How to Set Up Forum Sidebars

Forum pages have no sidebar until you pick one at Foxiz > bbPress Forums > Sidebars. The best choice is a sidebar made just for the forums, holding bbPress's widgets.

1. Create a Forums sidebar

1. Go to Foxiz > Theme Options > Sidebars.

2. Under Unlimited Sidebars, click Click then Input ID to Create a Sidebar and type Forums, with no spaces.

   

3. Click Save Changes.

How to Create a Custom Sidebar? has the details.

2. Add bbPress's widgets

Go to Appearance > Widgets and drag the widgets you want into Forums. bbPress adds seven:

Foxiz gives you the classic Widgets screen, where widgets are dragged, as in the picture below. If you turned on Widget Block Editor at Foxiz > Theme Options > Sidebars, the screen is the block editor instead: open Forums and add each widget with the + button.

Widget	Shows
(bbPress) Forum Search Form	the forum search box
(bbPress) Forums List	your forums. Parent Forum ID 0 shows only the top level; any shows all
(bbPress) Recent Topics	the latest topics, 5 by default. Order By: can also be Popular Topics or Topics With Recent Replies
(bbPress) Recent Replies	the latest replies, 5 by default
(bbPress) Statistics	counts of members, forums, topics and replies
(bbPress) Topic Views List	links to "Most popular topics" and "Topics with no replies"
(bbPress) Login Widget	a sign in form. See bbPress's own forms

Keep these widgets in the forum sidebar. Foxiz loads the forum styles on forum pages only, so a bbPress widget in your blog sidebar may look unstyled.

3. Pick the sidebar for the forums

1. Go to Foxiz > bbPress Forums and open the Sidebars tab.

2. Set Global Sidebar to Forums. Forum Sidebar and Topic Sidebar are on - Default -, so the forums page, every forum and every topic now use it.

3. If you put forums on a page with a shortcode, set Page Shortcode Sidebar too. It starts on Disable, so those pages ignore the Global Sidebar until you change it.

4. Click Save Changes. Save even if you changed only Global Sidebar: until this tab is saved once, Forum Sidebar and Topic Sidebar show no sidebar at all, though they read - Default -.

   

To give topics a different sidebar from the forum lists, set Topic Sidebar to it instead of - Default -. Each dropdown lists every sidebar on your site, including footer and header areas; pick only sidebars meant for a side column.

The sidebar sits on the right. A sidebar with no widgets is not shown, and the forum uses the full width. Profile pages never have one.

Next: How to Moderate Topics and Set Their Status.