings/Reading and choose this new page as the default home page (instead of your blog).

Import bbPress dummy data

  1. Download dummy data file from here
  2. Go to Tools > Import.
  3. Go all the way down to where it says WordPress and click the link.
  4. If you haven’t installed the WordPress importer plugin already , click Install Now.
  5. Click the Choose File button , now select the file you just downloaded before.
  6. Click Upload file and import.
  7. You can now assign the posts to a specific user of your choice and check Import Attachments
  8. Now click Submit

User roles and capabilities

The default bbPress Roles are:

  • Keymaster – Can create, edit and delete other users’ forums, topics and replies. Can manage Tags, and moderate a forum with the moderation tools. Has access to global forum settings, tools, and importer.
  • Moderator – Can create and edit forums. Can create, edit and delete other users’ topics and replies. Can manage Tags, and moderate a forum with the moderation tools.
  • Participant – Can create and edit their own topics and replies.
  • Spectator – Can only read topics and replies.
  • Blocked – All capabilities are explicitly blocked.

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