I want users to manually pick a category when creating a new post. I already checked the topics: https://meta.discourse.org/t/invite-people-to-choose-category-before-create-a-new-topic/214077 https://meta.discourse.org/t/require-category-selection-before-writing-topic/66236/15 but none of them s…

Is the issue that a category comes pre-filled? If so, you may be looking for the “Default composer category” site setting.

No, no template. [image] But I believe this is not the default behavior, because even the original placeholder says something like “Select a category before typing here”, and the cursor changes to an arrow with a :prohibited: symbol. It doesn’t allow me to click and type, unless I pick the catego…

[image] alltiagocom: Select a category before typing here”, and the cursor changes to an arrow with a :prohibited: symbol. It doesn’t allow me to click and type, unless I pick the category. That’s what I would expect if you have a topic template set up on one of your categories. Without any s…

Weird… I just disabled the component I created, tried it again, and now it lets me type. It’s not locked :confused: Would it be some cache issue after I set it to (no category) or something? Cache on the server itself, because on both Chrome and Firefox, with different user accounts, I got the same…

Ok, I think I spoke too soon… A few minutes later, it’s back to the other behavior. It’s locked. And when I Inspect the composer, I see this: [image] I guess I will just stick to the Component, then.

[image] alltiagocom: I guess I will just stick to the Component, then. If it gets it working as you want it to then :chefs_kiss: Out of curiosity, if you have the data explorer plugin installed, could you run this just to see what it says: SELECT id as category_id, topic_template from categ…

I just noticed that on the Obsidian forum, the behavior is the same. It’s locked until I pick a category, so it’s probably the new behavior? I do not have the data explorer plugin, sorry.

[image] alltiagocom: so it’s probably the new behavior? I don’t think so. :thinking: On both recently updated sites I’ve tested this on the behaviour is the same as I’d expect (no default category or topic templates = free to type without choosing a category first). What we couldn’t work out…

[image] JammyDodger: ETA: As an alternative to the date explorer, you can also filter your staff logs to 'topic template’ and see if there’s any extra info in there. I think it’s a little difficult to filter for that in the interface because you can only filter for actions and not for subject…

[image] alltiagocom: do not have the data explorer plugin, sorry. i would do yourself a big favor and install it because it is super useful. :slight_smile:

[image] JammyDodger: I don’t think so. :thinking: On both recently updated sites I’ve tested this on the behaviour is the same as I’d expect (no default category or topic templates = free to type without choosing a category first). Weird that Obsidian’s forum behaves the same way as mine. Go …

Force users to pick category

Support

Lilly (Lillian ) July 9, 2025, 10:30am 17

i would do yourself a big favor and install it because it is super useful.

Topic		Replies	Views
New topic not defaulting to uncategorised Bug	18	1005	October 18, 2022
Lost ability to create new topics Bug	6	788	October 7, 2022
Users can create topic without selecting a category even when "allow uncategorized topics" unchecked Support	7	460	October 10, 2023
Default category Feature	33	7517	May 20, 2019
Default Composer Category component Theme component end-of-life	21	2780	October 15, 2025

Force users to pick category

Related topics