One of the first things you should do when setting up Ideation for your community site is configure its settings. The settings determine many aspects of your users' Ideation experience and can influence the degree to which your users engage with the feature.
For example, consider and set:
- what "ideas" will be called (e.g., "suggestions"? "feedback"?) on your site;
- which users can submit ideas; and
- which users can edit, vote for, and comment on submitted ideas.
This article describes how to access the Ideation Settings page and provides helpful information about the settings.
TIP: Some Ideation settings let you set permissions that are based on Security Groups, which you can learn about in Understand Security Groups and Manage Security Groups.
Access Ideation settings
To access the Ideation settings:
- In the Admin Toolbar, click Admin.
- Navigate to Feedback > Ideation > Settings.
The Ideation Settings page has the following sections.
- Global Ideation Settings
- Ideation Home
- Community-Specific Ideas
These sections are described in dedicated sections below, and each section has a table that describes the settings and provides guidance when applicable.
You must scroll to the bottom of the Ideation Settings page and click Save to apply your settings.
Global Ideation Settings
The settings in this section are "high-level" and apply to the user experience for all those who engage with Ideation on your site.
The following table describes the Ideation settings that are available in this section.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Ideation Name | You can accept the default name, Ideation, or customize the name of the module so that:
NOTE: This displays as the title of the Ideation home page on your site. |
| Idea Name/Idea Name Plural | You can accept the default (singular and plural) labels, Idea and Ideas, or customize the nomenclature of "ideas" for your site. For example, "Suggestion" and "Suggestions" or simply "Feedback" as the singular and plural labels.
NOTE: The singular label is used on the "Create" button (on the Ideation home page), and in the title of and the "submit anonymously" option of the "Submit" dialog that the "Create" button opens. NOTE: The plural label is used for Community tabs, as shown. |
| Description | You can specify up to 500 characters to display on the Ideation home page. TIP: This is a great way to explain the purpose of the module and provide submissions guidance to users. |
| Allow anonymous submissions | Check the box to have the "Submit anonymously" checkbox display (on the "Submit" dialog) to users who submit ideas. The submitting user's linked name is replaced with "By: Anonymous Member" on the idea card on the Ideation home page and on the idea's Details page.
NOTE: If the author is a non-Admin user, the idea is not associated to them and they will not be able to edit the idea. |
| Allow downvotes | Check the box to enable the "thumbs down" (i.e., down-vote) button on submitted-idea cards on the Ideation home page. If this is unchecked, the "thumbs down" button does not display but the "thumbs up" button remains. |
| Set Category as a required field | Check the box to make it mandatory for users to assign a Category (on the Submit Idea dialog) when submitting an idea. If unchecked, ideas can be submitted without a Category being selected. |
Ideation Home
The settings in this section apply specifically to actions that non-Admin users can take on ideas in your account.
NOTE: These actions are always available to all Super Admins in your account.
For all other users, the actions are:
- permissions-based and
- controlled by the out-of-the-box and site-specific Security Groups that are assigned to them. Refer to the image below for examples.
Notes
- These settings apply only to ideas that are not associated to a community.
- If the Set Community as a required field box (in the Community-Specific Ideas section, below) is checked, these settings are ignored.
The following table describes the Ideation settings that are available in this section.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Who can view submissions? | Click into the field to choose who can view submissions. Click an entry's X to remove that entry.
NOTE: If the field is blank, Super Admins and Site Admins of the current microsite can view submissions. |
| Who can submit? | Click into the field to choose who can submit ideas. Click an entry's X to remove that entry.
NOTE: If the field is blank, Super Admins and Site Admins of the current microsite can submit ideas. |
| Who can vote? |
Click into the field to choose who can vote on submitted ideas. Click an entry's X to remove that entry.
NOTE: The Public Security Group is not available for voting. NOTE: If the field is blank, Super Admins and Site Admins of the current microsite can vote on idea submissions if they are in a Status that has Open for Voting enabled. |
| Who can comment? |
Click into the field to choose who can comment on submitted ideas. Click an entry's X to remove that entry.
NOTE: The Public Security Group is not available for commenting. NOTE: If the field is blank, Super Admins and Site Admins of the current microsite can comment on idea submissions. |
| Who can edit ideas? | Click into the field to grant additional Ideation-management permissions to non-Admin users, by Security Group. You can select more than one Security Group. Click a Security Group's X to remove that group. NOTE: If the field is blank, Super Admins and Site Admins of the current microsite can edit/manage idea submissions. If the author of the idea submitted the idea anonymously, that author cannot edit that idea. |
Community-Specific Ideas
The settings in this section apply specifically to the Community that is selected on the "Submit" dialog when an idea is submitted.
Notes
When submitting an idea, users can associate an idea to any community i) that they belong to and ii) that has Ideation enabled.
The associated community's View permissions are honored and:
- supersede the Who can view submissions? setting in the Ideation Home section above, and
- apply when community-specific ideas display on the Ideation home page.
The following table describes the Ideation settings that are available in this section.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Set Community as a required field | Check the box to make it mandatory for a user to associate a Community when submitting an idea. If unchecked, ideas can be submitted without a Community being selected.
NOTE: This setting (checked or unchecked) does not apply to Super Admins; they are not required to associate a Community to an idea. |
| Who can vote? | Choose who can vote on ideas. You can choose:
|
| Who can comment? | Choose who can comment on ideas. You can choose:
|
| Community Admins can mark their comment as an official response | Check the box to allow Community Admins to mark responses (including their own) as "official response." If unchecked, Community Admins cannot mark any response as "official." |
| Community Admins can edit ideas within their community | Check the box to allow Community Admins to edit ideas' Status, Community, and Categories, and to Delete ideas, but only in communities in which they are a Community Admin.
NOTE: Super Admins can access deleted ideas in the Deleted view of the Ideation > List page. |
Related articles
- Ideation Overview details how Ideation gathers user ideas and feedback from your Community members.
- Ideation Statuses provides information on how to set up and manage statuses for idea submissions.
- Ideation Reports