Directory (BuddyPress)
Who is on your site, as a native screen your members can search, sort and filter by their profile details.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”| Plugin | BuddyPress, with the Community Members component enabled — or BuddyBoss Platform, where it is called Member Profiles |
| Endpoint group | BuddyPress Members |
| Plan | Every plan |
Card details and filters read your Extended Profiles fields, so they need that component on as well. They also need the Memberside plugin 2.74.0 or later on your site. On an older one the directory still works, without the filter button, and cards show only the name, last active time and member type.
Tapping a member opens Profile (BuddyPress) in read-only form. That screen is placed for you when you add this one — remove it and a tap has nowhere native to go.
Add it to your app
Section titled “Add it to your app”- Drag the Directory card marked BuddyPress onto a navigation bar.
- Open its settings and choose a Sort by and a Layout.
- Pick the profile fields for Card details and Filters, if you want them.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Sort by | BuddyPress’s own orderings: recently active, newest, alphabetical, online now, most popular, or random | Recently active |
| Layout | A list, or a two-column grid | List |
| Directory template | Classic, Compact or Hero. The grid uses the template too, sized for its two columns | Classic |
| Search box | Lets members find others by name, or by the profile details they are allowed to see | On |
| Member type filter | A strip of chips for BuddyPress member types. Most sites register none, and the strip hides itself then | On |
| Let members change the sort | Adds a sort button with Active, Newest, Alphabetical, Online and Popular. Sort by is where it starts | Off |
| Card details | Up to six profile fields shown under each name as “Label: value” | None |
| Filters | Up to six profile fields members can filter the directory by, in the order the filter sheet lists them | None |
Card details respect each member’s privacy. A field a member has hidden from the person looking — set to friends only, say — is left off that member’s card for anyone who is not their friend. An empty field is left off too.
Only some fields can be filters. The Filters picker offers a field when both of these hold:
- its type is a drop-down, radio buttons, checkboxes, multi-select box, date selector, number, text box or URL;
- its default visibility is Everyone (Public in BuddyBoss), or All Members, which members see once signed in. You set it per field under Users → Profile Fields in BuddyPress, or BuddyBoss → Profiles in BuddyBoss.
Fields that default to My Friends (My Connections in BuddyBoss) or Only Me are never offered. Filtering on one would tell a stranger who holds a value they are not allowed to see. The name field is not offered either; the search box covers it.
Search respects privacy too. The search box matches members’ names and the profile details the person searching is allowed to see on each member’s profile. A detail a member set to My Friends finds them for their friends only, and one set to Only Me finds them for nobody but your site’s admins, so a search never confirms what a member hid. This needs the Memberside plugin 2.75.0 or later on your site; an older one searches every profile detail, the way BuddyPress’s own directory on your website does. BuddyBoss’s own search already works this way.
A member who hid a field is never matched on it. Members can still narrow a qualifying field on their own profile. Once they do, filtering on that field leaves them out for everyone the field is hidden from, so a filter never reveals what they hid. Their friends, who can see the field, still find them.
What your members see
Section titled “What your members see”A list or grid of members, each card drawn in the template you chose, with the card details under the name.
The search box has an X that clears it. With filters set up, a filter button beside the search shows how many filters are on and opens a sheet with one control per field:
- choice fields as chips — pick several and a member matches any of them;
- drop-downs with Any at the top;
- number and date fields as a from–to range, where either end can stay empty;
- text fields as a box that matches part of the value.
The sheet has Clear and Apply. Applied filters show as chips under the search, each with its own X, followed by Clear all. With more than one field set, a member has to match every one of them.
Insights
Section titled “Insights”With Insights connected, each member card shown in the directory counts as a profile view for that member, on BuddyPress and BuddyBoss alike. Your dashboard shows these separately from profiles that were opened.
When it does not work
Section titled “When it does not work”| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The screen is empty | The BuddyPress Members group is off | Enable it under Memberside → REST API |
| Members you know exist are missing under Recently active, Newest, Online now or Random | BuddyPress lists only members it has recorded as active | Sort by Alphabetical, or wait for them to sign in once |
| A profile field is missing from the Filters list | Its default visibility is not Everyone or All Members, or its type cannot be filtered (a paragraph, for example) | Change the field’s default visibility, or pick another field |
| The Filters list says your site could not list its fields | The Memberside plugin on your site is older than 2.74.0 | Update the plugin |
| A member is missing from filter results though their profile shows the value | They hid that field from the person filtering | Nothing to fix — this is their privacy setting at work |
| Searching for a member’s detail does not find them, though your website’s directory does | They hid that detail from the person searching. The app applies their privacy; BuddyPress’s own directory on your website does not | Nothing to fix — this is their privacy setting at work |
| A search finds members by details they hid | The Memberside plugin on your site is older than 2.75.0 | Update the plugin |
| A card shows no details for one member | That member left the fields empty or hid them from the viewer | Nothing to fix |
| The filter button is missing in the app | No Filters are picked, or the site’s plugin is older than 2.74.0 | Pick fields, or update the plugin |
Not the same as the Ultimate Member directory
Section titled “Not the same as the Ultimate Member directory”BuddyPress members and the Ultimate Member directory are separate systems. Ultimate Member’s directories are configured in wp-admin with their own filters and forms; BuddyPress’s is one list of everyone, ordered by its own activity data and filtered by the fields you pick here. A site can run both, and placing both shows your members two different lists.