An @mention is a good way to call attention to another user, while also providing a link to that user's profile. The @mention feature can be used in:

• Announcements
• Blogs
• Comments
• Discussion posts
• Events
• Glossary terms
• Library Entries
• Volunteer Opportunities

NOTE: @mention functionality is compatible with Chrome, Firefox, Edge, IE 11, Safari, and the mobile view of the website. It's also available in the mobile app.

How do mentions work?

1. Initiate the @mention by typing "@" and then start typing the user's name. As you type, a list of suggested users will appear.

NOTE: Users who are opted out of the Directory will not appear in the suggestions, and profile privacy settings are respected.

2. Select the desired user from the list of suggestions and the @mention will become a hyperlink to the selected user's profile.

What happens after I mention someone?

When a user is @mentioned, they'll receive an email notification letting them know (as long as they can access the associated content). For example, if Eric is reading a thread about community management and thinks his colleague, John Doe, would be interested in participating in the thread, he could @mention John in a discussion reply. John would then receive an email notification that he was mentioned in Eric's discussion post, along with a link to the post so he can easily participate.

These notifications are sent to a user's profile Inbox (from your profile, click My Inbox to access it).

Other users can click John's @mention in the discussion post to view his profile.

NOTE:
1. An @mentioned user can remove the @mention link to their profile by hovering their cursor over the @mention and clicking Remove Reference in the pop-up.



2. If a user is @mentioned within content they don't have access to view, they will not receive an email notification.

Can I enable/disable the feature?

The @mentions feature is enabled, by default in all community sites.

• Super Admins cannot enable/disable this feature.

If you want to disable @mentions, create a case and request assistance from Higher Logic Support.

Customize the mentions email template

IMPORTANT: The information in this section is applicable to Super Admins only.

As mentioned above, users receive an email notification when they're @mentioned (as long as they can access the associated content). Super Admins can customize the @mention email template.

To do so:

1. In the Admin Toolbar, click Admin.

2. Navigate to Email > Email Management > Email Templates.

3. Select Comment Notification from the Category menu.
4. Click the Edit button associated to the @Mention Notification template and make your desired changes.

Customize the mention hyperlink color

You can customize the @mention hyperlink color to coincide with your organization's color scheme.

1. In the Admin Toolbar, click Site Options > Site Setup (right click for a new tab).

2. Click the Theme Editor tab.
3. Click the Edit button associated to the Theme that your Community site is using.

4. On the Color Picker tab, click Misc.
5. Scroll down to and update the @mentions Link Color and @mentions Hover Color attributes to your preferred color.

Special characters & alt codes in at-mentions

All characters are special, but some are more special than others.

The term "special characters" tends to encompass anything other than the standard English language:

• letters (A - Z) and
• numerals (0 - 9).

Even frequently used symbols (such as !, #, %, and a few others) are sometimes considered "special characters," despite the fact that they are regularly used in the English language.

You'll know this if you've ever tried to create a password and were alerted that you had to "include at least one special character."

Non-English languages and characters

But non-English languages have their own alphabets and their own standard letters, numerals, and a few regularly used symbols. Moreover, some of the letters have accents that actually guide pronunciation.

For example:

• the ñ has a tilde,
• the ç has a cedilla/cedille, and let's not forget
• the umlaut, the circumflex, and the grave accent!

Accented letters in at-mentions

If you use @mentions, you might have run into an issue when trying to use an accented letter because, regrettably, some standard (non-English-language) letters do not work with @mentions.

If an accented letter is any one of the first three characters in a person's name, the @mention validation will reject it before you can type the fourth letter.

NOTE: If the accented letter is in the fourth position or after (as in André) of your @mention, this isn't an issue.

Also, you cannot:

• paste an accented letter to create an @mention; it won't work.
• insert an accented letter from the editor; it won't work.

Alt codes to the rescue

There is hope, however, for those special people with "special characters" in their names…and for the people who want to @mention them! The trick is in alt codes.

Alt codes are, essentially, a series of characters that you type while holding the Alt key in order to produce a "special character."

EXAMPLE: To @mention Séraphine, type

@s

and then (on Windows) press and hold the Alt key while typing the numerals

1 3 0

This tells the editor to insert alt code #130, which is the lowercase accented letter e, é.

After you've gotten the é in there, type the remaining letters of Séraphine.

So go ahead and @mention Zoë, Seán, Mátyás, and Sørina and let them know that they are "special characters"!

Other alt codes

There are dozens of websites that list hundreds of alt codes, such as:

• https://tools.oratory.com/altcodes.html and
• https://altcodeunicode.com

TIP: If you use alt codes often, find a site that you like and bookmark it so you have easy access when you need it.

Integration write-backs

If your community is integrated with a third-party AMS/CRM database, some @mention activities can be written to that database during the standard activity-sync process.

• Navigate to Settings > External Content > Activity Sync in the Admin interface in order to manage writeback activities on the Subscriptions tab.

To learn about the activity-sync process, see Member Activity Sync.

Related articles

• @Mentions Report