# Discourse User Notes
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026
**Category:** Plugin
**Tags:** official, user-notes, included-in-core
**Created:** [March 14, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026 "2016-03-14T15:43:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/1 "2016-03-14T15:43:49Z")
| | | |
| --- | --- | --- |
| :discourse2: | **Summary** | Share private notes with other staff about a user that normal users cannot see. |
| 📖 | **Install Guide** | **This plugin is bundled with Discourse core**. There is no need to install the plugin separately. |
> [@](#):
>
> :discourse2: As this is an #official plugin maintained by the Discourse team, #Support, #Contribute > Bug, #Contribute > UX, and #Contribute > Feature requests can be made in the respective categories here on Meta, and tagged with the appropriate plugin tag. Click on a link below to get one started. 👍
>
> [❓ **Support**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=6&body=%3E%20Before%20asking,%20did%20you%20search%20first%3F%20Press%20%F0%9F%94%8D%20at%20the%20upper%20right%20to%20search.&tags=user-notes "Ask for support on configuring and using Discourse User Notes") [🐛 **Bug**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=1&tags=user-notes "A bug report means something is broken, preventing normal/typical use of the plugin") [👀 **UX**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=9&tags=user-notes "Discussion about the user interface of Discourse User Notes, and how features are presented (including language and UI elements)") [💡 **Feature**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=2&tags=user-notes "Discussion about how existing Discourse User Notes features can be improved or enhanced, and how proposed new features could work")
### Configuration
The User Notes plugin can be enabled either by the toggle or from its settings, both accessible from your `/admin/plugins` page:
### Features
Sometimes staff members want to share notes about a particular user to help with moderation or support duties.
You can add a User Note to any user by using the admin wrench on one of their posts, or from their profile page:
The interface is displayed in a modal and you can add as many notes as you need to, complete with markdown support:
> ℹ Users cannot see these notes, they’re only visible to staff.
If a user has a user note, whenever they post you’ll see a little notes icon. Clicking it will bring up the notes:
### Settings
| Name | Description |
| --- | --- |
| user notes enabled | Allow staff users to attach notes to users |
| user notes moderators delete | Allow moderators to delete user notes |
> :discourse2: **Hosted by us?** This plugin is available on our Business and Enterprise plans [User Notes | Discourse - Civilized Discussion](https://www.discourse.org/plugins/user-notes.html)
> Last edited by @HAWK 2025-08-31T19:13:35Z
>
> > **Check document**
> >
> > Perform check on document:
---
### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2024, 11:00am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/132 "2024-05-09T11:00:49Z")
A post was split to a new topic: [Make User Notes accessible to category moderators](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-user-notes-accessible-to-category-moderators/307386)
---
### Author:  [@dsaver](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dsaver)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2024, 1:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/133 "2024-11-04T13:14:01Z")
Great plugin! What’s the API parameter/endpoint for adding notes to topics?
---
### Author:  [@Overgrow](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Overgrow)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2024, 11:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/134 "2024-11-11T11:52:13Z")
Have you seen this topic? [Reverse engineer the Discourse API](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reverse-engineer-the-discourse-api/20576)
And btw user notes are tied to a post, not to a topic.
---
### Author:  [@Roi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Roi)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/135 "2025-07-16T14:36:06Z")
When rebulding Discourse I get the following error:
```plaintext
rake aborted!
ArgumentError: Invalid route name, already in use: 'discourse_user_notes' (ArgumentError)
You may have defined two routes with the same name using the `:as` option, or you may be overriding a route already defined by a resource with the same naming. For the latter, you can restrict the routes created with `resources` as explained here:
https://guides.rubyonrails.org/routing.html#restricting-the-routes-created
raise ArgumentError, "Invalid route name, already in use: '#{name}' \n" \
```
I understood that `discourse_user_notes` is now included in the core. Did something go wrong in this process?
---
### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/136 "2025-07-16T21:53:57Z")
🥳 This plugin is now bundled with Discourse core as part of [Bundling more popular plugins with Discourse core](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bundling-more-popular-plugins-with-discourse-core/373574). If you are self-hosting and use the plugin, you need to remove it from your `app.yml` before your next upgrade.
@Roi sorry you had a poor experience today. Once you remove the plugin from your `app.yml` you will find the problem will go away and you will be able to rebuild.
---
### Author:  [@Roi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Roi)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/137 "2025-07-16T21:57:17Z")
> [@tobiaseigen](#):
>
> @Roi sorry you had a poor experience today. Once you remove the plugin from your `app.yml` you will find the problem will go away and you will be able to rebuild. toda
Thanks and no worries. Unfortunately it was already removed from my app.yml, but the error still is there.
PS: Commenting out with # did not restrain the notifications during compilation. I had to delete the lines in config completely.
---
### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 9:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/138 "2025-07-16T21:59:04Z")
I had the same error and after rebuilding my site came back. Can you try it again?
---
### Author:  [@Roi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Roi)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 10:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/139 "2025-07-16T22:14:44Z")
The last time I tried was 5 minutes before your post here. 🤷♂️
---
### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/140 "2025-07-16T22:17:48Z")
Perhaps a silly question, but do you have `discourse-staff-notes` in your `app.yml`? That’s what I had in mine if I recall correctly. That’s the old name for the plugin.
---
### Author:  [@Roi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Roi)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/141 "2025-07-16T22:20:02Z")
Oh, yes, that’s in the config. LOL 🙈, same but old? Must be the clue! Will try first thing in the morning. Thank you, will keep you posted.
---
### Author:  [@david](https://meta.discourse.org/u/david)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/143 "2025-07-16T22:26:46Z")
This will make `staff-notes` show a more useful message when the rebuild fails. Thanks for identifying this @roi @tobiaseigen 🙏
[https://github.com/discourse/discourse\_docker/pull/978](https://github.com/discourse/discourse_docker/pull/978)
---
### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2025, 3:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/144 "2025-07-28T15:21:15Z")
A post was split to a new topic: [Add group access setting for user notes](https://meta.discourse.org/t/add-group-access-setting-for-user-notes/376208)
---
### Author:  [@Richie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Richie)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2025, 7:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/145 "2025-11-14T07:52:19Z")
Are you taking feature requests or suggestions for this plugin?
I have two 😊
The first would be to update the icon that’s displayed next to the username:
[ ](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/a/b/9/ab9086b9da03bf5741a2a56397f0cde72231ac2c.png)
It’s very dated in its design and its styling and doesn’t match the look or feel of the ultra modern Discourse, perhaps a more modern icon could be used here? 🙂
The second request would be to notify the staff / admin user group when a note is added to a user.
That could even be a selectable option in the control panel as it may not suit everyone’s use case.
Thanks for a great plugin!
---
### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2025, 8:46am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/146 "2025-11-14T08:46:04Z")
The plugin uses an emoji instead of a Font Awesome icon, so it looks different depending on the emoji set you choose.
The fact that it looks different depending on the emoji pack configuration is also somewhat confusing. I am used to such things looking the same in all forums that don’t use a custom icon set.
Furthermore, icons adapt to the color scheme, which emojis cannot do. I am also in favor of a change, perhaps to user-pen.
That could also be used in the places where currently the simple pen is used
> [@Discourse](#):
>
> 
---
### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2025, 9:12am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/147 "2025-11-14T09:12:56Z")
[Separate post in case someone wants to split both feature requests into their own topic]
> [@Richie](#):
>
> The second request would be to notify the staff / admin user group when a note is added to a user.
I think this could already be achieved with the automation and [data explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/32566?silent=true) plugin. The script could send a PM (but that could be very annoying) or it could post in a topic and you set the tracking status accordingly (watching/tracking) to receive notifications.
---
### Author:  [@Richie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Richie)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2026, 5:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/148 "2026-02-02T17:47:45Z")
> [@Moin](#):
>
> The plugin uses an emoji instead of a Font Awesome icon
Is that what would need to change in order to support this, making it use Font Awesome first?
> [@Richie](#):
>
> The first would be to update the icon that’s displayed next to the username:
>
> [ ](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/a/b/9/ab9086b9da03bf5741a2a56397f0cde72231ac2c.png)
>
> It’s very dated in its design and its styling and doesn’t match the look or feel of the ultra modern Discourse, perhaps a more modern icon could be used here? 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Foriusz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Foriusz)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 3:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-user-notes/41026/149 "2026-09-16T15:44:34Z")
Hello, automatic notes on suspension and silence are still a thing?
“Notes can be added […], and _**certain staff actions (like suspension and silence) will automatically add a note.**_”
> **[User Notes](https://www.discourse.org/plugins/user-notes)**
>
> Attach notes to users for all staff to see.
We can add notes manually but there’s no generated notes with suspension.