Create a forum user

task australia Updated Sep 10, 2026 1 min read add-user.md

You can create forum users, which you then use to define memberships to a forum.

Before you begin

Role required: sn_communities.forum_admin

Important:

Starting with the Brazil release, Communities is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer installed on new instances but will continue to be supported. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.

About this task

A forum user is a set of users and user groups. Forum users are reusable. Multiple forum users can be used in any given forum.

Note: Before creating a forum user, check whether an existing forum user matches your requirements.

Public	Public users can view the community without logging in. By default, public users have content_read access to questions and answers in public forums.
Registered	Users who have signed up to the community and accepted the Terms & Conditions. Once logged in, their access to forum content depends on the permissions set up for each specific forum.
Custom	Specific users and user groups that are added as members to the current forum user.
Membership	A group of members who have joined a specific forum. Once logged in, their access to forums depends on the permissions set up for each specific forum.

## Procedure

Navigate to All > Community > Administration > Forum Users.
Click New.
On the form, fill in the fields.

Field Description

Name Name of the user.

Description Description of the user.

User type Type of user.
Click Submit.

The forum user is created and added to the Forum Users list.

Field	Description
Name	Name of the user.
Description	Description of the user.
User type	Type of user.

Add members to a forum user
Add members to a forum user. Members can be individual users or user groups.

Parent Topic:Forum and user permissions management

90 lines · 2.9 KB Wrap lines

---
title: Create a forum user
description: You can create forum users, which you then use to define memberships to a forum.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/customer-service-management/communities/add-user.html
release: australia
product: Communities
classification: communities
topic_type: task
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 1
breadcrumb: [Forum and user permissions management, Configuring communities, Communities, Customer Service Management]
---

# Create a forum user

You can create forum users, which you then use to define memberships to a forum.

## Before you begin

Role required: sn\_communities.forum\_admin

**Important:**

Starting with the Brazil release, Communities is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer installed on new instances but will continue to be supported. For details, see the [Deprecation Process \[KB0867184\]](https://support.servicenow.com/kb_view.do?sysparm_article=KB0867184) article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.

## About this task

A forum user is a set of users and user groups. Forum users are reusable. Multiple forum users can be used in any given forum.

**Note:** Before creating a forum user, check whether an existing forum user matches your requirements.

<table id="table_ayx_22h_xz"><tbody><tr><td>

Public

</td><td>

Public users can view the community without logging in. By default, public users have **content\_read** access to questions and answers in public forums.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Registered

</td><td>

Users who have signed up to the community and accepted the Terms &amp; Conditions. Once logged in, their access to forum content depends on the permissions set up for each specific forum.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Custom

</td><td>

Specific users and user groups that are added as members to the current forum user.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Membership

</td><td>

A group of members who have joined a specific forum. Once logged in, their access to forums depends on the permissions set up for each specific forum.

</td></tr></tbody>
</table>## Procedure

1.  Navigate to **All** &gt; **Community** &gt; **Administration** &gt; **Forum Users**.

2.  Click **New**.

3.  On the form, fill in the fields.

    |Field|Description|
    |-----|-----------|
    |Name|Name of the user.|
    |Description|Description of the user.|
    |User type|Type of user.|

4.  Click **Submit**.

    The forum user is created and added to the Forum Users list.


-   **[Add members to a forum user](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/customer-service-management/communities/add-members-to-forum-user.md)**  
Add members to a forum user. Members can be individual users or user groups.

**Parent Topic:**[Forum and user permissions management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/customer-service-management/communities/communities-permissions.md)