Features

• Search Engine Friendly URLs – The Active Modules URL rewriter allows URLs for forum posts to be rewritten based on admin-determined paths. Friendly URLs allow forum content to be remembered by site users and picked up by search engines more easily!
• Custom Fields – Active Forums allows Admins to create custom properties for their users to enter when creating a forum post. These properties are defined per forum and can be marked as required, making it simple to collect needed information, such as a software version, from a user. This feature is especially beneficial for sites using Active Forums to provide customer support!
• Categories – Categories for forum posts can be created in the Control Panel by an Admin and allow for further organization of forum content. Once categories have been created, users can choose what category a new topic belongs to when creating the post. Categories are a great way to organize a Knowledge Base using Active Forums!
• Advanced Layout Options – Advanced layout options and the highly-customizable templates within active social combine with features such as categories and custom fields to allow Active Forums to be used for more than a simple discussion board. Active Forums customers can create support forums, a help desk, knowledge base, and more!
• Improved Integration with Active Social – With Active Forums 4.3 and the Journal API, released with Active Social 1.8, Active Forum content is more tightly integrated with Active Social, allowing for a more seamless user experience!
• Topic Sort Priority – Important topics can receive a priority listing in the forums by basing the sort order of topics upon a numeric value in addition to date.
• Improved Licensing and Product Activation – Enhancements made to the licensing and activation process for Active Forums include simpler activation of the forums, for example, when customer sites have moved servers.
• Improved Template Management and a Simplified Control Panel – Enhancements in template management and the Control Panel allow configuration and customization of Active Forums to be simpler than ever!
• Increased Performance and Enhanced AJAX Controls – With each version, Active Modules is continually increasing performance of Active Forums to provide the best possible experience to our customers and their users.

• Unlimited Forum Groups and Forums – Forum groups are used to categorize forums. For example, the forums on this site are organized into groups for Active Social, Active Forums, Active Purchase, and Active Blogs. In the Express, Standard, and Enterprise editions of Active Forums, there is no limit to the number of forum groups or forums sites can have.
• DotNetNuke Integration – Active Forums is written for and completely integrated with DotNetNuke and uses the DotNetNuke user registration.
• User Profile – User profiles allow members to share information about themselves. Basic profiles include the date the user account was created, when the user last logged in, the number of posts and replies a user has made in the forums, and personal information such as website, occupation, location, interests, and contact info.
• Easy to Install – Active Forums is both simple to install and well-documented. Customers who have read the documentation can expect to have the forums installed in less than 30 minutes!
• Customizable – With multiple themes and customizable templates, admins can simply modify the look and feel of Active Forums to match their sites!

• Multiple Role Security – An easy-to-use security panel allows Administrators to give users permissions for actions within the forums, such as View, Read, Create, Reply, Edit, and Delete, based on roles. Roles could include, but are not limited to All Users, Unauthenticated Users, Registered Users, and Administrators.
• Multiple Levels of Security – In addition to role-based security, Active Forums offers administrators many options for making sure their forums are secure, for example, by enabling/disabling features like moderation, HTML input, and attachments, or by enabling CAPTCHA for anonymous users.

• Topic Creation – When creating a new topic, users have many options for imputing important information. The Subject is a short description of the post. Users can select a Topic Status, such as Informative or Not Resolved, to classify the post, while Post Icons, such as a smiley face or question mark, further alert users to the nature of the post. Emoticons can be used within the message, or body of the post. If enabled by the admin, users can upload attachments or create polls by entering a short question followed by two or more answers.
• Post Preview – Previewing your post to make sure it is exactly as you would like is simple with Active Forums, which uses AJAX to allow for preview and post with just two clicks.
• Quick Reply – Active Forums gives users two options when replying to a post: (1) Add reply, which uses the same format as topic creation and includes advanced formatting options, or (2) Quick reply, which uses a form below the original post and allows a user to reply simply, without clicking to another screen.
• Announcements – If enabled by the admin, when a user announces a topic, it will appear in a section above the rest of the topics in the forum, but only for the dates specified by the user.
• Topic Ratings – Users can share how they rate the quality or relevance of a post by using the five-star rating system and simply selecting how many stars they give the post. Active Forums will average all users’ selections with displaying the rating, making it quick and easy for users to determine which posts they most want to read!
• Quick Searches – Active Forums gives users many options for finding information. The quick searches will produce lists of topics based on a user’s previous activity. Not Read lists the topics a user has not read yet, while Active Topics lists topics with activity since the user’s last visit to the forums. My Topics lists topics a user has posted in or created.
• Enhanced Searching – All versions of Active Forums (Express, Standard, and Enterprise) include the ability to search by forum, user, and time frame. Active Forums Enterprise offers full-text search, which uses SQL Server Full-Text indexing capabilities for better performance and scalability.
• Points System and User Ranks – An easy way to encourage community involvement, especially within a young community, is to award points to users for various actions within the forums, such as creating a topic or posting a reply. Once users reach pre-determined point levels, they will advance in rank, which is noted under their usernames every time they post in the forums. Admins have the flexibility to set how many ranks there are as well as associate an image with the rank.
• Avatars – Avatars give users the ability to personalize their forum posts by choosing images to display beneath their usernames. This is a great way for users to set themselves apart from others and allows users to easily recognize each other. Admins can enable a default avatar to be used if users do not choose one for themselves.
• Member List – The Member List is a directory of all registered users on a site’s forums. An admin can make sure this list is only accessible to the appropriate users by selecting the role, such as Registered Users or Administrators, who can access it.
• Who’s Online – If enabled by the Admin, users can easily see who else within the Community is online, with up to the minute accuracy!

• Sub Forums – A forum group contains forums, and, for increased organization, a forum can contain sub forums if desired by the administrator. Features such as sub forums, categories, and tags allow users to (1) Quickly find the information they need, and (2) Make sure they post content in the appropriate places.
• Filters – Enabling filters will replace pieces of text for other text, pictures, or code. Filters for bold, italicized, underlined, and quoted text exist within Active Forums. Additional filters can be created, and can be mark-up/text, emoticons, or regular expressions.
• HTML Posting – Administrators can allow users to format their posts using different editors and HTML tags. For security, HTML can be enabled for all users or just specific roles.
• Banner Ads – Active Forums Enterprise includes the ability to use the built-in DotNetNuke Banner system to display ads within topics.
• Moderate – When moderation is enabled, administrators retain a great deal of control over forum content by making users’ posts subject to approval before they appear in the forums. Moderator permissions include the ability to approve, move, delete, edit, lock, and pin topics. Situations where moderation can be particularly useful include preventing users from posting SPAM content, or on a site where child- or family-friendly content is required. Moderation can be enabled for all users, select users, or an auto trust level can be set by the admin. This trust level is the number of posts a user needs to make before they automatically become a trusted user and are not moderated.

• Email Subscriptions – Active Forums users can stay up-to-date on forum content without actually visiting the forums through subscriptions, which gives users the option to receive updates via email every time a particular forum or topic receives new posts or changes.
• Auto-Subscriptions - To make sure users get announcements or important information, Enterprise customers can enable the auto-subscriptions feature, in which an admin selects forums and users to automatically receive e-mail updates.
• Email topic to a Friend – Active Forums makes sharing information with friends and colleagues easy! With two clicks and inputting a recipient email, users can send topics of interest to others.
• Mail Connector – On-the-go customers of Active Forums find the Mail Connector (included in the Enterprise version) particularly useful because it allows forum topics and replies to be created through email. With the Mail Connector and email subscriptions, users can view and reply to topics without ever visiting the forums. In today’s fast-paced environment, business customers often require this ability to access everything though email.
• Mail Queue – Included in Active Forums Enterprise, the mail queue allows for better scalability and performance for sites with large numbers of users and incoming and outgoing emails.
• Post Alerts – If moderation is enabled, moderators will receive email notifications that a post is waiting for their approval.
• Email Templates – Customizable email templates exist for all emails sent by the forum, such as subscription and moderation e-mails. It is important that these templates are used, for example, so that moderated users know why their posts are not automatically appearing in the forums.
• Forum Email – Emails are sent from the address specified by the administrator.
• Text/HTML – Emails can have HTML enabled or not. In addition, the Mail Connector can be set up to automatically remove HTML from posts.

• Attachments – Enabling attachments allows users to upload files with their topics or replies. Admins can set attachment options such as how many attachments can be uploaded to a post, how those files are stored, the maximum size of an attachment, the allowed extensions, and the maximum height and width for images.
• Restrict by Role –The restrict by role option adds security to your site by only allowing users with a certain role, such as administrators or registered users, to upload attachments with their posts.
• Storage Options – Administrators have the option to store uploaded attachments directly to the File System or inside the portal’s database.
• File Size Limits – Limits the size of attachments
• Image Size Limits and Resizing – Admins can determine a maximum height and width for uploaded images, and images that are outside of these specifications will automatically be resized.
• Create Unique Filenames – If a user uploads a file with the same name as an existing file, enabling the create unique filenames option will automatically create a new name for the second file, instead of overwriting the original.

• Editor Options – The default TextBox editor is very simple and easy-to-use. Other editor options, including the DNN Default Editor, Active Editor, or a plain text box with HTML, provide more flexibility with formatting and HTML input.
• Custom Toolbar Options – Buttons for options including Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, Superscript, Subscript, JustifyLeft, JustifyRight, JustifyCenter, JustifyFull, BulletedList, NumberedList, Indent, Outdent, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Undo, Redo, and InsertRule can be added to the toolbar.
• Enable/Disable Scripts – Scripts are disabled by default; however, administrators can enable scripts and allow users to include them in their posts.
• Post Via Email – Using the Mail Connector, Active Forums Enterprise customers can post topics and replies via email.

• Templates – Active Forums comes with many templates for viewing forums and topics, replying to topics, and sending emails. A Templates menu allows administrators to select from the different templates to change the layout of various elements of the forums; the simple-to-use interface also allows an administrator to edit an existing template or add his/her own custom template.
• Multiple Themes – Multiple themes, or color schemes, are included with Active Forums. The theme can easily be selected to best match a customer’s site, or the customer can create his/her own custom theme.

• Community – Through the Community Forums, Active Modules customers have created a vibrant and active community to which all new customers are immediately welcomed! With thousands of members and tens of thousands of posts, customers have access to a wealth of ideas, suggestions, code samples, and implementation examples.
• Knowledgebase – Using Active Forums, Active Modules has created a Knowledge Base with all the information its customers need to get started! Documentation, release notes, frequently asked questions, and more are conveniently located in one section and further organized using tags and categories.
• Dedicated Support – Active Modules offers varying support packages based on the version of Active Forums Purchased (Express, Standard, and Enterprise) to ensure that customers can purchase the product and support that is appropriate to their needs. Whether support is offered through the Community Forums, the Online Helpdesk, or the phone, Active Modules provides a dedicated team of support specialists who will answer questions and assist in implementing Active Forums on your website!

• ModApprove – The ModApprove permission gives a user access to the moderation interface. Users can approve, reject, or delete moderated topics and replies.
• ModMove – Users with the ModMove permission can move any topic to another forum.
• ModEdit – ModEdit allows users to edit any topic or reply.
• ModDelete – The ModDelete permission gives users the ability to delete any topic or reply in the forum.
• ModLock – Users with this permission can lock any topic so that it cannot be replied to.
• ModPin – The ModPin permission gives a user the ability to pin a topic, so that it appears at the top of a forum. Pinning and locking a topic is a great way for administrators to post important information or instructions for the forum.
• Reward Points – Administrators can use the reward points feature to change another user’s rank based on the point system.
• Edit User Caption – The user caption is a short description that displays beneath a user’s name on his/her posts. The edit user caption option allows an administrator to edit this text if it is inappropriate or inaccurate.
• Disable User Signature or Avatar – A user’s signature and avatar will be displayed under his or her posts. However, an administrator can disable a signature or avatar if they are deemed inappropriate for the site’s audience.
• Make User Trusted – An administrator can make a user trusted so that his/her posts are no longer moderated.
• Monitor User – When a user is monitored, e-mail notifications are sent every time the user posts.
• Disable Attachments – The disable attachments option allows an administrator to stop a specific member from attaching files to his/her posts.
• Flood Interval – Admins can help prevent SPAM by enabling the flood interval, which starts a timer as soon as a user makes a post or reply. The user is not able to make another post or reply until that timer has expired.
• Edit Interval – Creating an edit interval sets up a time frame in which a user can edit his/her own posts after they have been submitted. Once the time has elapsed, only an administrator could edit the post.