2.4.1: Upgrade from 1.x

Before upgrading we strongly recommend that you do a full backup of your database! If you are unsure how to achieve this, please ask your hosting provider for advice. Once you have backed up your database, you should follow the basic instructions given for New Installations above. However, instead of selecting Install as the Installation Method, you should select Upgrade.

As with install, the upgrade is automated. The config.php will be written automatically (if possible, else you will be able to download a copy as with New Installation above). Once the config.php is in place, everything should proceed without error. Please note that this upgrading process may take quite some time, and depending on your hosting provider, this may result in it failing (due to web server or other timeout issues). If this is the case, you should ask your provider if they are willing to allow the upgrade script to temporarily exceed their limits (be nice and they will probably be quite helpful).

Once completed your board should be immediately available. If you encountered errors, you should restore your original database and report the problems to our bug tracker (see Appendix A: Reporting Bugs)

2.4.2: Upgrade from 2.0 RC Versions

Upgrading from these versions is typically quite easy. First you should rename or copy your existing config.php to a temporary location. Next upload (see Installation for details if necessary) the new 2.0 files to the same location as your previous installation of phpBB 2.0, ie. overwrite the existing files. Next delete the newly uploaded copy of config.php and replace it with your existing copy (ie. rename or move back the copy you saved previously).

You should now run update_to_final.php which, depending on your previous version, will make a number of database changes. You may receive the occasional "FAILURE" during this procedure; they shouldn't be a cause for concern unless you see an actual "ERROR", in which case the script will stop.

MSSQL users, please note that during the update procedure, your existing forums table will be dropped and re-created. All data in standard fields will be retained. However, if you have modified the forums table and added additional fields or altered existing ones, these changes WILL be lost. If this is a significant issue for you, we advise that you comment out the "DROP FORUM TABLE" section in update_to_final.php, and instead manually alter the forum_id column to remove the IDENTITY setting (if it exists).

Once the update_to_final has completed, you MUST proceed to the Administration General Configuration panel and check all the values in General Configuration. This is essential if you were running any version before RC-3 since extra information needs to be entered to enable correct URLs to be outputted in emails.

2.4.3: Changes in language pack format

Please note that changes have been made to the format of both language and image localisations from previous RC's to RC-3. If you were running a version previous to RC-3 you WILL need to download new versions of all non-English language and localised subSilver images. You can delete any existing *_lang.gif files in the root subSilver/images directory since they were moved to subfolders in RC-3. In addition various changes to template variable names has occured from RC-2 through RC-4. It is highly unlikely that a template written for RC-2 will work without some changes in RC-4. Most of these changes are minor and can be found by examining the default subSilver template.

2.4.4: Upgrade from 2.0 Beta

Sorry but no direct upgrade is available from beta-1 (we did warn you!). If you are reasonably confident with the use of SQL, etc. you may be able to make the required changes to the database manually. You will need to examine the CVS check-ins to determine what and where changes are needed.

2.5.1: Uploadable avatars

If you wish to allow users to upload avatars (this is dependant on your hosting provider allowing it), you should ensure that the directories specified for storing avatars in General -> Configuration exist and have appropriate access rights (ie. for uploadable avatars the directory needs to be world writeable, a+w, 777, depending on your setup). Gallery based avatars are stored in subfolders off the directory specified in General -> Configuration. This allows you to group together common types of avatar. Do not store gallery avatars in the root directory listed in General -> Configuration; they won't appear! (for more information on avatar settings see section 3.2.2.5 Avatar Settings)

2.5.2: Safe Mode

phpBB 2.0 RC-4 introduced support for uploadable avatars on systems running PHP in safe mode. If this applies to your hosting service, you will need to create a sub-directory called tmp in the directory you specified for storage of uploaded avatars (by default this is images/avatars as explained above). Give it the same access rights as for uploadable avatars above. This safe mode support includes compatibility with various directory restrictions that your host may impose (assuming they are not too restrictive and that the PHP installed is version 4.0.3 or later). There is generally no need for any manual setup for safe mode support because it is typically handled transparently (although PHP 3 users may run into difficulties).

3.1.1: Forum Management

The Forum Management panel is where most forum configuration is done. Here you will control the organization of forums and categories. Configuration of a forum's name, description, and auto-prune settings is also handled here.

3.1.2: Forum Permissions

In this panel you can control the forum permissions. You can restrict the behavior of different types of users on a per-forum basis. Here you can control who can read and post in a forum. You can also control who can make special posts, like Sticky topics or announcements. To edit a forum's permissions, select the forum in the dropdown box and click Look Up Forum.

3.1.3: Pruning

To prune a forum, select it (or "All Forums") from the dropdown box and click Look up Forum. Specify a number of days in the text field. All posts with no replies to them in the range specified will be removed.

Pruning is typically done to remove old unneeded posts and to save space. If you like, you can set a forum to prune itself automatically. For more information, see 3.1.1.2 Editing Forums.

3.2.1: Database Backup and Restore

To backup your database, click Backup Database. In Backup options you should select Full Backup unless you have a specific reason to choose one of the other two. You may include tables not used by phpBB by entering them here. If you enable Gzip Compression, the file will be smaller, but the server will work harder to generate it. Click Start Backup to begin downloading the file.

To restore your database, click Restore Database. Browse to your backup file, and then click Start Restore. The board should return to exactly how it was when the backup was made. Changes in files (MODs, avatars, etc.) will not be affected by this.

3.2.2: General Configuration

This panel is where most of the boards settings and preferences can be changed.

3.2.3: Mass Email

In the mass email panel, you may send an email to every user on your board. You may also use this forum to send email to every member of a usergroup.

Recipients - You may select All Users, or any of the Usergroups on your board to receive the email.

Enter the email subject and body into the form, and click Email to send the mass email.

3.2.4: Smilies Admin

In the smilie administration panel you may edit or delete existing smilies, and add new ones.

To delete a smilie, click Delete in the smilie's row. To edit a smilie, click Edit in the smilies's row. You will be taken to Smilie Configuration. Change the settings you like and click Submit.

To create a new smiley, click Add a new Smilie (in the lower left corner). You will be taken to Smilie Configuration. Input the settings you like and click Submit.

Smilie Code - The series of characters used to insert a smilie into a post. Examples of this are :) (happy face ) or :wink: (winking face ).

Smilie Image File - Select the smilie image you wish to use from the dropdown list. The selected smilie will be displayed on the right, so you can be sure you selected the correct one.

Smilie Emotion - Enter the emotion to be associated with the smilie. This emotion text will be display in a smilie's tool tip, which appears when you hove the mouse cursor over the smilie.

3.2.5: Word Censors

You may have the board automatically censor words for you. To do this, go to the Word Censor panel.

To delete an existing word censor, click Delete in the censor's row.

To edit a word censor, click Edit in the appropriate row.

To create a new censor, click Add New Word.

Each word censor has two parts. The first part is the text to be censored. You may use the asterisk (*) wildcard to broaden your search. The asterisk (*) will match any number of characters. There is also a replacement string for each censor. Each spot where a censor is found will be replaced by the appropriate replacement string.

3.3.1: Group Management

3.3.2: Group Permissions

This panel will allow you to control a group's access to private forums. It will also let you specify groups as moderators of a forum. If a group is moderator of a forum, then each of the group's members is considered a moderator of that forum.

To edit a group's permissions, select the group name from the dropdown box, and click Look Up Group. To grant moderator access to a group, look in the desired forum's row. In the last dropdown box in the list, choose Is Moderator.

3.4.1: Adding Styles

This panel will allow you to add new styles. To add a new style, simply click Install in the appropriate row. This panel automatically detects uninstalled styles in your template directory.

Important: When installing a new template(e.g. one that you downloaded), be sure that your new template directory is nested correctly in the templates directory. It also must have the correct name (case sensitive). For instance, if you had a new template named subCheese, then in the templates directory you should have a folder called "subCheese" (not "subcheese"), and in that folder will be all of your template files (*.tpl files).

3.4.2: Creating Styles

This panel allows you to create new Themes for any template you have installed. This creates a new style, since a Style = Template + Theme.

Theme Name: The name as it will appear in the style dropdown selection box in the Edit Profile panel (see 4.7 Profile Settings) or General Configuration panel (see 3.2.2 General Configuration).

Template: Drop down box that contains all of the currently installed templates. Choose the template that you want the new theme to apply to.

All of the settings below Template are self-explanatory. Color settings must be 6-digit hex codes (as used in HTML). Class settings must be a valid CSS class name.

All settings below Hover Link Color are template-dependent. If these template-dependent settings are not explained by the Simple Name, check the documentation included with the template you have questions about.

3.4.3: Exporting Styles

When you create a style according to the instructions in 3.4.2 Creating Styles, the new information is entered into the database, but is not written to any files. The Style Export panel will export the information from the database into the theme_info.cfg file in the appropriate template directory. Once the data has been exported, you can copy/distribute your template directory, and you will not lose the theme/style information.

To export style info for a template, select the template from the dropdown box and click Submit. It will then write the data from the database into the theme_info.cfg in the appropriate template directory. If it has trouble writing to that file, follow the instructions if gives you. Your template should then be ready to be copied/distributed with all of its themes.

3.4.4: Managing Styles

In Style Management you can edit or delete styles that are installed on your board. For more information, see 3.4.4.1 Editing Styles.

3.5.1: Ban Control

This panel allows you to ban users using several methods. This panel also makes it easy to remove bans.

3.5.2: Disallowed Username

This panel will allow you to specify usernames that you do not want other people to use. This is commonly used to prevent users from using profanity in their usernames. Another use is preventing users from impersonating board administrators by registering similar usernames. When someone tries to register using a name that has been disallowed, the registration will fail, and they will be informed that the username has been disallowed.

To disallow a username, simply enter it into the text field and click Add. You may use the wildcard *(asterisk) to match any character. For instance, to disallow all usernames that contain "cheese" (with any characters before and/or after), simple disallow *cheese*

To re-allow usernames, simply select the disallowed username(s) from the dropdown list and click Delete.

3.5.3: User Management

This panel will allow you to change settings and information for any user on your board. To use it, simply enter a username into the text field and click Submit.

This panel will allow you to edit any part of a user's profile. The panel is identical to the standard profile panel, with a few extra settings at the end. For more information, see 4.7 Profile Settings.

At the bottom of this panel there are Special admin-only fields that are not part of the standard profile settings.

User is Active - You may deactivate/activate a user. This is most often used to activate a user who is having trouble with email activation. A user may not log in while their account is inactive.

Can send Private Messages/Can display Avatar - Both of these may be turned on or off for each user.

Rank Title - Allows you to specify a Special Rank for a user. If "No special rank assigned" is selected, the user's rank will be determined by the normal rank system. For more information, see 3.5.5 Ranks.

Delete this user? - To delete a user, check this box and click Submit. A deleted user's posts are converted to Anonymous posts with their old username as the name specified.

3.5.4: User Permissions

This panel will allow you to control a user's level, and their access to private forums. You can also specify users as moderators of a forum.

To edit a user's permissions, select the group name from the dropdown box, and click Look Up User. To grant moderator access to a user, look in the desired forum's row. In the last dropdown box in the list, choose Is Moderator.

3.5.5: Ranks

A Rank is a special title that appears next to each user's username when they post. It also appears in their profile. Ranks are a way to show how long someone has been posting to your board, or how active they are. Ranks are also a way to indicate something special about a member or a group of members.

There are two types of Ranks, normal Ranks and Special Ranks. Normal Ranks are granted to all users based on their post count. Special Ranks are granted to specific users in the User Management Panel (for more information, see 3.5.3 User Management).

To create a rank, click Add New Rank. Enter the appropriate information and click Submit. For more information on the settings, see 3.5.5.1 Editing Ranks below.

4.1.1: Registration

In order to log into the board as a user, you must register a username. To do this, click the small Register link at the top of any page.

You will be taken to the Registration Agreement Terms, which you must agree to in order to register.

You will then be taken to the registration information form. Fill out each of the required fields, and any of the optional fields you like. The settings on the registration form are identical to those in the Profile Settings form, for more details see 4.7 Profile Settings.

When you register, you must specify an email address. All email from the board to you will be sent to that address. If the board is set to User Activation, you must check your email and click the activation link there before you may log in.

4.1.2: Logging In

In order to post using your username and use your custom settings on the board, you must log in. To log in, you must use the small login form at the bottom of the Forum Index page.

Alternatively you may click the small Login link at the top of any page to be taken to the Login Page.

Enter your user name and password, and click Login. You will be taken to the page you were previously using, but will now be able to post with your username, change your profile, check private messages, etc. To log out of the board, click the small Logout [<your username> ] link at the top of any page.

If you are not logged in and attempt to do anything that requires a login, you will be taken to the login screen. After you log in, you will be taken to the page you were attempting to go to before logging in. Things that require login include changing your profile, checking your private messages, posting to forums (if they require it), etc.

If you forget your password, go to the Login Page. Click I forgot my password.

You will be taken to a form to enter your username and email address. A new password will be created, and sent in an email to you. When you receive the email, you need to click the new password activation link. The new password activation link exists so that if someone else enters your information into the Forgotten Password form, your current password will remain intact. After you have activated your new password, you may log in with it. You may change your password to what you like in your profile. For more information, see 4.7 Profile Settings.

4.2.1: Posting Form

When you post a new topic or post a reply, you are taken to the posting form, where to enter your post.

Subject - The subject of your post. If this is a new post, the subject is required, and it will be the name of the topic. If the post is replying to another post, the subject is not required, but may be added, and will be shown at the top of the post.

Message Body - The Message body is a large text area where the body of your post is input. Plain text is the only thing allowed in this text area, but special formatting, links, smilies (emoticons), images, etc. may be added through the use of Smilies, BBCode and/or HTML (if they are enabled).

Smilies - Smilies (also called emoticons) can be added to posts. You may only use smilies in your post if they are enabled on the board you are using. To see if smilies are enabled, look in the lower left corner of the posting form, you should see "Smilies are ON/OFF". If smilies are enabled and you would like to disable them in your post, check the box next to Disable Smilies in this Post. For more information, see 4.2.6 Smilies

BBCode - BBCode allows you to add special formatting to your posts. You may only use BBCode in your post if it is enabled on the board you are using. To see if BBCode is enabled, look in the lower left corner of the posting form, you should see "BBCode is ON/OFF". If BBCode is enabled and you would like to disable it in your post, check the box next to Disable BBCode in this Post. For more information, see 4.2.5 BBCode.

HTML - You may use HTML to format your posts. The HTML tags allowed may be configured in the administration panel (for more information, see 3.2.2 General Configuration). You may only use HTML in your post if it is enabled on the board you are using. To see if HTML is enabled, look in the lower left corner of the posting form, you should see "HTML is ON/OFF". If HTML is enabled and you would like to disable it in your post, check the box next to Disable HTML in this Post.

Signature - You may add a signature to your post. To do this, check the box next to Attach Signature. You may change your signature by editing your profile. For more information, see 4.7 Profile Settings.

Reply Notification - When you post, you may be interested in knowing when that topic is replied to. If so, you may check Notify me when a reply is posted. For more information, see 4.6 Watching Topics.

Sticky/Announcement - To make a post into an Announcement or a Sticky Topic, look to the bottom of the posting form. There are radio buttons at the bottom that will allow you to set the post as Normal, Sticky or Announcement. These options will only be visible to a user for the top post in a topic, and only if they have permission to make Announcements and Sticky topics. For more information, see 4.2.2 Announcements, 4.2.3 Sticky Topics and 3.1.2 Forum Permissions

Polls - To add a poll, look to the bottom of the posting form. These options will only be visible to a user if they have permission to make Polls. For more information, see 4.2.4 Polls.

4.2.2: Announcements

Announcements are a special type of topic. In the View Forum page, Announcements appear above all other topics (at the top of the forum). Announcements will also appear on every View Forum page. For instance, if you had 75 topics in a forum and 50 on each page, announcements would appear on the page with the first 50 topics and on the page with the last 25 topics.

To make a topic into an announcement, simply select the Announcement radio button on the posting form. The top post of a topic must be specified as Announcement for the topic to be an Announcement. For more information, see 4.1.1 Posting Form.

4.2.3: Sticky Topics

Sticky topics are a special type of topic. In the View Forum page, Sticky topics appear above all other topics except for Announcements. Sticky topics only appear on the first View Forum page.

To make a topic sticky, simply select the Sticky radio button on the posting form. For more information, see 4.2.1 Posting Form.

4.2.4: Polls

Polls are a special type of that allow community members to vote on an idea or issue. Polls can only be made from the top post in a topic.

Poll Question - This is the subject of the Poll, the question that is being answered by the poll. The poll question appears at the top of the topic, above the poll options. This is required for the poll.

Poll Option - Poll Options are the possible answers to the poll question. To add poll options, type the option into the text field and click Add Option. To have a valid poll, at least two options must be offered.

Run Poll for - Number of days to run the poll for. After the specified time has passed, the results of the poll are displayed in the topic, and no one else may vote.

4.2.5: BBCode

BBCode is a system that will allow you to format your posts in special ways. The BBCode system uses tags in a way nearly identical to HTML. The primary difference between BBCode and HTML is that BBCode uses square brackets [ and ] instead of angle brackets < and >. For a more detailed description of how BBCode works, click the small BBCode link on the lower left corner of the Posting Form. You may also go to http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/faq.php?mode=bbcode.

Here is a list of sample BBCode and its output:

[b]Bolded Text[/b]: Bolded Text

[i]Italicized Text[/i]: Italicized Text

[u]Underlined Text[/u]: Underlined Text

[color=red]Red Text[/color] or [color=#FF0000]Red Text[/color]: Red Text

[size=24]Bigger Text[/size]: Bigger Text

[quote]This cheese is delicious[/quote]:

[quote="The Cheese Man"]This cheese is delicious.[/quote]:

[code]if ($cheese == "tasty") { return true; }[/code]:

[list][*]Cheddar Cheese[*]Limburger Cheese[*]Cottage Cheese[/list]:

• Cheddar Cheese
• Limburger Cheese
• Cottage Cheese

[list=1][*]Cheddar Cheese[*]Limburger Cheese[*]Cottage Cheese[/list]:

1. Cheddar Cheese
2. Limburger Cheese
3. Cottage Cheese

[list=a][*]Cheddar Cheese[*]Limburger Cheese[*]Cottage Cheese[/list]:

1. Cheddar Cheese
2. Limburger Cheese
3. Cottage Cheese

[url=http://www.phpbb.com/]Visit phpBB![/url]: Visit phpBB! (Link URL: http://www.phpbb.com)

[url]http://www.phpbb.com/[/url]: http://www.phpbb.com/ (Link URL: http://www.phpbb.com)

[email][email protected][/email]: [email protected]

[img]http://www.phpbb.com/images/phpBB_88a.gif[/img]:

Again, for more info, see http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/faq.php?mode=bbcode.

4.2.6: Smilies

Smilies are small images that appear in posts. Usually they are small images of faces, and are often used to show emotion.

To use smilies in your posts, you need to enter a series of characters. Common character series are :) for a happy face , :( for a sad face , etc. Another common style for smilie character sequences is :emotion: (i.e. the emotion the smilie shows, with a colon ":" before and after this). Examples of this are :wink: for a winking face , :lol: for a laughing face , etc.

Many templates (including subSilver, the default template) have smilie buttons on the posting form. Normally, this is a grid of the smilies, any of which may be clicked to insert the appropriate character sequence at the current text insertion point. For more information, see 3.2.4 Smilie Administration.

4.2.7: Quoting Messages

Quoting messages allows you to include other's posts in your own. It is useful for showing that you are replying to a post, or part of a post.

To quote all of someone's post, look at the top right corner of their post and click Quote. This will take you to the posting form, and will allow you to reply to the post. It will also automatically add the appropriate BBCode to your post to quote the post you are replying to.

The proper syntax to quote a post is:

[quote="<name to quote>"]<text to quote>[/quote]

<name to quote> is the source of your quote, and <text to quote> is what you are quoting. So to quote the user Cheese Man saying "Power the behold of cheese."

[quote="Cheese Man"]Power the behold of cheese[/quote]

For more information, see 4.2.5 BBCode.

4.2.8: Editing Posts

Editing posts allows you to go back and fix errors, remove incorrect information, or add new information to your posts. To edit a post, look at the top right corner of your post and click Edit. You will be taken to the posting form to edit your post, and then click Submit to enter it into the database. If you edit a post after it has been replied to, a small message will appear at the bottom of it indicating how many times it has been edited, and when and by whom the last edit occurred.

To delete a post, click Edit and check Delete this Post. Click Submit to finish deleting the post. You may not delete a post if it has been replied to (i.e. it is not the last post in the topic)

4.3.1: Sending

There are three primary ways to send a private message. First, you may go your private messaging center and click New Post. Secondly, you may click Post Reply from a private message you are reading. Finally, you may click the PMlink on any user's profile or post.

The posting form is identical to the normal posting form with a few exceptions:

Username - The username of the person you want to receive the message. If you are replying to a PM, or clicked the PM link in someone's profile, this field will be automatically filled for you.

Additionally, PMs may not be Sticky Topics, Announcements, or contain Polls.

4.3.2: Receiving

There are three ways that one may be notified of a new private message. Most obvious is the Private message link at the top of every page. It will display You have X new message(s), where X is the number of new messages you have. You may click this link to take you to your Inbox.

You may be informed of new PMs by an email sent to the email address your username is registered to. You may also be informed of a new PM by means of a small window that pops up while you are viewing the board. Email and pop-up notification will contain a link to your Inbox. Email and pop-up notification may be enabled/disabled in your Profile (for more information, see 4.7 Profile Settings)

Sometimes you may be informed of a new PM, but when you go to your Inbox, there is no new message. This is not a bug, it simply means that the sender must have deleted the PM before you read it. For more information, see 4.3.3 The Outbox.

You may delete messages by selecting them and clicking Delete Marked. Alternatively, you may delete all messages by clicking Delete All. You may also sort/display messages by age by using the dropdown list box in the upper right corner.

4.3.3: The Outbox

When you send a PM, the message goes to your Outbox. It remains in the Outbox until the recipient visits his/her Inbox, at which point it is moved from your Outbox to their Inbox. While the message remains in your Outbox you may edit or delete your post if you like. The message remains in your control until it is received.

4.3.4: The Savebox

The Savebox is provided as a place to keep important PMs. Often it is used to save valuable messages from the Inbox, and then you can use the Delete All function to discard the rest.

You may save messages in your Inbox by selecting the messages (with the checkboxes next to each message) and clicking Save Marked.

4.4.1: Joining a group

There are two ways to join a group. First, you may be added to the group by the group moderator. This is not controlled by the user, but by the group moderator through the group control panel. This is the only way to become a member of a Closed or Hidden group.

To join an open group, click the small Usergroups link at the top of any page.

Choose the group to join from the Join a Group dropdown list shown, and click View Information. This will take you to the Group Control Panel. Click Join Group to request membership in the group. The Group Moderator will receive an email informing them of the request, which they must approve before you become a member of the group. For more information, see 4.4.2 Moderating a Group.

4.4.2: Moderating a Group

For each group, there is one Group Moderator. The group moderator may control membership to the group by adding and removing members. They may also control the Group Type. The group moderator is specified in the admin panel. For more information, see 3.3 Group Administration.

4.5.1: Search Query

Search for Keywords - You may search for words in the content of topics. Enter the words to search for into the text field.

If you select Search for any terms or use query as entered, then topic containing ANY of the words you entered will be displayed. You may use the AND, OR, and NOT operators to indicate which words you want to search for. Use AND to indicate that multiple words MUST be found. Use OR to indicate that a word is optional/alternate. Use NOT to indicate that a word should not be present in the topics displayed.

If you select Search for all terms, only topics containing all of the words in the query will be displayed. Selecting this option has effects comparable to using Search for any terms or use query as entered, with the AND operator between each term.

You may use the asterisk(*) wildcard character to broaden your search. The asterisk will match any number of characters. So *cheese* will match cheese, cheesewheel, wheelcheese, or wheelcheesewheel. Likewise cheese*fudge will match cheesefudge, cheeseyfudge, or cheese597fudge.

To increase the speed and decrease the overhead of the search utility, only words may be searched for. Phrases (such as "cheese wheel") may not be searched for, except by their component words. The minimum size for words is four characters, and the maximum size is twenty characters. Any non-alphanumeric character (e.g. white space and punctuation) is a word boundary.

Search for Author - You may search for posts by post author. Simply enter the author's username into this text field. You may use the asterisk(*) wildcard in author's names to broaden your search. Again, the asterisk will match any number of characters.

4.5.2: Search Options

Forum - Select the forum you wish to search in, or All available. To search multiple forums, search by Category.

Category - Select the category you wish to search in, or All available.

Display Results as Posts - Search results will be displayed as a list of the posts. Part of the post that matches the query will be displayed, and the search terms highlighted. For each post there is a ling

Display Results as Topics - Search results will be displayed as a list of Topic titles. For each topic there is a link to the forum it is in, the topic itself, and the author of the topic.

Search Previous - This dropdown box will allow you to specify the maximum age of posts to display as results of the search. There are also radio buttons here that will allow you to search only the body of posts, or the subject(title) of the posts as well.

Sort by - This will allow you to specify how search results are organized. You may sort by Post Time, Post Subject, Topic Title, Author, or Forum. The sort may be in ascending or descending order alphabetically (or chronologically where appropriate)

Return first - When Display Results as is set to Posts, this dropdown box will allow you to control how much of the post is displayed in the search result.

4.6.1: Subscribing to Topics

To subscribe to a topic, look at the lower left corner of the Topic View page. Click the small Watch this topic for replies link.

Additionally, if you post or reply to a topic, you may check Notify me when a reply is posted to subscribe to a topic.

4.6.2: Unsubscribing from Topics

To unsubscribe from a topic, look at the lower left corner of the Topic View page. Click the small Stop watching this topic link.

Alternatively, you may look at your notification email. At the end of the email (right above the signature) there is a link that will unsubscribe you from the topic.

4.7.1: Date Format

phpBB 2.0.0 allows you to specify the date format that you see on the board. This is done by allowing you to specify the format using the PHP syntax. For full details on how this works, see http://www.php.net/date.

The date string is a series of letters and punctuation. Each letter will be replaced with a part of the current date and time, and the punctuation is used to organize this information in a way that makes sense to you.

The default string for this field is "D M d, Y g:i a" This will display your date in the form Sat Apr 09, 2002 4:09 am. All of the punctuation and spacing remains intact, and each letter is replaced with part of the date/time.

D is the first three letters of the day of the week. M is the first three letters of the month name. d is the numerical date, with leading zeroes. Y is the year, four-digit format. gis the hour, 12-hour format without leading zeroes. i is the minutes, with leading zeroes. ais am/pm, in lowercase letters.

To see the complete list of letter substitutions, go to http://www.php.net/date.

4.7.2: Time Zones

To have the board time show correctly, please select your time zone. The time in phpBB 2.0.0 does not work with Daylight Savings Time, so if you have Daylight Savings Time, add 1 to your GMT modifier. So if you are in GMT-5 and have DST, you will need to set your time zone to GMT-4.

4.7.3: Avatars

Avatars are small pictures that display each post. Each user may choose his/her own avatar. However, permission to allow users to have avatars is controlled by the board administrator. Each of the following settings may be enabled/disabled in the Administration Panel (for more information, see 3.2.2.5 Avatar Settings).

Gallery Avatars - You may choose your avatar from a gallery of avatars. The gallery is a collection of avatars stored on the server that the board is running on. To select an avatar from the gallery, click Show Gallery. You may use the dropdown list at the top of the gallery to navigate between categories of avatars. To choose an avatar, check the radio button underneath it and click Select Avatar.

Remotely Linked Avatars - You may use an image that is hosted on another site as your avatar. To do this, just enter the URI into the text field. It is recommended that the images are small and do not deform tables or distract people. Administrators have the ability to block specific users from having an avatar (for more information, see 3.5.3 User Management)

Uploaded Avatars - If you have an image that you would like to use, you may upload the image to the server that the board is on. You may upload an image on your computer by clicking the Browse button. You may also upload an image by entering the URI that the image is located at. Uploaded images have an admin-controlled limit on file size and image size (for more information, see 3.2.2.5 Avatar Settings).

5.1.1: Moving Topics

In the Moderator Control Panel, you may move any number of topics from the current forum to another forum. To do this, check the boxes next to each topic and click Move. Select the forum that you would like to move the topics moved to. Select if you would like to leave Shadow Topics, and click Yes to complete the move.

5.1.2: Deleting Topics

In the Moderator Control Panel, you may delete any number of topics. To do this, check the boxes next to each topic and click Delete. You must confirm your decision by clicking Yes.

5.1.3: Locking and unlocking topics

In the Moderator Control Panel, you may lock or unlock any number of topics. To do this, check the boxes next to each topic and click Lock or Unlock. A locked topic may only be posted to by moderators and administrators.

5.1.4: Splitting Topics

In the Moderator Control Panel, you may split a topic by clicking on the topic title. You will be taken to the Split Topic Control Panel. You may select the posts to split; they will then be removed from the topic and put into a new topic. This will allow you to move off-topic posts to another topic, keeping your topics more organized.

New Topic Title - The title of the new topic created by the split.

Forum for new topic - The forum that the new topic will be located in.

To split only specific posts from a topic, check the box next to each post and click Split selected posts.

To split a post and every post after that one, select the first post to split and click Split from selected posts.

5.2.1: Moving Topics

To move a topic, click the Move Topic button.

Select the forum to move the topic to, select whether a shadow topic will be left, and click Yes to complete the move. For more information, see 5.1.1 Moving Topics.

5.2.2: Deleting Topics

To delete a topic, click the Delete Topic button.

You must confirm the delete by clicking Yes.

5.2.3: Locking and Unlocking Topics

To lock or unlock a topic, click the Lock Topic button or Unlock Topic button.

-

The appropriate button will be displayed based on whether the topic is currently locked or unlocked. A locked topic may only be posted to by moderators and administrators.

5.2.4: Splitting Topics

To split a topic, click the Split Topic button.

You will be taken to the Split Topic Control Panel. For more information, see 5.1.4 Splitting Topics.