Spaces are the building blocks of a Mateflow community. Every post, chat message, lesson, and question lives in a space, and each space has its own type, privacy, members, and permissions. If you're coming from Slack or Discord, a space is roughly what those tools call a channel, but Mateflow has no separate "channels": you build everything from spaces.
Who can do this: Community owners and admins create spaces and organize them. Space admins can change the settings of the spaces they manage. · Where: Spaces are created and configured on the web. Members use them on the web and in the iOS and Android apps. · Plan: Chat, Q&A, and Radio Spaces, and how many spaces you can have, depend on your platform plan.
The seven space types
A space's type decides how its content looks and what members can post there. You choose the type when you create the space, and it can't be changed afterward.
| Space type | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Feed Space | A timeline of posts for general discussions and updates |
| Article Space | Long-form articles in a reader view, like a blog |
| Gallery Space | Photos and videos in a grid; every post needs media |
| Radio Space | Podcasts and audio shows; every episode needs an audio file |
| Chat Space | Real-time group messaging |
| Course Space | A course with sections, lessons, and progress tracking |
| Q&A Space | Questions with upvotes and accepted answers |
A space type marked Upgrade when you create a space isn't included in your platform plan. To create one, see Create a space. Course Spaces aren't in the Create Space form; you create them from the Courses page or Admin → Courses. See Create a course.
Choose the right space type for each purpose
Pick a space type by how members will use the space, not by topic:
- Announcements: a Feed Space where Who can post is set to Admins and moderators, so members can read and reply but not start posts. See Control who can post, reply, and react in a space.
- Open discussion: a Feed Space.
- Live conversation, like a chat channel: a Chat Space. Chat messages are members-only, so people join the space to read and send messages.
- Support or a searchable knowledge base: a Q&A Space. See Run a Q&A space.
- Newsletters or long reads: an Article Space.
- Portfolios, photo challenges, or video libraries: a Gallery Space.
- A podcast or audio show: a Radio Space.
- Structured learning, free or paid: a Course Space. See Create a course.
A few well-named spaces usually work better than many small ones. You can add more later.
How categories organize spaces in the sidebar
Categories are the groups of spaces in your community's sidebar, such as "Start here" or "Members only". You choose a space's category when you create it.
- Owners and admins manage categories, and the order of spaces in them, in Admin → Community → Navigation.
- To move a space, open its ⋯ menu in the sidebar and click Move to category….
See Organize spaces in the sidebar with categories.
How collections and topics organize posts inside a space
Inside a space, two tools help members find content:
- Topics are labels a member picks when posting. Members can filter a space's feed by topic. A Restricted Topic can only be assigned by space admins and moderators, which is useful for "Announcements". In a Q&A Space, topics are called Question topics.
- Collections are curated groups of posts that appear on the space's page. They're called Series in Article and Radio Spaces, Albums in Gallery Spaces, and Knowledge collections in Q&A Spaces.
Space admins manage both from the space's Manage panel. See Organize posts with collections and topics.
Events and live streaming are space features, not space types
There's no "event space" or "live space" type. Events and live sessions (interactive rooms and webinars) are features you switch on inside a space:
- Enable events adds an Events tab to the space.
- Enable live & interactive rooms lets people go live in the space.
Both switches are in the space's Manage panel under Features, for Feed, Article, Gallery, Radio, and Q&A Spaces. Chat Spaces don't support events or live sessions. See Turn on events and live streaming in a space.
Space privacy at a glance
Each space is Public (anyone can find, read, and join it), Private (people can find it, but only members can read it), or Secret (hidden, and members get in by invitation). Paid or members-only access is set per space too. See Set a space's privacy and join policy.
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