# "Category can't be blank" appears when we try to create a new topic
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [3월 29, 2019, 6:26오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956 "2019-03-29T18:26:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Timon1507](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Timon1507)
#### Post date: [3월 29, 2019, 6:26오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/1 "2019-03-29T18:26:11Z")
User cannot create a topic, an error “Category can’t be blank” appears. But category is checked. This bug is in version v2.3.0.beta6.
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### Author:  [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)
#### Post date: [3월 29, 2019, 6:53오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/2 "2019-03-29T18:53:11Z")
Ok, and are they selecting a category?
Do they have the ‘create’ right in any category for categories to appear in that list?
Out of the box new topics default to ‘Uncategorized’, if you’ve disabled uncategorised posting then this needs to be manually selected. Make sure whatever group they’re in has the create right for at least one category, and they’re selecting it from the drop-down.
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### Author:  [@Timon1507](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Timon1507)
#### Post date: [3월 29, 2019, 7:59오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/3 "2019-03-29T19:59:23Z")
Yes, they are selecting a category. Necessary user rights are present.
I tested in the “general” category
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [3월 29, 2019, 11:03오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/4 "2019-03-29T23:03:07Z")
Can you repro this @tshenry?
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### Author:  [@tshenry](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tshenry)
#### Post date: [3월 29, 2019, 11:23오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/5 "2019-03-29T23:23:21Z")
Not immediately…
Here is what I have tried:
- Disabled Uncategorized via site settings
- Set a test category to `everyone` and `trust_level_0` permissions
- Opened the new topic composer both in the test category and outside of it
- Switched between categories on the category chooser of the composer
- Selected the test category from the chooser and posted as Admin and TL0
No unexpected behavior.
@Timon1507 when you do to your admin dashboard what version does it show? I just want to make sure my test site is on the same version or higher than you. I’m at **v2.3.0.beta6 +30**
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### Author:  [@Timon1507](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Timon1507)
#### Post date: [3월 29, 2019, 11:35오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/6 "2019-03-29T23:35:29Z")
My version is v2.3.0.beta6 +39. But for the correct operation of the forum, I restored from backup v2.3.0.beta5
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [3월 29, 2019, 11:39오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/7 "2019-03-29T23:39:09Z")
We can’t reproduce your problem, so we are unable to help you at this time.
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### Author:  [@AstonJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/AstonJ)
#### Post date: [3월 31, 2019, 5:06오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/8 "2019-03-31T17:06:41Z")
This is happening on my forum as well - a new user signed up, but when posting it says category can’t be blank.
I’ve logged in as the user’s account and tried to post his draft - getting the same thing.
He’s also signed up a new account, and getting the same thing.
I can create topics via my own account though - so seems to be affecting new users..
On [v2.3.0.beta6 +39]
(Also changed their TL to 1 from 0, same issue.)
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [3월 31, 2019, 5:25오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/9 "2019-03-31T17:25:09Z")
Can you repro as a new user @tshenry?
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### Author:  [@AstonJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/AstonJ)
#### Post date: [3월 31, 2019, 6:24오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/10 "2019-03-31T18:24:34Z")
Looks like it might be related to the new approval queue system - or when the user’s first posts/topics need to be approved.
The same user posted a reply to an existing thread, which went to the approval queue as usual, however I did not see an alert - only saw that the post was in the queue by clicking on ‘needs review’.
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### Author:  [@AstonJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/AstonJ)
#### Post date: [3월 31, 2019, 6:34오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/11 "2019-03-31T18:34:05Z")
Ok, it seems to be related to `approve post count`. When it is set to 1, users can’t post new topics, when it is set to `0` they can. A little odd, because approve post count is for posts, not topics.
`approve unless trust level` seems to be new - should we be using that instead of `approve post count` (I can’t remember how many posts are required to TL1 now).
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [3월 31, 2019, 7:24오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/12 "2019-03-31T19:24:36Z")
Aha maybe @eviltrout can take a look Monday.
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### Author:  [@Timon1507](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Timon1507)
#### Post date: [4월 1, 2019, 9:06오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/13 "2019-04-01T09:06:56Z")
I reproduced this bug in following development enviroment: ubuntu 16.04, discourse v2.3.0.beta6 +65 (docker).
I created a new category with these security settings:
And disabled next checkbox. 
And then new user gets an “Category can’t be blank” error though the category “test” was chosen
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### Author:  [@OvermindDL1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/OvermindDL1)
#### Post date: [4월 1, 2019, 4:19오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/14 "2019-04-01T16:19:45Z")
Same error on a forum I manage as well under the same conditions as AstonJ’s description.
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### Author:  [@ralphlasry](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ralphlasry)
#### Post date: [4월 1, 2019, 5:10오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/15 "2019-04-01T17:10:28Z")
I am having this exact issue as well on my forum. Started right after I updated to v2.3.0.beta6 +39
It only seems to be affecting some users.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [4월 1, 2019, 9:34오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/16 "2019-04-01T21:34:32Z")
I believe @eviltrout is working on this bug
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### Author:  [@eviltrout](https://meta.discourse.org/u/eviltrout)
#### Post date: [4월 1, 2019, 9:47오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/17 "2019-04-01T21:47:57Z")
I tried it myself, and in least in tests-passed I can’t reproduce it. I tried both @AstonJ and @Timon1507’s suggestions and both worked for me. The only thing I can think of is it might be something that broken in the beta but someone fixed afterwards?
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### Author:  [@ralphlasry](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ralphlasry)
#### Post date: [4월 1, 2019, 11:25오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/18 "2019-04-01T23:25:28Z")
Thanks for helping out. I just tried it again on my site and its still throwing this error. [learn.oheltorah.com](http://learn.oheltorah.com)
Any suggestions?
I logged in and clicked ‘create new topic’. Wrote the title and chose a category and then wrote wrote the message. Click the “create topic” button and walla got this error.
I’ve received emails from about a dozen members today that they are experiencing the same issue.
How can I help figure out the source of this issue?
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### Author:  [@tshenry](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tshenry)
#### Post date: [4월 2, 2019, 1:19오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/19 "2019-04-02T01:19:48Z")
I can repro under the following criteria:
- [v2.3.0.beta6 +82](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/compare/d5a61ab1676b328a72ca79d70b4bbf0aea84ba5c...tests-passed)
- TL0 user
- `allow_uncategorized_topics` disabled
- `approve_new_topics_unless_trust_level` set to `1: basic user`
One thing to note:
- If I enable uncategorized, the topic will go to the approval queue, but as uncategorized, not with the category the TL0 user selected
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### Author:  [@AstonJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/AstonJ)
#### Post date: [4월 2, 2019, 2:55오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956/20 "2019-04-02T02:55:09Z")
Can confirm - by allowing uncategorised the behaviour seems to go back to normal 👍🏼 (i.e posts/topics successfully go into moderation queue)
[다음 페이지](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-cant-be-blank-appears-when-we-try-to-create-a-new-topic/112956.md?page=2)