I noticed on my forum that when a category is muted, topics from that category still show up in summary emails. This is unexpected behavior because my assumption is that muted categories, which is defined as never being notified about new topics in this category, wouldn’t show up in the summary emails either. [Screenshot of Google Chrome (3-8-21, 10-32-36 AM)] Here’s an example of a user who has muted “Internal Comms” [Screenshot of Google Chrome (3-8-21, 10-29-39 AM)] When I previewed their summary email, Internal Comms showed up. [Screenshot of Google Chrome (3-8-21, 10-30-40 AM)] I propose that summary emails do not include topics from muted categories unless that specific topic within a muted category has a different status.

[image] debryc: I noticed on my forum that when a category is muted, topics from that category still show up in summary emails. From looking at the code, it seems that muted topics are supposed to be excluded from the summary email. Note that it is muted topics that are excluded, not topics that are in muted categories. Where this could be significant is if a user who has muted a category has interacted with one of that category’s topics in a way that would set their notification level for the topic to anything other than muted. This would happen if the user had replied to the topic prior to muting its category, or if the user had spent time reading the topic, or replied to it after having muted the category. Does the above explain what you are seeing for this user?

[image] simon: Where this could be significant is if a user who has muted a category has interacted with one of that category’s topics in a way that would set their notification level for the topic to anything other than muted. I would expect topic-level watching, etc., to override a category mute. Moreso in “real time” email notifications, but also in the summary digest although my usage of summaries tends to be more about finding topics I haven’t jumped into, yet.

[image] simon: From looking at the code, it seems that muted topics are supposed to be excluded from the summary email. Note that it is muted topics that are excluded, not topics that are in muted categories . Where this could be significant is if a user who has muted a category has interacted with one of that category’s topics in a way that would set their notification level for the topic to anything other than muted. This would happen if the user had replied to the topic prior to muting its category, or if the user had spent time reading the topic, or replied to it after having muted the category. No, this user has not interacted at all with the internal comms topic that I highlighted. [image] downey: I would expect topic-level watching, etc., to override a category mute. Moreso in “real time” email notifications, but also in the summary digest although my usage of summaries tends to be more about finding topics I haven’t jumped into, yet. I agree with this. Topic level watch settings should override category settings. So, if I’m watching or tracking a topic in an otherwise muted category, I should be able to see that topic in my summary email. [image] downey: my usage of summaries tends to be more about finding topics I haven’t jumped into, yet. Michael, would you want to see topics in categories that you’ve muted, though? I mute categories because I’m not interested, so I wouldn’t want to see them in my summary email either.

[image] debryc: I mute categories because I’m not interested, so I wouldn’t want to see them in my summary email either. Same here. I would neither expect nor desire to see them in my summary email.

Do you know if muted category topics are showing up in your forums’ summary emails? I’m wondering if it’s me or if it’s something that’s part of Discourse.

Hello, I’ve moved this topic to #feature because my tests all show that topics in muted categories continue to show up. This is really high priority for our community!

Hmm, can we have someone double-check this code path next week @zogstrip? That shouldn’t be happening..

@nbianca can you add that to your list?

I checked our code and can confirm that: digests DO NOT include muted topics (see code) digests DO NOT include topics from muted categories (see code) digests DO NOT include watched topics from muted categories, but they will

[image] nbianca: digests DO NOT include topics from muted categories (see code) Unfortunately, while this is the code, my users are definitely getting topics from muted categories in their summary email as of this morning. Is this reproducible on your end? Maybe it makes a difference if the parent category is set to Regular/Normal and it’s the sub-category that is Muted? [image] nbianca: digests DO NOT include watched topics from muted categories, but they will Wonderful!

Prevent topics of muted categories from showing up in summary email

Product Support

JammyDodger February 13, 2024, 3:48pm 15

There’s also the digest suppress categories admin setting, which sounds like it could be useful here:

Topic		Replies	Views
Do posts from a category that you are tracking show up in the summary email even if that category is suppressed via admin settings? Product Support	2	792	October 4, 2019
Suppressed category included in digest Bug activity-summary	3	737	November 2, 2021
Question about muting a category Product Support	4	1505	February 2, 2017
How do I access topics in muted categories? Product Support	6	269	August 25, 2026
Muted categories should not hide Tracked/Watched topics Feature	30	4589	July 11, 2025

Prevent topics of muted categories from showing up in summary email

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