Internal tags are staff-only labels that let your team classify members, events, and discusssions for reporting and operations, without showing anything to your community.

Internal tags are labels your team uses only in administrative tools. They help you classify members, events, and forum discussions for reporting, operations, and internal workflows, without showing those labels to the community.

Your community has one shared list of internal tags. You can apply the same tag to a member, an event, and a discussion topic, which keeps classification consistent across the platform.

Internal tags are not the same as public tags. Public tags, sucha as event tags or discussion tags, are meant for members. The platform never shows internal tags on public pages, and it omits them from API responses for anyone who lacks permission.

How internal tags differ from public tags

The following table compares public tags and internal tags:

On a member profile, internal tags are also separate from internal notes. Use notes for free-form context, and use tags for consistent, reusable labels.

Who can use internal tags

Roles and permissions control access to internal tags. If someone cannot see internal tags on an event, member, or discussion, an organization owner should check that their role includes the matching permission. The following table lists the permissions:

The Settings → Internal Tags page and the Forum → Internal Tags page are HQ admin surfaces. Chapter organizers can usually apply existing tags to events, and to discussions through the API, without being able to create or rename the shared list.

Manage your tag list

Define the canonical list before teams start tagging day to day. You can manage the list from either of two places, and both edit the same list:

Manage tags from the HQ admin dashboard

To manage tags from the HQ admin dashboard:

1. Sign in to the HQ admin dashboard.
2. Open Settings → Internal Tags.
3. Add a new internal tag, rename an existing tag, drag to reorder, or remove a tag.
4. Optional: select Sort alphabetically.
5. Select Save Internal Tags.

Manage tags from discussions

To manage tags from discussions:

1. Open the forum. In the Manage section of the sidebar, select Internal Tags.
2. Select Create an internal tag to add a name, or edit or delete an existing tag.

The page groups tags alphabetically.

The Forum → Internal Tags link appears only for users with admin dashboard access.

Tag name rules

When you name a tag, follow these rules:

• Use letters, numbers, spaces, and hyphens only. The platform rejects other punctuation.
• Avoid duplicates. The same name with different capitalization counts as a duplicate.
• Keep names to 100 characters or fewer.

Tip: Keep the list short and document what each tag means. A small, stable vocabulary is much more useful for reporting than a long list of one-off labels.

Apply internal tags

You can apply internal tags to members, events, and discussion topics. In each case, you select from the shared list.

Tag a member

To tag a member:

1. In the HQ admin dashboard, open Members and edit the member.
2. Expand the Admin Section.
3. Use Internal Tags to select labels. You can type to find a tag.
4. Save the profile.

Internal notes, the rich-text field in the same section, are separate. They are not tags, and search and reporting do not use them the same way.

On member profiles, typing a new name can add it to the share list when you save. On events and discussions, you can only choose tags that already exist. To keep the catalog intentional, prefer creating new names in Settings → Internal Tags.

Tag an event

Internal tags appear on the event create or edit form when your role allows you to view them. You can tag an event from the chapter dashboard or the HQ admin dashboard.

From the chapter dashboard:

1. Open the event in the chapter dashboard and edit it.
2. Find Internal tags.
3. Select one or more tags from the list. You can type to filter.
4. Save the event.

From the HQ admin dashboard:

1. Open the event in HQ event management.
2. Use the Internal Tags control. The helper text is Select internal tags.
3. Save the event.

You can only select tags that already exist in Settings → Internal Tags.

If the internal tags field is missing, your role likely lacks the permission to view event internal tags. If you can see the field but cannot save changes, you lack the permission to change event internal tags. Contact your HQ admin about these permissions.

Tag a discussion

To tag a discussion topic:

1. Open the discussion and choose to edit it.
2. Use Add internal tags to select labels from the shared list.
3. Save the discussion.

The control appears for users with admin dashboard access. As with events, tag names must already exist in the shared list.

Best practices

To get the most from internal tags, follow these practices:

• Create the list first in Settings → Internal Tags, and then apply tags on events, members, and discussions.
• Use a small, stable vocabulary, for example VIP, needs-review, or sponsor-lead, rather than free-form phrases.
• Agree on meaning so that HQ and chapter teams tag the same way. Internal tags only help reporting if everyone uses them consistently.
• Do not use internal tags for anything members must see. Put member-facing labels in public tags instead.

Treat deletion as permanent. Deleting a tag from the shared list removes that label from the catalaog, and this cannot be undone.