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.

Procedure

To start a community take the following steps:
  1. From the navigation bar, click Communities.
  2. Click Start a Community > Start From New and complete the form.
  3. The most important field is the community's Access type:
    Table 1. Community access level options
    Access type Sub option How can people join? Who can see this community? More information
    Public None Either added by the owner or people can click Join This Community Anyone in the organization Multiple public communities cannot have the same name.
    Moderated None Either added by the owner or people must ask to join Anyone in the organization Multiple moderated communities cannot have the same name.
    Restricted None Added by the owner or invited to join Members only Multiple restricted communities can have the same name.
    Restricted Let anyone in my organization see the community's title, description, tags, and owners Added by the owner or invited to join Members only, but anyone in the organization can see the community that is listed in their Communities view. If this sub option is not set in a parent community, any subcommunities cannot have this set either.
    Restricted Allow people from outside of my organization to become members of this community Added by the owner or invited to join Members only. External communities are identified by an icon This community can have members from outside your organization.. Allow internal and external members. If you don't add external members, you can restrict this community type later to have internal members only.
    Note: There are a few more restrictions when you assign access:
    • If you create a restricted community and you do not select the Allow people from outside... check box, it is an internal community and no external users can be added to it.
    • You can't invite external users to join public or moderated communities.
  4. Click Access Advanced Features and start adding people by entering their names.
  5. Click Save.

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