# Can't "move to new topic" from PM

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-move-to-new-topic-from-pm/32272
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [18.Август.2015 22:02:52 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-move-to-new-topic-from-pm/32272 "2015-08-18T22:02:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![AlexAB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/alexab/32/43288_2.png) [@AlexAB](https://meta.discourse.org/u/AlexAB)
#### Post date: [18.Август.2015 22:02:52 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-move-to-new-topic-from-pm/32272/1 "2015-08-18T22:02:52Z")

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This is really annoying because many new users have problems they PM me about that I would like to post generally to the community. Therefore, I try to “move to new topic” and for some reason it only allows me to move to existing…

Am I missing something?

 ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/1/3/1314d88a222d03e5932b28a6500635459eb8bdd4.png)

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### Author: ![tobiaseigen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/tobiaseigen/32/539204_2.png) [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [18.Август.2015 22:09:29 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-move-to-new-topic-from-pm/32272/2 "2015-08-18T22:09:29Z")

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I agree with this one - happens all the time and I wish it were possible to move PM to new topic. Basically the workflow is to create a new topic and move the discussion from PM to that topic.

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### Author: ![riking](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/riking/32/170938_2.png) [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [18.Август.2015 22:28:35 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-move-to-new-topic-from-pm/32272/3 "2015-08-18T22:28:35Z")

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There might even be a usecase for a “Convert to public topic” action on PMs.

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### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [19.Август.2015 02:26:16 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-move-to-new-topic-from-pm/32272/4 "2015-08-19T02:26:16Z")

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Hmm can we make this work @eviltrout?

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### Author: ![lisajill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/lisajill/32/32289_2.png) [@lisajill](https://meta.discourse.org/u/lisajill)
#### Post date: [19.Август.2015 14:04:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-move-to-new-topic-from-pm/32272/5 "2015-08-19T14:04:58Z")

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I move PMs to new topics pretty frequently. Works really well on our install and it’d be pretty bad it we lost that feature. On v1.4.0.beta6 +882…

Oh interesting - this appears to be an option if there is at least one reply to the PM - but not on single topic private messages. I tend to only need to move replies so I hadn’t seen that weirdness before.

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### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [19.Август.2015 22:42:12 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-move-to-new-topic-from-pm/32272/6 "2015-08-19T22:42:12Z")

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OK good info, so this is only a problem if the PM is a bare topic with no replies.

So your workaround, @AlexAB, is to reply then move it. Does this suffice?

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### Author: ![erlend\_sh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/erlend_sh/32/119475_2.png) [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [23.Январь.2016 09:42:39 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-move-to-new-topic-from-pm/32272/7 "2016-01-23T09:42:39Z")

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Continued here:

> [@Ability to convert message to topic?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ability-to-convert-message-to-topic/38359):
>
> Not sure if this has come up before but no combination of search terms pulled it up. It would be helpful if admins and moderators had access to an admin function to convert a private message between a few people or within a group into a full blown topic in a category. This can be very useful on our site where many great conversations start in private.
