Last updated on December 17th, 2022 at 02:01 pm
Discord is the most popular communication app for gamers. You can make text messages, voice or video calls, and even share game screens. The real-time communication needed for gamers and gamer teams to stay in sync while enjoying Apex Legends is also available on Discord. Even better, all of this is free.
But Discord isn’t just for conversation. Here are some tips to help you use Discord, stay secure, and streamline your communications.
Sign up or create a Discord server
In Discord, you can create a server or join a server. Server creation and subscription is free, and the server is a space where a community or group of friends can gather and play together.
When you sign up for someone else’s Discord server, you can search for the server within Discord, or you can access the server directly if you have a link to it. For example, ‘PCworld’ has a Discord server for ‘Full Nerd Podcast’.
To search for a Discord group, open the Discord app on your desktop or mobile device and click the ‘Explore Public Servers’ button in the left pane. Then type the name of the desired server in the ‘Search’ box and press Enter. If there are public servers that match your search, they appear in the search results. Someone on the Discord server who wants to join may send the user a link. When you access this link, you are immediately subscribed to the server.
To create your own server, click the ‘Add a Server’ button in the left pane of the Discord app. You can choose whether to create the server from scratch or start from a template. From there, you can follow the on-screen instructions to choose the option that best suits the community you want to create.
Security with two-factor authentication
If you’re a security conscious person, it’s a good idea to set up two-factor authentication (2FA) first when creating a Discord account. Two-factor authentication adds an additional layer of security to user accounts, making it much more difficult for threat actors to hack into accounts.
Before starting Discord, you will need to download the Authenticator app. Discord recommends Google Authenticator. So, all you have to do is download one of these from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and set up your account. Once installed, open Discord and click the ‘Settings’ icon (the little gear at the bottom of the window). Then, click ‘My Account’ in the left pane and click ‘Enable Two-Factor Authenticator ‘ in the ‘Password & Authentication’ group. From here, follow the steps to complete the setup.
Related: Data Management platform: Best 15 major DMP platforms in 2022
Manage Discord Notifications
If you turn on all Discord notifications, you will receive an outrageous number of notifications when users join multiple communities. To avoid this confusion, Discord gives users full control over their notification settings. To adjust your notification settings, go to ‘User Settings’ > ‘Notifications’. Here you can adjust the types of notifications you want to receive, and turn the sound of each type of notification on or off. Adjusting how and when you receive notifications can help keep notifications from being too cumbersome. Thousands of notifications come in, and nobody can handle it and it doesn’t help at all.
Organize using server folders
If you are a member of multiple servers, it is necessary to keep it organized. Fortunately, Discord allows users to create server folders, so you can organize your servers neatly into categories. To create a server folder, click on one server in the left pane and drag it onto another server. If you go a step further and edit the folder name and color, you can easily identify the folder. Right-click on the folder and select ‘Set Folder’ from the menu.
Maintaining relationships with spoiler tags
There’s nothing worse than foretelling the end of a game or movie. You shouldn’t be that person. No matter how old the game is, there will always be spoilers. Discord has spoiler tags, so use them appropriately. To tag a spoiler, highlight the text and click the ‘Spoiler’ button (eye icon). There is also the markdown syntax. On both sides of the text || like this || Add 2 bars. This also works for links. So if a link is a spoiler, it’s better to mark it as a bar. If something is tagged with a spoiler, you must click the tag to see the text. It is a function that everyone is happy with.
Writing in Markdown
If you like markdown, a markup language used to format text using a plaintext editor, good news. Discord supports this. If you’re already familiar with Markdown, you don’t need an introductory course. If you are new to Markdown, here are some basic Markdown syntax references.
- Bold: **text**
- Underscore: __text__
- Italic: *text* or _text_
- Strikethrough: ~~text~~
- 1-line code block: `text`
- Multiline code block: `text`
- Quote: > text (insert space between > and text)
- Hyperlink: [Link text here] )
- Spoiler tag: ||text||
You can also combine forms. For example, if you want bold and underlined text, you can use __**text**__. You can see more of this Markdown syntax here .
12 Keyboard Shortcuts to Improve Efficiency
Discord supports a number of keyboard shortcuts that make it easy to use. There’s even a keyboard combo cheat sheet accessible by pressing Ctrl +/. Let’s start with the important shortcut keys to learn them all.
- Server navigation: Ctrl + Alt + Up/Down
- Channel navigation: Alt + Up/Down
- Browse unread channels with mentions: Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Up/Down
- Toggle mic mute: Ctrl + Shift + M
- Toggle Speaker Mute: Ctrl + Shift + D
- Answer Call: Ctrl + Enter
- Reject call: Esc
- Mark server as read: Shift + Esc
- Mark channel as read: Esc
- File Upload: Ctrl + Shift + U
- Search: Ctrl + F
- Help: Ctrl + Shift + H
keybind settings
Keys used for keyboard shortcuts cannot be changed, but in Keybind, users can assign and change specific keys. To set up a custom keybind, go to ‘User Settings (gear icon) > Keybinds > Add Keybind. Here, the following actions can be assigned to keybinds.
- Push to Talk (PTT) (Typical)
- Push to Talk (PTT) (Important)
- Push to Mute (PTM)
- mic mute toggle
- speaker mute toggle
- VAD toggle
- Toggle streamer mode
- Overlay toggle
- Overlay Lock Toggle
- Turn on Overlay Chat
- screen sharing toggle
- Navigate back
- Navigate forward
Listen to Spotify with Friends
Invite your friends to listen to Spotify together on Discord. However, your friend must have a Spotify Premium account. To connect Discord to Spotify, click the ‘User Settings’ icon (looks like a gear), then go to Connect and tap Spotify. Then follow the instructions to link your accounts. Once connected and Spotify is playing, you can invite friends by clicking the + button in chat.
Contact Discord Support
Discord has a good reputation for excellent technical support, and the manual is excellent. If you’re having a technical problem, first go to the Discord documentation site and see if it has anything to do with it. The manual is easy to read and the site search function is good. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, contact support. Although live chat is not available, Discord tends to respond quickly to inquiries received on the inquiry portal.
