## Creating/adding or deleting a discussion topic

Note: To complete the procedures in this document, you must be assigned a role having the necessary permissions. To determine your role, follow the directions in Participant roles. To view a list of permissions associated with a given role, see Permissions, roles, and tools. For a basic understanding of roles and permissions, see Permissions and Roles: Overview.

To create/add or delete a discussion topic, in your site's menubar click `Discussion`, and then follow the appropriate steps below:

### Creating/adding a discussion topic

1. Click `Add Topic`.
2. Enter information about your discussion topic in the fields on the form; an asterisk indicates a field is required. You can choose a category for your discussion topic from the drop-down list if there is one, or create a custom one.
3. To limit replies to only the top-level post (i.e., your initial post), select the `Within this topic, only allow replies directly to this message` radio button. This option will create a "flat" discussion. If you would rather choose to allow replies to any posts, select `Within this topic, allow replies to any message`. Selecting this option will create a "threaded" discussion, which is by nature more interactive because users are able to reply to a reply. Flat discussions, in contrast, tend to be more structured and for this reason are more easily controlled.
4. If you wish to add an attachment, follow these steps:
   1. Click `Add Attachments`. (If there are already attachments, you will see `Add/remove Attachments` instead.)
   2. You can add any number of attachments, and they can be any combination of local files, websites, and resources:
      - To attach a local file from your computer, under "Upload local file", either enter a filename in the box provided or click `Browse...` . Once you find the file, select it and click `Open`.

        Note: When attaching a file, you must include the file's extension (e.g., `.gif`, `.doc`, `.html`, or `.jpg`). If you do not, anyone who attempts to display or download the file will get an error message.

      - To attach a URL, under "URL (link to website)", type the URL in the box provided.
      - To attach an item from the Resources section of your site, under "Select a resource", click `Attach a copy` next to the resource(s) you want to attach.

        Note: You can attach files from another site to which you belong, provided that the files are set to be viewable by people outside the source site. To browse for files in other sites, click `Show other sites`.

   3. When you've selected all the items you want to attach, click `Finish`.
5. You can either save a draft (`Save Draft`) of your entry or post the topic to the discussion (`Add Topic`). If you save it as a draft, it will show up in the list with other discussion items, but will be marked as a draft and will be visible only to you, the author.

### Deleting a discussion topic

To delete a discussion topic, click the trash can icon next to the topic you wish to delete. When asked to confirm that you wish to delete the topic, click `Delete Topic`.

Note: The absence of the trash can icon means that you don't have permission to delete the message.