Q&A Forum Feature q-a-forum-feature

CAUTION
AEM 6.4 has reached the end of extended support and this documentation is no longer updated. For further details, see our technical support periods. Find the supported versions here.

Introduction introduction

The QnA (questions and answers) forum feature provides an area for community members to ask and answer questions:

  • Create new questions
  • Inline images (with support for drag and drop)
  • View and answer questions
  • Search for a question
  • Help moderate the QnA content
  • Identify best answers
  • Move QnA questions from one page to another

This section of the documentation describes

  • Adding the QnA forum feature to an AEM site
  • Configuration settings for the QnAcomponent

Adding a Q&A Forum to a Page adding-a-q-a-forum-to-a-page

To add a QnA component to a page in author mode, use the component browser to locate Communities / QnA and drag it into place on a page where the QnA forum should appear.

For necessary information, visit Communities Components Basics.

When the required client-side libraries are included, this is how the QnA component will appear:

chlimage_1-280

Configuring QnA configuring-qna

Select the placed QnA component to access and select the Configure icon which opens the edit dialog.

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Settings tab settings-tab

Under the Settings tab, specify settings for topics (questions) and replies (answers):

  • Topics Per Page
    Defines the number of questions/posts shown per page. Default is 10.

  • Moderated
    If checked, posting of topics and comments must be approved before they will appear on a publish site. Default is unchecked.

  • Closed
    If checked, the forum is closed to new questions and comments. Default is unchecked.

  • Rich Text Editor
    If checked, topics and comments may be entered with markup. Default is unchecked.

  • Allow Tagging
    If checked, allow members to add tag labels to their post (see Tag field tab). Default is unchecked.

  • Allow File Uploads
    If checked, allow file attachments to be added to the question or comment. Default is unchecked.

  • Max File Size
    Relevant only if Allow File Uploads is checked. This field will limit the size (in bytes) of an uploaded file. Default is 104857600 (10 Mb).

  • Allowed File Types
    Relevant only if Allow File Uploads is checked. A comma separated list of file extensions with the “dot” separater. For example: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .doc, .docx, .pdf. If any file types are specifed, then those not specified will not be allowed to be uploaded. Default is none specified such that all file types are allowed.

  • Max Attach Image File Size
    Relevant only if Allow File Uploads is checked. Maximum number of bytes an uploaded image file may have. Default is 2097152 (2 Mb).

  • Allow Following
    If checked, include the following feature for forum posts, which allows members to be notified of new posts. Default is unchecked.

  • Allow Pinning
    If checked, forum topics may be pinned to the top of the list of topics. Default is unchecked.

  • Allow Email Subscriptions
    If checked, allow members to be notified of new posts by email (subscription). Requires Allow Following to be checked and email configured. Default is unchecked.

  • Allow Replies
    If checked, allow replies to comments posted to the question. Default is unchecked.

  • Allow Users to Delete Comments and Topics
    If checked, allow members to delete the comments and questions they posted. Default is unchecked.

  • Allow Voting
    If checked, include the Voting feature with a question. Default is unchecked.

  • Move Selected Answer To The Top
    If checked, first answer shown is a selected answer. Default is checked.

  • Display Badges
    If checked, display earned and assigned badges with a member’s blog entry. Default is unchecked.

  • Allow Featured Content
    if checked, the idea is able to be identified as featured content. Default is unchecked.

User Moderation tab user-moderation-tab

Under the User Moderation tab, specify how the posted topics (quetions) and answers (user generated content) are managed. For more information, see Moderating User Generated Content.

  • Deny Answers
    If checked, trusted member moderators will be allowed to deny posted answers and prevent the answer from appearing on the public Q&A forum. Default is unchecked.

  • Close / Reopen Topics
    If checked, trusted member moderators may close a question (topic) to further edits and answers, and may also reopen a question. Default is unchecked.

  • Move Topics
    If checked, allow publish-side moderators to move questions. Default is unchecked.

  • Flag Posts
    If checked, allow members to flag others’ questions or answers as inappropriate. Default is unchecked.

  • Flag Reason List
    If checked, allow members to choose, from a drop-down list, their reason for flagging a question or answer as inappropriate. Default is unchecked.

  • Custom Flag Reason
    If checked, allow members to enter their own reason for flagging a question or answer as inappropriate. Default is unchecked.

  • Moderation Threshold
    Enter the number of times a question or answer has to be flagged by members before moderators are notified. Default is 1 ( one time).

  • Flagging Limit
    Enter the number of times a question or answer has to be flagged before it is hidden from public view. If set to -1, the flagged question or answer is never hidden from public view. Else, this number must be greater than or equal to the Moderation Threshold. Default is 5.

Tag field tab tag-field-tab

Under the Tag field tab, the tags which may be applied, if allowed under the Settings tab, are limited according to namespaces chosen.

  • Allowed Namespaces
    Relevant if Allow Tagging is checked under the Settings tab. The tags which may be applied are limited to those within the namespace categories checked. The list of namespaces includes “Standard Tags” (the default namespace) as well as “Include All Tags”. Default is none checked, which means all namespaces are allowed.

  • Suggestion Limit
    Enter the number of tags to be displayed as a suggestion to the member posting to the forum. A value of -1 means no limits. Default is 0.

Sort Settings tab sort-settings-tab

Under the Sort Settings tab, specify how the posted comments are sorted when displayed.

  • Sort By
    Check all allowed sort selections: Newest, Oldest, Last Updated, Most Viewed, Most Active, Most Followed and Most Liked. Default is Newest, Oldest, Last Updated.

  • Set as Default
    Pull down to select one of the checked sort options to appear as the default. Default is Newest.

  • Select Time Options for Analytics Sorting
    Pull down to select one of All, Last 24 Hours, Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days. Default is All.

Site Visitor Experience site-visitor-experience

Identifying Answers identifying-answers

One answer can be marked as a correct or useful answer using the Select Answer button. Once a Question is marked as Answered, another answer cannot be selected until the first one has been unselected using the Unmark Chosen Answerbutton.

Once selected as a viable answer, it may be unselected using the Unmark Chosen Answer button.

Once an answer is selected as the viable answer, an indication that the question has been Answeredis displayed next to the question topic on the main QnA page.

Moderators and Administrators moderators-and-administrators

When the signed in user has moderator or administrator privileges, they are able to perform the moderation tasks permitted by the configuration of the component, regardless of who authored the question or answer.

They also have the ability to identify answers.

Members members

When the site visitor is signed in, depending on the configuration, they may

  • Post a new question
  • Edit or delete questions they authored
  • May also flag others’ questions or answers
  • May identify answers for questions they authored

Anonymous anonymous

Site visitors who are not signed in may only read posted questions and answers, translate them if supported, but may not add neither a question nor answer, nor flag others’ posts.

Additional Information additional-information

More information may be found on the QnA Essentials page for developers.

For moderation of posted topics and comments, see Moderating User Generated Content.

For tagging posted topics and comments, see Tagging User Generated Content.

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