---
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](../users-permissions/settings/)                  | Default user settings, user deletion, user consent           |
| [Roles and permissions](../users-permissions/roles-permissions/) | What users can do (Roles) and the permissions for those roles |
| [User groups](../users-permissions/groups/)                      | Create groups that are linked to projects, with a role, and users |
| [Avatars](../users-permissions/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 incoming emails](../../installation-and-operations/configuration/incoming-emails/) | Receiving email by the server                                |
| [Email configuration](../email/)                             | Set up email notifications, email provider and incoming email |