Square Online is a website builder included with Square's payment and commerce platform. It lets you create an online store, accept payments, and manage your business from one place. While Square Online provides essential e-commerce features, it doesn't include a built-in community forum or discussion feature.
That's where Website Toolbox comes in. You can embed a fully featured discussion forum directly into your Square Online website, or simply link to your forum from your site's navigation. Either way, you get user accounts, moderation tools, and real-time conversations.
This works really well for:
- Product communities
- Customer support forums
- Buyer Q&A and reviews
- Brand communities
- Local business discussions
- Hobby and niche interest groups
This step-by-step guide walks you through the process:
Step-by-Step: Add Your Forum
Option A: Embed the Forum
- Log in to your Website Toolbox account or create a new forum if you don't already have one.
- Go to Integrate → Embed → Embed your forum, and copy the embed code.
- Visit squareup.com/dashboard and log in to your Square account.
- In the Square Dashboard, go to Online → Sites and select the site you want to edit, or click Create New Site.
- In the site editor, navigate to the page where you want to add the forum, or create a new page by clicking + Add Page.
- Click + Add Section where you want the forum to appear.
- In the section panel, search for or select Embed Code.
- Paste your Website Toolbox forum embed code into the embed code field.
- Adjust the section width to span the full page width if needed.
- Click Save and then Publish to deploy your changes.
- Copy the URL of your published forum page.
- Go to your Website Toolbox embed settings and paste the URL into the Forum URL field to complete the configuration.
Option B: Link to the Forum
- Log in to your Website Toolbox account or create a new forum if you don't already have one.
- Copy your forum URL from the Integrate → Embed page.
- Visit squareup.com/dashboard and log in to your Square account.
- In the Square Dashboard, go to Online → Sites and select the site you want to edit.
- Navigate to the page or navigation menu where you want to add the forum link.
- Add a Text element or edit an existing navigation link.
- Type the link text (e.g., "Join Our Forum") and highlight it.
- Click the link icon in the text editor toolbar and paste your forum URL.
- Click Save and then Publish to deploy your changes.
Single Sign On
To set up Single Sign On between your Square Online website and your Website Toolbox forum, go to your Single Sign On settings, select Other from the Your Website Builder dropdown, and follow the prompts to purchase the custom SSO integration for $199. The Website Toolbox team will handle the integration.
What Your Members Can Do
Members
- Create discussion topics
- Reply to existing threads
- Like and react to posts
- Search the forum
- Receive notification alerts
- Edit and delete their own posts
Admins
- Moderate all content
- Ban or suspend users
- Create and manage categories
- Customize the forum appearance
- Set user permissions
- Access analytics and reports
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Square Online have a built-in forum feature?
No, Square Online does not include a native forum feature. However, you can easily add a forum to your Square Online site using Website Toolbox, either by embedding it directly into a page or by linking to it from your navigation.
Should I embed the forum or link to it?
Both work well. Embedding keeps users on your Square Online site and integrates the forum seamlessly into your page layout. Linking is simpler to set up and opens the forum in its own page, which can be a better experience on mobile devices. Choose whichever fits your workflow.
Can I customize the look of my embedded forum?
Yes. Website Toolbox provides a theme editor with a variety of themes you can choose from to match your Square Online site's design. You can customize colors, fonts, layout settings, and more to create a seamless look.
Can I make the forum private or members-only?
Absolutely. You can restrict forum access to logged-in users, create invite-only communities, or charge for access with subscription plans. Combined with the SSO integration, you can seamlessly connect your Square customer accounts with the forum.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Square Online uses a visual drag-and-drop editor. You just paste the embed code into the Embed Code section and Square Online handles the rest.
Will the forum work on mobile devices?
Yes. Website Toolbox forums are fully responsive and work great on phones, tablets, and desktops. If you embed the forum, the iframe adapts to the container size automatically. Website Toolbox also offers a mobile app so your members can participate from their phones.