Getting Started on the Community
Welcome to the Atlas Community. We've put together this quick start guide to help you get up and running on Atlas so you can start personalizing your experience and a start participating fast.
Want a quick tour of Atlas? Check out this quick tutorial:
Register with the community
If you are going to be a regular visitor or want to be a contributing member of the community, we highly recommend registering. Registering lets you take full advantage of the community and enables you to:
Post new messages and reply to other members' posts
Receive email when someone responds to a specific post or topic
Exchange private messages with other members
Personalize your community experience
Post comments on blogs that don't allow anonymous comments
Post ideas, vote on the ideas you like best, and post comments
If you don't register, you can only browse, search for information, and read posts. You won't be able to give kudos, vote on ideas, interact with other community members, or set customization preferences.
To register with the community:
Click Register at the top of any page.
Follow the prompts.
Check your email for a confirmation email and click the activation link. Note: You must have cookies enabled in your browser to register and to sign in the community. Note: You must validate the email address to have their community account fully registered. Until you validate the email address via the link provided in the confirmation email, you are only partially registered.
Stuck and need more help?
If you have any questions about registering, signing in, or accessing content in the community, reach out to the Atlas Community team.
Personalize your community experience
You can personalize and customize your community experience in several ways. Most community members:
Change their community avatar
Add a signature for their posts
Set common viewing preferences
Change your community avatar
Changing your avatar is an easy way to personalize your community identity. You can change your avatar as often as you like. Your current avatar appears at the top of the Avatar page.
To change your avatar:
Go to My Settings > Avatars.
Choose a new avatar in one of these ways:
Choose an avatar from the Community collection. (Choose an avatar collection and click the avatar your want.)
Use an image from your Image Gallery. (Click From Image Gallery and click the image you want.) You can only use this option if you have uploaded images that have been approved.
If you have been granted permission, use an image from the web. Click From the Web and enter the URL for the image. Then, click Set Avatar.
Add a signature for your posts
Your signature is text that appears at the bottom of all your posts.
To create your personal signature:
Go to My Settings > Personal Profile > Personal Information.
Enter your signature text in the Signature box. Some communities let you use HTML in your signature. Check with a community moderator if you have questions.
Click Save.
Set your viewing preferences
You can control a number of different display preferences, including your time zone, preferred display language, the format of your post display, date format, and many others.
To set your viewing preferences:
Go to My Settings > Preferences.
Click through the various preference tabs and make the changes you want.
Click Save on each tab where you make changes.
Learn more about all the personal settings you can manage.
Community Basics
Here's what you need to know to get the most our of our community.
Your role on the community
A community is a place to search for information, read and post about topics of interest, and learn from each other. Depending on how the community is set up, you'll find:
Forums where you can post questions and answers
Blogs where you can read and comment on articles
Idea exchanges where you can suggest ways to improve products and vote for ideas that other community members have posted
Community-hosted events
and lots more
Guests (unregistered users) can browse or search the community for information. Members (registered users) can post messages or comments, track discussions, and get email notifications on posting activity and other community actions.
You are essential to keeping the community vibrant, even if all you ever do is read messages or articles that someone else has posted. We encourage you to visit often and participate. Ask your toughest questions. Chances are someone has a solution or can point you in the right direction. If you find a solution that works, let others know and pass on your own tips and insights. You might just have the answer someone else needs.
Remember to thank community members who have helped you. Show your appreciation by giving kudos to helpful posts, accepting a solution that answers your question, or posting thank-you replies. We want the community to be appropriate, friendly, informative, and fun for everyone.
Be sure to read the Community Terms of Service and the community's Rules and Guidelines so that you know what to expect and what is expected of you when you're here.
Finding information on the community
All communities are organized a bit differently, depending on the goals of that community and the content available. In addition to casual browsing of the community structure, you can always use search to find what you’re looking for.
You can search for content, people, and places. Additionally, the community provides a lot of tools to make searching easier.
Start your search by typing in the Search box. As you type you might see some search results suggestions.
In the above example, the first results are Places in the community where your subject is covered, followed by a list of matching search results. Results might include a mix of posts/questions with Accepted Solutions (indicated with the green checkmark) and articles that include text matches for your query.
If none of the auto-suggestions look like what you need, run your search. Results are displayed on the Search results page:
You can narrow and refine your search in a few ways.
First, you can “scope” your search to return a specific type of information (messages or people) or to a specific community area (entire community or a specific board).
More filtering options are on the full search page:
Finally, you can further refine your search using Advanced filters. Just click the Advanced button.
Posting and replying on the community
Posting on the community is easy. Just go to any board (forum, blog, TKB, Idea Exchange) you have permission to see and post in and click the Create option. Or, if you are replying to another person’s post or comment, click Reply.
Type your text in the message editor and click Publish / Post.
When typing, you can even mention other community members if the community’s @mention feature is enabled. Just type “@” followed by the member’s user name. A pop-up menu appears as you type.
Depending on how members have set up their notifications, they might be notified immediately, and you might get your answer super fast.
Subscribing to the content you’re most interested in
Never miss an update on the topics or the content that matters to you most. Use subscriptions and have the community notify you when someone posts to a board or replies to your question. You can subscribe to forums, blogs, an idea exchange, or any other location in the community. You can even subscribe to a specific post or a label applied to a post.
Note: When you subscribe to a board or label, you will be notified by email when a new post is created in that board or with the label.
To subscribe a piece of content:
Go to the item you want to subscribe to.
To subscribe to a location, click (Location) Options > Subscribe. To subscribe to a specific post, go to the post and click (Post) Options > Subscribe.
To subscribe to a label:
From a particular post with a label, click on the label to filter by that label.
Click Subscribe.
Note: One thing to know about labels is that they are applied at node level. Thus, predefined labels and subscriptions to labels exist only at the node at which they are applied. For example, if you subscribe to a label named “contest” in board 1, it doesn’t automatically subscribe you to an identically named label in board 2. You must subscribe twice, once for each board.
To view and manage your subscriptions:
Go to My Settings > Subscriptions & Notifications.
Click My Subscriptions to see a list of the items you've subscribed to. You can click a subscription to go to the item.
To delete a subscription, click the check box for the subscription and click Email Subscription Options > Delete Selected Subscriptions.
Using images and videos
All community members who have permission to upload images and videos to the community have an image and video gallery which houses all the images and videos they have added directly to post or uploaded to their image/video library.
You can view your own gallery as well as the galleries of other community members. When you look at another member’s gallery, you see only the approved images that the member has chosen to share
To view your image or video gallery:
Go to your profile page. A preview of your image and video gallery appears on the right.
Click View Image Gallery or View Image Gallery.
To view another member’s image or video gallery:
Click the community member's user name to go to that member’s profile page. A preview of that user's shared images and videos appears on the right.
Click View Image Gallery or View Video Gallery.
Normally, members add images and videos while they author their content. However, you can opt to upload images and videos to your gallery beforehand and then add them later. There are size limitations, of course, and a community moderator must approve your image/video before it appears in your gallery or you can insert it in a post. To upload an image or video to your gallery:
Go to your profile page.
Click View Image Gallery or View Video Gallery.
Click Browse and select an image/video file to be uploaded.
Type a title for the image/video.
Click Hide in Gallery (Private) to make this image/video private. Private images/videos never appear when other community members view your gallery. They only appear if you later insert the image/video in a post.
Click Save to Gallery.
Tagging content
A tag is a single keyword or phrase that describes the topic, theme, or subject of a post. You can add as many tags as you want and so can other community members. For example, in a post about a computer mouse, you might add these tags: mouse, USB mouse, optical mouse, wireless, DPI.
Tip: Be sure to use commas between tags.
Tagging is a way to help other users discover content.. It's also a way to organize content in the community that you think is related. When you apply tags to a post, you add to the value by providing another way for people to find it. Some users will tag posts for their own convenience in finding them later. Other users categorize content for the benefit of the community. Members who tag lots of posts gain status by appearing on Tag Leaderboards.
Note: Community also included labels, which are similar to tags, but are defined by the Community Admin, and can be applied only if you have specific permissions.
To add a tag:
Go to an interesting post or comment.
Click in the Add field and type your tags (separated by commas).
Click Add Tag.
You can find messages you've tagged by visiting your profile and clicking the tag.
Labels
Labels are used within a community to help categorize articles in a variety of discussion styles; forums, blogs, Q&A, ideas, TKBs. Labels enable you to categorize the content you write based on the themes or content in the article.
Unlike tags, labels are created by the Community Admin and typically controlled for consistency and need. Authors must choose/apply labels from a predefined list for the node in which the article appears. Tags are more freeform and can be created by authors.
To add a label:
Go to the post you authored.
Open the post to edit it.
In the Labels field, start typing the label or choose one from the list. If you add multiple labels, you must separate them with commas.
Help community members find answers faster with Accepted Solutions
An Accepted Solution is a way for you to choose the reply that best answers a question that you've posted. When you accept a solution, both the question and the solution get special icons and links that take you directly from the question to the answer.
For example, here’s a question from Toby, which has been marked with an Accepted Solution from JasonHill.
An Accepted Solutions icon also appears on boards and in search results so you can see which messages have solutions.
You can mark a solution as accepted only for questions that you've posted (you started the thread). Community moderators can also mark one of the replies to a message as an accepted solution.
To mark a message as a solution, click Accept as Solution on the reply.
If you change your mind or if another reply provides an even better answer, you can revoke the first selection and accept the second reply.>
To revoke an accepted solution, click Options > Not the Solution. You can choose another solution or leave the question unsolved.
Notifications and Private Messages
About Notifications
Your Notification Feed uses in-community alerts to inform signed-in members about new activity on their content or on their profile. Your Notification Feed increments with each new, unread notification.
In this example, the member has 5 unread notifications and no unread messages.
The notification counter continues to increment until the member clicks it and views the Notification Feed. Your feed might include these notifications:
Receiving kudos on posts
Getting their posts accepted as solutions
Getting @mentioned in a thread
Rank achievements
Badge achievements
Replies to a message a member started
Replies to a message a member subscribes to
New topics in a board a member is subscribed to
About Private Messenger
Private Messenger enables you to send private messages to other community members. Private Messenger has two big advantages over email:
You don't have to know the other member's email address to send the note. (Also, you don't have to reveal yours.)
You can read and send private messages without leaving the community, making it easy to have a quick conversation with another community member.
To use Private Messenger, you must be registered and signed in. Also, for increased security, you can require all members to agree to a Terms of Use document and opt in to use the private messaging feature.
Note: Members who do not accept the terms of use and choose not to opt in to use private messenger are not able to send messages to or receive messages from other members, nor will they be notified via private message of any community activity, such as rank changes, group invites, mod status, etc.). Members still receive these notifications via email, based on their notification settings.
The Private Message indicator is at the top of the page. When you have new messages, you'll see the number of unread messages displayed. Private messages are presented in a “threaded” view and a streamlined inbox experience:
Your 1-to-1 private message conversations display as threaded:
To send a private message:
Sign in to the community.
Click the message count or envelope icon to go to your Private Messages inbox.
Click Compose New Message.
Enter the recipient's name in the Send to area. Note: Depending on your role in the community, you might be able to send a message to a group of users based on their role or rank in the community. If so, you can choose a role or a rank.
Enter the subject for the message in the Message Subject area.
Type the reply in the Message Body editor.
Click Send Message. You can look for the messages you've sent in the Sent Messages tab.
Commonly Asked Questions
Why can’t I access certain content or areas of the community?
Some content and areas of the community require you to have specific roles or permissions. So, from time to time, you might come across a link to content or an area you don’t have access to. If you believe that you should be able to access the content or area, email us.
Where are the Khoros Developer Docs?
Khoros Developer Documentation is hosted at https://developer.khoros.com/.
How do I register if I’m a Khoros Marketing customer?
The Marketing Customers button on the sign-in page enables Khoros Marketing users (formally Spredfast) to sign or register into Atlas via Signal Sign On (SSO). If you use Khoros Marketing and another Khoros product, we recommend you sign in using Marketing SSO. For more FAQs about Marketing SSO, visit Atlas Single Sign-On (SSO) & Registration for Marketing Customers.
How do I register if I’m a Khoros Care or Communities customer?
Visit the sign-in page and click the blue All Other Users button in the middle of the page to open the Sign In/Register options. Click Register Now, fill out the fields, and submit the form. After you register, you must verify your email. Check your inbox and look for an email from the Atlas Community (Atlas-Notifications@us.khoros-mail.com). Click the link to verify your email.
If you don’t see the email from the Atlas Community after a few minutes, check your spam and promotional folders. If you still don't see the email, contact us.
To learn more about Atlas registration, visit How to Register for Atlas How to Register for Atlas.
How can I get Customer access to Atlas?
To request additional access to Atlas, Care and Community customers/partners can email communityhelp@khoros.com. Be sure to include your name, company, and company email. Without customer/partner access, you’re missing out on exclusive forums, customer ideas, the support forum, knowledge base articles, and much more.
You can also use Maia to request customer access. Just open Maia (chat icon in lower-right corner of Atlas page) and type "Customer access to Atlas" to get started.
On March 17, 2020, we implemented single sign-on (SSO) for Marketing customers so no additional steps are necessary. For more FAQs about Marketing SSO, visit Atlas Single Sign-On (SSO) & Registration for Marketing Customers.
How can I get Case Portal Access?
To get Case Portal access, email Support and include this information:
Full Name
Email Address
Atlas Username
Company
... View more
