When you make a Discord server, its privacy setting is set to private by default.
This means that people will only be able to join your server if you invited them.
Otherwise, you need to give them the link to it.
On the other hand, if you want to make your server discoverable/searchable, you need to apply for it.
That’s where the “Community” feature comes into play.
The “Community” feature allows your Discord server to be discoverable by others if you hit a certain requirement.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to enable the community feature and make your server public.
- How to make a public Discord server
- How do I change my Discord server from private to public?
- Can anyone join my Discord server?
How to make a public Discord server
To make a public Discord server, you need to navigate to the “Enable Community” tab on your server settings.
Once you’re on the “Enable Community” tab, you can enable the community feature and make your server discoverable.
Enabling the community feature on your server is similar to making your server public.
In addition, you’ll have access to multiple features like server discovery, server insights and direct updates.
Server discovery allows your server to be discoverable on the “Explore Public Servers” tab.
In other words, Discord users will be able to find your server by searching for it.
If your server has a ton of members, it will be listed higher on the search results.
Next, “Server Insights” will help you to better moderate your server and keep your members engaged.
However, your server needs to have at least 500 members.
Lastly, you’ll get direct updates about Discord communities.
Without further ado, below is a 3-step guide on how you can enable the community feature for your Discord server and make it public.
Step 1: Navigate to “Enable Community”
Open Discord > navigate to your server > dropdown arrow > Server Settings > Community > Enable Community.
Firstly, open Discord on your desktop.
You can also use the mobile version of Discord, but you won’t be able to apply for discovery there.
Once you’re on Discord, navigate to your server by clicking on its icon.
Then, click on the dropdown arrow next to your server’s name to open an options menu.
If you’re using Discord on a mobile device, the dropdown arrow will be shown as three dots instead.
On the options menu, click on “Server Settings” to open your server settings.
On the left sidebar of your server settings, you’ll see three headings including your server name, community, and user management.
Under the “Community” heading, you’ll see an “Enable Community” option.
Click on the “Enable Community” option to open the tab where you can enable the community feature.
Proceed to the next step to find out how to enable the community feature.
Step 2: Select “Get Started”
Get Started > follow the on-screen instructions to set up your community.
After you’ve clicked on “Enable Community”, you’ll land on the “Enable Community” tab.
If you haven’t enabled the community feature for your Discord server, you’ll see a “Get Started” button.
Click on “Get Started” and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup.
Here’s how the setup goes after you click on the “Get Started” button:
- Tick “Verified email required” and “Scan media content from all members”, then click on “Next”.
- Specify the channel that you want to post your server rules/guidelines and the community updates, then click on “Next”.
- Tick “Default notifications to Mentions Only”, “Remove moderation permissions from @everyone”, and “I agree and understand”.
- Click on “Finish setup”.
After you’ve clicked on “Finish setup”, your server will now be a community server.
Under the community tab, you’ll be able to see several new tabs including overview, server insights, partner program, and more.
Proceed to the final step to learn how to apply for discovery to make your Discord server public/discoverable.
Step 3: Apply for Discovery
Community > Discovery > Enable Discovery.
After you’ve enabled the “Community” feature on your server, navigate to the left sidebar.
On the left sidebar, you’ll several new tabs including overview, server insights, partner program, and more under the “Community” header.
You’ll also see a tab that says “Discovery”.
If you’re using Discord on mobile, you won’t be able to see this tab as it is not available there.
Select the “Discovery” tab to go to the discovery feature.
Enabling Discover will allow your server to be listed on the “Explore Public Servers” tab on the desktop version of Discord.
In other words, people will be able to find your server by searching for it.
To enable discovery, click on “Enable Discovery”.
However, you need to hit the minimum requirements before you can enable discovery for your server.
Here is a list of requirements that your server needs to hit before you can enable discovery for it:
- You need to abide by the Discord Community Guidelines.
- Your server needs to have at least 7,000 members.
- Your server needs to be at least 8 weeks old.
- Server insights need to be enabled (500 members requirement).
- No bad words in your server name, description, and channel names.
- Have 2FA enabled.
Only after you’ve hit all of the requirements above, then you can apply for discovery.
If you don’t hit the requirements, don’t worry, you can add your Discord server to websites like top.gg or disboard.org instead.
Congrats, you’ve successfully made your Discord server public!
How do I change my Discord server from private to public?
When you first make a Discord server, it will be set to private by default.
This means that only the people who have an active invite link will be able to join your server.
Hence, you don’t need to change your Discord server from private to public.
However, if you want to make your server discoverable, you need to apply for discovery.
But first, you need to have the community featured enabled and hit the minimum requirements.
Can anyone join my Discord server?
No, not everyone can join your Discord server.
Only users who have an active invite link to your Discord server can join it.
However, if your server has the community and the discovery feature enabled, anyone can join it.
Similarly, if you’ve added your server to a Discord server list (e.g. top.gg), anyone that finds it will be able to join it.
Conclusion
Public Discord servers are quite hard to find.
This is where websites like top.gg and disboard.org come into play.
These websites allow you to find Discord servers by name, category, and more.
So, if you don’t hit the minimum requirement needed to enable the discovery feature for your server, you can add your server to these websites.
This will make your server public and discoverable by anyone.
It also mitigates the need for you to excessively promote your Discord server’s link as people will join your server organically.
Further Reading
How to Change Your Background or Theme on Discord
How to Disconnect Spotify From Discord
The 10 Best Among Us Discord Servers
Lim How Wei is the founder of Followchain. Feel free to follow him on Instagram.
