I am trying to figure out how to give certain members access to only a single private category. We find that within our organisation, members for whom only this private category is relevant get inundated with too much information when they also have access to the non-private categories on our forum, which are not relevant to them. I know a solution would be to make all categories private, but I prefer to keep my mix of private and non-private categories, if at all possible… Apologies if this question has already been anwered elsewhere, I searched but could not find the answer I needed. Thank you!

[image] Eva: I do not seem to be able to mute categories for them, which would be the next best thing. If you add them to a group, you can set the group to default mute for specific categories and tags. :+1:

This is a feature request indeed, because AFAIK that is not possible. Everybody means everybody (for reading anyway) and there isn’t such system where it would mean everybody but excluding group X. Sure you could move everybody else than group X to group A and then allow only reading for everybody, and posting for group A and again just reading for group X (only to help remember later what the heck there happened). But… that is a bit something, isn`t it?

I think muting those categories for those particular people may be a useful option?

Indeed, but in the use case outlined by the OP it’s more to prevent information fatigue than to gate access.

Why not add all of them to whatever group and then just disable that group on every other section? Unless that’s what you were saying by [image] Zbean: I know a solution would be to make all categories private, but I prefer to keep my mix of private and non-private categories, if at all possible… But I don’t see what difference it would make vs a box that says “you can only see this”

Indeed, my feature request was to prevent information fatigue. Muting would be an option, but my users are not tech-savvy (getting them to log in to the forum in the first place was quite a journey…) and I’d have to sit with them all individually to turn on this option. I do not seem to be able to mute categories for them, which would be the next best thing. Adding all users to one “all users” group and then excluding the information-fatigued ones from that “all users” group means that anyone who creates a new category should NOT forget to make it private AND at least include the “all users” group to that new private category. This is a hassle and risk I had hoped to be able to skip, but I see now that may not be possible. Thank you for helping me figure this out!

That is excellent news! I will get to it right away.

This #theme-component you may also want to evaluate. It allows based on Primary Group set in user preferences to set a home page for a group. This can also help reduce noise on top of Jam’s Tip. [image] Custom Homepage for Groups Theme component Overview When installed and added to the active theme, this theme component enables you to control the ‘homepage’, allowing it to be different from the set of pages Discourse allows by default, as well as having different groups have different “homepages” (e.g., group members care only or mostly about a particular category). This can be for all users, anon (non-logged in), mobile users, or according to a user’s primary group. Initially developed by @pfaffman. See User-specific Discourse home pag… I have a couple of users who have trouble getting used to block out noise as well.

Access to particular private categories only

Product Support

Jagster (Jakke Flemming) June 6, 2024, 10:39am 4

But they can un-mute really easy. Or just go to muted category.

Topic		Replies	Views
Private category Product Support	9	3184	October 15, 2017
Create a category that's private to one group, but open to other groups Product Support	5	312	May 21, 2025
How can users change their notification preferences in bulk? Product Support	3	497	May 17, 2021
Query on how to create a category which can be seen, but posts can't Product Support	6	1337	February 27, 2018
Private group on forum Product Support	4	1275	March 21, 2018

Access to particular private categories only

Related topics