FAQs

To create new topics or posts, you must log in to your account. The forum utilizes your Shopify customers as its users, so you'll need to use your customer account on your Shopify site to log in.

Please refer more here:

https://app.xenforum.net/users/permissions

There are none. All our plans include unlimited bandwidth+ unlimited topics & posts for free.

If you want to remove the “Powered by..” text, you can do that by creating a new template name “Sections/xenforum-footer.liquid”  in the current theme of your Shopify page.

Please refer to our Hooks page: https://app.xenforum.net/settings/hooks

Simply remove the app from your Shopify store. Your plan will be canceled.

Learn more about App charges:

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/your-account/manage-billing/your-invoice/apps

Here’s how to cancel your paid app subscription in 4 easy steps:

1. Go to your Shopify dashboard
2. Click “Settings”
3. Click “Apps and Sales Channels”
4. Click “Remove” button next to the Xenforum app. The subscription will automatically be cancelled once removing the app.

To move your old forum to Xenforum, follow these steps:

1. Install Xenforum app on your Shopify site.
2. Migrate your database from the old forum to Xenforum. You can accomplish this by utilizing our API Endpoints (free to use) or use our migration service (extra fee).

If you prefer our migration service, which includes professional assistance, please reach out to us. Note that there will be an additional fee starting from $100 for this service.

How to calculate the migration costs (the extra fee you have to pay):

• $100 for the first 1000 records.
• $20 for every 1000 records after.

Your database should be in MySQL format. If it is not (e.g. CSV), the price will increase by $10.

1 record = one row of data (1 user / post (comment) / topic / like / forum / category).

For example: You have 10 categories + 500 users + 300 topics + 750 comments + 100 likes.
Total = 1.660 records. => The cost = $100 + $20 x 1 = $120.

If your database format is in CSV type, the cost = $120 + $10 = $130.

Feel free to contact us for further guidance or to inquire about our migration service.

Yes, you have a user list page at the path {your-forum-path}/members. Change {your-forum-path} with your real forum path. For example: https://xenforum.myshopify.com/community/xenforum/members

We offer several options to help you personalize and tailor the look of your forum to align with your branding and preferences. Here are the steps to customize the appearance of our forum:

1. Display Settings: Here you can find most of the basic customizations for your forum. Such as page layout, logo, banner, colors, Sides, and Custom CSS Code,...
   - Page layout: One column or two columns, left or right sidebar.
   - Logo Favicon, Banner: To give your forum a unique identity, you can usually upload a custom logo or favicon that represents your brand. Ensure that your logo is appropriately sized and formatted according to the platform's guidelines.
   - Style & Color: Control panel to customize the color, font style for objects throughout the forum, for example: button color, links, background color, font style, and text color.
   - Custom CSS: For advanced users or those seeking more extensive customization, we allow adding of custom CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). This enables you to modify the forum's appearance by writing your own CSS code or applying ready-made CSS templates.
2. Template Hooks: A simple way to add custom content blocks to a forum. You write these hook files right in your Shopify theme and they will display on your forum homepage on Xenforum platform. The naming convention for these hook files should be Sections/xenforum_{position-of-hook}.liquid

No. We would like to reassure you that you will not be automatically charged when the trial period of 7 days expires. Our app does not automatically sign up for a premium plan on your behalf.

To continue using the app after the trial period ends, you will need to manually upgrade to a paid plan. We offer several options to suit your needs and budget, and our team is available to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have.

Yes, you can customize the meta title for Homepage and Topic pages.

This helps improve SEO and makes shared links look better on social platforms like Facebook, X (Twitter), etc.

📍 How to configure

From your Forum Admin Panel:

Settings → Display → scroll to the Meta Title section

Here you can customize meta titles for different pages.

🔤 Supported variables

Global variables (available on all pages):

• {{site_name}}

Topic page variables:

• {{topic_title}}
• {{topic_content}}
• {{topic_author}}

🚀 Advanced usage

1️⃣ Advanced topic variables

You can access topic data directly:

• {{topic.title}}
• {{topic.content}}
• {{topic.no_posts}}
• {{topic.like_count}}
• …

2️⃣ Variable filters (supported functions)

You can apply filters to variables to transform the output:

• format
• currency (1 param)
• upper
• lower
• date (1 param)
• plus (1 param)
• minus (1 param)
• truncate (1 param)
• strip_tags
• trim
• default (1 param)

✅ You can chain multiple filters together in one expression.

Filters are applied from left to right.

Example:

• {{ topic.title | trim }}
• {{ topic.content | strip_tags | truncate: 30 }}
• {{ topic_author | default: "Anonymous" | upper }}

This removes HTML tags and shortens content for clean, readable meta titles.

✅ Example meta title templates

Simple:

{{ topic_title }} | {{ site_name }}

For social sharing:

{{ topic_title | truncate: 50 }} – by {{ topic_author }} | {{ site_name }}

ℹ️ Notes

• Changes apply to newly loaded pages (clear cache if needed).
• Social platforms may cache previews, so you might need to re-scrape the URL (e.g. Facebook Sharing Debugger).
• Avoid very long titles (recommended under 60–70 characters).

Yes, indeed. We have an XML sitemap available for each forum. You can access it at the following location: domain.com/forum-path/sitemap.xml.

For example: https://xenforum.myshopify.com/community/xenforum/sitemap.xml

This sitemap is automatically updated to reflect your forum's content changes. Feel free to utilize this file for submission to various search engines such as Google and Bing, etc...

This happens because your Shopify store is using the new customer login method (via email). To fix the redirect:

1. Go to your Shopicial admin panel.

2. Open Settings > Display.

3. Turn on the option “New customer login.”

Once this is updated, new users will be correctly redirected to the forum after logging in.

We consistently perform backups for all our forums on an independent cloud, ensuring the safety of customer data from potential risks. Access to the latest backup archive or one from a specific date is available exclusively to paid customer. If you want to get the backup file,, please feel free to contact us to initiate the request.

Yes, we are proud to support non-profit organizations. We offer a special program that includes a one-month free trial and allows you to access our highest plan at the price of our lowest plan. This program is designed to help you foster and grow your community effectively. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

To merge two accounts into one under the same email, follow these steps:

1. Delete the unused account on Shopify.
2. Delete the corresponding account on the forum.
3. If you want to use the Shopify customer ID from the deleted account for the remaining account, you can update the Shopify customer ID on the forum as follows:
• a. Navigate to Users.
• b. Select the desired user.
• c. Scroll to the bottom to find the Shopify customer ID section.
• d. Click on Change.
• e. Enter the Shopify customer ID from the deleted account.
• f. Save the changes.

By following these steps, you will successfully merge your accounts.

Private Mode restricts access to your forum based on the configuration you choose. It can be used for:

• Coming Soon
• Maintenance
• Access Restriction
• Paid Members Only

You can configure this feature in:

Forum Admin Panel → Settings → General Settings → Private Mode

Depending on your setup, access can be limited to:

• Admin only
• Logged-in users only
• Users with a specific customer tag

If you are using customer customer tags (e.g., for Access Restriction), please check the following:

1. Tags are case sensitive

   • Paid-member is different from paid-member.

2. The tag in Private Mode settings must exactly match the tag assigned to the customer.

3. The user’s account must be active (not inactive or marked as spam).

Most access issues are caused by tag mismatches or incorrect user status.

If the issue persists after verifying these points, please contact support with the affected user’s email address for further investigation.

Spam can be frustrating, but our forum platform provides multiple tools to help reduce or block both spam users and spam posts:

1. Google reCAPTCHA – Stop automated bots from submitting spam posts or forms.

2. Akismet Spam Filter – Automatically detect and filter spammy posts.

3. Restrict External URLs – Hold posts containing links for approval before they go live.

4. Prevent Unverified Users – Only allow verified accounts to post.

5. IP Blacklist – Block spam or abusive users by their IP address.

6. Banned Words – Block specific keywords often used by spam bots. If a post contains banned words, a warning message will notify the user.

When you detect a spammy post on the forum, you can:

1. Mark as Spam – Flag an individual spam post. This also sends its content to Akismet, helping improve future spam detection.

2. Mark Author as Spam – Flag a spam user, which automatically moves all of their posts to the spam folder.

We know spam is a common challenge for online communities, so we’ve built in these protections to help you manage it more easily.