# Linking user titles to groups

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/linking-user-titles-to-groups/19169
**Category:** Site Management
**Tags:** groups, how-to
**Created:** [August 22, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/linking-user-titles-to-groups/19169 "2014-08-22T14:28:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Discourse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/discourse/32/148734_2.png) [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/linking-user-titles-to-groups/19169/1 "2014-08-22T14:28:18Z")

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> 🔖 This guide explains how to link a user’s title to a group in Discourse, allowing users to click on the title to view the associated group page.
> 
> 🙋 Required user level: Administrator

This guide will walk you through the process of associating a user’s title with a specific group in Discourse. When set up correctly, clicking on the user’s title will navigate to the linked group’s page.

> ℹ In this example we’re using a user named `anonymous`, and a group titled `Discourse`.

## Summary

To link a user’s title to a group, you’ll need to:

1. Create a group and set a default title
2. Add the user to the group
3. Set the group as the user’s primary group
4. Assign the group’s default title to the user

## Step-by-step guide

### 1. Create a group and set a default title

1. Navigate to the Admin area
2. Go to the “Groups” section
3. Create a new group or select an existing one
4. On the group’s “Membership” page, set a “Default title”  
  
 ![Group membership page with default title field](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/f/b/4/fb423901f82631fb1c398a9c054e44ca7195571c.png)

### 2. Add the user to the group

1. Go to the user’s profile page
2. Click on the “Admin” button
3. In the “Groups” section, add the user to the desired group  
  
 ![Adding a user to a group](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/f/4/3/f43840c6a0d04421cf5dadabf280eda60328f34c.png)  
 ![User added to the group](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/5/b/b/5bbc53a1561b2d324c0d72ee5ff70ab410d2c0c4.png)

### 3. Set the group as the user’s primary group

1. On the user’s admin page, find the “Primary Group” dropdown
2. Select the desired group as the primary group  
  
 ![Setting the primary group](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/c/2/9/c295d3c41cf17acd53682f65f96d1908be8b7ac8.png)

> ℹ Setting a user’s primary group has additional implications. For more information, [read this topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-does-selecting-primary-group-for-a-user-do/25857).

### 4. Assign the group’s default title to the user

You can set the user’s title from either the admin page or the user’s preferences.

From the user’s admin page:

1. Locate the “Title” field
2. Select the group’s default title  
  
 ![Setting the title from the admin page](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/1/0/5/10530cbd257566f0f61d4125b22ff26f69d05721.png)

From the user’s preferences:

1. Go to the user’s profile
2. Click on the “Preferences” tab
3. Navigate to the “Account” section
4. Find the “Title” field and select the group’s default title  
  
 ![Setting the title from user preferences](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/5/c/2/5c2bb7d376f4d1e8f3b780f1ff4835e74ad53a6b.png)

## Verifying the setup

After completing these steps, the user’s title should now be clickable and link to the group’s page.

 ![Clickable user title linking to group page](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/c/1/d/c1d9e2a3edc42e5e461b51a33c2b10bb71f0609f.png)

## Additional notes

- This process doesn’t work with automatic or system groups like the “staff” group.
- Some sites create separate groups (e.g., a “team” group) to enable this functionality for staff members.

> Last edited by @tshenry 2026-01-09T22:15:13Z
> 
> Last checked by @hugh 2024-07-15T07:11:49Z
> 
> > **Check document**
> >
> > Perform check on document:

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### Author: ![ForgotPants](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/forgotpants/32/31677_2.png) [@ForgotPants](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ForgotPants)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2014, 7:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/linking-user-titles-to-groups/19169/2 "2014-08-25T07:33:32Z")

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Thanks for the guide 😄

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### Author: ![shyguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/shyguy/32/295079_2.png) [@shyguy](https://meta.discourse.org/u/shyguy)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2023, 9:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/linking-user-titles-to-groups/19169/3 "2023-03-26T21:23:22Z")

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seems like you can’t make the `staff` group (or other automatic/system group) a user’s primary group or associate a (clickable) title with it.

now i see why meta has a `team` group 😉

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### Author: ![Moin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/moin/32/554653_2.png) [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/linking-user-titles-to-groups/19169/4 "2025-04-20T21:51:54Z")

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> [@Discourse](#):
>
> ## Verifying the setup
> 
> After completing these steps, the user’s title should now be clickable and link to the group’s page.
> 
> ![Clickable user title linking to group page](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/c/1/d/c1d9e2a3edc42e5e461b51a33c2b10bb71f0609f.png)

Does this work for anyone?

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### Author: ![NateDhaliwal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/natedhaliwal/32/313494_2.png) [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2025, 11:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/linking-user-titles-to-groups/19169/5 "2025-04-20T23:23:37Z")

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On mobile:  
On other Discourse forums, it does, but doesn’t on Meta 👀.

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### Author: ![danvanmoll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/danvanmoll/32/365209_2.png) [@danvanmoll](https://meta.discourse.org/u/danvanmoll)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2025, 7:37am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/linking-user-titles-to-groups/19169/6 "2025-04-22T07:37:44Z")

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Looks like this has changed since 2014? I was able to create the group (“Contributor”) and also added a default title to that group.

But when I add a user to the group and edit the user’s profile, I don’t get the option to assign the “Group Default Title” to the user.

Best,  
Dan