openproject/docs/user-guide/forums/README.md

---
sidebar_navigation:
  title: Forums
  priority: 820
description: Create and manage a forum in OpenProject
keywords: forum, forums
---

# Forums

In the forum in OpenProject you can discuss topics in a project with the team: post questions, comment on it and document answers.

<div class="glossary">

**Forum** is defined as a module used to display forums and forum entries. The module has to be activated in the project settings and a forum has to be created in the Forums tab in the project settings to be displayed in the side navigation.

</div>

| Topic                                                    | Content                                                                      |
|----------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [Open a forum](#open-a-forum)                            | How to open an existing forum.                                               |
| [Create a new message](#create-a-new-message-in-a-forum) | How to create a new message in a forum.                                      |
| [Reply to a message](#reply-to-a-forum-message)          | How to add a reply to an existing forum message.                             |
| [Watch a forum](#watch-a-forum)                          | How to keep informed about changes in a forum, e.g. new messages or replies. |
| [Edit a forum message](#edit-a-forum-message)            | How to edit a message in a forum.                                            |
| [Delete a forum message](#delete-a-forum-message)        | How to delete a message within a forum.                                      |
| [Create a new forum](#create-a-new-forum)                | How to create a new forum.                                                   |
| [Manage forums](#manage-forums)                          | How to sort, edit or delete a forum.                                         |

## Open a forum

To work in the forum in OpenProject, select the menu item **Forums** in the project navigation.

![Forums module in OpenProject](openproject_user_guide_forums_module.png)

You will get a list of all existing forums within a project as well as a short description for it, the number of topics, messages as well as the last message within one forum.

Click on the Forum title to open an existing forum.

## Create a new forum

To create a new forum in your project, navigate to the **Forums** module in the left side menu and click the **+ Forum** button.

![A button to create a new forum in OpenProject](openproject_user_guide_forums_module_new_forum.png)

Enter a name and description for the new forum. Press the **Create** button so save the new forum.

![Create new forum in OpenProject](openproject_user_guide_forums_new_forum_create_form.png)

## Manage forums

If you want to change the order of the forums in your project, want to edit a forum, or delete a forum, go to the Forums overview list in your project.

1. Click the **arrows (up or down) to change the order** of the forums and sort them differently in the forum list in your project.
2. Click the **edit icon to change the name or description** of your forum.
3. Click the delete icon to **delete a forum** from your project.

![Manage forums in OpenProject](openproject_user_guide_forums_manage.png)



## Create a new message in a forum

To **add a new message** within an existing forum, click the green **+ Message** button on the top right of the selected forum.

![Add a forum message in OpenProject ](openproject_user_guide_forums_single_forum.png)

Enter the **subject of the message**.

You can choose whether the message should be **Sticky**. A sticky message always appears on top of the selected forum.

Select if a message should be **Locked**. Then it can no longer be edited or commented by the project team.

Enter a description which will then appears next to the message title in the forum. You can add a file if needed.

Click the **Create** button to create the new message for this forum.

![New forum message forum in OpenProject](openproject_user_guide_forums_new_message.png)

The **new forum message has been created**.

![New forum message in OpenProject](openproject_user_guide_forums_new_message_created.png)

> [!TIP]
> Changes you made are saved locally. If you navigated away from page or  could not save your changes due to a technical difficulty, you can  access latest changes via the editor toolbar.

![Locally saved draft in OpenProject forum message](openproject_user_guide_forums_draft_saved_locally.png)

## Reply to a forum message

To add a **reply to an existing message** in a forum, click on the Subject in order to open the message.

Underneath the forum message you want to reply to, you will directly see subject and message fields. Enter your **Message content** what you want to add as a reply to the existing message. You can choose to also **add a file** if needed.

Click the **Submit** button in order to save your reply message.

![Reply to a forum message](openproject_user_guide_forums_reply_form.png)

The reply has been added under the existing forum message.

![reply to existing forum message](openproject_user_guide_forums_reply_saved.png)

## Watch a forum

To keep informed about changes in a forum, e.g. new messages or new replies, you can add yourself as a **Watcher** of a forum.

[Open an existing forum](#open-a-forum) from the list.

You will get a list of all messages within this forum.

Click the **Watch** icon in the top right corner of the forum.

You will then be notified via e-mail according to your [e-mail notifications](../../user-guide/account-settings/#notification-settings) about new messages and replies in a forum.

![Watch a forum in OpenProject](openproject_user_guide_forums_watch.png)

The icon will then change to Unwatch.

### Watch a message

If you watch a forum you will automatically watch all messages within this forum. Alternatively, you can also **watch only certain messages** within a forum where you want to be informed about changes.

This way, you select the message first by clicking on the subject, and then click the Watch button on the top right corner in the message details.

![Watch a forum message in OpenProject](openproject_user_guide_forums_watch_message.png)

## Unwatch a forum

To unwatch a forum in order to not be informed via e-mail about new messages and replies in a forum, click the **Unwatch button** on the top right of the forum.

![Unwatch a forum in OpenProject](openproject_user_guide_forums_unwatch.png)

### Unwatch a message

The same applies to **unwatch a message**. Just select the message first which you do not want to watch any longer and click the **Unwatch** button.

## Edit a forum message

To **edit a message in a forum** select the message from the forum and in the message details click the **Edit** button in the top right corner of the message.

![Edit a forum message in OpenProject](openproject_user_guide_forums_edit_message_button.png)

The message details will then be opened. You can make your changes  and click the **Save** button.



## Delete a forum message

To **delete a message in a forum**, select the message which you want to delete and press the **Delete** button in the top right corner of the message details.

![Delete a forum message in OpenProject](openproject_user_guide_forums_delete_message.png)