Configuring group notifications for a private category

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This guide explains how to configure group notifications for a private category in Discourse, requiring administrator access. It outlines creating a group (e.g., “testing”), setting up a private category (e.g., “Test Category”), and restricting access by removing the “everyone” group. The process includes adding the private category to the “default categories watching” setting and ensuring users in the group receive notifications, with email notifications sent only when users are inactive unless modified in preferences. Users can adjust their watched categories, but only group members can see the private category. Discourse notes that this method is useful for targeted updates, while 8 wesochuck questions if this approach is preferable to using the option in this guide.

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:bookmark: This guide explains how to set up a group to receive notifications and emails for a private category in Discourse.

:person_raising_hand: 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

:information_source: For more information about groups and categories, read the guide on using category security settings to control access to content.

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

:information_source: 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.

:information_source: 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

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E-Mails only for watched categories?
Configuring Default Notification Settings for Users
How do I make my group mention notify group members?
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Is there a reason this method would be preferable to using option? Groups can set category and tag notification levels