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How to use Captcha in Joomla 2.5
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One of the new features introduced in Joomla 2.5 is Captcha. This functionality has been possible using third party extensions, but it is more convenient to have it built into the core. Here's how to use it.
First, have a look at the standard Joomla contact form. If you use this feature, you know how prone it is to spam submissions. The same for the Joomla site registration form. So let's add a ReCaptcha function which is a service that is now owned by Google. Head over to http://www.google.com/recaptcha and click the Use reCaptcha on your site button. Then the Sign up now button. As this is a Google service, you need a Google account. If you don't have one, click Sign up and work your way through that process. Otherwise just go ahead and sign in.
On this page, enter your domain name. It's safest to do this without the 'www' part. Let's say your domain is my-very-very-very-long-domain-name.com. Enter that and click the Create key button. This produces two keys which we'll need in a moment. Leave this page open and head across to your Joomla Administrator.
Go to Global Configuration and ensure Default Captcha is set to Captcha – ReCaptcha. Click the Save & Close button and go to Extensions – Plugin Manager and towards the top of the list you will see Captcha – ReCaptcha. Click that to edit and make sure Status is set to Enabled. Now note the Public and Private keys in the right column. Simply copy these from the ReCaptcha page and paste them into their respective boxes. The first is the Public key and then there's the private key. Save this and head back to the front-end of the site to view the result.
And there you have it, you now have one of those annoying Captcha functions that everyone hates, but it does mean an end to receiving spam from your Joomla registration and contact forms. If the design doesn't match your site, you can try one of the other designs by experimenting with the Theme options in the plugin.
Comments
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Thursday, 8 March 2012Quick question...My site is using Joomla 2.5.2 (missed the 2.5.0 and 2.5.1 updates they happened so quickly). I see in Global Configuration the Default Captcha you mentioned but it simply says "None Selected" with no other options. I also looked at the Extensions Managaer unde rPLugins and see no Captcha-Rec Captcha there. I searxhed the Google site but it has no plugins for Joomla 2.5+ that I can see, only for J1.0 and 1.5. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your great tutorials, WELL worth the subscription fee! -
Thursday, 8 March 2012Christine,
I've seen this mentioned in the Joomla forum somewhere. You might try going to the Discover page of the Extensions Manager, click on Purge Cache, then Discover and see if it turns up. I think this applies mostly to upgrades from 1.7 or before.
You can also go to the Database page and click Fix to see there are any database issues that need clearing up.
Good luck. -
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Your response to Christine's query helped me as well. I had the same issue. After purging the caches and using Discover agains worked.
Thanks for the tip.
Anbu -
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Hi R.
Excellent video and working for me.
Many Thanks :=)
Kind Regards ,
MAxwell -
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Hi again;
So thank you Robert for your help! I did do what you suggested and I was abel to set it up.
I did encounter another problem, wehereby the captcha image itself does not display anywhere on the registration form. I am not sure what to do at this point. Would anyone happen to have a forum link for this type of error?
I did make sure my datbases are up to date and have ensured anything that needed to be installed for 2.5+ is as it should be. Just at a loss right now.
Thanks again!
Christine -
Sunday, 25 March 2012
AHH...never mind folks. I figured out the issue.
For anyone else who might have come across this problem: You need to go to:
USERS>OPTIONS (beside HELP top right hand menu corner) and under COMPONENTS change the Captcha default to Captcha-recaptcha.
Sorry to keep bothering everyone!
Christine -
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Very helpful, thanks. I just wish there was a way to disable captcha for registered users. The contact form shows recaptcha for both guests as well as logged in users.
The latter I trust. -
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Colin,
There are extensions that have this capability. You might check through the JED. Some extensions also have the ability to set captcha on for a user's first 5 posts or something like that. It is as you mention...until you trust them.
Would be great to have this function in the Joomla Core though!
Good luck. -
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Hi all,
The tutorial is great and informative as usual. Great work Richard.
I was quite frustrated due to a recurring issue with this simple captcha|re-captcha setup though. So, for those people like me, who also use the K2 features, please note you must disable one of the captcha way in either the Joomla! core or the K2 plugin; if you don't do so, you may as well get a conflict ending up with this message : "The words you typed did not match the ones displayed. Please try again."
I found this tip over here and it works like a charm :
http://www.knighton-web.com/index.php/tips-and-tricks/item/9-joomla-and-k2-captcha-conflict.html
Hope it could help some people from the Community.
Have a great day,
François -
Monday, 25 March 2013
What if you want recaptcha enabled on both K2 and contact form? I have a Joomla 2.5 site which is using K2. I could successfully enable recaptcha for articles and comment forms on K2 pages. But how can I enable recaptcha on contact form, too?
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Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Hi Rahul,
As Francois mentioned above, when you're using K2 and Joomla core articles and forms, you need to decide which one to use reCaptcha with, not both. We've found that to be the case as well. They don't seem to be compatible at this time. -
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Sad! That means if I am using K2, I can't enable recaptcha on both K2 and the contact form of the website at the same time.
-
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Richard-- Thanks again for a wonderful tutorial!!
... thanks Richard. Brilliant, as usual.