# Bulk changing subcategories doesn't select all topics?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/bulk-changing-subcategories-doesnt-select-all-topics/256238
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** bulk-actions
**Created:** [February 25, 2023, 12:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bulk-changing-subcategories-doesnt-select-all-topics/256238 "2023-02-25T12:49:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DGForum](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DGForum)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2023, 12:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bulk-changing-subcategories-doesnt-select-all-topics/256238/1 "2023-02-25T12:49:02Z")
E.g. One of our subcategories has 800+ topics.
When I ‘select all’ from the cog-wheel it only picks up 30 of those 800+.
1. How do I get it to select all 800+ at once please?
1. And can the Personal Messages be stopped for this bulk change?
2. And will the Thread dates stay the same please?
Thank-you.
P.S.
The idea will be to tranfer from Subcategories to new Main Categories - have assumed that that would be straight forward.
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### Author:  [@EricGT](https://meta.discourse.org/u/EricGT)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bulk-changing-subcategories-doesnt-select-all-topics/256238/2 "2023-02-25T14:33:52Z")
> [@DGForum](#):
>
> How do I get it to select all 800+ at once please?
Short answer: When you see the list of 30 items scroll down to the bottom of list before bringing up `Bulk Actions` dialog.
For a similar situation with details:
> [@For hosted sites, newly added General category. How can one change all topics in one category to General category?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/for-hosted-sites-newly-added-general-category-how-can-one-change-all-topics-in-one-category-to-general-category/237563/6):
>
> Thanks to those who responded. This is what I discovered/performed. From the main page [https://swi-prolog.discourse.group/](https://swi-prolog.discourse.group/) click the browser refresh button. [image] Click Categories Click on Uncategorized [image] Click [image] [image] Scroll down so that all topics show in list. Topics not visible can not be selected so they all need to be visible. Hopefully you don’t have thousands. End of page should show [image] At top of page click [image] Click [image] [image] Notice the number…
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### Author:  [@DGForum](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DGForum)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bulk-changing-subcategories-doesnt-select-all-topics/256238/3 "2023-02-25T14:45:27Z")
Thank-you, it worked.
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2023, 3:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bulk-changing-subcategories-doesnt-select-all-topics/256238/4 "2023-02-25T15:01:32Z")
Hi 🙂
If you have SSH access to your server, there are commands for that:
> [@Administrative Bulk Operations](https://meta.discourse.org/t/administrative-bulk-operations/118349#move-all-topics-from-one-category-to-another-16):
>
> Below you will find a collection of bulk operations that can be initiated from the command line. You will need SSH access, so if you are a hosted customer, you will need to contact the Discourse team about running these commands. warning Before working with the console it is extremely important that you have a recent backup. Mistakes can always happen! First thing to do is enter your site’s container: cd /var/discourse ./launcher enter app Additional Guides: [Performing bulk actions a…](https://meta.discourse.org/t/performing-bulk-actions-as-a-moderator/272832)
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### Author:  [@DGForum](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DGForum)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bulk-changing-subcategories-doesnt-select-all-topics/256238/5 "2023-02-25T15:04:20Z")
Thanks mate, that’s handy 🙂
Appreciated.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bulk-changing-subcategories-doesnt-select-all-topics/256238/6 "2023-04-29T16:05:00Z")
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