Recent Topics for phpBB 3.3

Extension for phpBB to display recent topics on the index page. Originally based on NV Recent Topics by Joas Schilling (nickvergessen), later maintained by PayBas. Now maintained by avathar.

Version: 3.0.4 (29/03/2026)

Requirements

• phpBB 3.3.0 or higher
• PHP 7.1.3 or higher

Features

• Recent (or unread) topics list on the index page
• Standalone pages at /app.php/rt (full) and /app.php/rt/simple (for iframe embedding)
• Three display locations: Top, Bottom or Side
• User-overridable preferences via UCP (location, count, sort order, unread only)
• Six granular user permissions
• New users inherit ACP defaults on registration
• Filters "Re:" from reply subjects
• Custom PHP events for extension developers

ACP Options

• Enable/disable on index page
• Per-forum include/exclude (in ACP Forum Management)
• Pagination: page limit, show all pages toggle
• Minimum topic type level (normal/sticky/announcement/global)
• Exclude topics by ID
• Display parent forum names
• Topic title link target (first post, last post, or first unread)
• Optional advertisement/HTML block in sidebar
• Show/hide date in side view
• Show/hide postlove like counts (hidden when postlove is not installed)
• Reset all user preferences to defaults
• Built-in version checker

Extension integrations

All integrations are optional soft dependencies — Recent Topics works without any of them.

• Post Love (avathar/postlove) like counts per topic (column in top/bottom view, inline hearts in side view)
• Collapsible Categories (phpbb/collapsiblecategories) — collapse/expand the Recent Topics block
• Topic Prefixes (phpbb/topicprefixes) — topic prefixes in the listing
• mChat (dmzx/mchat) — side-by-side display via template event

Languages

English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Czech, Slovak, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic, Ukrainian, Swedish

Tested on

prosilver, pbTech, pbWow3

Installation

1. Disable, delete data and remove the extension paybas/recenttopics if previously installed.
2. Download the latest release and unzip it.
3. Copy the contents to /ext/avathar/recenttopicsav/ (so that ext.php is at /ext/avathar/recenttopicsav/ext.php).
4. Navigate in the ACP to Customise -> Manage extensions.
5. Find Recent Topics under "Disabled Extensions" and click Enable.

Uninstallation

1. Navigate in the ACP to Customise -> Manage extensions.
2. Click the Disable link for Recent Topics.
3. To permanently uninstall, click Delete Data, then delete the recenttopicsav folder from /ext/avathar/.

Support

• Support forum

License

GNU General Public License v2

Originally by PayBas and nickvergessen. Maintained by Andreas Vandenberghe (avathar).