How to Create or Join a Discord Server

Nicole Grzybowski, Schuyler Hughes, Nolan Soper, Justin Zander

A group project for ENG 249: Technical Communications

at

Illinois State University

Supplies

Computer
Access to the internet
E-mail Account

Step 1: How to Join or Create a Discord Server

Discord is an online chat room,
where you can voice chat and text chat. People all across the world use Discord to communicate with others about common interests, or just to form a group chat with friends. You can join open servers to talk to people or you can create your own server and have the server be between friends or open so you anyone can join. The instructions we have provided will lend a hand in getting you familiar with Discord.

Step 2:

To start, open up the web browser of your choice. For this example, Google Chrome was used. Use the search bar at the top of the browser and type in the following address: https://discordapp.com and then press "Enter". The other option is to use your favorite search engine and search for "Discord" or simply click on the link.

Step 3:

You will now be at the homepage for Discord. At this point you have the option to download the program directly to your computer. The other option is to use Discord strictly in your browser. These options only cover the web client method of using Discord. If you would like to download the software directly to your computer you will need to look up instructions for those steps elsewhere.

Click on the "Login" button on the upper right hand corner of the screen to enter Discord.

Step 4:

You will be prompted to enter an existing email address, a username, and a password for your account. Unlike most other services your username does not have to be unique. After filling in these fields, please click the large purple "Continue" button.

Step 5:

If you already have a discord account you may be required to verify your
identity. In this case Discord will send an e-mail to you with the instructions to prove your identity.

Step 6:

The next step Discord requires is for you to prove that you are an actual human and not a computer setting up phony accounts. Discord will require you to complete a 'Captcha' verification by selecting various images the 'Captcha' is looking for, such as pictures that have sidewalks in them, or pictures with traffic lights, or some other similar test.

Step 7:

You have now successfully created an account with Discord. You can now explore all of the capabilities and tools Discord has to offer. To begin the steps to create or join a server click on the green "+" sign located in the top left area of the page.

Step 8:

Discord will present you with options to "Create a server" and to "Join a server". Will will be going over the steps to create a server first, so if you just want to join an existing server please scroll down to Step 16. To create a server please click on the purple "Create a server" button.

Step 9:

You are now ready to dive in to the exciting world of creating your own Discord server! Discord provides many options for you to customize your server however you like. First and most important, name your server. Be creative! Have fun with it. People may be more interested in participating on your server if they think it's interesting! A fun and creative name is a good place to start.

Adding a name for your server is the only required item at this point. Other options at this stage are to add a profile picture and select the location of your server.

The profile picture is not required but it can be another fun way to make your server stand out. If you don't wish to add an image Discord will provide a generic one such as the one shown in the example above.

The last choice to make is for the location of your server. Discord provides a suggestion for the best server based on your location, so it's recommended that you go with their suggestion. You do have the option to change it if you wish but it's better to use Discord's suggested server.

Once you are done with these options click on "Create".

Step 10:

Now that you've entered the basic specifications for your server, Discord will display a pop-up window with the URL or web address that Discord assigned to your server. You can copy the link and share it with other people so they can join your server.

Step 11:

Now that the basics have been completed, it's time to customize it with the options you want to include and also to start navigating it. The 4 main functions highlighted in the image above include 1) Text Chat, located in the top left of the screen. 2) Voice Chat, located just below the text chat. 3) At the top right is the option to display a list of the server's members, and 4) The text bar, at the bottom of the screen is where you type your messages to send.

Discord automatically adds 1 voice channel and 1 text channel for your server. They creatively name both of them "general".

Step 12:

If you wish to add an additional voice or text channel, click on the + to the right of the voice or text channel headers. A pop-up window will appear that will allow you to add an additional text or voice channel.

Step 13:

In the channel area there are also options for adding people to the channels and also to edit the existing channels. To edit them click on the 'Gear" next to the channel's name. Within the settings are many options you can use to customize your communications channels. Feel free to explore these options for yourself to see everything you can do! The other thing you can do in the options is re-name the channel. This is where you can change 'general' to something that's not quite as boring.

Step 14:

Now it's time to share your work with others. Invite friends to join your server. To do so, click on the name of the server and then click invite in the drop-down box that shows up. A window will open up for you to copy the web address for your server that you can share with others.

Step 15:

You've completed all the steps that are required to create your very own Discord server. Have fun with it!

If you want, now would be a good time to join someone else's server so you can see their hard work too.

Step 16:

To join an existing server you need the address for that server. Click on the green '+' button on the main screen and select join instead of create this time. Enter the address for the server you want to join and click the green 'Join' button.

Step 17:

We hope you've enjoyed these instructions and were able to accomplish all your goals to create or join a Discord server. These instructions were created as a group project for a Technical Communications class at Illinois State University in Normal Il. We would love to hear from you. Please join our discord server at

https://discord.gg/TJDakfM and let us know what you think of these instructions! Thanks for viewing them!

Nicole Grzybowski

Schuyler Hughes

Nolan Soper

Justin Zander

Introduction: Create a Discord Server