# Community general settings

> Name and logo, who can join and how, post approval, 2FA, sign-up links, the reply-to address and the autoresponder — everything on the General Settings tab.

Source: https://support.estage.com/community-general-settings
Part of the ESTAGE Support help center (https://support.estage.com). Full knowledge base: https://support.estage.com/llms-full.txt

---

**General Settings** is where a community gets its identity and its front door: what it's called,
who may join, whether new members and new posts wait for you, and what your members see in the
emails it sends.

Open the community, go to **Settings → Community Settings → General Settings**. Change what you need;
a bar appears at the bottom with **Discard** and **Save changes**. Nothing applies until you save.

## Before you start

- You need to be the community's owner, or hold a [role](https://support.estage.com/community-roles) with the **Name, about
  & branding** permission.
- To use **Paid** visibility, the product people buy and the CRM tags that grant access must exist
  first.

## Community identity

| Field | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Community name** | Shown across the community and used as the sender name on its emails. Up to 80 characters — a short label, not a description. A blank name isn't saved. |
| **Logo type** | **Image** or **Text**. Text shows a **Logo text** field instead of an upload. |
| **Default logo** | Used in every theme. A theme can replace it with its own logo in **Styles → Theme logo** — see [Look, navigation & about page](https://support.estage.com/community-appearance). |
| **Logo max width** | Slider for image logos, 40–230 px. |
| **Favicon** | The small icon in the browser tab. |

Below it, **Secret key** holds your community's key, hidden by default. Use the eye button
to show it and the copy button to copy it when support or an integration asks for it, or when you
[deploy hub content into your community](https://support.estage.com/community-deploy-from-hub).

> **Caution**
>
> Treat the secret key like a password. Share it only with ESTAGE support or a service you trust.

## Access & membership

**Visibility** decides who gets in:

| Option | What happens when someone joins |
| --- | --- |
| **Public** | They're in straight away. The approval options below are hidden. |
| **Private** | They land in **Members → Pending** until you approve them, unless an auto-approve rule lets them in. |
| **Paid** | Access is bought. Pick the CRM **Tags** that grant access and **Link Product** — the product people buy. Someone holding one of those tags is approved automatically; anyone else is asked to pay. |

For **Private** and **Paid** communities you also get:

- **Auto-approve members if they have these tags** — CRM tags that skip the queue.
- **Auto-approve member requests** — approve everyone who asks.
- When auto-approve is off, **Enable questions** — up to **3** questions people answer before their
  request is sent. Each question is **Text** or **Choices** (with options). Drag to reorder. The
  answers show on the person's card in **Members → Pending**.

**Phone number on sign-up** — **Off**, **Optional** or **Required**. The number appears on the sign-up
and Join forms, and only admins see it, on the member's card in **Members**.

When someone's request is left pending, the project owner gets a push notification ("New member … awaiting
approval") that opens the pending list. Approving and declining are covered in
[Members & join requests](https://support.estage.com/community-members).

## Behavior

| Toggle | Effect |
| --- | --- |
| **Auto-approve posts** | On: new posts publish immediately. Off: members' posts wait in **Content → Posts Pending Approval**. Posts by admins are never held. |
| **Hide member count** | Visitors and members no longer see how many members you have. Admins still do. |
| **Hide stories** | Removes the stories strip from the main channel feed. Each channel has its own switch — see [Channels](https://support.estage.com/community-channels). |
| **Two-factor authentication (2FA)** | Members who haven't set up 2FA are asked to add a method (authenticator app or email code) when they sign in. |

## Sign-up & email branding

| Field | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Terms of Use link** / **Privacy Policy link** | Linked from the sign-up form ("By clicking Create New Account, you agree to…"). Pick a page of your site or **Custom Link**. |
| **Support / reply-to email** | The Reply-To on every email the community sends. See [Community emails & notifications](https://support.estage.com/community-email-branding). |
| **Autoresponder Integration** | Adds approved new members to a list or tag in a connected autoresponder. Turn it on, pick the **Autoresponder**, then the **List** or **Tags**. Until you pick one, new members aren't added anywhere. |
| **External links** | Links (**Link Text** + **Link URL**) shown in the community's info card. **Add Link** to add more. |
| **Email branding** | The logo in your community's emails. **Edit** → **Logo type** **Image** (upload) or **Text**. |

The Terms and Privacy links point wherever you choose. The community also has its own `/terms` and
`/privacy` pages, edited separately — see [SEO, custom code & legal pages](https://support.estage.com/community-seo-code-legal).

## Things worth knowing

- **Paid communities don't queue sign-ups.** Signing up doesn't create a join request there — access
  comes from the tags a purchase grants, so nobody gets in for free through the approval queue.
- **Whoever can save this tab can change all of it.** The **Name, about & branding** permission
  covers the whole tab, visibility and approval rules included. Keep that in mind when you build
  [roles](https://support.estage.com/community-roles).
- An autoresponder's lists and tags are visible only to the project owner. Other admins see a note
  saying so.