# Configuring group notifications for a private category

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-group-notifications-for-a-private-category/96424>\
**Category:** Site Management\
**Tags:** groups, how-to\
**Created:** [September 6, 2018, 1:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-group-notifications-for-a-private-category/96424 "2018-09-06T13:24:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

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**Author:** ![Discourse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/discourse/32/580155_2.png) [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 1:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-group-notifications-for-a-private-category/96424/1 "2018-09-06T13:24:12Z")

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> 🔖 This guide explains how to set up a group to receive notifications and emails for a private category in Discourse.
> 
> 🙋 Required user level: Administrator

This guide will walk you through the process of creating a group, configuring a private category, and setting up notifications for that group. This is useful when you want specific users to receive updates about a particular category without making it visible to all users.

## Creating a new group

1. Navigate to `discourse.example.com/groups/custom/new`
2. Create a new group (e.g., “testing”)

## Configuring category security

1. Go to the categories page at `discourse.example.com/categories`
2. Locate the category you want your group to watch (e.g., “Test Category”)
3. Add the newly created group to the security settings of this category
4. If this is a new category, make sure to remove the “everyone” group to keep it private

> ℹ For more information about groups and categories, read the guide on [using category security settings to control access to content](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-use-category-security-settings-to-control-access-to-content/87678).

## Setting up default category watching

1. Access your site settings at `your-discourse-site.com/admin/site_settings`
2. Find the “default categories watching” setting
3. Add your private category (e.g., “Test Category”) to this setting

## Notification behavior

- New members joining the group will receive notifications for each topic and post in the private category
- By default, email notifications are sent only when users are not active on the site
- Users can modify their email preferences to receive emails even when active on the website

> ℹ The site setting `max emails per day per user` (default: 100) limits the number of emails sent to each user daily.

## User preferences

Users can view and modify their watched categories in their preferences.

> ℹ Administrators can enforce this user preference for all users. However, only users belonging to the specified group will receive notifications, as the private category will only be visible to them.

## Verifying the setup

To ensure the private category is only visible to the correct users:

1. Log in as a new user who is not part of the group
2. Check that the private category is not visible in their watched categories list

> Last edited by @hugh 2024-07-16T02:19:57Z
> 
> Last checked by @hugh 2024-07-16T02:20:02Z
> 
> > **Check document**
> >
> > Perform check on document:

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