This article...
- Details how to ask questions directly in the community site.
- Discusses how to answer questions in the thread in the community site and via an email notification from the community.
- Describes how to edit your own questions and answers.
- Explains how to indicate a question's "best answer" so that it is called out in the thread.
The Question & Answers (Q&A) feature encourages engagement among community users by offering them a place to:
- ask questions of their fellow community users and
- answer questions that their fellow community users ask.
You can ask questions and provide answers in two ways:
- directly in the community and
- via an email message.
Post a question in the community
NOTE: You must be a member of a community to post to it, unless it's a public community.
To post online:
- Navigate to a community and click the Questions tab.
NOTE: If the community has the Discussion and Q&A thread types enabled, this tab will be labeled Threads.
- Click Ask a Question.
NOTE: If the community has the Discussion and Q&A thread types enabled, this button will be labeled Start New Thread and you have to select Question to be answered on the Post a Message page.
- Complete the fields on the Post a Message page. You can type or paste your question and format it with options in the toolbar.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Subject | Provide a clear subject so users know what your question is about. |
| Automatically insert content preview for links |
If you paste a link to a web page in the editor, the system attempts
to capture a relevant image and promotional text for that page.
This is then used by the editor to create a preview for
the content in your post.
|
| Text field |
Type or paste your question here and use the options in the editor's
toolbar
to apply formatting, insert images and videos, etc.
See Content Editor to learn more about its features. |
| Attachments |
Click
Add attachment and browse to select files to
include with your question.
NOTE: Files attached via this method are automatically added to the community's Resource Library. |
- When finished, you can either:
- Click Send to post your question. Your question is included in the digests and real-time messages that are sent to community members.
- Click Save as Draft to save your question as a draft that you can finish later. Your work is also automatically saved as a draft whenever there is 10 seconds of inactivity.
NOTE: If the community is moderated, an Admin user must approve your question before it posts.
See Schedule & Draft Content to learn about scheduling and drafting contributions.
Real-time participation emails
If you've opted-in to real-time participation emails, you'll be notified via email when someone answers your question.
These participation emails ensure that you're immediately notified of the latest developments related to the content you've contributed.
See Participation Emails to learn more about this feature, including how to manually follow content and how to unsubscribe from participation emails.
Answer a question in the community
If you can answer a question posed by a community member, click Answer.
The Content Editor displays directly on the page so that you can answer inline without having to navigate away.
The Basic editor has a limited set of options, but you can click the ellipsis icon (...) to expand the Basic Plus editor which has additional formatting options.
Answer a question via email
If you're subscribed to a community, email notifications about new posts will be sent to you per your subscription type (e.g., Real Time, Daily Digest). It's from these emails, like the one below, that you can participate in a variety of ways.
Real-time notifications
When you receive real-time notifications, you can reply to the email in your email client. Your answer will be posted online in the community just like if you responded online, and other members will receive an email notification as well.
Digests
With digests, you cannot respond via email but you can click a thread to view it online (where you can respond) or click the links highlighted in the image below to view the question and its answers or initiate a post in the thread online.
NOTE: The default subscription email template configuration is shown and discussed below, so the available buttons and links in your emails may be different. Super Admins can update these templates on the Admin > Communities > Digest Configuration > Discussion Template page.
See Manage Your Community Notifications to learn about Discussion subscriptions and how to manage them.
Edit your question or answer
If you have posted a question or answered someone's question, you can edit that question or answer.
To do so:
- Navigate to the question or answer.
- Click the ellipsis icon (...) and select Edit from the menu.
You can also access all of your posts (and all your other contributions) right from your profile. Just click My Contributions > List of Contributions.
Mark As Best Answer feature
When someone asks a question, there's generally a reply that offers the best answer. To promote this answer, Super Admins, Community Admins, Community Moderators, and the thread's original poster can mark one of the answers as the best answer by selecting Mark As Best Answer from its ellipsis icon (...) menu.
NOTE: Only one answer at a time can be flagged as the best answer.
NOTE: You can clear a best answer by selecting Unmark Best Answer from the menu. Now, you can assign "best answer" to a different answer.
The "best answer" is:
- visually indicated so that other users know and
- automatically pinned to the top of the list.
In addition, the Jump to Best Answer link displays at the top of the page so that it is easily accessible. This is especially helpful for questions with a lot of text.