Events are a feature of the Calendar (and Event) plugin. You can find more detail about how to enable them as well as their related settings in: Discourse Calendar (and Event)
Keeping
local dates
enabled is also highly recommended when using this feature
Creating an Event
An Event can be created from the toolbar gear icon menu when you’re creating a new topic (or editing the first post of a topic):
Once created, the event will display as an editable markdown block in your composer which you can position wherever you want inside your post. Here’s a simple example:
[event start="2024-02-28 20:00" status="public"]
[/event]
And the preview will display an event placeholder while you edit your post:
There are a selection of options you can choose from while creating your Event:
- Start and End dates and times - An Event must have a start date, though an end date is optional
- Event name - This is optional and will fallback to the topic title if one isn’t entered
- URL - Add a link to display in the Event information
- Timezone - Set the timezone (though note that the time in markdown is UTC)
- Status - An Event can be Public (joinable by anyone), Private (invite-only), or Standalone (not joinable at all). These control who can mark ‘going’ to the Event, not the Event’s visibility in the calendar.
- Reminders - Set an optional reminder to either notify participants or bump the topic at a certain point (or both, as you can have multiple)
- Recurrence - Set if this is a recurring Event
- Minimal Event - This hides the ‘Going/Not Going’ and invitee status in the display
Depending which options you pick, your Event topic will look a little like this once you’re done:
The Event menu
Once created, you also have a menu in the top right corner you can use for a selection of things:
For everyone who has permission to interact with the Event (depending on the Event’s Status):
- Add to calendar - Either download an .ics file or add to google calendar
- Send a PM to… - Send a PM to the event creator
For those who are allowed to create Events:
- Notify user - Let someone know about the Event
- Export Event - Download a list of RSVPs
- Bulk Invite - Invite people to the Event (either through the UI or by uploading a CSV. Data explorer is good for the latter)
- Edit Event - Make changes to the Event (Note: resets RSVPs attendance)
- Close Event - Closes out the Event
Interacting with an Event
People can mark their expected attendance using the Going/Interested/Not Going buttons, and their avatars will be added to the display. If it’s a popular Event, people can see a full list of responses by using the Show all button on the right:
If your Event has an end date, then the Event details will also display in topic lists and in the topic header when scrolled:
Upcoming Events Calendar
Each of the created Events will be listed on the Upcoming Events calendar, which you can add a link to in your sidebar or header dropdown navigation menu. This will lead to a dedicated /upcoming-events
page where people can see a summary of them in calendar form. Clicking on one will open the related topic so they can add their RSVP or see any related conversation:
And there you have it. If you have any questions or issues please feel free to ask them below, or create a new support, bug, feature, or ux topic as appropriate.