SMF has a very powerful permission system allowing the Administrator to control what is allowed and what is not on their Forum for many attributes such as attaching files to posts or being able to allow members to moderate posts in topics that they have started. The system is made easy by setting permissions by a membergroup basis rather than having to change permissions one by one for each board.

General Permissions

General

• View forum statistics - The collected statistics of an SMF forum that can be found at index.php?action=stats (also in the Info. Center).
• View the memberlist - A list of all registered members of an SMF forum. Can be found at index.php?action=mlist (also in the Info. Center).
• View Who's Online - A summary of who's on an SMF forum. Can be found in the Info. Center and at index.php?action=who.
• Search for posts and topics - Allows users to search the forums using keywords and phrases. Can be found at index.php?action=search and in the navigation bar.
• Change other people's karma - Allows users to edit the karma of other users. This displays as +X/-X or +X beside the posts of members, where X is the member's karma totals.

Calendar

• View the calendar - Decides whether or not a user can view the calendar of an SMF forum. Can be found at index.php?action=calendar and in the navigation bar.
• Create events in the calendar - Decides whether or not a user can create new events in the calendar.
• Edit events in the calendar - Decides whether or not a user can edit events in the calendar.

Forum Administration

• Administrate forum and database - Decides whether or not a user can change database connection properties, edit server settings, etc.
• Manage boards and categories - Decides whether or not users can create, modify, and delete boards and categories.
• Manage attachments and avatars - Decides whether or not users can mange and delete attachments on an SMF forum.
• Manage smileys - Decides whether or not a user can change smiley sets, delete smileys, and change smiley options.
• Edit news - Decides whether or not a user can edit the forum's news.

Member administration

• Moderate forum members - Decides whether or not a user can register users manually, track IPs and online status, etc.
• Manage and assign membergroups - Decides whether or not users can create, manage, and delete membergroups.
• Manage permissions - Decides whether or not users can manage member permissions.
• Manage ban list - Decides whether or not a user can ban other members and discontinue bans.
• Send a forum email to members - Decides whether or not a user can send an email in bulk to all members or individual membergroups.

Personal Messaging Read personal messages - Decides whether or not a user can view personal messages sent to him or her.

• Send personal messages - Decides whether or not a user can send personal messages to other members.

Member Profiles

• View profile summary and stats - Decides whether or not a user can view profile summaries and member stats.
• Edit account settings - Decides whether or not a user can edit their own account's settings as well as the account settings of all members.
• Edit additional profile settings -Decides whether or not users can edit individual forum preferences such as their avatar, theme preferences, notifications and Personal Message settings. If this is not checked the user will be forced to use the default settings
• Edit custom title - Decides whether or not users can edit their custom titles.
• Delete account- Decides whether or not a member can delete their account or other members' accounts.
• Select an avatar from the server - Decides whether or not to allow a user to select an avatar from the avatars you uploaded on your forums.
• Upload an avatar to the server - Decides whether or not to allow a user to upload their personal avatar to the server.
• Choose a remotely stored avatar - Decides if a user can use an avatar from another server.

Board Permissions

General

• Moderate board - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can moderate the boards they have access to.

Topics

• Post new topics - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can post new topics.
• Merge any topic - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can merge topics.
• Split any topic - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can split topics.
• Send topics to friends - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can send topics to their friends via email.
• Make topics sticky - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can make topics sticky.
• Move topic - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can move their topics, all topics, or no topics at all.
• Lock topics - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can lock their topics, all topics, or no topics at all.
• Remove topics - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can remove their topics, all topics, or no topics at all.
• Post replies to topics - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can Post replies to their topics, all topics, or no topics at all.
• Modify replies to own topics - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can modify replies to their own topics.
• Delete replies to own topics - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can delete replies to their own topics.
• Announce topic - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can announce (send topic by email or private message) their topics.

Posts

• Delete posts - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can delete their posts, all posts, or no posts at all.
• Modify posts - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can modify their posts, all posts, or no posts at all.
• Report posts to the moderators - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup will be able to report posts to moderators that have selected to receive forum notifications.

Polls

• View polls - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup will be able to view polls.
• Vote in polls - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup will be able to vote in polls they can see.
• Post Polls - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup will be able to make their own polls.
• Add poll to topics - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup are allowed to add polls to existing topics. You can choose whether they must have posted the topic, or if they can add it to any Topic they can see.
• Edit polls - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can edit their polls, any polls, or no polls at all. This permission allows a user to edit the polls options, reset the poll, edit the maximum number of votes, and edit the expiration time of the poll. In order to edit the maximum number of votes and the expiration time a user needs to have the 'Moderate board' permission.
• Lock polls - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can lock their polls, any polls, or no polls at all.
• Remove polls - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can remove their polls, any polls, or no polls at all.

Notifications

• Request notification on replies - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup will be able to request notification on replies to topics they select.
• Request notification on new topics - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup will be able to request notification when new topics get posted in a board.

Attachments

• View Attachments - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can view attachments.
• Post Attachments - Decides whether or not people in this membergroup can Post attachments.

Edit Profiles

Post Moderation

Settings

Main

• Administration Center
• Support and Credits
• News and newsletters
• Package manager

Configuration

• Core Features
• Features and Options
• Security and Moderation
• Languages
• Server settings
• Current Theme
• Themes and Layout
• Modification Settings

Forum

• Boards
• Posts and Topics
• Calendar
• Search
• Smileys and Message Icons
• Attachments and Avatars

Members

• Members
• Membergroups
• Permissions
• Registration
• Ban List
• Paid subscriptions
• Search engines

Maintenance

• Forum Maintenance
• Scheduled Tasks
• Mail
• Reports
• Logs

Miscellaneous

• Security Tips
• Building Your Community
• Performance enhancements
• Modifications - A mod broke my forum what should I do