Set up a category ONLY for specific Users

Product Support

AI-generated summary

In a discussion titled “Set up a category ONLY for specific Users” under the Support category, gordon_mrmoco seeks to create a private category accessible only to a select group of users. jahan_gagan provides step-by-step instructions: create a group, create or edit a category, and assign permissions by removing “everyone” and adding the specific group. gordon_mrmoco reports difficulty finding the “Categories” section in the Admin dashboard and confusion about assigning the new group to the category. Moin clarifies that Discourse doesn’t support excluding users — only granting access — and advises configuring all other categories to restrict access from the new group. gordon_mrmoco still can’t see the new group in the category assignment dropdown. Moin suggests reloading the site after group creation. tobiaseigen checks in to see if the issue was resolved. The core challenge revolves around correctly assigning group permissions to a category and understanding Discourse’s permission model, which grants rather than excludes access.

1

I would like to have a group of users only be able to post/view/interact in a certain category. How do I set this up please?

2

You can set this up easily using category permissions. Here’s how:

1. Create a group (if you don’t already have one):

  • Go to your Admin → Groups
  • Click “New Group”, give it a name, and add the users who should have access.

2. Create or edit the category:

  • Go to Categories
  • Either create a new category or edit an existing one.

3. Set the permissions:

  • In the category settings, scroll to the Security section.
  • Remove the default everyone (and any other groups you don’t want).
  • Add your specific group.
  • Assign the permission level you want:
    • See → allow them to view the category
    • Reply → allow replies
    • Create → allow new topics

4. Save your changes.

That’s it — now only the users in that group can see or interact with the category. Other users won’t even see it listed.

4

Thanks. I created a group and added a user.

I went to Admin dashboard, but there’s no “categories” section.

I’m able to get into categories from my home page and there I can create a new category.

I went to permissions, and I removed “everyone” but in the dropdown the new category I created is not showing up to be selected…??

5

So I would need to take all my existing users who currently can see pretty much everything and put them in a group that excludes the new group/category and then somehow assign certain users I want to add to the new category only to that?

6

category or group? You need to search for the group you created.

7

There is no way to exclude users from seeing something. You can only configure who is allowed to see something.

So you need to change the settings of all categories to show most of them to a group where your new group of users is not a member of, and then you add the other group only to their category.

Depending on why you want this, muting most categories for the group of users could work. That simplifies the interface, but of course, it doesn’t prevent access. So it’s not helpful in cases where you want information not to be available for them.

9

Yes sorry group. I can’t see the new group on the drop down to assign to the new category.

10

Did you reload the site between creating the group and trying to edit the category settings?

11

Hi @gordon_mrmoco! Were you able to get your group and secure category set up to your liking? If so, we can close this topic.