How can I add users to an automatic groups?

Product Support

AI-generated summary

Gavin_Hudson is trying to add users to automatic groups in their trial Discourse forum but finds these groups uneditable — no option to add users manually or via email domain, and no Membership menu under Manage. They also can’t delete these groups and wonder if this limitation is specific to trial accounts. not-ethan clarifies that automatic groups (like trust_level_0 through trust_level_4, staff, moderators, admins) are system-generated and cannot be edited directly. Instead, users are added to them automatically based on their trust level or role — for example, becoming a moderator or admin adds them to the staff group. Gavin_Hudson thanks not-ethan for the explanation, noting they had been searching for this information.

1

I can create groups in the trial company Discourse we have. I also see a number of automatic groups that came with the trial. How do I add members to the automatic groups?

When I create a group, I can add users manually one at a time:

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I can also add users automatically by their email domain:

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However, some groups came automatically created with our company’s trial forum. I seem completely unable to edit the membership of these groups.

I cannot add users individually:

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I also cannot add users automatically via email domain. I can’t even allow access to the group since there’s no Membership menu under Manage:
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I can’t even delete automatic groups. They seem completely useless. Is there a way to add users to them? Or is this just something that happens with trial Discourse accounts? Thanks in advance!

2

Automatic groups are different than when people are auto added based on email.

The Automatic groups are

  • trust_level_0
  • trust_level_1
  • trust_level_2
  • trust_level_3
  • trust_level_4
  • staff
  • moderators
  • admins

Those you cant add users too directly. Instead you need to give them that specific trust level, moderator or admin. The staff group is admin or moderator. See this post for more info on that.

3

Thank you very much! I’ve been searching and searching, trying to figure this out.