KB1164 - Archiving a Forum (a.k.a. closing/locking)

Have you ever wanted to keep a forum for students to read, but prevent any more new posts or replies? Well, you can do exactly that by "Archiving" the forum.

Why? Get students to focus on current topics
How? Remove the capability to start new discussions and reply for the student role
Similar uses: Archive a Glossary, Wiki or Database activity

To archive a forum, follow these steps:

1. Click on the forum activity that you want to archive.
2. Click on the "More" menu at the top of the page, and select "Permissions".
3. In the filter field, near the top of the page, type start. (This should filter the results to show only the Start new discussions capability.)
4. To the right of this capability, look for the word Student (NOT Student-Teacher!).
5. Click on the Trashcan icon to the right of the word Student.
6. Confirm the role change by clicking on "Remove".
7. Use the filter field, again to search for replypost (one word) (This should filter the results to show only the Reply to posts capability.)
8. Repeat steps 4-6.
9. Now, you can confirm that your changes have worked by switching to the Student role.
   Follow these steps:
   1. Return to the forum page.
   2. Notice that the "Add a new discussion topic" button is still visible at this point. 
   3. Under your User menu (top-right, under your picture), click on Switch role to and choose Student.
   4. When the forum page refreshes, you should no longer see the "Add a new discussion topic" button.
   5. Click on any forum post and confirm that there is no Reply link.
10. You can now return to your normal role, using Switch role to...