# Choose groups and watched categories on signup
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [July 15, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291 "2021-07-15T20:40:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/1 "2021-07-15T20:40:23Z")
I know there can be custom user fields, but is there any way of sorting out group requests and category watching from the signup form?
(Either the normal Discourse signup form, or using a plugin, or separately using the API?)
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2021, 6:38pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/2 "2021-07-24T18:38:59Z")
I guess there might be two possibilities.
1. A Discourse plugin that changes the sign up process.
2. A separate script that uses the Discourse API to sign up and simultaneously make a group request and/or watch certain categories.
I’m pretty sure it’s not possible using the standard settings.
Am I on the right track? Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Benjamin\_D](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Benjamin_D)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/3 "2021-07-24T19:13:27Z")
I’m not sure what you mean by “sorting out” but this might be the droid you’re looking for 😁
[Discourse Automation](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-automation/195773)
even if sign-up is not in the Available triggers list… but I guess maybe sign-up is also user added to group TL0 ?
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### Author:  [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2021, 7:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/4 "2021-07-24T19:32:44Z")
I believe this plugin will work.
> [@Custom Wizard Plugin mage](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-wizard-plugin/73345):
>
> pavilionSummary Forms for Discourse. This plugin lets you make rich and powerful forms for your Discourse forum. Better user onboarding, structured posting, data enrichment, automated actions and much more for your community.hammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [https://github.com/paviliondev/discourse-custom-wizard](https://github.com/paviliondev/discourse-custom-wizard)open_bookInstall Guide [How to install plugins in Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157)people_huggingCommunity Community based support and discussions about this plugin are hosted on th…
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### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2021, 9:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/5 "2021-07-24T21:42:26Z")
The Custom Wizard Plugin looks promising. I’ll have time to try it out next month!
It looks like a wizard could be triggered straight after the user signs up, allowing notification levels to be set per category.
The plugin also allows a user to be added to a group. I’m not entirely sure how Discourse groups work, or how the plugin works with a private group (not publicly visible and/or users can’t join freely) - maybe it sends a group request. Alterernatively, the plugin allows a private message to be sent, so I could use this as a group request.
I’ll look at Discourse Automation too.
Thanks to both of you.
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### Author:  [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/6 "2021-07-24T22:21:50Z")
Your welcome. If you figure out a template for first time set Up for users to pick categories let me know haven’t had much time to dig deep.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2023, 10:07am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/7 "2023-08-30T10:07:39Z")
> [@Benjamin\_D](#):
>
> even if sign-up is not in the Available triggers list
I think it is now (at least, “first logged on” is close enough):
> [@Discourse Automation](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-automation/195773/1):
>
> Add user to group through custom field ▪Recurring
> ▪First logged on Adds a user to a group based on a Custom User Field
Would the Automation plugin be able to set watch status per category based on custom fields too?
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2023, 10:19am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/8 "2023-08-30T10:19:56Z")
> [@Jonathan5](#):
>
> Would the Automation plugin be able to set watch status per category based on custom fields too?
I don’t believe this is currently possible using Automation. However, I think we do have a new API endpoint that can now allow an admin to set a user’s notification level, which may be of some use:
> [@AlexDev](#):
>
> Some details about this API endpoint that are important to note:
>
> - The API user should be an admin(so they should have global scope) to be able to change another user’s notification level.
> - Endpoint URL: `siteurl/t//notifications`
> - Request type: `POST`
> - Parameters:
> - `username` or `external_id` of the target user. If empty, the admin’s own notifcation level for the topic will be changed.
> - `notification_level`: integer value corresponding to the level
> - `muted: 0,`
> - `regular: 1,`
> - `normal: 1, # alias for regular`
> - `tracking: 2,`
> - `watching: 3,`
(Though if they’re added to a group automatically, you can also set the group default notifications for categories and tags and set them that way?)
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### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2024, 11:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/9 "2024-12-02T23:28:22Z")
> [@JammyDodger](#):
>
> > [@Jonathan5](#):
> >
> > Would the Automation plugin be able to set watch status per category based on custom fields too?
>
> I don’t believe this is currently possible using Automation.
Has this changed over the last year or so?
(I’d like to have prospective users, on the signup page, be able to tick certain categories to decide which to “watch”.)
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### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/10 "2024-12-06T17:11:43Z")
> [@Jonathan5](#):
>
> (I’d like to have prospective users, on the signup page, be able to tick certain categories to decide which to “watch”.)
That’s an interesting use case.
You can use the “Add user to group through User Custom Field” automation script, and then set up the “Category default notifications” for the groups as you see fit.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 11:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/11 "2024-12-06T23:09:05Z")
Thank you. I will look into that. It does have the disadvantage of potential confusion when people change their notification settings but remain in the original group.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2025, 7:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/12 "2025-07-04T19:26:09Z")
> [@JammyDodger](#):
>
> > [@Jonathan5](#):
> >
> > Would the Automation plugin be able to set watch status per category based on custom fields too?
>
> I don’t believe this is currently possible using Automation.
Is it possible now? I see that Automation is now part of Discourse itself so maybe has been improved as part of that process.
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2025, 8:34am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/13 "2025-07-05T08:34:44Z")
The Automation plugin is now bundled with core, but it’s still the same plugin. Having a quick look at the current scripts and triggers it doesn’t seem like anything new has been added to help with this. 🤷
Though the ability to set default notification levels for groups is still a core feature you could leverage, especially alongside the existing Automation for ‘add user to group through user custom field’ (I think you’d need to use a separate custom field for each group).
Did you try that out? And if so, what were the problems you found with it?
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### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2025, 10:05am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/14 "2025-07-05T10:05:52Z")
> [@JammyDodger](#):
>
> Did you try that out? And if so, what were the problems you found with it?
I have to admit I haven’t tried it, because of this concern:
> [@Jonathan5](#):
>
> It does have the disadvantage of potential confusion when people change their notification settings but remain in the original group.
---
### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2025, 10:31am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/15 "2025-07-05T10:31:57Z")
> [@Jonathan5](#):
>
> (I’d like to have prospective users, on the signup page, be able to tick certain categories to decide which to “watch”.)
For this, rather than muddying things with custom fields, groups, automation, etc, would sending the new users to the `/categories` page after signup be an option? Using this theme component [Categories Tracking Toggle](https://meta.discourse.org/t/categories-tracking-toggle/207150) I think you should be able to add the category notification level option to the categories there, and they can go down the list and pick what they want.
You may need an extra info banner on there too somewhere to provide a prompt.
* * *
This reminds me of the `Mute all categories by default` setup, where people would need to choose some categories to unmute/watch/etc to avoid getting a blank latest page. I don’t think it’s a particularly common setup, but there may be some topics knocking about with tips on how they handle it?
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### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2025, 12:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choose-groups-and-watched-categories-on-signup/197291/16 "2025-07-05T12:59:03Z")
Thanks again. I’m not too keen on using that because I think the answer to this question is still No:
> [@Categories Tracking Toggle](https://meta.discourse.org/t/categories-tracking-toggle/207150/10):
>
> Are there plans to allow all five watching/tracking levels to be chosen via the categories page?