Group pages allow departments, locations and project teams to collaborate on work, share news and updates, and receive alerts about group page activity. Group pages have special features for displaying group members and sending group news to the homepages of group members.

Default group types include group, location, department, team, project and business unit. Customize for group types specific to your organization.

Group members automatically see news from their groups in their homepage news. Members see group updates and get notifications about group page activity.

• Open group membership
  Open membership allows any user who can view the group page to join or leave the group.
• Managed group membership
  The membership of a managed group can only be changed by users with edit permission on the group page.
• Closed group membership
  Sync the membership of a group with an Active Directory or other external store security group. Group members are automatically added or removed from the intranet group when the external security group membership is updated. Closed group membership can only be set up by an intranet administrator.

Browse or search for groups on the intranet in the group directory. Filter group results by default or custom group type and tags.

Share a link to a piece of intranet content with all of the members of a specific group.

Discover new activity on the intranet, join discussions, and post updates and shout-outs through activity streams. Activity cards can be found on the homepage, profile pages, group pages and other content types. New pages, file uploads, and comments will show in the main tab of the activity feed. Updates, shout-outs and activity from your groups also show in their own tabs.

New activity on content that you follow results in in-app alerts that appear in the Alerts menu in the top toolbar. An indicator appears on the Alerts menu when you have unread alerts. Depending on your settings, new activity can also trigger desktop and email notifications.

When no activity card has been added to a page to surface activity on it, page and subpage activity is still available to view from the page controls in the page header.

Daily and weekly emails that summarize activity on pages you follow and popular pages can be sent to all users. Page titles are linked so users can easily check out the new activity on the intranet.

Activity streams on profile pages show activity from that user, and updates, shout-outs and messages sent by that user and to that user.

Create forums for sharing knowledge, developing ideas, and asking and answering questions. Create new forum types with custom terminology for your desired use.

• Ideas, questions & voting
  Use forums, forms and polls to collect and develop new ideas, and gather information and feedback from your users.
• Ideation
  Discover a great product idea by creating an employee product suggestion forum. Collaborate on content and documents by granting editing access to multiple users. Spark conversation by commenting, at-mentioning colleagues and sharing content.

Foster intranet engagement with areas that are open for users to create, interact and collaborate with other users.

The entire intranet is a wiki that users can create, edit and collaborate on (security permissions-dependent).

Comments allow all users to add their input, give feedback and start discussions.

All email messages sent to a distribution group or mailing list can be captured and stored on a mailing list type page on the intranet.

While viewing a page, in two clicks create an email with a link to the page and a message asking the recipient to view the intranet page. Send to one or more recipients.

Insert mailto links in content to make it easy for users to contact the appropriate person or resource from the intranet.

Publish news and announcements to keep intranet users informed and up-to-date. Create blogs to share project updates or as a way for upper management to communicate to employees.

Create multi-faceted intranet pages using an approachable editing interface. The first time you add or edit a page, a tour orients you to the different areas of the edit page interface. Only one user can edit a page at a time, preventing duplication of work or conflicting page versions.

Prepare new content in advance and set it to publish at a future date and time.

Create pages with different purposes and features by selecting from multiple content types. Create Sections as landing pages for navigation. Groups connect people with shared news streams and activity. Keep people up-to-date with News or Blog pages. Prompt discussions and collaboration with Forums. Schedule events with Calendars. Showcase images on Photo gallery pages.

Page layouts allow for two or three columns configured to different widths.

Create a page by importing a Word document to the intranet. Choose whether to maintain the formatting of the original document, or to import it as plain text.

Add formatting, images, tables and more to your page content with the Rich Text Editor. Use the editor’s spellchecker to avoid errors.

Link to intranet pages, in-page headings, external websites, cloud drive files and email addresses in your page content. Use the link content type to add links that appear in the navigation.

Structure text or data in your content by adding basic, sortable tables.

Add tags to content to make it easy to find and identify. Group tags by category in tag bundles to simplify tag addition. Auto-generated recommended tags assist users with tagging content. Choose whether to lockdown tag management, or to allow users to create their own tags.

Track what changes were made to content and who made the changes. Maintain a record of previous content versions and restore content to a previous version when needed.

Use a variety of content features and admin tools to keep intranet content current and relevant to your users.

By default, the content owner is the content creator. Change the content owner to another user at any time. Choose whether to show or hide the content owner’s name and content creation date in the page header.

Restrict edits to main news, blog, forum or calendar pages while still allowing users with edit permission to add posts or events to the pages. This feature is applied on a per-page basis.

Easily move a page by selecting a new location for it in the navigation.

Share content with people outside your intranet by exporting a page into a PDF or Word file.

Allow intranet news, blog and forum pages to generate RSS feeds that users can consume in RSS readers.

Archive pages that are no longer current or relevant. The admin archive or delete stale content tool helps pinpoint intranet content that is rarely used. Set a scheduled archive date on content whose usefulness will expire.

Restore content that has been archived. Admins can restore content that has been deleted but not purged.

Delete pages that are no longer needed. Admins can also permanently delete data from the database to free up disk space.

Duplicate pages to create repeatedly used content like a meeting minutes template or weekly news update. Admins can duplicate entire intranet sections using the Clone section feature.

User interface support is available in 14 languages. Content creators can create pages in multiple languages, either using their own manual translation, or auto-translation to supported languages. The auto-translation card allows for machine translation of existing content into 45+ languages using Microsoft Translator.

Add images from your computer or from the web. Resize, wrap text, or add border and padding to images. Drag and drop images from your desktop for easy uploading.

Use a photo gallery page to showcase and share photos and images with your team.

Browse recommended galleries or perform a keyword search of images and galleries to find the image you want to add.

Manage gallery images in bulk—move, delete, archive, download, tag or sort multiple images. Admins can select recommended galleries to suggest to users.

Add page header images to provide visual interest and continuity throughout a section of the intranet, or to give specific content a distinctive look. New pages added to the section will automatically use the section header image.

Thumbnail images liven up the intranet in news areas, search results, grid navigation, activity feeds and group pages. Crop thumbnail images for specific applications. Choose to use a unique page header image for the thumbnail.

Easily embed video hosted in ThoughtFarmer in your pages, or embed externally hosted video using the embed code. Playback video from news carousels or embed pages. Select a thumbnail image to represent the embedded video.

Keep current brand and marketing assets easy to find and access for your employees.

Drag and drop from your desktop or browse to easily upload files to intranet pages.

Create folders to organize your files. Apply security permissions to folders to control who can view or edit the folder.

View a file preview and any file comments before downloading, or choose to view the file in the browser.

View document libraries and sort by file details like title or file type, or apply a curated order to files and folders. Apply security permissions to files to control who can view or edit them. Archive files that are no longer relevant.

Open a file for editing to make changes to it. A file editing lock prevents other users from making changes to the file while you are editing it on your computer. Save and close the file for editing to add the updated version to the intranet. File version control allows for reverting to a previous file version when needed. Replace existing files rather than adding a new file to maintain links to the file.

Add a different file display name and a file summary to help identify and locate the desired file on the intranet.

Duplicate a file to create a new file from an existing template rather than uploading the same file repeatedly to the intranet.

Bring attention to a file by sharing a file link as an update to an intranet group or to all users.

Follow files to get notifications when edits are made or comments are added. Bookmark file or document library pages for easy reference.

Apply actions to files in bulk. Move, delete, archive, restore, download, or tag multiple files at once. Sort files by various file details or apply a curated order. Upload many documents to the intranet at once using a bulk uploader tool.

The TF Desktop Connector runs in the background on your machine to make it possible to edit files from the intranet and save the updated versions back to the intranet.

Control which file types can be uploaded to the intranet and which file types can be opened in the browser window.

Turning on admin mode allows administrators to view all content on the intranet and perform administrator actions outside of the admin panel.

Visit the administration panel to customize the user interface, create and manage users, manage content, make changes to search, set up integrations and perform more administrator tasks.

Multiple users can have administrator powers, but one administrator is designated as the contact for users needing assistance.

Add custom cards to the intranet, or add custom HTML, CSS and JavaScript to the intranet theme. Move information in and out of ThoughtFarmer, add new functionality by embedding code into page templates and provide single-sign on to services that provide a remote authentication API.

View basic intranet statistics including top content owners, top pages by views and number of intranet pages per content type.

Measure intranet adoption and engagement with detailed intranet statistics such as page views, likes, follows, content creates and edits, files downloaded, and comments. Dig deeper by looking into page views over time, video views, actions taken before and after watching a video, or browsers used. Compare statistics for different time periods, and view statistics in different visual formats.

• Forum statistics
  Monitor forum usage with stats on most active recent forum participants, total number of participants, number of forum topics, replies and likes.
• Page views
  Check out page views to see how popular or relevant a page is.
• Rating
  Gauge the popularity of content through the number of views, likes, follows, comments and bookmarks on it. Use ThoughtFarmer Analytics for meaningful reports on these indicators.
• Shout-outs reports
  Download a Shout-outs report detailing Shout-outs content and usage.

Set content as required reading and monitor who has read and confirmed content, and who has not. Customize messaging around required reading, email required readers and reset read status when content is updated.

Information about what is happening with the web application is recorded in the system logs.

Administrators in admin mode can view and edit all content on the intranet, bypassing security permissions and viewing even content that is in private mode. Activity cards surface actions taking place on the intranet. Version history and control shows who made what changes to content and allows for the ability to revert to a previous version of content.

Set up internal or external login providers. Use Azure AD, GSuite or Okta for authentication and third party ID providers. Sync users with any of these external stores.

The EDC allows you to connect your instance of ThoughtFarmer to an external identity provider. You can use a third party identity provider to authenticate to your intranet, or link multiple combinations of identity providers for your users. For cloud customers, this lets you integrate with your local Active Directory for authentication and user management.

Allow users to login with a single user ID and password and access multiple pieces of software, including your ThoughtFarmer intranet.

Create and manage Regular users, Active Directory users or External users. Perform actions like activating, deleting, and inviting users for many user accounts at once.

• Regular users
  Create regular users who are created, managed and stored entirely in ThoughtFarmer.
• Active Directory users
  Create Active Directory users who have Active Directory user accounts that are mapped to ThoughtFarmer user profiles. Sync TF profile photos with AD photos and TF user profile fields to AD attributes.
• External users
  Create external users who login to ThoughtFarmer by signing in to their account for a third party application.

Active Directory integration allows for automatic user creation, deactivation and updates to profile fields by synchronizing with the selected Active Directory group. Group page membership and security group membership can also be updated through syncing with Active Directory. You can schedule a daily synchronization time or perform an on-demand sync.

Control changes to group membership in ThoughtFarmer by syncing it with Active Directory or other external store groups.

Create an account and security permissions for users who sign in as guests.

Enable emails to automatically alert you when you are close to and have reached your intranet user license limit.

Use the Bulk export users and Bulk import users feature to modify large numbers of user accounts at once.

Control who can view and edit content on a page-by-page basis. By default, content automatically uses the security settings of the page directly above it in the hierarchy.

Grant content permissions to multiple people at once using security groups. Automate changes to intranet security groups by syncing membership with external store groups. Default security groups exist for administrators, all registered users and guests.

Create security groups from intranet groups that have managed membership. Use these security groups to grant permissions to intranet content.

By default, the content creator is the content owner. Page ownership can be transferred to another user at any time.

Draft pages and sections privately before publishing to a wider audience. Create private pages for your own reference.

Create terms and conditions that users are required to accept on first login. Add a disclaimer that displays on profile pages.

Make pages or sections of the intranet accessible only from certain locations by applying IP restrictions.

Allow users to sign in to the intranet using internal login, Windows AD, or other external third-party login providers such as Google, Azure AD, and Okta.

Set a period of inactivity after which users are signed out of the intranet. Forms login users can opt to stay signed in, and have the option to sign out from the profile menu.

Help users find the information they need with an intranet structure that is easy to build and update. See which top level section you are in from the main navigation bar. View your exact location on the intranet through the left-hand navigation tree.

Navigate to top level pages or links from the main navigation bar that shows below the site header on all intranet pages.

Navigate the intranet from the left-hand navigation while maintaining a clear mental map of where you are in the intranet site. Constrain your search to the current section by searching from the Supernav.

Use the section content type to create navigational pages like directories and tables of contents. Sections display many subpages in a compact, organized way. Choose from the different section templates (compact directory, detailed directory, or grid) to show subpages as small-text links, large-text links with optional page summaries, or thumbnail images with page title captions.

Easily reorder subpages by title or date, or create a curated order.

Keep the navigation cleaner and simpler by adding an abbreviated page title that shows in the left-hand navigation, section page directories and breadcrumb trails.

The ThoughtFarmer Search+ engine uses the Search library, modified and configured to work best for intranet searching. Results are sorted by relevance to surface the best possible search results at the top.

• Keyword and exact phrase search
  ThoughtFarmer search defaults to a keyword search that looks for content with as many of the keywords as possible. Add quotes around your search terms to perform an exact phrase search.
• Filtered and scoped search
  Filter search results by content type, content owner, content editors, posted date or tags. Narrow your scope by searching within a specific section of the intranet.
• Find as you type search
  Start typing your search term into the search bar and a dropdown list appears with the top search results. Search results are updated as you keep typing.
• Section search
  Search the subpages of the content you are currently viewing by selecting section search from the main search bar, or searching from the Supernav. Use filters in the Supernav search to narrow the results in that section.
• Best bets
  Add recommended search results that appear at the top of results when users enter a keyword that has been connected to a best bets result.
• Did you mean? (for misspelled search terms)
  If a user searches for a misspelled word, ThoughtFarmer suggests the word that they might have meant.
• File search
  Filter search results to show file results only, and see file results from integrated external cloud drives right within your intranet search results.
• Employee search
  Search for a specific person, or find out who has the skills or experience that you need. Search the employee directory by keywords, first letter of last name, expertise tags or group membership.
• Form and entry search
  Search for specific forms or entries on the forms overview page. Locate form type pages using the main search bar.

Add tags to content to make it easier to find and identify. Content can be filtered by tag in search results.

Search determines the root of the words you are searching for and searches for different variations as well. Multilingual stemming is available for supported languages.

Many common words (e.g. and, but, to) are filtered from the search index and ignored in search terms. Stop word filtering is multilingual and admins can add or remove words from the list.

Add page summaries to content to help users identify the content they want in search results and some navigation cards.

Enable external search engines on the intranet to perform external searches from within the intranet search dropdown.

See what terms are being searched for on the intranet and the top pages that users visit after searching for a given term.

Search results are prioritized based on the language you have set as your preferred language.

Configuration settings allow for tussenvoegsels in Dutch surnames to be excluded when alphabetizing a list of names.

Page titles are brought into the corresponding page URLs to add context and information to content links when they are shared elsewhere. URLs update if page titles are changed, but fixed content IDs are included in URLs, so links to the page are maintained even if the title changes.

Integrate with Box, GSuite/Google Drive and Office 365/SharePoint Online. Link to and embed files and folders from these external drives on intranet pages, and search cloud drives from the intranet.

• Cloud drive security
  Users can only access cloud drive files from the intranet if they have been shared with them in the cloud drive. Users must be logged in to the applicable cloud drive account in order to access cloud drive files and folders.
• Link and embed cloud drive files
  Add links to cloud drive files to an intranet page to create a cloud drive document library. The contents of embedded cloud drive files display for users who have had the file shared with them. Users can click on linked or embedded files to open and edit them.
• Cloud drive search
  View cloud drive search results along with intranet search results when you perform an intranet search.

Post intranet links with previews, search the intranet and receive new intranet activity messages, all from within Slack.

Embed forms that you have created with Wufoo on intranet pages.

Embed external content such as maps, clickable documents and slideshows on intranet pages.

Add text or image links to external websites or applications for ease of access.

Generate an RSS feed that can be used by any RSS reader from news, blog, or forum pages. Anonymous RSS generation bypasses security settings that are applied to ThoughtFarmer.

Embed your organization’s Twitter feed or Facebook timeline in intranet pages. Add RSS feeds from News, Blog, Forum or Calendar pages to an RSS reader.

Apply your organization’s branding with logos, colors, fonts, imagery and messaging applied through the Theme panel, page headers, label overrides, card selections and content type customizations.

Customize the look and feel of your intranet using the Theme panel. To create a theme, upload logos and icons, pick colors for different parts of the interface, choose fonts, and select the style of intranet components.

Prepare multiple themes and store them on the intranet as inactive themes, ready for seasonal or event-related theme changes.

Go beyond the default customization options available on the Theme panel by adding custom HTML, CSS and JavaScript to further customize the theme and functionality of the intranet.

Import sample themes to try out on your intranet, or export themes for use on multiple ThoughtFarmer instances.

Preview the options you choose for your intranet theme through instant previews of individual components, and navigating through a site-wide preview mode.

Page headers can be solid colors, gradients or images. Page header images are inherited from the parent page by default, but can easily be customized to lend continuity to an intranet section, or to make a specific piece of content stand out.

Label text found in the user interface is available in 14 languages, and default labels can be replaced with custom labels.

Admins can customize homepage options and the default cards that appear on homepages. Homepages are personalized to users with news coming from their groups.

Cards make up the main content of all intranet pages. Customizable templates determine what cards are on a page by default when a content template is selected. Cards can be added, rearranged, and deleted. Many cards have options to configure for what they display and how it is displayed.

• Anniversary card
  Celebrate how long people have been with your organization. The Anniversary card displays work start date anniversaries for users who have their start date on their profile. It can also be set to display new hires.
• Birthday card
  The birthday card displays current and upcoming birthdays for users who have their birthday on their profile.
• Document library card
  Allow files to be uploaded to a page, organized with folders, and sorted or curated. Files can be previewed, downloaded or opened for editing from a document library card.
• Event card
  Display calendar event details on another page, and allow users to RSVP to the event from the card.
• Google Drive card
  Embed a file from your Google Drive on an intranet page. Users can view the file and, if allowed, click on the file title to open and edit it.
• Location card
  Display address and contact information, along with a map of the location.
• Mini calendar card
  Display a calendar and its events in mini form on another page. The selected day’s events are listed beside or below the mini calendar.
• Photo collection card
  A photo collection card shows a selection of thumbnail images from a photo gallery page. Users can click on the images to view larger versions or click on the title to visit the photo gallery page.
• Photo gallery details card
  Add this card to blog or news post templates to create a post that features a photo gallery.
• Poll card
  Create a survey-style poll with multiple-choice answers to engage users and get their opinions or feedback. Polls can be restricted to certain sets of users and multiple polls can run on the intranet at the same time.
• Quick links card
  Add a card with useful links to intranet pages, external web pages, applications or email addresses to allow easy access for your users.
• Random quote card
  Allow users to share their favorite quotes with others. Users can navigate through the quotes in the random quote card, and every page refresh displays a new randomly selected quote.
• Rich text card
  Use the rich text editor from the page editing interface to add text, images, links and more in a card anywhere on your page.
• Translate card
  Add a translate card to a page to allow individual users to auto-translate the content into 45+ languages using Microsoft Translator.
• Your groups card
  Display a list of links to all of the groups a user belongs to. Users can click the links to go to the group page, and can navigate the group page subpages within the card.

• Customizable user invitation and login page
  Customize the text of the default user invitation email and the logo and messaging for the intranet login page.
• Customizable content templates
  Create multiple templates for different content types, and modify default templates for individual pages. Both site-wide templates and individual page templates are easily modified with drag and drop template interfaces.
• Customizable profile info sections
  Default profile sections include Featured information, Contact & bio, Relationships & groups, and Expertise & skills. Add new profile sections and custom profile fields relevant to your organization.
• Customizable page types
  Choose from various content types when creating content. Available types are page, section, group, news/blog, forum, calendar, photo gallery, link and form.
• Customizable group types
  Default group types include: group, location, department, team, project and business unit. Add new group types that fit your organization’s needs.

News sections, the people directory and the groups directory can be displayed in grid or list view.

Further customize your intranet experience with behind the scenes configuration settings.

Access your intranet on any device, via a web application with responsive design.

Create calendars to schedule meetings, project timelines, and vacations. Add event types specific to your organization. View calendar pages by month, week, day, or as a list of events. Click on events to see more details on the event page.

Choose from default event types or create event types with names and icons unique to your organization.

Click a calendar date to quickly create an event. Add event details, select a specific time or an all-day event, and add repeating events. Drag-and-drop calendar events to easily change the date.

Allow users to RSVP to events and request information from event registrants.

Add a mini calendar card to display current and upcoming events from an intranet calendar on another page.

Add a calendar as a source for a news feed to have upcoming events appear as news items.

Create a master shared calendar to view events from multiple independent calendars on one page.

Create calendars for your own use, or to coordinate events for a group, department or project.

Add read-only intranet calendars to your Windows Outlook, Apple Calendar or Google calendars.

Personalize your profile by adding a profile photo, profile cover image, bookmarks and subpages. Fill out your profile information to introduce yourself to your colleagues. A profile strength indicator indicates how complete your profile is.

Customize your personal settings for language, timezone, notifications and archived content. Automatically see intranet content in your preferred language. Receive notifications based on content you follow and interact with. News from your groups is delivered to your homepage.

Bring the intranet to life with profile photos on comments, activity, mini profiles, groups and profile pages.

Add expertise tags to your profile to identify your strengths and make them easy for colleagues to find.

Create intranet pages under your profile and add bookmarks that link to external sites you reference often.

Encourage engagement by awarding points and badges as users complete actions and activities on the intranet.

Bookmarked and recently viewed pages are available from menus on the top toolbar. View, sort and rename bookmarks from your profile page.

Connect with colleagues through groups, forums, or blogs formed around common interests and activities.

Browse and search profiles of those in your organization. Filter by group membership, areas of expertise, or other customizable profile fields. Click on a person to visit their profile page.

View an interactive org chart from the employee directory or profile pages. See how your organization is structured and who manages whom, along with profile photos and basic profile information. Export a diagram of all or part of the org chart.

Hover over a name or profile image to see a mini profile with profile image and basic info about a colleague.

Add external contacts to the intranet as profile only users for easy location of contact details.

Post updates to let colleagues know something about your work, your status, what’s going on in the building, or what amazing treat is available today at the local coffee shop.

Let colleagues know that you enjoyed their work or found it useful by liking pages, images and updates. Start or join conversations by commenting on content. Comments and likes contribute to the popularity of content.

Recognize colleagues for outstanding contributions by sending a Shout-out to an individual or group. Shout-outs appear in activity cards and Shout-outs cards added to intranet pages.

Build form elements easily with drag-and-drop. Customize messaging associated with the form. Add workflow statuses to track the progress of form entries. Apply permissions for form viewers, submitters, reviewers and managers. Choose which form notifications will be sent to form submitters and reviewers.

Create a page that displays the form and allows users to fill out the form and submit it. You can also create a page that displays form entries that have already been submitted.

Add workflow statuses to track the progress of the form entry. Alert form submitters that their entry has been submitted or processed. Alert form reviewers that they have form entries to review or that are now overdue.

Set a maximum time that it should take for a form’s entries to go from the initial status to the final status. In-app and email notifications alert reviewers when form entries are overdue.

Email notifications confirm that you have submitted a form entry. In-app and email notifications can be sent to reviewers when a form entry is submitted, reassigned to them, or is overdue and requires their attention. Form submitters can receive in-app and email notifications when their entry is assigned its final status.

Search, sort and filter form entries. Create and save entry filter views for quick reference. Assign, download or update the status of form entries in bulk.

Import sample ThoughtFarmer forms for your own use, or export forms for use on another ThoughtFarmer intranet.