Bulletin boards and forums are good old reliable tools to build online communities.
While there are plenty of open-source forum software, integrating a third-party forum with WordPress can be a mess. That’s where bbPress comes in.
In this article, we will show you how to easily add a forum in WordPress with bbPress.
What is bbPress?
bbPress is a forum software built the WordPress way. It runs on top of WordPress, which is the best website builder in the world.
Just like WordPress, bbPress is extensible, and you can install add-on plugins to add more functionality to your forums. It is also very light-weight and faster than other popular open-source forum software.
What You Need to Make an Online Forum with bbPress?
If you already have a WordPress website where you want to add a forum, then you can skip this section. On the other hand, if you are just getting started then continue reading.
First, you’ll need to sign up for a web hosting account. This is where you will store all the files for your online forum.
You’ll also need a domain name. This will be your website’s address on the internet and what users will type in their browsers to find your online forum.
Normally, website hosting costs $7.99 per month and domain name would cost you around $14.99 per year.
This is a lot of money if you are just getting started.
Luckily, Bluehost has agreed to offer WPBeginner users a discount on hosting with a free domain name. Basically, you’ll be able to get started for just $2.75 per month.
→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←
Bluehost is one of the biggest WordPress hosting companies in the world and an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.
Once you have signed up for hosting, you can follow our guide on how to make a website for complete installation instructions.
After setting up WordPress, you will be ready to install bbPress and start your own online community.
How to Install bbPress
bbPress is available as a WordPress plugin. You can install it like you would install any WordPress plugin.
Simply log in to your WordPress admin area and go to Plugins » Add New . Search for bbPress and then select bbPress from results.
Install and activate the plugin. Upon activation, you will see the welcome screen for bbPress.
Creating a Forum with bbPress in WordPress
Once installed, bbPress adds Forums, Topics and Replies menu items in your WordPress admin.
First, you need to click on Forums » Add New link from the menu. This will take you to a screen similar to the WordPress post edit area.
Provide a title for your forum and enter a little description of it. Then press the publish button.
You can create as many forums as you need for different discussions and topics.
Displaying bbPress Forum in the Front End of WordPress
Now that you have created a few forums, it is time to display those forums on the front end of your WordPress website.
Create a new WordPress page. Give this page a title, like Forum, Community, Support Forums, etc.
After that, simply paste the following shortcode in your page:
[bbp-forum-index]
Don’t forget to click on the publish button to save your changes and make your forum page visible on your website.
You can now visit the page in a web browser to see a preview of your forums.
Next, you need to help users find the forum on your website. To do that, let’s put a link to your forum page on top navigation menu.
Go to Appearance » Menus and add the forum page to your navigation menu.
Users can now access the forum index page by clicking on the link in the main menu.
Integrating bbPress with your WordPress Theme
In most cases, you would probably want to open your forum for new registrations. To do that, you need to open your website for registrations.
Simply go to Settings » General, and check the box next to “Any one can register” to allow registrations on your website.
Don’t forget to click on the save changes button to store your settings.
Now that your website is open for registration, the first thing that your forum participants would look for is a registration page.
Let’s make one.
Simply create a WordPress page, and give it a title, e.g. Register. Add shortcode [bbp-register] and publish the page.
You can now preview this page. It will show a user registration form to all non-logged in users.
Another page your users would need is the lost password recovery page. This is where they will be recover their lost passwords.
Create another WordPress page and give it a title e.g. Lost Password. After that, add this shortcode [bbp-lost-pass] and publish the page.
Finally, you need to add a login form to your website so that forum users can easily login from anywhere on your website.
bbPress comes with a handful of widgets and one of them is a login form widget.
Go to Appearance » Widgets and simply drag and drop Login Widget to your sidebar or any other widget area.
You will be asked to provide the URLs for the registration and lost password pages you created earlier. After entering them you need to click on the Save button to store your widget settings.
Now a login form with links to registration and lost password recovery pages will appear in your sidebar. Logged in users would see their usernames and a logout link instead of the form.
Managing bbPress Forum Settings
Unlike other popular forum software, bbPress has a very simplified configuration page. To manage settings for your bbPress forums, go to Settings » Forums page.
The default options on this page would work for most forum websites. We’ll take a look at all of them, just in case you want to change anything.
The first option you would see here is to ‘Automatically give registered visitors the participant forum role’. You can select a user role or uncheck the option to manually assign user roles to each user when they register.
The next option adds a 10-second delay between subsequent forum posts to prevent forum flooding and spam. You can increase or decrease the delay period here.
The Editing option allows users to edit their forum posts 5 minutes after they publish them. You can uncheck this option but that would prevent your users from correcting spelling errors or edit their posts if they missed something.
After that, you’ll find the forum features section. From here, you can turn forum features on and off.
Below that, you’ll see forum display features. From here, you can select a bbPress template, number of posts and topics to display on forum pages and inside the forum RSS feed.
Finally, you’ll see options to select URL slugs for different sections and forum pages. Slugs are the SEO friendly URL names used by WordPress.
The default URL slugs are meaningful and SEO friendly out of the box but if you need to change them, then you can do so here.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save changes’ button to store your forum settings.
User Roles in bbPress
WordPress comes with its own user role management system which allows you to assign users roles with different permissions.
bbPress extends the WordPress user roles by adding its own five pre-defined user roles with different capabilities.
1. Keymaster – The website owner or the WordPress administrator is automatically assigned the Keymaster role when they install bbPress. A Keymaster can delete and create forums, can create, edit, delete all posts, topics, forums.
2. Moderators – Users with moderator user role have access to moderation tools, which they can use to moderate forums, topics, and posts.
3. Participants – This is the default user role, participants can create and edit their own topics and posts, they can favorite and subscribe to topics.
4. Spectators – Spectators have a read-only access to public forums, topics, and posts.
5. Blocked – When a user is blocked all their capabilities are blocked. They can still read publicly viewable topics and posts, but can not participate in the forums.
Extending and Promoting Your bbPress Forum
Now that your bbPress forum is all set up and running. It is time to learn how to extend and promote it.
Let’s start with the appearance first. bbPress works with any WordPress theme and themes can also add custom styles to bbPress.
All top WordPress themes come with custom bbPress styles to make your forum look beautiful.
For more choices, see our pick of the best WordPress themes for bbPress.
Next, you would want to add new features to your forum so that you can quickly get new members and grow your online community.
The following are some of the plugins that will help you grow your online forum much quickly.
RafflePress allows you to create viral giveaways and contests in WordPress. These interactive contests and giveaways are a sure-fire way to instantly get a ton of new users to your online forum.
See our guide on how to create a viral giveaway contest for more information.
MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin. It allows you to make money online from your forum by adding subscription layers to your online community.
For more information, take a look at our guide on how to make a membership website.
Want to know which forum topics and discussions are more popular on your website? MonsterInsights helps you easily track all your website traffic using Google Analytics.
WPForms is the best WordPress contact form plugin. It allows you to easily create beautiful forms for your website. You can also use it to create custom login page, user registration page, or to add surveys and polls to your bbPress forum.
We hope that this article helped you learn how to add a forum in WordPress and how to install and configure bbPress. You may also want to see our complete WordPress SEO guide to help you get even more traffic.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Isaac says
1. Please i have a wordpress blog before now and i want to create forum as a category on the site.. Will that be a good idea?
2. When i choose the option ANYBODY CAN REGISTER, will it not affect my blog too because i am the only one that wants be posting on the blog, while forum anybody can post or register.
Renu Bakshi says
For my site I am using woedpress 4.5.1 version and Modern Blogger Pro child theme of Genesis. I have installed and activated bbPress. But bbPress has not added Forums, Topics and Replies menu items in my WordPress admin. So, I can’t make forums.
Please help…..
Glen says
Is it possible to setup multiple forum pages? E.g one forum page for each admin member?
Swagatam says
Thanks for this detailed info! I had a question which is perhaps not yet answered anywhere so far.
I have a website hosted by Hostgator but it’s operated as a custom domain from my earlier blogger interface.
I am interested to use my wordpress.org software which is lying idle in hostagtor to create a forum by using the method explained in the above article.
Kindly advise, would this be possible without having a prior wordpress.org site.
Thanks
Projjal says
Thank you very much for this tutorial. Now i have built my forum. However i am not sure that should i noindex-follow my forum or index and follow my forum?
Do let me know.
vicky says
how to add theme in bbpress
Carolyn says
Thank you for this clear, concise manual for setting up bbPress. Your instructions were far superior to the guide provided on bbPress website. I’ll be reading your blog regularly now.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad you found it helpful.
Admin
mohanad says
Hi, I installed the forum and it is ok when I use it with my log in, but when I want to register as a new user it shows only an empty page!.
what can I do to solve this issue??
WPBeginner Support says
Try updating your permalinks. Go to Settings > Permalinks and click on save changes button without making any changes.
Admin
seth says
Your post on How To Add a Forum…BBpress was very helpful and quickly got my forum all set up. A couple extra questions:
– As shown, I added both a registration page and a lost password page, and inserted the proper shortcodes, and I added the login widget to my right sidebar. My understanding is that a new visitor to my site who wants to subscribe to & post on the forums, will see a username & login box in the right sidebar. plus the links Register and Lost Password. If they click Register and fill in their choice of User/Pass, will it then automatically be sent to my email for approval & verification?
– AS Keymaster, when I want to start a new topic in one of my forums, I click on that forum title and it takes me to a page with an empty title & text editing box. Is that what subscribed users will see too, so that they may also easily get to start new topics?
— On the Forums index page, how do we get the forum titles in that nice teal-blue color instead of black. It is taking the titles from Forums I created, and the WP text editor allows you to select text color for the content body text, but not for the title box?
Kelly Drury says
I have installed bbPress on my website. I want to allow automatic registration. I clicked on “anyone can register” and set this for “participant” level. However, my website still requires users to enter their name and email address and then wait for an email with a link to a long password, etc. This is too cumbersome. I assume this is the manual sign up. If so, how do I get rid of this? In the automatic registration, can users simply establish their own user name and password and automatically be registered?
Julie Maxwell says
Hi, I have it set up but the people that are requesting membership are not getting the emails. plus when I approve them on the backside, they are not showing up under members.
Also, do I need both bbpress and buddy press or just one? and which is the best one.
Julie
WPBeginner Support says
For emails please see our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending emails issue. bbPress and BuddyPress are both different software. They can work together too. You need to set them up based on your requirements.
Admin
Julie Maxwell says
Thank you. Which is the better software? also why am i not seeing approved members in the list?
Kimberly says
They are two different things that can run separately/independently. bbPress is a forum and BuddyPress is more like social network and discussion. You can have both or just one. I started off with both, but now I am not so sure I need BuddyPress. Can’t answer the other question….since I am just now installing it.
Brian says
Hi, is it possible to create a forum where user access is only allowed by a certain subscription level defined in the membership rules of a WordPress site. For example a visitor purchases a level 3 subscription and by doing so they now have access to what is effectively a private forum.
Hope that makes sense and thanks in advance.
Doug says
Hi,
I have followed your instructions and all went well until I published my forum (index) page. The formatting is all wrong. I don’t know if it’s due to my theme or some other reason. For your info., I am using a 3rd party child theme on a Genesis Framework. Also, I have installed the “bbPress Genesis Extend” plugin, but that hasn’t helped.
Thanks,
Doug
WPBeginner Support says
You can switch to a default WordPress theme to see if it resolves the issue. If it does, then you may want to contact your theme’s support.
Admin
Banks says
hello admin,i created the forum page succesfully,but when i post a new topic,its doesnt appear in the forum page. Any help?
WPBeginner Support says
You also need to create a forum first and then add a topic. The forum index page, displays forums not the topics.
Admin
BANKS says
okay thanks,so how can i locate the topic that i have published?
Pete Chapman says
Great forum plugin. Very easy to use, but is there anyway to lock a forum post ?
Rahul says
Why dont you have installed any GOOD comment system…………something SOCIAL
Fred says
Are there any GOOD/RELIABLE ways to allow forum users the ability to add/embed/play multimedia files…specifically images and audio? I have looked at reviews of rtMedia, but it seems very flaky.
Thanks
Fred
Katie says
Hi there! I’ve found your site to be very helpful in my discovery of which forum plugin to use. I’ve gone with BBpress…but seeing that it has issues with my template. The only issue is that you are not able to type anything to the topic text area…everywhere else you can. I know it’s my theme because when I change it to the default it works. Any ideas if this is an easy fix or not or do I need to scrap this forum plugin and move on to the next? I appreciate your time. Thank you!
WPBeginner Support says
Please contact your theme’s developers and they can help you with that.
Admin
sheriff sarafa says
i own a website, which is not with wordpress, how do integrate the forum to this website?
WPBeginner Support says
You can install WordPress on a subdomain and then use bbPress to create a forum. You can also look at other forum software like phpbb, invision board, etc.
Admin
Jackie says
Thank you so much for not presuming I would know anything about forums.
This was such an easy walkthrough and I have managed to create a forum on the site.
Thanks again
Jackie
Sallianne says
Hi there,
This was a great run down but I am looking for a way to export all my users and tidy it up. I (stupidly) loaded a whole lot of users with their first name as a username and all other users that were previously loaded use their email. I want them all to be emails and I want to email everyone (through my mail chimp) to tell them about the forum changes. Your advice or direction to your knowledge base would be appreciated.
Sallianne
WPBeginner Support says
See how to allow user login with email address.
Admin
Mohit Chauhan says
I have a question for you all-
Should i implement forum on my website or not,basically what is the need of forum? Does it increase my ranking or serps?
Waqar Ul Hassan says
Hi
I have installed the bbPress as your instructions but when I try to access the forum page it redirect me to site home page, my site already have an member area via Wishlist Members plugin. Any help will be appreciated. thanks
Friday Alex says
Nice information going on here.
What if I choose to turn the whole theme to a forum site
Tommo says
Brilliant intro to bbpress, thanks, so many tutes assume people know it all already, this was great.
Candy says
I need a members only forum for a dog group. We have installed bbpress. Can I make it so only club members can access the forum?
WPBeginner Staff says
Yes you can.
Lisa says
People have to login to the site where my forum will live. Can I make it so there does not need to be a second log in to use the forum? So basically once they are logged into the site, they can access the forum.
WPBeginner Staff says
If you are using bbPress then they will not need to login again.
Matt T says
Great Post, Thank you!. Forums are a great way to create original, unique content. I think many of us overlook the power that forums can create for a quality website.
shel says
hi i have installed this on my wordpress site which is using a sitemile auction theme. My web developer has installed Vanilla forum for another part of my website. How can i use bbpress around the vanilla forum so that they are 2 seperate forums.
Brian Kessler says
This was an awesome walk through. I had my forum up and running on my site in less than fifteen minutes. Thanks so much!
Riyadh says
Hi.. I have installed bbpress plugins.But when i am logging to admin panel it’s redirect me to my home page(logged admin bar displaying) instead of dashboard.Deactivate the plugin all is ok.
what i have to do for fixing this problem?
WPBeginner Staff says
Please see the section “Displaying bbPress Forum in the Front End of WordPress”
Siddardha Thammana says
ok, how can i add forum categories as child pages on the menu.
Siddardha Thammana says
Hi, nice tutorial and an easy beginning for me. Can you tell me how i can add a forum as a page to easily access it?
Het Creatief says
I installed this plugin and I like it. But there is another question. I want de forum only visible for logged in users. But I can’t set it in the menu. If a user is logged out, you stil can see the forum in the menu. I set all of the forum and category to private, but it is still showing in de menu. Iff you click on it, you’ll get an 404 page. I just want it visible when a user is logged in.
Is it possible?
Mark Shannon says
I use Nav Menu Roles plugin which allows you to set who can see what and you can choose to show menus to logged in users only.
melanie bund says
Hi – i already have a login form on my site, how can intergrate bbpress log in with that?
Ugoxuqu says
Straight to the point. Thanks!
Measy says
Thank you this was great! I have created a forum. What if I want to create a new Forum Category? instead of “[bbp-forum-index]’ is there another code I can enter to start a new sub-forum on my website but on the same main page?
Roy van Wensen says
http://codex.bbpress.org/shortcodes/
Vasant Sakpal says
Hi, I have created forum as per your instruction and its goes well, I am very much thankful to your work.
dario says
I created the forum that you say it in the forum prencipale with the shortcode nothing is written only this: Your Account Has the ability to post unrestricted HTML content. I think this plugin is not good for me, what can I do? thank you ..
WPBeginner Staff says
The plugin works fine and we think you have installed it successfully. Try creating a few forum posts and you will learn how to use it to meet your needs.
UNspoiled! Podcast says
Thank you so much for the detailed walk-through. Such a massive help.
Lavanya Rahul says
What an explanation. Hats off. Wish you were my Maths teacher
I’d have passed atleast 
Lavanya Rahul says
Thanks a million times
I created a forum now after wondering how to create one.
Raqs says
wow this is a great help!
installation just took a few minutes!
thank you
Jason B says
A reverse blog is so similar to a forum that I thought someone with bbPress might be able to help me make a reverse blog. I think the only difference is the number of comments is limited in a reverse blog. I would like to make it so that visitors wouldn’t have to click on a topic title to see more material, so that the page has the feel of a blog. Can anyone show me examples of this – and how to make one?
Christopher Martin says
Perfect and easy instructions. Thanks! Just added it to one of my sites.
Michael says
Man this made adding a forum to my website really painless and simple! Thanks for the advice! my website is if ya wanna check it out. Can’t wait to grow my forum!
SeeSee says
Thank you for this very simple instructions. I have been struggling with trying to create a forum for weeks now but with this I did it in less than 20 mins…on a phone no less!!!
kevin vancolen says
Hello
Thank you for this usefull information, my only concern is that users can access the WP dashboard, is there a way to let users create an account, without them having access to the WP dashboard ? maybe a seperate permissions plug in ?
I’m looking forward to your answer ,
Kind regards ,Kevin
Julie Hassett says
Wow, this article was incredible. I had no idea how simple it was to create a discussion board in WP. I was dreading it. Now it’s done and I have a simple but functional discussion board on my website!
Julie Hassett
Phil Selwood says
So pleased I found this blog. The directions, and images, above were excellent and helped a lot!
The standard registration for bppress seems to require only a username and email address.
Is it possible to add First Name – Last Name as an extra requirement?
Thanks
Phil