Turn on a Google reCAPTCHA v2 checkbox so people have to tick I'm not a robot before they sign up, sign in, or message a host.
People see Google's I'm not a robot checkbox on each form you turn on. They have to complete it before that form will send. Google sometimes asks them to select pictures.
Open reCAPTCHA v2
- Open the Admin Dashboard.
- In the left sidebar, select Settings.
- Select General.
- Open reCAPTCHA v2.
The page title is General Settings. The section tells you to create a reCAPTCHA v2 application at google.com/recaptcha and paste the credentials below.
Create the keys at Google
- Create a reCAPTCHA v2 key and choose the I'm not a robot checkbox.
- Add your community's website address to that key.
- Copy the site key and the secret key. Keep the secret somewhere you can open again. After you save it here, the box hides most of it.
Important: Choose the reCAPTCHA v2 checkbox. An invisible key or a score-based reCAPTCHA v3 key will not pass the check on these forms.
Paste the keys and choose the forms
- In reCAPTCHA v2 Site key, paste the site key.
- In reCAPTCHA v2 Secret key, paste the secret key.
- Turn on each form that should require the check.
- Select Save Settings.
- Confirm Are you sure you want to save these settings?
After the save, the page says The settings were saved.
The checkbox appears only when both keys are saved and that form's control is on. A control that is on, with an empty site key or an empty secret key, does not show the checkbox.
Important: Required when submitting messages to hosts starts on. If you save both keys and leave it on, the message form on chapter and event pages starts requiring the checkbox immediately. Turn it off before you save if you do not want that.
| Control | Starts as | What people see |
|---|---|---|
| Required when submitting messages to hosts | On | I'm not a robot in the message form on a chapter page or an event page |
| Required when Signing up for a User account | Off | The sign-up form will not create the account until the check succeeds |
| Required when User logs in | Off | I'm not a robot under the password field on the email and password sign-in form |
Note: On the sign-in page and the sign-up page, a line says: This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The sign-in checkbox is on the email and password form. It does not appear on a company single sign-on page. The message-form button often says Contact Us. The setting calls that form Contact the Host.
Save General Settings again
After the first save, reCAPTCHA v2 Secret key shows the first few characters and hides the rest. A later save stores the text that is in that box, including the hidden characters as they appear.
Before you select Save Settings again, paste the full secret from Google into reCAPTCHA v2 Secret key.
If people see the checkbox but the form says Error validating the reCAPTCHA challenge, the secret stored here does not match the key at Google. Paste the full secret again and save. If the form says The reCAPTCHA challenge is required, the person did not complete the checkbox. If it says the challenge has timed out or has already been used, they should tick the box again and resend the form.
Turn a form off
- Turn that control off.
- Paste the full secret into reCAPTCHA v2 Secret key if the box is still hiding it.
- Select Save Settings and confirm.
The checkbox stops on that form. The other forms keep it when their controls stay on.
Clear the site key or the secret key, then save, when you want the checkbox to stop on every form. A control that stays on does not show the checkbox while either key is empty.