# Default sidebar categories
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/default-sidebar-categories/258871
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** sidebar
**Created:** [March 21, 2023, 11:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/default-sidebar-categories/258871 "2023-03-21T11:13:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rafael\_Melo\_Silva](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Rafael_Melo_Silva)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2023, 11:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/default-sidebar-categories/258871/1 "2023-03-21T11:13:44Z")
I have set 4 categories as sidebar default, they are all restricted. When i invite a user to join discourse with group permission to some of that categories sidebar still empty for that user.
Can someone help out? Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2023, 1:10pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/default-sidebar-categories/258871/2 "2023-03-21T13:10:48Z")
Sidebar is/going to be heavily for users, not for admins. But as admin you can set defaults in settings of Discourse.
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### Author:  [@RGJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/RGJ)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2023, 1:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/default-sidebar-categories/258871/3 "2023-03-21T13:15:21Z")
> [@Rafael\_Melo\_Silva](#):
>
> I have set 4 categories as sidebar default
That’s what he did…
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### Author:  [@Rafael\_Melo\_Silva](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Rafael_Melo_Silva)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2023, 1:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/default-sidebar-categories/258871/4 "2023-03-21T13:15:37Z")
I did but it doesn’t work, new user get none categories on Sidebar
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### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2023, 7:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/default-sidebar-categories/258871/5 "2023-03-21T19:08:19Z")
Are these new users or existing users?
If they are existing users, when you change the default sidebar categories, you’ll have to apply the changes in the settings historically:
That only applies the _change_ historically, so if you have already added default categories that you want to apply historically now, you’ll have to do the following:
1. Remove the categories and click “No, only apply change going forward”
2. Add them back, and click “Yes”
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### Author:  [@Rafael\_Melo\_Silva](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Rafael_Melo_Silva)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/default-sidebar-categories/258871/6 "2023-03-21T19:35:17Z")
New users or existing, if the category is restrict to a certain group it doesnt show up, even if the user belongs to that group.
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### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/default-sidebar-categories/258871/7 "2023-03-21T19:53:38Z")
I just did the following on a test site earlier before responding to [this other topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-add-categories-to-users-sidebar-when-added-to-group/258940/2):
1. Added a category `#foo` that is only visible to the group `@foo`
2. Added the `#foo` category to `default sidebar categories`
3. Clicked “Yes” to apply historically
4. Logged in as “Frank”, a user who is not part of the `@foo` group.
5. Verified they **do not** see `#foo` in their sidebar
6. Added “Frank” to the `@foo` group
7. Refreshed the page in Frank’s window
8. Verified they **do** see `#foo` in their sidebar
9. Removed “Frank” from the `@foo` group
10. Refreshed the page in Frank’s window
11. Verified they **do not** see `#foo` in their sidebar
Any idea what might be different on your end?