Creating a community to encourage collaboration

Create a community so that people have a shared hub where they can work on common goals. A community provides a way for users to stay in touch, share files, and exchange ideas.

Before you begin

With the Create Community wizard, you can start a community very quickly. It helps to decide a couple of things beforehand:

  • If you want to display a community logo, have an image ready to upload.
  • Decide which of the following community types fits your needs:
    Table 1. Options for community type
    Access type How can people join? Who can see this community? More information
    Public to my Organization People can click Join This Community Anyone in my organization Multiple public communities cannot have the same name.
    Moderated People must ask to join Anyone in my organization Multiple moderated communities cannot have the same name.
    Restricted People must be invited to join Hidden from anyone who is not a member Multiple restricted communities can have the same name.
    Note: There are a few more restrictions to do with user access:
    • Restricted communities that allow external users are identified by an icon This community can have members from outside your organization.. If you select to create a restricted community and do not select the Allow external users check box, the community will be internal and no external users can be added to it.
    • You can't invite external users to join public communities.
    Tip: Once you've created a restricted community, you can adjust its access setting to allow people to learn of and request access to the community. From the community, click Community Actions > Edit Community, Community Profile tab. Under Access, Restricted, select the check box for Let anyone in my organization see the community's title, description, tags, and owners. These details will now display the Discover view and in search results.

Procedure

To start a community take the following steps:
  1. From the navigation bar, click Communities and select My Communities from the list.
  2. Click the Create a Community button and select Create a New Community from the list.
  3. Follow the prompts in the wizard to provide community details and type, select a template, add members, and optionally choose some other settings. If allowing external members, make sure to use their email addresses to invite them.
    Note: You can always add more members later by using the Members tab in the community.
  4. Click Create.

What to do next

Now give members the tools they need to be productive. Click Community Actions to customize your community and add apps to it.