1. First login

Open your forum in the browser and click Log in in the top right. Log in with the admin account you configured during installation.

After login you will see a new link in the navigation: Admin Panel. Click it to enter the administration area.

Change password immediately!

Change the admin password immediately after first login – especially if you set it as plain text in .env. Go to Admin Panel → User management → [Your account] → Change password.

2. Getting to know the admin panel

Area	Contents
Dashboard	Overview: latest registrations, posts, system status
Forum structure	Create, sort and edit categories and boards
User management	Search, edit, ban users, assign groups
User groups	Manage groups and their permissions
Settings	Forum title, email, upload limits, registration
Design	Select and configure style sets (themes)
Legal pages	Legal notice, privacy policy, terms of use
Logs	Error logs, moderation log, login log

3. Set up forum structure

Go to Forum structure in the admin panel. APBoard uses two levels:

Categories – top-level groups that contain boards (e.g. “General”, “Tech”)
Boards – the actual discussion areas within a category

Step by step: Creating the first category

1

Create category
Click New category. Enter a name (e.g. “General”) and confirm.
2

Add board
Click Add board next to the new category. Enter name and optional description.
3

Adjust order
Categories and boards can be sorted via drag & drop.
4

Check permissions
By default, everyone (guests and logged-in users) can read. Writing requires an account.

Example: Typical starting structure

text

Category: Community
  ├── Board: Introductions
  ├── Board: News & Announcements [admins only]
  └── Board: Off-Topic

Category: [Your Topic]
  ├── Board: Questions & Answers
  ├── Board: Tutorials
  └── Board: Show your projects

Category: Support
  └── Board: Report a bug

4. Configure user groups

Group	Default permissions
Guests	Read only (no registration, no writing)
Users	Read, write, edit own posts
Moderators	Moderate, lock, move posts
Administrators	Full access including admin panel

5. Fill in legal pages

Go to Admin Panel → Legal pages. Fill in:

Legal notice – required by law in Germany for publicly accessible forums
Privacy policy – GDPR-compliant, explains what data is stored
Terms of use – forum rules, optional but recommended

6. Test email sending

Register a test account (use a different email address than the admin). If the confirmation email arrives, email sending works. If not, check the SMTP settings in .env configuration.

7. Make your forum known

Create your own first post in the “Introductions” board
Share the link to your forum in relevant communities and social networks
Set up categories and boards to match your topics
Write forum rules and publish them as a pinned topic

Back .env & config.php Next Update APBoard

Documentation

After Installation: Getting Started