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Creating a community to encourage collaboration

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

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, based on how restrictive it is:

    Access type How can people join? Who can see this community? More information
    Public to My Organization People can join without approval or invitation Anyone in my organization Multiple public communities cannot have the same name.
    Moderated People must request to join Anyone in my organization Multiple moderated communities cannot have the same name.
    Restricted and unlisted People must be invited to join Hidden from anyone who is not a member Multiple restricted communities can have the same name.
    Restricted but listed People must be invited to join Anyone in my organization can see only the community's logo, name, description, and owners Multiple restricted communities can have the same name.

    Note: There are a few more limitations 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.

  • To start a community:

  • From the navigation bar, click Communities.

  • Click Create a Community and then Create a New Community.

  • Enter the details of your community. The most important is the Community Type, which defines the community's access level. See the previous table for more information.

    Tip: For the Restricted community type, if you want the details of the community listed, select the checkbox for Let anyone in my organization see this community's logo, name, description and owners. If you're not sure, you can always change this setting after you create the community. For more information, see Changing your community's access level.

  • Select a template for your community.

  • To add members, enter their names or email addresses and click the Add Members button Add members button.

    Tip: You can always add more members later by using the Members tab in the community page. For more information, see Adding or removing members.

  • Optionally, add tags and a URL short name for your community.

  • Click Create.

Now give members the tools they need to be productive by adding apps to your community.

Parent topic:Getting started

Related information

Changing your community's access level

Adding members to grow your community

Managing your community to keep it relevant