How it Works
This plugin adds a ‘Require Membership’ meta box on the ‘Edit Forum’ page to let you specify the level(s) that can access the forum.
The plugin adds settings to the Membership Level as well as to the Forums general settings pages to help you control deeper features and display options for bbPress.
Restrict a Forum by Level
Edit a Forum in your WordPress Dashboard. On this page, you will see a “Require Membership” Metabox in the right column of the editing screen. Select any membership levels in this box that you wish to restrict access for. Members, Users, and Visitors without these levels will not be allows to view forum content, including topics and replies.

General Forums Settings
Navigate to Settings > Forums in the WordPress admin. Here you can specify additional Paid Memberships Pro behavior for your Forums including:
- Error Message: This message is shown when users attempt to view a forum or thread they don’t have access to.
- Member Links: Add links to member forums in the “Member Links” section of the “Membership Account” page.
- Hide Member Forums: Hide member forums content from forums list and search results.
- Hide Forum Roles: Hide forum roles in replies.
- Show Membership Levels: Show membership levels in replies and on the bbPress profile page.

Membership Level bbPress Settings
Navigate to Members > Settings > Membership Levels in the WordPress dashboard, then click to edit a level. Here you can specify additional bbPress Settings specific to this level, including:
- Forum Role: Assign a specific Forum Role to members of this level. The Role will be reset to the site default role if membership is cancelled. This default role is set under Settings > General.
- Background Color: Highlight the topic replies for members of this level with the specified background color. You can also add custom styles to your site’s CSS. Replies by members of this level can be targeted with the CSS selector
.pmpro-level-{level_ID}
.

Installation
- Make sure you have the Paid Memberships Pro plugin and bbPress plugin installed and activated.
- Install the Add On via the Plugins > Add New in the WordPress dashboard. Or, upload the ‘pmpro-bbpress’ directory to the ‘/wp-content/plugins/’ directory of your site.
- Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
- Edit your forum(s) and restrict forum access by toggling levels in the ‘Require Membership’ box.
- Follow the documentation above to update Forum or Membership Level settings.