Can anyone explain the way that Joomla users and K2 users interact?  I have an existing site with several hundred Joomla (actually Community Builder) users and I want to add some specific content using K2.
Should I first import all Joomla users?  Do I create K2 user groups first, or does it import by creating copies of their original Joomla user groups?
Going forward, when I add a new user to my site, do I need to manually add them as a Joomla user, and again as a K2 user?  Or is there some way to keep the two user lists automatically or manually sync'ed?
I can't seem to find any useful documentation on user management, even any that just  describes what the buttons on the K2 user admin screens actually do.  Can anyone point me to it.



I don't want to create a maintenance nightmare, so I would like to set things up right from the start...

Thanks,

Jeff

Hi Jeff!

I am also new here and was wondering the same thing. The good news is after a little tinkering on a test server I found its pretty simple.

Browse to the K2 dashboard in your Joomla Administrator Control Panel/Components/K2/Users and at the top click the Import Joomla! Users logo-link and it will auto import all users and settings. It saves your new user fields in K2 while still leaving a list or copy in the Joomla database. Nothing will be lost and you will have a list of both. Just don't delete the users in Joomla. The imported list in K2 will list in the User Groups the standard Joomla groups or such as
Public Front-end
-Registered
-Author
-Editor
-Publisher etc....from Joomla.
You can then, in the K2 User Groups panel click on each group and set individual permissions giving you a little bit more control over the group permissions. From there you will see that you can create more groups with desired permissions.

K2 Really does fit into Joomla in a lot of ways and like you have found out sometimes the documentation is a little lacking. Don't give up on this Component though, after you roll up your shirt sleeves and poke around at it you will realize its potential.

Hope that helps!
Cheers!
irish

Sorry! No you do not have to creat the User Groups first and No you do not have to manage both, only manage in K2.
You can also import all Joomla content to K2 on the main dashboard the same way. Imported content will be saved in Catecories only with the Section being the parent and the Category as a sub-category.

irish said:Hi Jeff! I am also new here and was wondering the same thing. The good news is after a little tinkering on a test server I found its pretty simple.

Browse to the K2 dashboard in your Joomla Administrator Control Panel/Components/K2/Users and at the top click the Import Joomla! Users logo-link and it will auto import all users and settings. It saves your new user fields in K2 while still leaving a list or copy in the Joomla database. Nothing will be lost and you will have a list of both. Just don't delete the users in Joomla. The imported list in K2 will list in the User Groups the standard Joomla groups or such as
Public Front-end
-Registered
-Author
-Editor
-Publisher etc....from Joomla.
You can then, in the K2 User Groups panel click on each group and set individual permissions giving you a little bit more control over the group permissions. From there you will see that you can create more groups with desired permissions.

K2 Really does fit into Joomla in a lot of ways and like you have found out sometimes the documentation is a little lacking. Don't give up on this Component though, after you roll up your shirt sleeves and poke around at it you will realize its potential.

Hope that helps!
Cheers!
irish

Thanks Irish. That helps clarify the procedure.

I guess the part that still confuses me is, how do I maintain users over time. Every few weeks I get new users I need to give access to the site. They need both Joomla access and K2 access. What would my process for adding these users look like?

Thanks,

Jeff

Once you import and have K2 all functioning the users are automatically placed in K2 intagrated with Joomla. I have no experience with using both separately at the same time and am new to this also, sorry. Maybe someone will help out on this, ANYONE!
I imported all of my Joomla content also and plan to manage the content and users in K2 only on a fresh install. I am only in the dev stage and don't have anything live yet to be sure for what you are asking.
First off what Joomla functions do you need to give permissions for?

Jeff Gilmore said:Thanks Irish. That helps clarify the procedure. I guess the part that still confuses me is, how do I maintain users over time. Every few weeks I get new users I need to give access to the site. They need both Joomla access and K2 access. What would my process for adding these users look like? Thanks,
Jeff