.. _Olive discussions:

New and Improved Discussions Forum (Olive)
##########################################

The new Community Release, Olive, contains many long-awaited updates to the
Discussions Forums experience, for learners, course teams and forum moderators.

.. contents::
  :local:
  :depth: 1

A freshly designed UI
*********************

      .. image:: /_images/release_notes/olive/discussA1.png

In the above screenshot, you can see how the author of a “Question” type post
can mark a response as an “Answer” to the question that was asked. Additionally,
a new tabular layout (top left) makes it easier for both learners and moderators
to see, organize and track forum activity. 

In the new layout, learners and course teams have access to:

#. The *My Posts* tab shows posts authored by the current user.
#. The *All Posts* tab shows all posts in the course.
#. The *Topics* tab shows hierarchy of discussion topics (categories and
   subcategories).
#. The *Learners* tab shows per-user statistics for the course forum, allowing
   you to sort by top poster or recent posters, and to drill down into forum
   activity by individual learner.

The new UI also enables improved functionality for sorting and filtering posts.
The new layout makes it easier for users to filter for followed posts, recent
activity and more. New filters for post types (Discussions and Questions) have
also been added.

      .. image:: /_images/release_notes/olive/new_filter_ui.gif

Upgraded search experience
**************************

      .. image:: /_images/release_notes/olive/discussA2.png


A single search bar can now be used for keyword searches across content, topics
and learners, including searches for partial usernames. Keyword searches are
refined by tab. For example, typing the keyword “Introduction” in the search
bar, with the “My Posts” tab selected, will limit results to only posts I’ve
written. You can instead choose to search “All posts”, search topic titles under
“Topics”, or search for a specific learner under “Learners”.

Interactive post summaries
**************************

New interactive post summaries in the left sidebar streamline interaction
opportunities for learners and make it easier to track post activity:

      .. image:: /_images/release_notes/olive/discussA3.png


Legend:

#. An icon indicating if a post was submitted as a question.
#. The username of the post author is now visible, along with specific colors
   and icons to indicate user roles such as “Staff”.
#. Number of likes, with the option to like or unlike directly.
#. A clickable star icon to follow or unfollow a post.
#. Number of responses.
#. An answered icon to indicate if an open question was answered.
#. Flags to identify reported content in the post or in its comments.


Inline Discussions
******************

In-context discussions appear, as before, below course content.

      .. image:: /_images/release_notes/olive/discussA4.png



In the next release, Palm, look forward to a new interface that will allow you
to display the in-context discussions within a sidebar on the right side of the
course content.

And more!
*********

:doc:`olive_discussions_mods` takes a look at some of the new features for the forum
moderation team, as well as improvements to course authoring. Site operators can
find information about how to configure the new Discussions feature in the Olive
release notes.

Thank you to `Kshitij Sobti
<https://opencraft.com/a-look-at-the-recent-enhancements-to-discussions-in-open-edx/>`_
and the team at OpenCraft for the gif shown in this post.


**Maintenance chart**

+--------------+-------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Review Date  | Working Group Reviewer        |   Release      |Test situation                                     |
+--------------+-------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+
|2025-04-28    | Docs WG                       | Teak           | Deprecated: This is no longer the current release |
+--------------+-------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+