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Servers and channels
A server is where you and your group talk, call and roll. This page covers making one, the kinds of channel, roles, private channels, invites and server tags.
- Press + at the bottom of the server list (Add a server).
- Choose Create my own. The other two choices are Join a server, for an invite link or code, and Find a public server.
- Give it a name and choose who can join:
- Public: listed for everyone to find and join. This is what is picked unless you change it. A public server cannot have P2P channels.
- Private: only people with an invite. A private server stays private: it can never be made public later.
- For a private server, choose the kind:
- Standard: voice and video go through the relay. Nobody sees anyone's IP address.
- Hybrid: text is kept by the server. Voice and video are P2P: people in the voice channel connect straight to each other and can find each other's IP address.
- Full P2P: text, voice and video are all P2P. What is typed is kept only on people's own devices: the server keeps none of it, so someone who was not connected at the time does not get it.
- Press Create.
A new server starts with a text channel called general, a voice channel called Party, and three roles: @everyone, Moderator and Admin.
- In a Standard or Hybrid server the kind only decides whether those first two channels are P2P. You can add either kind of channel afterwards, so a server can mix ordinary and P2P channels.
- A Full P2P server stays one. Every channel and group made in it is P2P, it has no forums, a voice channel in it cannot be made a relayed one, and it cannot be made public.
If P2P is new to you, read P2P before choosing Hybrid or Full P2P.
Click the server's name at the top of the channel list and choose Server settings. You need a managing permission in that server to see it. It has six tabs:
- Overview: the icon (PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP, up to 2 MB), a banner shown over the top of the channel list (the same kinds, moving or not, up to 4 MB; about 960 × 540 looks best), the name, who can join, a description and up to five topics for the list of public servers, the server tag, and the welcome channel. The owner can also choose not to be shown as the owner in the member list: their highest role is shown under their name instead. The owner can give themselves roles like anyone (Members tab), which only changes how they look: an owner can do everything whatever roles they have. Only the owner chooses the owner's roles.
- Roles
- Members
- Webhooks
- Bots
- Emojis & sounds: the server's custom emojis, stickers and soundboard sounds. See below.
- A bot is only ever in channels of its own kind: an ordinary bot in ordinary channels, a P2P bot in the P2P channels it is let into.
- So a standard server takes ordinary bots, a full P2P server takes P2P bots, and a hybrid takes both.
Under Bots, press Manage beside a bot to choose who can use its commands in your server, and where.
- Who: everyone, or only the roles and people you pick.
- Where: all channels, or only the channels you pick.
What you set under All of its commands applies to every command of that bot. Any one command can be given Its own settings instead. Press Save when you are done.
- People are only offered the commands they can use, in the channels they can use them in.
- Anyone who can manage the server can use every command everywhere.
- Removing a bot from the server forgets what you set for it.
- For an ordinary bot these are its slash commands, and the server holds people to what you set.
- For a P2P bot these are the commands people type to it. What is typed to a P2P bot never passes through the server, so the bot is told what you set and applies it itself. It only shows commands the bot has listed.
These are only there when whoever runs the Maplecord has switched them on.
Under Emojis & sounds, anyone with Manage emojis, stickers and sounds can upload new ones, add ones from their own library, and take them off. Everything you upload is yours: it is kept once in your library (Settings, Emojis & sounds) and counts there, whichever servers it is on.
-
Emojis: PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP, moving or not. Type
:name:or pick one with +, Emojis. Up to 250 in a server, 150 in your library. - Stickers: a bigger picture sent as a message of its own. Up to 60 in a server, 50 in your library.
- Sounds: any sound file. Its first 5 seconds are kept, set to the same loudness as every other sound. Up to 48 in a server, 50 in your library.
The owner, or anyone with Manage server, decides whether members may also use emojis and stickers from outside the server: their own library, and those of the other servers they are in. A private server allows that unless it is switched off; a public one does not unless it is switched on. Direct messages always allow it. Custom emojis and stickers are not offered in P2P channels.
The soundboard. In a voice channel of the server, the soundboard button beside the camera button plays one of the server's sounds to everyone in the channel. It needs Use the soundboard. Sounds only ever play in the server they are on, and one person can play one every 3 seconds. Each listener sets how loud other people's sounds are, or mutes them, behind the speaker button in the soundboard.
A public server can be picked as the server of the week or the daily pick on the Maplecord website, which shows its name, icon, banner, description, topics and member count with a link to join. The owner is told when it is picked. To keep a server off the website, untick Can be featured under Overview.
Under Overview, Welcome, pick a Welcome channel and tick Post a welcome message there when someone joins. Each newcomer then gets one line there, such as "@Name has joined the server.", picked at random from a few. It is posted under their own name, and they or anyone who manages messages can delete it.
Someone who has just joined is also taken to the welcome channel first, whether or not the message is switched on.
- Only an ordinary text channel can be the welcome channel, not a P2P one.
- Bots are not welcomed.
- If the welcome channel is deleted, the server has none until you pick another.
Click the server's name, then Create channel or Create category. You need the Manage channels permission.
Choose the Type:
| Type | What it is |
|---|---|
| # Text | Ordinary chat. |
| ☰ Forum | A list of posts with titles; each has its own thread. |
| 🖼 Gallery | Posts are pictures with a title; what is said about one is in its thread. |
| 🔊 Voice | Voice, with screen and camera sharing, and a chat beside it. |
| 📅 Calendar | A month of days with events on them. See Calendars. |
| Category | A group that holds channels. |
Then give it a name and, if you like, pick the Category it goes in.
Afterwards, drag channels and groups to reorder them, or drop a channel on a group to move it there. Right-click a channel for Rename channel, Delete channel, Mute channel and Permissions.
A new message from someone else plays a sound, unless the channel or the server is muted, you are on Do not disturb, or you are reading that channel with the app in front. Direct messages do the same. A busy channel plays it at most once every second and a half.
A web address in a message can be pressed and opens in your browser. Nothing is loaded from it until you press it: there are no previews.
Community polls. Now and then whoever runs Maplecord asks everyone a few questions about features. A new poll comes up once. Answer it, or choose Not now; an answer cannot be changed. The latest poll is also under Settings, App. Only accounts that existed when a poll opened can answer it. Tap an answer's picture to see it larger.
Very large servers. In a server with more than 1,000 members the member list starts with the people who are online, the bots and the owner. Show more people at the bottom reads the rest a hundred at a time, and Find a member above the list finds anyone by the start of their name. Server settings → Members has the same box. Whoever runs the Maplecord server can set another number than 1,000.
Writing in Markdown. A forum post and an event's note can be written as plain text or as Markdown. Tick Markdown above the box and buttons appear for bold, italic, headings, lists, quotes, code and links; Preview shows how it will be drawn, and Import .md puts the text of a file from your computer in the box. Tables work too. A picture written in Markdown is shown as a link to press, and anything that looks like HTML is shown as the text it is. Ordinary chat messages are always shown exactly as typed.
In a gallery, a post can be reacted to as a whole. Open it, and each of its pictures can be reacted to by itself as well. (In a P2P gallery, only the post as a whole.)
In a voice channel, a crossed-out microphone beside someone's name means their microphone is off, and crossed-out headphones mean they have switched off hearing everyone.
You hear a knock when you or anyone else joins the voice channel you are in, and a door when you or they leave. A different, lower sound means you were taken out of it without choosing to: the connection dropped, you joined from another device, a moderator disconnected you, or the channel changed kind.
While you are sharing a screen or camera, a soft rising note means someone started watching it, and a falling one means someone stopped.
If your connection to Maplecord drops for a moment while you are in a voice channel, you keep your place and the call carries on; after 15 seconds without it, you are taken out of the channel. (Not in a P2P channel or a call.)
If sound keeps dropping out, tick Record how calls go under Settings, Voice & audio. A small ⚠ appears beside Voice connected: press it right after you hear a dropout. Then Copy voice report and send it to whoever is looking into it. It holds the last ten minutes while the app is open, on your device only, and no addresses.
With the Move members permission, drag a person from the voice channel they are in onto another voice channel of the same server. They are told they were moved. It works for someone ranked below you, into a channel they are allowed to join and that is not full. A bot is not moved.
Nobody is moved into or out of a P2P voice channel: joining one is each person's own choice.
A calendar channel shows a month as squares, one for each day. A new server starts with one called Calendar at the top. Delete it if you do not want one; make more the same way as any channel. A full P2P server has none, and a calendar is never a P2P channel.
Click a day to see what is on it. Everyone who can see the channel can read it. With the Post events permission, Add an event puts one on that day: a title, and a time, a note and a colour if it has them. A time is shown to each person in their own time zone. A day holds at most 25 events.
Someone with Manage channels can give a calendar a background: right-click it, then Background. Everyone who can see the calendar sees it.
An event stays on its calendar for 24 months after its day, unless whoever runs the server set another length. Upcoming events are never taken off.
To begin with only the owner and the Admin role can post events; give Post events to a role to let others. Whoever posted an event can remove it, and change it while they may still post events. So can anyone with Manage messages in that channel.
Saying whether you are coming. Open a day and each event has four buttons: ✅ coming, ❌ not coming, 🤷 not sure, and 😠 "why did you invite me to this?". Press one to answer, press it again to take your answer back. Everyone who can see the calendar sees who answered what.
Who an event is for. Whoever may edit an event can press Add participant:
- Open to all or Invite only. Open, anyone who can see the calendar can answer. Invite only, the answer buttons work for the people added, for everyone with a role added, and for whoever posted the event. Everyone still sees the event.
- Roles: add up to 20. Everyone with one of them counts as invited. They are not told one by one.
- People: pick members who can see the calendar, 25 at once. Each is told they were invited, at once if their app is open and otherwise when they next open it, and the calendar shows a count until they answer. Bots cannot be added. An event's list holds 200 people.
Posting an event. Right-click an event (or press Post or link…) for:
- Post to channels…: pick up to 5 text channels you can write in. Each gets a card with the event, and everyone sees its time in their own time zone. Open in the calendar on the card goes to the event.
- Create a forum post…: the same card as a post of its own in a forum, under the event's title.
- Create a link: copies a link to the event. Whoever follows it sees the event only if they can see that calendar; the page the link opens says nothing about the event.
Posting needs the Share events permission. What was posted is the event as it was then: if the event changes, post it again.
If you hold the Create P2P channels permission and the server is private, the same dialog has a tick box, P2P channel. Ticked, the channel is a P2P one:
- P2P text channel: what is typed in it goes straight between people's apps and is kept only on their own devices; the server keeps none of it.
- P2P gallery: the same, for its pictures, what is said about them and its likes.
- P2P voice channel: people in it connect straight to each other. Only people who allow P2P can join, and each is warned first.
- P2P group: tick the box while making a Category. Every channel made in that group is a P2P channel, and only P2P channels can be moved into it.
In every P2P channel, the people connected to it can find each other's IP address, and each person is warned before they connect.
Things to know before you make one:
- A text channel, a gallery or a group cannot be switched between P2P and ordinary afterwards.
- A voice channel can: right-click it and choose Make it a P2P channel or Make it a relayed channel. Everyone in the call is taken out of it when you do.
- A forum cannot be a P2P channel.
- A public server cannot have P2P channels. A private server, P2P channels or not, can never be made public.
P2P channels are shown in italics with a P2P tag. P2P explains what all of this means.
Server settings, then Roles, then + New role. Select the role to give it a name, a colour and its permissions, then Save role.
To give someone a role, use the Members tab, or right-click the person and open Roles. You can only hand out roles below your own highest one.
@everyone is the baseline every member has. The server's owner has every permission and does not use roles.
The member list shows whoever is online under their highest role, highest role first. Someone online with no role of their own is under Online, bots have a group of their own whether they are online or not, and every person who is offline is in one group at the bottom.
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
| View channels | See channels and read messages |
| Send messages | Also needed to edit what you posted before |
| Attach files | Images and uploads |
| Manage messages | Delete other people's messages, and the results of rolls, flips and rock paper scissors |
| Start rolls | Rolls, need/greed, flips, rock paper scissors, dice |
| Post events | Put events on a calendar channel |
| Share events | Post an event from a calendar into text channels and forums they can write in |
| Join voice | |
| Speak | |
| Stream | Share a screen or camera |
| Create invites | |
| Manage channels | Create, rename and delete channels, and decide who can see them |
| Manage roles | Only roles below your own |
| Manage webhooks | |
| Manage server | Name, icon, bots |
| Kick members | |
| Ban members | |
| Mute members | |
| Disconnect members | Take someone out of a voice channel. They can join again |
| Move members | Drag someone from one voice channel to another. Never into or out of a P2P channel |
| Create P2P channels | Make P2P channels, and switch a voice channel between P2P and relayed (also needs Manage channels) |
| Join P2P channels | Join a P2P voice channel (also needs Join voice, and P2P allowed on their own account) |
| Use the relay in P2P channels | Connect through the relay there when a direct connection cannot be made, or to keep their address from the others. Without it, P2P channels are direct only |
| Stream in P2P channels | Share a screen or camera in a P2P channel (also needs Stream) |
| Wear the server tag | Show this server's tag beside their name |
| Manage emojis, stickers and sounds | Add the server's own (new ones, or from their library) and take them off |
| Use the soundboard | Play the server's sounds in its voice channels |
| Administrator | Every permission, and sees every channel |
In Server settings, Roles, the permissions are grouped: General, Text, Voice, Calendar, P2P, Moderation and Server.
What the three starting roles have:
- @everyone: View channels, Send messages, Attach files, Start rolls, Join voice, Speak, Stream, Create invites, Join P2P channels, Use the relay in P2P channels, Wear the server tag, Use the soundboard.
- Moderator: all of that, plus Manage messages, Kick, Ban, Mute and Disconnect members.
- Admin: Administrator.
Right-click a channel or a group and choose Permissions. It has two parts.
Who can see it
- Everyone in the server, except anyone you shut out.
- Private: only the roles and people you let in.
Add roles or people with the dropdown, and set each to Can see it or Cannot see it.
Someone who cannot see a channel is not shown that it exists. The owner and administrators see every channel.
Who can write in it
- Everyone who may send messages, except anyone you hold to reading.
- Read-only: only the roles and people you allow can write.
Add roles or people with the dropdown, and set each to Can write or Read-only. Someone held to reading can still read and react, but cannot send messages, replies, posts or files there, and sees that in place of the message box. The owner and administrators can always write. In a voice channel this is about its chat; speaking is the Speak permission. A P2P channel has no such setting: what is written there never passes the server.
A setting on a group applies to every channel in it, unless a channel has been given its own.
Click the server's name, then Invite people. You need the Create invites permission.
- Choose when the link stops working: never, or after 30 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, 1 day or 7 days.
- Choose how many times it can be used: any number, or once, 5, 10, 25 or 100 times.
- Press Make a link. It is copied for you; paste it wherever you like.
The same window lists the links that still work, with how often each has been used and when it stops. Take back ends a link at once; people who already joined with it stay. You see your own links, and someone with Manage server sees everyone's. A link that has run out or been used up is removed from the list.
Any link can also be had as a QR code: press QR code beside a new link, or QR beside one in the list. QR chooses how the code is drawn and Card puts it on a card with the server's name, whether it is public or private, and P2P or Hybrid if some or all of its channels are P2P. Save as a picture saves what you see. They are the same choices as for your friend link, and what you pick is remembered for both.
- To invite one person, right-click them, open Invite to server and pick the server. They are sent a link in a direct message. That link does not run out.
- Someone with a link opens it, or uses +, Join a server and pastes the link or code.
Public servers need no invite: people find them under +, Find a public server.
A server tag is a small badge its members can wear beside their names everywhere: a symbol if you like, and up to five letters or digits.
- Server settings, Overview, Server tag. You need Manage server.
- Press ＋ to choose a symbol, or leave it out.
- Type the tag (letters A to Z and digits, up to five).
- Press Save tag.
- A server needs at least 3 members before it can have a tag. Bots do not count.
- Members choose to wear it in their own profile editor. Wearing it takes the Wear the server tag permission, which everyone has to begin with, so you can keep the tag to certain roles by taking it off @everyone.
- Clicking a tag shows which server it is, with Join if the server is public. For a private server, people who are not in it see only the start of its name.
- The maple leaf, the Maplecord logo and the tag MAPLE are kept for the people who run Maplecord.