---
sidebar_navigation:
  title: Initial setup
  priority: 999
description: Getting started as an system administrator in OpenProject
robots: index, follow
keywords: initial setup, initial configuration in frontend
---

# Initial setup of OpenProject for administrators

This section will guide you through some basic recommendations for setting up your OpenProject instance as a system administrator and for preparing it for its users.
For the backend setup and initial technical configurations for on-premise editions please have a look at the [respective section](../../installation-and-operations/installation/packaged/#initial-configuration) in the installation guide.



Before adding users we recommend to check and configure the following topics:

| Topic                                                        | What to set up                                               |
| ------------------------------------------------------------ | :----------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Language settings](../../system-settings/display-settings/) | Languages, time and date formats, display options            |
| [User settings](../settings/)                                | Default user settings, user deletion, user consent           |
| [Roles and permissions](../roles-permissions/)               | What users can do (Roles) and the permissions for those roles |
| [User groups](../groups/)                                    | Create groups that are linked to projects, with a role, and users |
| [Avatars](../avatars/)                                       | Allow users to upload their photo or Gravatar                |
| [General settings](../../system-settings/general-settings/)  | Set host name, protocol and welcome text                     |
| [Authentication](../../authentication/)                      | Set up authentication methods for users                      |
| [Announcements](../../announcement/)                         | Set an announcement to be shown to users on login            |
| [Start page](../../../user-guide/start-page)                 | Set up the home page, shown after login                      |

If required, especially for on-premises versions, it might make sense to have a look at these sections, too:
| Topic                                                        | What to set up                                               |
| ------------------------------------------------------------ | :----------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Configure outbound emails](../../../installation-and-operations/configuration/outbound-emails/) | Set up SMTP on the server to send email                      |
| [Configure inbound emails](../../../installation-and-operations/configuration/inbound-emails/) | Receiving email by the server                                |
| [Email configuration](../../email/)                          | Set up email notifications, email provider and incoming email |