🎉 FluentCommunity 2.4.0 - Bulk Member Import, Group Messaging, and a Smarter Sidebar
A big update for FluentCommunity today.
This one is focused on the things community managers actually do every day, getting people in, talking to them, and helping them find their way around. Two new features I am excited about, plus a real polish pass on navigation and the editor.
Here is what is new in 2.4.0:
- Bulk Add Members from multiple sources. No more adding people one at a time. The new Add Members drawer supports four sources: WP Users (free), cloning from another Space or Course (Pro), CSV import with auto-create for missing users (Pro), and pulling everyone with a specific FluentCRM tag (Pro).
- Group Messaging in FluentCommunity Chat. You can now start conversations with multiple people at once. Same real-time delivery, same read indicators, same notification preferences as direct chat. Perfect for cohort discussions, project teams, support pods, anything that does not belong in a public Space. Update the Chat addon to enable it.
- URL autolink in the post editor. Paste a URL, it becomes a live link automatically. No more selecting text and pressing the link button. Small thing, but you will feel it every time you write a post.
- Default-collapse sidebar groups. New admin setting under Customization. If your community has many Space Groups, you can now have them all start collapsed on page load. Especially nice on mobile. Members can still expand them manually and their personal preference is remembered.
- Sidebar auto-expands the active group. When a member navigates into a Space, the sidebar opens up the parent group and highlights where they are. No more wondering where you are in the tree.
- Create Spaces from a slide-out drawer. No need to leave the page anymore. Open the drawer right from the sidebar, set up the basics, save, keep working. Better validation and friendlier error messages too.
- Fluent Player share links in community media. Drop a timestamped video link in a comment or message, and the player opens at exactly that moment. Really useful for pointing learners to specific parts of a lesson.
Plus a solid round of fixes and security hardening, rate limiting, tighter CSS sanitization and input validation across moderation endpoints, fixed Approve Post errors, multiselect profile fields no longer wiping on save, mobile footer rendering on block themes, and a bunch more.
Full changelog with screenshots: https://fluentcommunity.co/blog/fluentcommunity-2-4-0/
If you run a community with cohorts, courses, or just want to onboard members faster, this update is worth grabbing today.
More cooking 👀
Thanks a lot for implementing bulk user import, it was indeed a big feature missing.
I'm really happy for the group chat, and the live link in post etc. Overall all the updates make sense. I was also thinking about subgroups for the space menu. Something like that. Blessings to the Team.
Shahjahan Jewel Can regular members not create a group chat? I just tried on a testing site and the create new group chat option isn't available. The group chat is there if an admin/mod added you to it.
Jeff Brigman only Admin users can create a group. We may change that behavior in the future.
Shahjahan Jewel just found the answer in the code.... So only Admin and Mods can create a new group chat.
if (!Helper::isModerator($currentUser)) {
return $this->sendError(['message' => __('Only moderators can create groups')], 403);
}Shahjahan Jewel I'm already working on a workaround that will also auto add a designated admin/mod to the group chat as well... 😜
Not sure if this is intentional but after updating I am no longer able to change the icons of the Primary or Profile menu items.
Chris Davis I'm seeing the same thing. Must be a bug. Shahjahan Jewel
Thomas Oates Chris Davis also the checkbox icons are not centered in your pic, too Shahjahan Jewel
Chris Davis, Manuel Müller, Thomas Oates, fixed in dev, both.
Tawsif Ahmed Riyad thank you
Tawsif Ahmed Riyad greatly appreciated.
Another update, another missing event feature realese.
Shahjahan Jewel do u have any roadmap to follow? I purchased the max lifetime offer of fc hoping u would follow the roadmap and implement event feature.
At today no roadmap, only random updates or features.
Tindaro Battaglia many of us asked before you. They won’t follow a roadmap even though it is requested a lot
Can I move my Learndash courses to the community platfrom in one click?
Wondering if we’ll be able to make posts in spaces from fluent crm at some point! Would love to schedule posts in certain community spaces
Shahjahan Jewel group text members list does not scroll. Overflow hidden is causing it.
.fluent-messaging .main-layout__details, .chat-widget-wrapper .main-layout__details {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
border-left: 1px solid var(--fcom-primary-border, #DADDE1);
background-color: var(--fcom-primary-bg, #FFFFFF);
overflow: hidden;
min-height: 0;
}
Jeff Brigman, fixed in dev.
Tawsif Ahmed Riyad thank you.
Jeff Brigman We have released a patch (2.4.01) that will resolve this issue.
I am happy for those updates. The ability reuse the links created would be so good. In others, when I create my lniks I dont have to recreate them to use in another space.
Cool, will update and check out the new features 👍
For anyone else who needs it until they fix, add this under your Portal Customizations, Custom CSS.
.fluent-messaging .main-layout__details, .chat-widget-wrapper .main-layout__details {
overflow: scroll!important;
}
#smallthings make #bigthings Shahjahan Jewel 😀
And 💥 💥 💥 💥 Boom... Mobile footer menu, there we have it
As a non profit that runs a combat veteran project to help them I am finding that I am building whatsapp and facebook chat groups between intakes. I want to implement FluentCommunity but I am holding back because I need to understand more about the performance hit on my server. It is a shared server space and far too often I am finding the system bogs down especially on the back end when I am trying to add products into the FluentCart or if I am trying to add a project task or notes on a task in FluentBoards or trying to enter data into FluentCRM. One thing that I would love to see in Fluent Community especially is the ability for members to have an app on their phones that includes the ability to message each other much like whatsapp or facebook messenger. I am getting tired of dealing with members who don't have messaging platform X< Y or Z. Having your product would be a great solution IF it were possible to have these functions as a smartphone app especially on the FluentCommunity side. I see this as a great replacement to the ailing FaceBook. What are your thoughts?
Just testing the group feature, it's so amazing
This update completely broke my 3000 lines of custom CSS that I spent weeks refining.
While improvements are appreciated, changes like this make it difficult to justify investing time
into custom styling without knowing what might break next.
Is this a one-time sanitization update, or should we expect more changes like this in the future?
A roadmap or some clarity on would help a lot in deciding how to proceed.
Total Kommando We have released a patch (2.4.01) that will resolve this issue.
Shahjahan Jewel Awesome thank you so much, that fixed it!
I invite you to check it out: https://www.komstation.com/kommunity
Total Kommando impressive
Total Kommando WOW. your community looks super impressive. Love the vibe.
Total Kommando what a gorgeous community !!!!
Total Kommando That's a beauty!! Well done!
Now that FC supports group import, please could you support: drip lessons by group (so that members of a group get access to specific lessons at specific dates), course access by group (so that members of a group can be given access to a course for a certain time, say 90 days or 180 days), and reporting so that we can share with clients a report showing how much time each user in a group has spent on a course, whether they have completed it or not, how long it took them to complete the course, etc.
Ideally, you also want to provide an option to only give access to a lesson if the user has spent a minimum of x hours in the course previously, to prevent those who just skip all the lessons/topics as quickly as possible to get the certificate.
These are the main missing elements before we could consider moving from Learndash to FluentCommunity, given that most of our clients give access to a group and expect some control and reporting.
I know that your aim is not to replace Learndash, but you are getting closer with each release, so I'm only saying what's currently missing in FC for us to make the jump. Keep up the great work!
Screenplay Unlimited Hmm... seems like as open door for a Fluent Membership plugin or a wpfusion play. Just a thought.
Everard Brockett I actually missed that CSV export of courses and quizzes progression had been added to 2.3.0, so that's one step closer, it only needs to be filtered by cohort/space. I'[ve just completed a plugin that allows to set FluentCart product access restrictions based on Learndash and FluentCommunity course/group/space access plus other elements. I plan to add migration of these restrictions from EDD after migration. I could add a few more things I need to my plugin in order to make the jump. The core is getting pretty close now.
Thanks!
i've waited for this update for a long time and unsurprisingly perhaps, I notice that none of the features that have been often suggested (not only by me) have been implemented. I'm getting a little bit restless. I know FC is still at an early stage, and that's why there are so many big things that could be worked on right now instead of details that aren't urgent. Something that has been requested a lot in particular has been ignored: the ability to collapse the left side bar, which takes up a lot of room on the page. I mention this in particular because some degree of work has been put into the sidebar in this new version. I just wonder what's the point of participating in this community if everything suggested keeps being ignored (I am now refraining from posting). I understand that technically, not everything can be implemented so easily and I'm not trying to be a brat. But the possibilities are still too limited on FC; I just can't keep working on my community because of it and that frustrates me a lot...
Anne-Sophie W they have added the feature in recent release... Go check it out
Bryan William I have read and reread the updates' details. I have also checked out the whole FC dashboard on WP and there still isn't a way to collapse the entire sidebar...
Anne-Sophie W Look at it here...
Bryan William yes and this is not what I was talking about. (I can read as well as you do). Like I said, I am after a way to collapse the entire sidebar (the way it is on the phone version). The only thing they have implemented is a way to collapse the spaces' titles within the sidebar.
Ross FCA and Jeff Brigman have implemented this in their communities. They're different, and that's what's great, no competition and plenty of choice. They might release this option (for Ross, it seems to be in testing...).
Bryan William this collapses the groups, not the menu sidebar itself which is what she is referring to.
Jeff Brigman I think I understand that she's referring to the menu itself, not the spaces. On your site, Jeff, that's indeed the case; I thought I was dreaming, but it's real. The entire menu can be closed and opened. Although perhaps she'd prefer it to be closed by default; she might confirm that for us.
Claudy Scoufy Yes she specifically means collapsing the entire sidebar to open up the usable space, rather than the collapsing of menu groups inside the sidebar.
Jeff's collapses it to icons, and my version introduces a shortcuts bar (available now btw, refresh your fcaddon registry).
I like Jeff's version a lot (I love that the icons remain visible, less so the padlocks), but I'm unemployed and can't justify spending more money onto add-ons at the moment. Though some day, hopefully soon, I will make sure I can contribute financially to his quality work.
That's why I was eager to find an alternative way. Ross' version is very interesting too because of the shortcuts that remain visible.
Ross FCA Exactly, that's why I mentioned both of you; you offer two different things. (As a customer of both, I follow their developments).
Ross FCA mine has two versions, full collapse and collapse to icons. Both also share a setting to remember the last state the user had it in if the site admin so chooses to enable it.
I haven’t seen your shortcut version, that looks pretty nice too.
Anne-Sophie W I will look into adding a way to disable the lock on collapse to icons and I’m open to any ideas you have if you would prefer a different icon/method to indicate a locked space
Claudy Scoufy I am a customer of Ross FCA as well. I’m actually using his kanban board for roadmap and bugs in my community.
He’s created a lot of things I wanted eventually but simply didn’t have time to do. So it honestly works out for me, which is why I bought his plugin. It’s allowed me to expand into the areas I really wanted to.
Jeff Brigman Yes, I know, I saw it. It's great, and I've already wondered why you don't work together on complications or construct extensions together and share the profits by mutual agreement. I'm Belgian, and our motto is "Unity is strength." Ross FCA has a lot to do, and help would be useful, I think, but he's the one who knows that.
Claudy Scoufy Not a bad idea Claudy ☺️
Claudy Scoufy I thought the same thing. Maybe you two could gather and work on commissions some day. And or with Jeff Mapes perhaps? Just a thought
Anne-Sophie W you're not unemployed when you work with FC. You're just not making money with it. That you can change any day. Good luck! Keyword: Master Key System by Charles Haanel.
How do we make post on this community? all my post for last two months show "in review" still is there some moderator checking them or a bot auto reviewing?
James Elrod I faced this issue as well; I went through support to request access.
I would like to restrict messaging so that only Admins and Moderators can initiate conversations with members, while members can only initiate messages to Admins or Moderators.
Sebastian Weiss we already have that feature. Check on the messaging settings.
Shahjahan Jewel I tested it, but members can't initiate messages to admins or moderators — which is a crucial feature for me. Members need to be able to reach admins and moderators quickly and directly. Since that's not possible, I've switched back to Better Messages.
Hi,
Thank you for all that you do, it has been immensely helpful for building my own social media platform using FluentCommunity. There are a couple of things that I hope you could add that could make the user experience of my platform better.
- I would like the Course Creator role to be limited strictly to course creation and management of their own content ONLY, without access to broader community moderation features.
- It would be really helpful to have a course submission workflow where newly created courses (by course creator users) go into an “in review” status. This would notify admins on the backend, allowing us to review and approve courses before they are officially published.
Thank you again, and I hope you take what I said into consideration
Love It!
When I add a user base to a space from another space, is it a silent move where users don’t get notified, or do they receive a notification?
I wish I can try Fluenth Player as DEMO BETA on Magazine HIp-Hop, byt he way I saw we can customize the main page ? Hot it work with the CSS is the same as snippet ? Because I did a lot a Mu-Plugin can I can I made one for this if yes How it work ? some one can put on on one track with a hint ? Thank in advance
When using the FC framework for an extra page, the hamburger menu in the top left is moved to the right.
