Have you ever wanted to include another user in a discussion on the Message
Boards? Have you ever wanted to give kudos to a colleague in content you’re
writing? You can mention (notify and/or draw attention to) other users by
entering the @ character in front of each user’s user name.
When you mention a user, the user receives a site notification next to the user’s profile icon and an email, alerting the user with a link to the content. You can mention users in a blog entry, a message boards post, or comments in any app that supports comments. A mention also links to the user’s home page, so readers can find out more about that user.
Figure 1: As you enter a user name after the `@` character, links to users that match the text you enter are displayed. Select the user you want to mention and publish your content.
A selector appears after entering the @ character, listing users that match
the name you’re entering. In the selector, users are represented by their
profile picture, name, and user name. Click the user you want to mention and
finish editing your content.
On publishing the content, mentioned users receive a notification next to their profile picture and an email, informing them that they’ve been mentioned. The notification and email indicate the author’s name and content type, and it links to the content.
Figure 2: The number of notifications a user has appear in a badge on the user's profile.
Figure 3: When you click the notifications number next to your profile picture, your Notifications List appears.
Mentions are enabled by the Mentions app, which is a part of the Collaboration Suite. By default, the Mentions app is enabled globally. However, you can enable/disable it globally or per site. For a site to use Mentions, it must be enabled for the site’s Virtual Instance.
To access the global Mentions settings for your Virtual Instance, open the
Menu
(), navigate to Control Panel →
Configuration → Instance Settings, click the Social tab, and expand
the Mentions section.
Figure 4: From Instance Settings in the Control Panel, you can enable or disable the Mentions feature for all of the Virtual Instance's sites.
By default, all users are allowed to mention fellow site members and friends. To fine tune these options, select Define Mentions Capability for Users and specify the settings you want.
For Mentions to be available for a site, the app must be enabled for a site’s
Virtual Instance. Site administrators can enable or disable Mentions for a site.
A site’s Mentions app configuration is accessible from
within the Menu
(). Once in the menu,
navigate to Site Name → Configuration → Site Settings. In the
Social tab, expand the Mentions section. Enable or disable mentions via the
toggle labeled Allow Users to Mention Other Users.
Figure 5: Mentions can also be enabled or disabled per site.