How to Use Discord: A Complete Guide for Beginners

Discord is one of the most popular chat and messaging platforms. It can be used for voice, video, and text chats. It was originally used for chats during gaming, but has since expanded to a variety of uses. You can find Discord servers that cater to all kinds of interests and communities. If you are new to Discord, it’s pretty easy to get the hang of it. This wikiHow article teaches you how to get started using Discord.

Getting Started With Discord

Download the Discord app from the website or mobile app store. Sign up for an account. Click or tap a server to the left to open the server. Click or tap the Discord icon to view your friends. Click or tap and channel or friend to start or join a conversation.

Part 1

Part 1 of 4:

Signing Up

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1
Download and install the Discord app. The Discord app is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, as well as iPhone and iPad. You can also access Discord through a web browser on a computer. Use one of the following steps to download and install the Discord app:
- Computer: You can download the Discord client from here. Download the correct version for your operating system and open the installation file in your Downloads folder. Then follow the prompts to complete the installation
- Web browser: You can access Discord in a web browser on a computer at discord.com/app.
- Mobile: You can download Discord for free from the Google Play Store on Android, or the App Store on iPhone and iPad.
2
Create an account on Discord. When you first open the Discord app you will be prompted to log in. You can enter your username and password to log in. If you don’t have an account, click or tap Register. Then you will need to enter a valid email address or phone number, a display name, a unique username, a password, and your birthday. Then click or tap Continue.^{[1]
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- A display name is like a nickname that will appear to other users on Discord. You can customize and change your display name. Your username must be unique and is permanent. You cannot change your username.

Part 2

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Chatting and Messaging

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1
Open a Discord server or your friend’s list. Click or tap a server icon to the Icon in the menu bar to the far left to open the Discord server. To view your friend list, click or tap the Discord icon at the top of the list of servers to the left.https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045138571-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Discord
- You can search for Discord channels on the official Discord search page.
2
Select a channel or friend. Servers usually have a variety of channels dedicated to different topics. Click a channel to view the conversation. To chat with a friend, click or tap a friend, or click an ongoing conversation to resume.
- You can view your friend’s profile images at the top of the page on mobile. Swipe to the left or right on the icons to scroll through your friends. On a computer, click one of the tabs at the top of the page to view your friend’s list. You can view all friends, online friends, and pending friend requests.
- Channels that have a hashtag (#) symbol next to them are text channels. You can send text messages in these channels. Channels that have a speaker icon next to them are voice/video channels. These channels allow you to chat using a microphone and/or webcam.
3
Send a message. The message bar is at the bottom of the channel or direct message conversation. Enter your text in the message bar and press Enter or tap the paper airplane icon to send your message.[Image:Get Started with Discord Step 5 Version 2.jpg|center]]
- To the right of the message bar, you will see the option to add emojis, stickers, or GIFs. On mobile, tap the smiley face icon to access your emojis, stickers, and GIFs.
- To upload images, videos, or audio files to a conversation, click or tap the plus (+) icon to the left of the message bar, then select the file you want to upload.
4
Learn how to edit and delete your messages. At some point, you'll make a typo or send a message you didn't mean to send, but thankfully, on Discord, there are ways to fix that.
- To edit a message you've sent, right-click or long-press the message and click Edit. (If you hit the up arrow on your keyboard, you will automatically open the edit window of your latest message.)
- To delete a message you've sent, right-click or long-press the message and click Delete. If you hold down the Shift key while doing so, it will delete the message without prompting you whether you want to delete it.
5
Join a voice channel. To join a voice channel, click or tap a channel that has a speaker icon next to it. You will connect to the voice channel automatically using your default microphone and webcam.
- Click the Camera icon at the bottom of the screen to turn your webcam on or off. You can also click the microphone icon to mute yourself.
- If you don’t join the channel automatically, click Join Voice in the middle of the screen to join.
- While in a voice channel, you can play games with other users. Click the icon with four shapes at the bottom of the screen to view available games.
- You can share your screen with other users in a voice chat. To do so, click the icon that resembles a screen monitor at the bottom of the screen.
6
Learn how to mute users, channels, and servers. At some point, you'll probably want to not get so many notifications on Discord, but still leave the app open. While there's no way to mute the Direct Message system yet, there are ways of muting single users as well as channels and servers.
- Setting your account to Do Not Disturb will mute all incoming notifications unless you're tagged in a message or messaged directly. Click or tap your profile icon at the bottom of the screen and hover over Online or tap your username at the top on mobile. Select Do Not Disturb.
- To mute a single user on a server, right-click or long-press on the person's username and check the Mute button. If you want to unmute them later, just uncheck the button using the same steps.
- To mute a channel in a server, right-click or long-press on the channel that you want to mute and check the Mute button. You can also click the alarm bell at the top of the screen. Follow the same steps to unmute the channel.
- To mute a server, right-click or long-press on the server icon and check the Server Mute button.

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Connecting with Others

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1
Find servers that you want to participate in. In order to join a server on Discord, you'll need to have an invite to it.
- Friends can invite you to a server directly through Discord.
- If you have a link to a Discord server, click on the link, and you'll join the server.
2
Read any channel guidelines. If you don't read channel guidelines or rules, you may end up getting muted, kicked, or banned from the server. Use common sense while chatting, too.
- Don't spam. It's annoying to many people on Discord. Many channels may ban you if you do this.
3
Add people to your Friends list. When you add someone to your Friends list on Discord, you are able to call them privately and send them direct messages. They also get added to a contact list for your direct messages (also called private messages, DMs, or PMs), making it easier to reach them. To add someone as a friend:
- Right-click or long-press on a Discord user's name, or use the search function to search for a list of users in channels that you've joined. Click on Add friend.
- You can also add someone directly through their Discord tag; go to your Friends list, click Add Friend, and enter their Discord tag (which would appear as Username#1234, with the numbers being randomized).
- Wait for the person to accept or deny your friend request. If they accept it, they'll appear in your friends list.
4
Block users who are bothering you or harassing you. If a user is driving you up the wall, you can block them from messaging you. Just right-click their username and select Block from the drop-down menu. They can no longer DM you.
- If you've been blocked by a user, any attempts to DM them will be met with an automated response saying that your message was not delivered.

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Using the Settings Menu

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To customize your account settings, click on the cog near your username. On mobile, tap the You tab at the bottom of the screen on mobile and then tap the Gear icon in the upper-right corner.
2
Use the Settings menu. The following options are available in the Settings menu:
- Click My Account to change your display, email, avatar, and password, disable or delete your account, or enable two-factor authentication.
- Click Content & Social to change who can DM you, whose DMs get scanned by Discord for safety, and if you want to view mature or age-restricted content.
- Click Data & Privacy to change your data sharing options.
- Click Family Center to connect with your teen’s account and set up family accounts, view your teen’s activity, and manage your family settings.
- Click Authorized Apps to edit apps and bots that you've authorized to your account.
- Click Devices to see what devices you are logged into Discord on, as well as remove and log out of devices.
- Click Connections to connect accounts from other apps (such as Twitch, Skype, Steam, and Spotify) to your Discord account, as well as authorize apps to use your Discord account.
- Click Clips to enable or disable allowing your voice to be recorded and used when someone in the same channel records with Clips.
- Click Nitro to view options and perks for subscribing to Discord Nitro.
- Click Billing to change your billing information and add payment methods.
- Click Server Boost to boost any servers you are a part of. This page explains the benefits of boosting a server.
- Click Subscriptions to view and manage your active subscriptions and see how many subscription credits you have.
- Click Gift Inventory to view your gifts and redeem game codes and Nitro cards.
- Click Appearance to select a theme, color scheme, app icons, as well as line spacing, text size, and density.
- Click Accessibility to change the color saturation, enable high-contrast mode, enable or disable role colors, reduce or stop motion, as well as GIF and sticker animations.
- Click Voice & Video to select your audio and video devices (i.e., mics, cameras, speakers, headsets, etc.), change your volume settings, enable push-to-talk, change your video background, adjust the soundboard volume, choose an entrance sound, and choose a voice input profile.
- Click Chat to select if you want to view images and videos uploaded or posted to a chat or server, as well as if you want to enable or disable emojis, stickers, messages, previews, and if you want to block spoiler content.
- Click Notifications to enable or disable various notifications that you will receive on your desktop computer or mobile device.
- Click Keybinds to add and edit keybinds. Keybinds are keyboard shortcuts you can use to activate different features.
- Click Language & Time to select your language (region) and a time format (12 or 24-hour format).
- Click Windows Settings (or similar) to select if you want Discord to open when you start your computer and if you want it to start minimized. You can also toggle the option to minimize Discord to the tray when you click the close button. This menu also has the option to install the Discord Helper.
- Click Streamer Mode to select if you want to enable the keybind to activate streamer mode or if you want streamer mode to activate automatically when OBS Studio or XSplit are running. You can also toggle various streamer mode options, such as the ability to disable sounds and notifications, and hide personal information.
- Click Advanced to enable or disable various advanced features, such as developer mode, hardware acceleration, application test mode, and show Play Again in DMs.
- Click Activity Privacy to select if you want to share your activity in a server and which servers you want to share it with. You can also select who can join your games.
- Click Registered Games to manage the games registered to your Discord account.
- Click Game Overlay to adjust your game overlay options.
- Click Log out to sign out of your Discord account.

Community Q&A

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Question

How do I get an invite if I don't have any friends on my list?

Thibaud Veyssière

Community Answer

You can get invites on server lists such as discord.me. Also, lots of streamers and YouTubers have their own Discord servers and share them on their videos.

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What exactly does "deafening" the headphones do?

Community Answer

Deafening is used to block out any sound from the channel you are currently in. This also blocks out your current microphone in the channel, so be careful about that. Also, it mutes everybody in the channel client-wise, not server-wise.

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How do I turn on delete mode?

bluelightgaming

Community Answer

There is no delete mode. If you are using a PC or laptop, right click on the message and hit delete. On android or iOS, hold down on the message and press delete.

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Tips

Try to make new people feel welcome on Discord, and help them out!

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Don't ping people a lot. If you have many servers and get many pings, go to the bottom left corner and click on your profile picture. You can set yourself to do not disturb mode, which stops pings.

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Warnings

Don't break the rules on Discord or on the channel.

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If you are underage, watch out for predators and perverts on Discord. Never send personal information to anyone you don’t know and trust, and never meet anybody in person without parental supervision.

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