Trust Level Permissions Reference

[Discourse]

This reference aims to be a comprehensive list of Discourse features, marked by Trust Level, and including the relevant admin settings which influence them.

Trust Level Grid - Defaults

TL = Trust Level dependant
= Can be enabled or adjusted by an admin setting

		TL0	TL1	TL2	TL3	TL4	Category Moderator	Moderator
[1]	Post Replies						TL
[2]	Post Topics						TL
	Reply as Linked Topic						TL
[3]	Reply by email						TL
[4]	Email-in New Topics						TL
[5]	Post Attachments						TL
[6]	Post Images	1					TL
[7]	Post Links	2					TL
[8]	Mention users in a post	2					TL
[9]	Use @here Mention						TL
[10]	Tag a Topic						TL
[11]	Create Tags						TL
	Manage Tags and Tag Groups
[12]	Create Polls						TL
	Close Any Poll
[13]	Edit Own Posts	24 hrs	24 hrs	30 days	30 days	no limit	TL	no limit
[14]	View Post Edit History
	Hide Edit Revisions
	Revert Edit Revisions
[15]	Edit Wikis						TL
[16]	Make their own posts into Wikis						TL
[17]	Edit Topics (title, category, and tags)
[18]	Edit all Posts
[19]	Delete Own Posts (not Topics, unless there are no replies)
[20]	Delete Other User’s Posts
[21]	View Deleted Posts
[22]	View Deleted Topics
[23]	Anonymous Posting						TL
[24]	Access Shared Drafts
	Access (default) Staff Category
[25]	See and Use Whispers
		TL0	TL1	TL2	TL3	TL4	Category Moderator	Moderator
[26]	Daily Like Limit/Multiplier	50	50	x1.5	x2	x3	TL	No Limit
[27]	Upload Avatar						TL
[28]	Profile Background						TL
[29]	Usercard Background						TL
	Mute other users						TL
[30]	Ignore other users						TL
[31]	View New User Post Messages						TL
[32]	View Returning User Post Messages						TL
	Have actual links in the ‘about me’ field of their profile						TL
[33]	Have all their links followed (automatic nofollow removed)						TL
[34]	Access the Lounge						TL
[35]	Have Shield Icon
	Manage Users Can view user info Can update user’s preferences Can adjust a user’s trust level							✓ ✓ ✓
		TL0	TL1	TL2	TL3	TL4	Category Moderator	Moderator
[36]	Flag Posts						TL
[37]	View content of hidden flagged posts						TL
[38]	Can hide TL0 spam posts						TL
[39]	Flags count towards auto-suppressing TL0 spammers						TL
[40]	Flagging a post immediately takes effect and hides the target post
	Review Posts and Flags
	Approve Users
	Make PMs into Official Warnings
	Silence or Suspend Users
	Anonymize or Delete Users
		TL0	TL1	TL2	TL3	TL4	Category Moderator	Moderator
[41]	Can send Personal Messages						TL
[42]	Invite outside users to PMs making a group PM						TL
[43]	Can send invites (inc. to specific topics)						TL
[44]	Can send personal messages to an email address						TL
		TL0	TL1	TL2	TL3	TL4	Category Moderator	Moderator
[45]	Re-categorize and rename topics						TL/Category
	Bulk Select Topics						TL
	Rebuild HTML						TL
	Add Official Notice
	Add Staff Colour
	Lock Post
	Split and Merge Topics
	Delete Topic
	Merge Posts
	Pin/Unpin Topic Pin Topic Pin Topic Globally Make Banner					✓ ✓	✓ TL	✓ ✓ ✓
	Close Topics
	Archive Topics
	Make Topics Unlisted
	See Unlisted Topics in Topic List						TL
	Reset Topic Bump Date						TL
	Set Topic Timer Auto-Close Topic Auto-Close Topic After Last Post Auto-Bump Topic Close Temporarily Schedule Publishing Auto-Delete Topic Auto-Delete Replies					✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓	TL TL TL TL TL TL ✓ ✓	✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
	Set Slow Mode						TL
	Change Timestamp
	Make Personal Message/Public Topic
	Grant Badge
	Moderation History
[46]	Page Publishing
		TL0	TL1	TL2	TL3	TL4	Category Moderator	Moderator
	Edit Category Descriptions
	Watched Words
	View Logs (Staff Actions, Screened Emails, Screened IPs, Screened URLs, Search Logs)
	View Dashboard (no upgrade option)
[47]	Allow moderators to create and manage categories and groups
[48]	Allow moderators to change post ownership
[49]	Allow moderators to view user emails
	Plugins	TL0	TL1	TL2	TL3	TL4	Category Moderator	Moderator
[50]	Use Chat (discourse-chat)						TL
[51]	Messages allowed per 30secs	20	40	40	40	40	TL	No limit
[52]	Use Personal Chat						TL
[53]	Flag Chat messages						TL
[54]	Mark Solutions (discourse-solved)						TL
[55]	Vote Limit (discourse-topic-voting)	2	4	6	8	10
[56]	Endorsements (discourse-category-experts)	1	1	x2	x2	x3
[57]	Delete user notes (discourse-user-notes)
[58]	Use Saved Searches (discourse-saved-searches)						TL

To Do:

• Add First_Day limits, and Admin/Sysadmin additional abilities
• Check for more plugin abilities
• Create a Cut-Out-and-Keep interactive version
• Add links to sources/similar topics
• Improve mobile view of mini-sections

---

1. max replies in first day
   newuser max replies per topic ↩︎

2. max topics in first day
   create topic allowed groups ↩︎

3. reply by email enabled ↩︎

4. email in
   email in allowed groups ↩︎

5. newuser max attachments ↩︎

6. newuser max embedded media
   embedded media post allowed groups
   skip review media groups ↩︎

7. newuser max links
   post links allowed groups ↩︎

8. enable mentions
   newuser max mentions per post
   max mentions per post ↩︎

9. here mention
   here mention allowed groups
   max here mentioned ↩︎

10. tagging enabled
    tag topic allowed groups ↩︎

11. create tag allowed groups ↩︎

12. poll create allowed groups ↩︎

13. edit post allowed groups
    post edit time limit
    tl2 post edit time limit
    additional edits per day multiplier ↩︎

14. edit history visible to public ↩︎

15. edit wiki post allowed groups ↩︎

16. self wiki allowed groups ↩︎

17. edit all topic groups ↩︎

18. edit all post groups ↩︎

19. max post deletions per day
    max post deletions per minute ↩︎

20. delete all posts and topics allowed groups ↩︎

21. delete all posts and topics allowed groups ↩︎

22. delete all posts and topics allowed groups ↩︎

23. allow anonymous posting
    anonymous posting allowed groups ↩︎

24. shared drafts category
    shared drafts allowed groups ↩︎

25. enable whispers
    whispers allowed groups ↩︎

26. max likes per day
    additonal likes per day multiplier
    staff like weight ↩︎

27. allow uploaded avatars
    automatically download gravatars ↩︎

28. profile background allowed groups ↩︎

29. user card background allowed groups ↩︎

30. ignore allowed groups ↩︎

31. new user notice tl ↩︎

32. returning user notice tl ↩︎

33. tl3 links no follow ↩︎

34. /c/lounge/edit/security
    The lounge was removed from the default categories starting from v2.9.0.beta10, but is still available in previous versions. ↩︎

35. Make staff users more recognizable with customized avatars, posts, and mentions ↩︎

36. max flags per day
    additional flags per day multiplier
    flag post allowed groups
    allow flagging staff ↩︎

37. hidden post visible groups ↩︎

38. high trust flaggers auto hide posts ↩︎

39. num users to silence new user
    silence new user sensitivity ↩︎

40. hide post sensitivity ↩︎

41. personal message enabled groups
    max personal messages per day ↩︎

42. invite allowed groups ↩︎

43. invite allowed groups ↩︎

44. send email messages allowed groups ↩︎

45. edit all topic groups ↩︎

46. enable page publishing ↩︎

47. moderators manage categories and groups ↩︎

48. moderators change post ownership ↩︎

49. moderators view emails ↩︎

50. chat allowed groups ↩︎

51. chat allowed messages for other trust levels ↩︎

52. direct message enabled groups ↩︎

53. chat message flag allowed groups ↩︎

54. accept all solutions allowed groups ↩︎

55. vote limit ↩︎

56. max category expert endorsements per day
    additional category expert endorsements per day multiplier ↩︎

57. user notes moderators delete ↩︎

58. saved searches allowed groups ↩︎

Last edited by @Lilly 2025-05-06T13:09:02Z

Last checked by @hugh 2024-06-17T09:52:30Z

Check document

Perform check on document:

[Moin]

Sometimes it’s difficult to get which tick belongs to which permission

[JammyDodger]

Mobile view? Yes, I wasn’t sure about that. I did take the indent out of the Pinned and Topic Timer ones to help with those sections, but it appears they’ve slipped back in during a redraft. Though the Manage Users one is already left-aligned, so it wouldn’t be a magic bullet. I tried putting them in their own rows, but it didn’t have the same visual ‘togetherness’. I’ll add it to the To Do list and have a think.

[MentalNomad]

Fabulous reference, @JammyDodger !

Do we have permission to copy and post on our own Discourse instances? (Modified for our own custom settings, of course.)

[JammyDodger]

Absolutely. You can even pull up the raw version of the post by using the ‘raw’ link if that makes it easier?

https://meta.discourse.org/raw/224824/1

[mattdm (Matthew Miller)]

@JammyDodger I just want to say thanks again for creating this heroically amazing chart in response to my whining about outdated docs. I really appreciate it!

[JammyDodger]

No worries. Glad I could help.

And thanks to everyone who’s helping me keep it updated.

[agemo]

At first glance I thought this was an Admin screen where you could tailor the TL privileges in a one look one click overview matrix like this - should this not be a feature?

This would be amazing and also to be able to add new Trust Levels.

I mean who doesn’t need another need at least 4 more!

[mattdm (Matthew Miller)]

A few missing things (or things that I’m missing?):

• destroy a tag?
• manage tag synonyms?
• create tag groups?
• manage tag groups?

[JammyDodger]

I’ve finally gotten around to making a change.

I went with amending

		TL0	TL1	TL2	TL3	TL4	Category Moderator	Moderator
	Edit Tag Descriptions

into:

		TL0	TL1	TL2	TL3	TL4	Category Moderator	Moderator
	Manage Tags and Tag Groups

Do you think that would cover it? (I’m trying to balance comprehensive with succinct )

[not-ethan (Ethan)]

Mabey add that TL4 are able to make tags by default

[JammyDodger]

It’s actually TL3 to create a tag, and has its own line just above this one.

[not-ethan (Ethan)]

Guess it was changed on a forum I’m on without me relising lol

[Lilly (Lillian Louis)]

thank you for making this @JammyDodger. this is a great reference that has been very helpful for me on a number of occasions.

[MentalNomad]

We just updated this setting on our Discourse; may want to add to the table:

		TL0	TL1	TL2	TL3	TL4	Category Moderator	Moderator
[1]	View Hidden Posts

---

1. hidden post visible groups ↩︎

[JammyDodger]

I have added it in. Thanks for the reminder.

[JammyDodger]

Just adding a note here that we now have two new Trust level settings that will allow different groups to edit post content and/or topic titles/categories/tags:

This will replace trusted users can edit others

feature topic: Separate 'trusted users can edit others' setting for trust levels 3 & 4

[JammyDodger]

Adding a note that we’ve now moved to a group-enabled setting for anonymous mode - anonymous posting allowed groups

DEV: Change anonymous_posting_min_trust_level to a group-based setting

[JammyDodger]

I’ll cross-link this here so people can track all the other changes coming soon to a trust-level setting near you

Changes coming to settings for giving access to features (from trust levels to groups)

Many features in Discourse rely on a setting to give access by trust level. This has proven to be too inflexible over the years, so we are moving to a new practice of giving access to members of specific groups instead. We will now begin moving existing settings relying on trust levels so they instead rely on groups - see the list below that we are targeting. Some settings will remain trust level based where it makes sense. As we move along we will update the list and add replies here. Do let u…

[JammyDodger]

I have now updated the setting names in the little footnotes to reflect the new group-allowed versions.