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This article aims to give an overview of the three groups types we currently offer: Public, Private and Hidden groups.

The main differences between the groups types are around the visibility settings and how users can become members.

Public groups are available to all our customers.

Private and hidden groups are available to customers with  business and enterprise packages.

 

Overview of the visibility settings of each group type:

 

The below table describes which users that can see each group type in destination. Also the type of users that can see the content within groups aka members and topics. 

 

 Who can see the group exists in destination? Who can see the group members and topics?
Public group Anyone Anyone
Private group Anyone Control users and members only 
Hidden group

Control users and members only 

 Control users and members only 

 

Controls users = moderators, community managers and admins.

 

Overview of the different join methods of each group type:

 

Users can become members of groups using different methods, either:

  • They directly join on destination by clicking "Join" on the group detail page
  • They use a universal invite link
  • They are sent a personal invitation email
  Joining from destination Invite links Invitation emails
Public group

Available

Any registered user can join from destination and become a member without approval.

Available

Any registered user can join using invite links

Available

Any user receiving a personal invitation can join
Private group

Available

Any registered user can request to join.

Only approved users will become members

Available

Any registered user can join using invite links

Available

Any user receiving a personal invitation can join
Hidden group NOT available NOT available

Available

Any user receiving a personal invitation can join

 

Learn more about how to invite users to groups here

 

Recommendations when to use what groups type:

  • Public groups are most often interested or location based. You should create a public group if no sensitive information is discussed and you wish to have as many registered users join this group.
  • Private groups are quite close to public group as the are often interested or location based. You should create a private group if you wish to have as many registered users join this group BUT you also want to make sure they meet a certain criteria (for example: are part of a program, are from a specific industry...)
  • Hidden groups are the most secure option. Hidden groups are used to discuss topics that should not be seen by anyone. You should create a hidden group if you want only specific users to know the existence of that group and be members of that group. For example: Super users groups, VIP groups, employee groups...

 

Editing the group type

 

You can change the group type of an existing group. Check out the below KB article to find out more:

 

Hi @Marion Frecaut! This is perfect timing! I just tested creating a hidden group and it works great. But when I try to create a new topic, that group doesn’t show up as a place I add it to. Only the public groups show up here:

It doesn’t show up in the backend either when creating a topic. Am I missing something?

Thanks!

Hello @nicksimard thanks a lot for spotting this. We also spotted this bug yesterday and it's now fixed. Can you let me know if it's working properly for you now?

Hi @Marion Frecaut it’s visible now 🙂 Thanks for the quick fix!

@Marion Frecaut is there a reason that the “Create New Topic” button no longer lists the hidden groups as a location for new topics? It seems to force users to have to go to the group to create new content vs. enabling them to do it site-wide from anywhere and post to the relevant category. Not sure if this was intentional or an oversight.

Hello @Scott Baldwin that is definitely a bug, this used to work :grimacing: . We are on it to solve this as soon as possible! Thanks again for spotting it

@Scott Baldwin we have now fixed this bug!

Thanks @Marion Frecaut works perfectly now.

Another find @Marion Frecaut.

When you create an event there is no way to publish that event to a hidden group, only a private group Is there any plans to change this so an event can be shared with a hidden group?

Hello @Scott Baldwin we know this is something missing at this stage. You may have also noticed that you can't publish events in public groups at this stage but only feature them. Overall we want to rework that process of publishing events in groups to make it better and improve overall the events module that is why we didn't rush to offer "Publishing events in groups".

However we will tackle it when it's the good time :)

@Marion Frecaut not so worried about publishing vs. featuring, but can’t seem to even feature an event in a hidden group.

Hello @Scott Baldwin thanks for raising this. It seems I can't replicate this bug. 

Right now if I go to the group detail page in Control and feature an event in the "Featured topics"it works well. If you can replicate the bug on your side could you create a ticket for our support team so we can investigate further? Thanks a lot for your help on this

 

@Marion Frecaut it is back and working today so will skip the ticket. The other day the featured topics weren’t appearing at all.

Thanks @Scott Baldwin for getting back to me. I will keep an eye for this :eyes:

Hi @Marion Frecaut I cannot see hidden groups anywhere in control

 

Am I missing something? 

 

Thanks 

Hello @Gabolino hidden groups are still in beta that is why you couldn't see the option. I enable them for you so now you should see the option. 
I'ld love to hear your feedback on it :)

Fantastic, I was about to create a group today after and a hidden group is a much better option than a private group for my use case. Anything I should be aware of regarding the beta version?

Also, I assume that any content I create within that group can only be seen by the group members, rught?

Thank you. 

We are now pretty confident with this beta version, so I don't expect any issues 🙂 We are planning to officially release it soon. 

I can confirm that any content created within that group can only be seen by the group members :)

 

 

Brilliant. Thanks. 

I’ll keep you posted if we spot something. 

Hi folks, I’m setting up my groups for our community launch and I’ve noticed some strange behaviour. Groups that were once Public or Private, but have since been changed to Hidden, can still be selected as destinations for new topics from the Category field, even if they can’t see them otherwise. If they’re selected, the error “Category is not accessible for this user” is correctly displayed, but ideally I’d like not to have them appear in the dropdown at all. Is this a bug or just an error in my config?

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