How to Make a Discord Server Private or Public
Creating a Discord server and setting its privacy level—either public or private—is a straightforward easy process. Here is a helpful step-by-step guide to assist you in smoothly setting up your server:
Making a Discord Server Public
- Open Discord: Launch the Discord app on your device or access it via a web browser.
- Create a Server:
- Click on the ‘+’ icon on the left sidebar.
- Select ‘Create My Own’ and choose ‘For a club or community’.
- Follow the prompts to set up your server, including naming it and customizing the initial settings.
- Access Server Settings:
- Click on your server’s name at the top of the channel list.
- Choose ‘Server Settings’ from the dropdown menu.
- Enable Community Features:
- In the Server Settings, navigate to the ‘Community’ section.
- Click on ‘Enable Community’ and follow the setup process:
- Click checkbox next to ‘Verified Email Required’ and ‘Scan Media Content From All Members’ and click next.
- Have Discord setup a Rules or Guidelines channel and a Community Updates channel for you or name it yourself. Click next.
- Click checkbox next to ‘I Agree and Understand‘ to Discord’s community guidelines and safety settings.
- Set as Public:
- Complete the community setup, which may involve setting up a rules or guidelines channel, a public announcements channel, and a system message channel.
- Once these are set up, your server will be considered public, and you can further customize settings like verification levels and explicit content filters.
Discord server privacy
A Discord server can be public or it can be private. A private server is a server that other Discord users can join only if they have been invited by the server owner or the server admin. A public server is a server that anyone can join if they have the link to it. Public servers are usually centered around popular topics e.g., gaming while private servers are often created for niche communities.
Making a Discord Server Private
- Open Discord and Access Your Server:
- Open the Discord app or website.
- Select the server you want to make private from the left sidebar.
- Adjust Server Settings:
- Click on your server’s name at the top of the channel list.
- Select ‘Server Settings’ from the dropdown menu.
- Disable Community Mode (if active):
- If your server is set as a community, navigate to the ‘Community’ section in the Server Settings.
- Disable the community features.
- Manage Roles and Permissions:
- In Server Settings, go to ‘Roles’.
- Create a new role or select an existing one, and adjust the permissions to control who can join and view channels on your server.
- Set Channels to Private:
- Go to each channel in your server.
- Click on the settings icon next to the channel name.
- Under ‘Permissions’, restrict access to specific roles or individuals, making the channel private.
- Invite Members:
- Only invite members you wish to have in your private server.
- You can control access through invite links, which you can set to expire or limit in use.
Additional Considerations
- Regular Maintenance: Regularly review and update your server settings and permissions to ensure ongoing privacy or public access as desired.
- Community Engagement: For public servers, consider ways to engage your community, like scheduled events or interactive bots.
- Privacy Awareness: For private servers, remain vigilant about who has access and how they interact within the server.
By following these steps, you can effectively set your Discord server as public or private, providing a tailored experience for your community or select group.
