# Delete the Staff Category?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [12월 18, 2015, 12:05오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892 "2015-12-18T12:05:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ryan.a](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ryan.a)
#### Post date: [12월 18, 2015, 12:05오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/1 "2015-12-18T12:05:49Z")
I can’t figure out for the life of me how to delete the “Staff” category.
Have tried deleting all of the topics however 4 of them remain in the list. When I go to the Edit screen, it says cannot delete as it has 3 topics.
Can someone guide me in the right direction?
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@purldator](https://meta.discourse.org/u/purldator)
#### Post date: [12월 18, 2015, 5:17오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/2 "2015-12-18T17:17:19Z")
Is there a specific reason you want to delete it?
To my knowledge, that category is also used to upload images that may be needed to brand and style the ui itself.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [12월 18, 2015, 9:49오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/3 "2015-12-18T21:49:50Z")
Deleting this built-in category is not supported, or recommended.
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### Author:  [@ryan.a](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ryan.a)
#### Post date: [12월 20, 2015, 11:04오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/4 "2015-12-20T23:04:58Z")
Ok, I’m not even going to ask why. Having a message to this effect in the UI would be really helpful. Right now it says two misleading things:
1. “Warning: This category is a pre-seeded category and the security settings cannot be edited. If you do not wish to use this category, delete it instead of repurposing it.”
2. “Can’t delete this category because it has 3 topics.”
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [12월 21, 2015, 12:40오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/5 "2015-12-21T00:40:48Z")
Mainly because the terms of service, privacy policy, and guidelines / faq are in the Staff category and required for all sites. Note the count of topics I just referred to : three.
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### Author:  [@ronnysetiawan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ronnysetiawan)
#### Post date: [2월 13, 2019, 2:37오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/10 "2019-02-13T02:37:58Z")
So, how to hide Staff Category?
Or change security, I don’t want “moderators” see this page. Is it possible to change security level, just only admin to see it?
thanks
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### Author:  [@nawthor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nawthor)
#### Post date: [2월 13, 2019, 10:59오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/11 "2019-02-13T10:59:46Z")
You can do that by editing the security settings like you would any category. Go to the category you wish to edit, click the “edit” button in the upper right corner, go to the security tab, click “edit permissions”, and remove everything except admins.
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### Author:  [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)
#### Post date: [2월 13, 2019, 1:17오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/12 "2019-02-13T13:17:54Z")
That isn’t an option:
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### Author:  [@ronnysetiawan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ronnysetiawan)
#### Post date: [2월 14, 2019, 2:53오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/13 "2019-02-14T02:53:07Z")
You are correct,
for staff category, ,we can edit or delete this category
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### Author:  [@Dannii](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Dannii)
#### Post date: [2월 14, 2019, 3:23오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/14 "2019-02-14T03:23:54Z")
I’d like to add another group with access, but you can’t manually change security settings for the Staff category.
Is it still not recommended or supported to delete the category and replace it with another manually created Staff category?
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### Author:  [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)
#### Post date: [2월 14, 2019, 3:38오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/15 "2019-02-14T15:38:10Z")
It can’t be deleted. If you want an area for staff discussion, rather than for staff-only access to critical things, create a new category for that purpose.
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### Author:  [@Dannii](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Dannii)
#### Post date: [2월 16, 2019, 5:16오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/16 "2019-02-16T05:16:06Z")
I’m able to delete it fine in 2.2.1. Hence why I’m asking if it’s still not recommended, and if there could be any bad consequences from doing so.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2월 16, 2019, 5:39오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/17 "2019-02-16T05:39:47Z")
We’ve said repeatedly it’s not a good idea. You’re on your own.
(And where is your faq, terms of service, and privacy policy now? Just gone forever?)
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### Author:  [@Dannii](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Dannii)
#### Post date: [2월 16, 2019, 12:43오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/18 "2019-02-16T12:43:46Z")
I moved them all to the replacement staff folder whose security settings I can customise. As far as I can tell the FAQ, TOS etc all still work. Their content is taken, live, from the topics in the replacement staff folder.
Rather than hiding the Staff folder from mods I want to open it to all our board members, not all of whom are active mods. Hard coding the security settings doesn’t seem like it serves much of a purpose to me.
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### Author:  [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)
#### Post date: [2월 16, 2019, 2:18오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/19 "2019-02-16T14:18:55Z")
What will you do in the future if code fails to build because an update tries to write an object to a built-in category which you’ve deleted against the advice of the developers?
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### Author:  [@Dannii](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Dannii)
#### Post date: [2월 16, 2019, 2:24오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/20 "2019-02-16T14:24:31Z")
Well that’s what I’m trying to ascertain! I asked if the advice in posts from three years ago is still good advice, when the software itself says the Staff category can be deleted. Why would the software suggest deleting it in favour of another category which we can change the security settings of, if doing so would be so disastrous?
Okay, it’s clear that deleting the category is still not recommended. I’ll check if there’s been a feature request to unlock its security settings, or else start one.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2월 16, 2019, 10:33오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/21 "2019-02-16T22:33:54Z")
It is possible it will work, you can try it. But deviate from well considered defaults at your own peril — 99% of Discourse sites should have a private staff category for internal matters.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [3월 18, 2019, 10:33오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/delete-the-staff-category/36892/22 "2019-03-18T22:33:57Z")
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