How to use the "@Mention" to Auto-Title a Person in CA Communities
When responding to posts - or in any Content - you may sometimes wish to refer to a specific person, such as "Kyle_R", but have it "Auto-titled" so that it looks like this in the message:
Kyle_R
Why would you want to use a person's link in a post?
- The main impact is that anyone following that person, will receive this post into their Stream.
- It will also update the referenced person in their own stream.
- It makes the name look "pretty."
It is recommended that you only use the link if one of the two first reasons is satisfied.
Otherwise that person and other people are going to receive references to their Streams that they may not need!
How to do an @Mention?
1) @Mention by typing "@".
The simplest way is to type in "@" followed by the person's screen "Alias," for example, mine is "Kyle_R."
This way will bring up the @Mention name box, which will start auto-completing most names.
For example, type "@kyle" and the following is brought up. You would then select my name from the list.
Resulting in: Kyle_R
This is my recommended way, as it is the quickest.
2. Use the "@ Mention" link.
At the bottom right of the editor, the "@ Mention" link works the same as (1) after clicking.
3. By direct URL reference.
3A) Typing direct link (does not Auto-title).
This method is useful if you know the person's screen "Alias" name, but can't find their name using the automated "@Mention" links.
For example, you can see the name in the Discussion thread you are replying to.
Otherwise, it is not recommended as it requires more steps.
People's names may not appear in the @Mention box, because of:
- Their privacy settings exclude viewing by you.
- Their name shares very common text with other names, and thus is pushed off the list.
People may always be directly referenced by typing the full URL to their name. For example:
https://communites.ca.com/people/<<Alias name>>
E.g.:
https://communites.ca.com/people/Kyle_R
will become a link. However, to get the short "Alias" name to appear, you could go back and Edit to the post and Auto-title of the link.
Note - you need to use "https" and not "http" if you wish the Auto-title to work after Edit.
3B) Using Hyperlink and Auto-title
However, the better and recommended way to reference the name is to add in they name by Hyperlink and do the Auto-title then.
i) Click the "Insert link" symbol in the editor. (Capital "A" with paperclip at top of the editor.)
ii) Enter the full path as per (3A). E.g.: https://communites.ca.com/people/Kyle_R
As above, use "https" and not "http" to allow for the Auto-title to work.
iii) After inserting, a link will be created as follows.
Note: If you don't see this icon next to the URL, then the Auto-title will not work.
(Sometimes the icon doesn't appear - I'm not sure why.)
iv) Click once on the link to bring up the link formatting.
v) Click on the "Auto-title" after it expands:
The name should now be auto-titled as intended:
Kyle_R
As you can see, Method (1) is definitely the preferred way, and you'll probably only use Method (3) if you really want to @Mention someone whose name is not referenced by Methods 1 or 2.
I hope that this helps with responding to posts and people!
Thanks, Kyle_R.