‘Sections and groups’ is used to configure the structure of the network and make basic settings.
How to structure your network
What is the connection between sections and groups?
Sections allow you to categorise groups. Basically, you can think of sections as “top categories”, “headers” or “organisational levels”. The left sidebar is structured by the sections you create for the users. “Groups” then make up the underlying structure of the “sections” they belong to.
Ideally, the strategy you want to adopt for the network or the structure of your organisation will already imply suitable categories you can use for sections. As a second step, you can continue to add groups to each section that fit the corresponding label.
What is a section? #
A section is an area in the network in which groups are created. You can use sections to categorise and structure the various groups in the network and define certain settings for all groups. In the ‘Sections and groups’ administration, the sections appear as tabs under which the respective groups that they contain are displayed.
For the user, the sections are displayed in the context bar as headlines under which the associated groups can be expanded and collapsed.
Add a new section #
A new section can be added by using the ‘Add a new section’ button at the top right.
Clicking on this opens another page on which the new section can be configured.
Section title #
The section title is displayed as the section headline in the context bar on the left.
Group wording #
The group wording defines the term to be used within this section for a ‘group’. Examples of this are ‘Project’, ‘Committee’ or ‘Department’. This has an impact on some menus, e.g. when the network admin adds a new group to the section.
Standard: 
Group wording “Project”: 
Membership & visibility #
Sections are set to the status ‘Open’ by default. This simply means that the section headline is displayed to every user on the left in the context bar. The status of individual groups within the section is not affected and can be defined in the respective administration under ‘Joining groups’.
If the status ‘Hidden (sub-community)’ is selected, only users who have a membership in at least one group within the section have the section headline displayed in their context bar on the left. The section remains hidden for all other users.
Sub-communities also offer many more setting options (See Sub-community administration). Note: Sub-communities are available to a limited extent depending on the contingent booked.
Who can create new groups? #
Here you can configure whether network admins only or all other members of the network can create new groups in the section.
If you select ‘Members & administrators’, a ‘+’ icon appears in the context bar next to the section headline that allows members to add new groups. If ‘Only system administrators’ is selected, the ‘+’ icon is omitted and new groups can only be added via the network administration.
Group statistics #
Group statistics allows group admins to get a more accurate picture of the content and activities in their own group.
If ‘Activate for all groups in this section’ is selected, group admins can view the statistics for their own group. If ‘Deactivate for all groups in this section’ is selected, the statistics are not available in the group administration.
App Creator #
Here you can specify whether the app creator is available to the group admins within this section. As app creator modules are only available to a limited extent depending on the contingent booked, it may be in the interest of the network admin to restrict their creation to certain sections.
Editing sections #
If a section tab is selected in ‘Sections and groups’, the item ‘Edit section [section name]’ can be found on the right below the tabs.
By clicking on this, you can change all settings that were made initially under ‘Add a new section’.
Deleting sections #
If a section tab is selected in ‘Sections and groups’, the item ‘Edit section [section name]’ can be found on the right below the tabs. To the right of the button is a context menu where the section can be deleted.
Note: Only sections without groups can be deleted. This also includes archived groups.
Changing the order of sections #
At the top right of the ‘Sections and groups’ page is the ‘Add a new section’ button. To the right of this, the ‘Change order’ option can be selected via the context menu. This takes the network admin to a page that allows the order of the existing sections to be changed using drag & drop. By clicking on ‘Save order’, the change is shown to users in the context bar to the left.
Searching sections #
If a tab is selected in ‘Sections and groups’, there is a search bar below it where you can search in the respective section. By default, this searches for group names. By clicking on the ‘filter’ icon on the right next to the search bar, you can expand the search to search group profiles as well as group names.
Searching archived groups #
Archived groups can also be viewed here. By setting the filter ‘Search archive’, only groups in the section that have been archived in the past are shown.
Adding new groups #
To create a new group within a section, first select the respective section tab on the ‘Sections and groups’ page. The ‘Add group’ button is below this to the right. Depending on the group wording selected for the section, there may be a different name for the button.
After clicking on this button, the network admin can configure any of the settings that are also available to the group admin in the group administration (see Group administration).
Under the last tab ‘Miscellaneous’, you can also find ‘Chat’. If a chat is configured for the respective network, the network admin can decide there whether the group should have a chat room in which all group members can exchange information. This is activated by default.
The creator of a group is automatically set as the first group admin.
Managing existing groups #
If a section tab is selected in ‘Sections and groups’, the groups contained in this section are listed below it.
An icon to the left of the respective group name indicates the status of the group:
No icon: Open group
: Closed group
: Hidden group
Below this is an overview of the number of members, group admins and posts within the group plus the group teaser.
The following actions can be carried out using the context menu to the right of the group:
Show to guest users #
Guest users can only see the groups to which they have been explicitly invited. The group directory is not visible for them. To suggest a selection of groups for guest users to join, you can tick the ‘Show to guest users’ box.
Groups selected with a tick are displayed to guest users in the group directory. These groups can also be included in the group promotion for guest users.
Public posts #
The ‘Public posts’ setting must be selected if the group’s feed is to be made accessible to people who are not logged into the network. Simply selecting this setting has no visible effect. The setting is only applied when the feed is configured, e.g. in the network navigation.
Move group #
The ‘Move group’ option allows you to move a group from one section to another. Clicking on ‘Move group’ opens a new window in which the group currently being edited can be seen at the top and the section in which it is currently located can be seen below. Using the dropdown, you can select the section to which the group with all its content and members should be moved. Click on ‘Save’ to complete the process.
Delete #
Removes the group from the network.
Please note: Deleting a group also deletes all content. If the content should be retained, you can use the ‘Archive group’ function. Archived groups no longer appear in the context bar and can only be found via the ‘Search archive’ filter in the group directory. They can still be viewed by members. New members are not able to join a deleted group.
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