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title: "Setting up your community's member directory"
updated: 2026-09-17
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# Setting up your community's member directory

The directory is a browsable list of everyone in your community. Instead of members only recognizing each other from posts and comments, they can look through a shared roster and find people with something in common.

![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/43563098448919)

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## What shows on a directory card

Each member's card can show their name, avatar, headline, location, and badges, along with any custom profile field you've chosen to make visible on cards. See [Setting up custom profile fields for your community](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/43563294633751) for how those fields work.

**Admin-only fields never appear on cards**: If a custom profile field is set to admins only, its answers stay out of the Directory even though you can still see and edit that data from your dashboard.

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## Turning on the directory

The directory is off until you switch it on. To enable, navigate to **Community >** [**Directory**](https://app.beehiiv.com/community/directory) in your dashboard and enable **Add a member directory to your community**. 

![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/43563098449815)

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## Updating your directory settings

From **Community >** [**Directory**](https://app.beehiiv.com/community/directory), you can change how the Directory looks at any time:

-   **Display name**: the text you enter here is the label shown at the top of the Directory, both on the page itself and in the left-hand navigation. It defaults to "Members," but you can rename it to fit your community.
-   **Profile fields**: each field has a checkbox controlling whether it shows on a member's Directory card. Unchecking a field only removes it from the card. It still shows on that member's full profile page.
-   **Reordering fields**: drag a field by the handle on its left to change the order fields appear on the card.
-   Use **Search fields** to quickly find a specific field if your list is long, and select **Manage profile fields** to add, edit, or remove fields altogether.

The order you set here controls how fields are arranged on a Directory card. It's separate from the order members answer these same questions when they first join, which you set from **Profile fields > Settings**. Reordering one doesn't reorder the other, but both pull from the same member answers collected at onboarding.

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## Letting members opt out

Members keep control over their own visibility. Anyone can hide themselves from the Directory while staying a full member of the community; hiding from the Directory doesn't remove them or limit what they can do elsewhere.

For a walkthrough of how to do this from the member’s perspective, read Finding people in your community’s directory. 

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