Setting up Permissions on phpBB3

How to set up permissions on phpbb3
A guide by Sonikku1011

Hey guys it's me with another guide! In this guide, we're going to go over how to set up permissions for your member groups on phpBB3. This software may be a bit confusing to use
for new forum owners, I had a bit of some issues setting up the user permissions when I first used it. So I thought a guide would help those that may be having issues with setting
the correct permissions. Also phpBB3 will not display the categories and sub forums until the forum permissions are set up, so if you don't see anything besides the default category
and sub forum it may be because the permissions aren't set up yet for your other categories/sub forums. So with that said, let's get started!

First head to your ACP. When you first open the ACP, you'll be greeted with this screen:


So say you wish to create a new category for your board. You'll need to head towards the forums tab. From there a list of all your categories. If you wish to create a new forum or
category, locate the button that says "create new forum" and click it. A new page will load, and will look like this:



Go ahead and fill out the information on the page with what you wish to name your new category or forum. (As you can see, it'll ask you if you want to create a category or sub forum.) Go ahead and keep the "do not copy permissions" option, but if you wish to copy permissions from another forum you may do so. (And your new forum will show up.) Once you fill out the info. for your new forum or category, go ahead and submit the form. If everything checks out, you'll be greeted with this screen:



From there, click the "set permissions" link and a new screen will load. This new screen will have four boxes, the left side will allow you to specifically set permissions for specific
user on your forum, while the right side is for your user groups. We'll be setting permissions for user groups in this guide, so go ahead and highlight all user groups by using the shift key, and afterwards click the "add permissions" button. If done successfully, you'll be greeted with this new screen which will allow you to set permissions for all user groups, as seen bellow:



Now it's time to set the permissions. Each user group has a drop down menu, by default there are no permissions set. However when clicking on the menu, the options available are as follows:



No access just as it sounds, will not grant the user group access to the forum. They cannot read nor see anything in a forum set with this permission. It's best to use this for your staff area on your normal member groups.

Read only access will only allow the group to read topics and they cannot create new topics. This may be best for your news area, so that only staff can create new topics.

Limited access will allow a group to post, but they cannot post polls, can't permanently delete their own posts, can't post attachments, can't use the flash bb code, can't use topic icons, can't lock their own topics or bump topics.

Limited access+ polls is the same as above, but they can post polls.

Standard access will allow the group to pretty much have the same permissions as above but they can pretty much do everything that the limited user group can't. (Besides posting
the flash bb code.)

Standard access+ polls is just the same as above but they can post polls.

Full access means a group can pretty much do everything, this is highly recommended only for you staff team.

On moderation queue means the user's posts must be approved by a member of staff. They have the same permissions as a standard group.

Bot access is the same as read only access, though they cannot search. As the name states, this is used for search engine bots or various other bots you may have set up on your forum.

Newly Registered Users cannot access anything on the board. This could be used as your banned group.

If you wish to change the default permissions, you'll have to go to advance settings under the group you wish to change. From there, you'll be greeted with the following screen:



From there you can change the various different settings for each of your usergroups! Let me know if you have any issues, and if the images go down for some reason. Hope this helps!

This is such an important topic really. Thanks for this and good job!
Every beginner struggles with the permission system of phpbb but it's really very flexible. +1

A comprehensive guide indeed! Thanks for this! +1 !!