# Easily create Ideas categories using the Topic Voting plugin
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/easily-create-ideas-categories-using-the-topic-voting-plugin/399365
**Category:** Announcements
**Tags:** topic-voting, categories
**Created:** [April 16, 2026, 3:02pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/easily-create-ideas-categories-using-the-topic-voting-plugin/399365 "2026-04-16T15:02:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@lindsey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/lindsey)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2026, 3:02pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/easily-create-ideas-categories-using-the-topic-voting-plugin/399365/1 "2026-04-16T15:02:56Z")
We’ve made it easier to create ideas / feature request type categories on Discourse! This update leverages our existing [Discourse Topic Voting](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-topic-voting/40121) plugin, but simplifies the setup process and makes it easy to manage related settings during category creation.
> **Note:** On our hosting, Discourse Topic Voting is available on the Business or higher tiers.
In this topic, we’ll review the major changes and share how you can start using this today.
## **🔬 What’s changed**
When creating a new category, you’ll now see three types:
When you select the **Ideas** category type, we’ll set up everything you need for this category type — most importantly, enabling the `Allow users to vote on topics in this category` which lets members vote on topics that they like (see [our Feature category here on Meta](https://meta.discourse.org/c/contribute/feature/2) for an example of how this looks).
- On the **General** tab, the **Category name** and **Style** fields are automatically configured
- On the **Ideas** tab, the most useful settings for this type of category are available for you to adjust as needed. We’ve also added a new **Limit member votes** setting, which makes it easy to completely disable vote limits if you do not want this limitation in your community.
All these settings can be customized to meet your exact specifications. These defaults are based on how we use this type of category in our own community and how we’ve seen it be most successful in other Discourse communities.
## **⚙ Turning on ideas type category setup in your community**
**For now, this is considered an experimental change!** We’re welcoming your feedback, which will help us make improvements and roll this out further.
To turn this on, head to the **[Upcoming changes](https://meta.discourse.org/t/introducing-upcoming-changes-a-system-to-manage-new-features-and-changes-to-existing-functionality-in-your-community/392894)** page in your admin area (`/admin/config/upcoming-changes`) and find the **Enable idea category type setup** item. Update the **Enabled for** … field to opt your site in to this new design:
## **📣 What do you think?**
Over to you: we’d love to hear what you think of this new feature. What do you like and dislike; what is working well, and what could be improved?
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### Author:  [@putty](https://meta.discourse.org/u/putty)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2026, 3:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/easily-create-ideas-categories-using-the-topic-voting-plugin/399365/2 "2026-04-16T15:15:22Z")
I’m glad to see the option of _not_ limiting votes get some traction. I think the next logical step is to give the option for the OP’s topic to count as a vote itself ([so I wouldn’t need a TC to do it](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-voting-auto-self-vote/394770) 😅). Perhaps an additional checkbox that becomes unavailable if you have limited votes active.
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### Author:  [@patrickemin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/patrickemin)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2026, 9:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/easily-create-ideas-categories-using-the-topic-voting-plugin/399365/3 "2026-05-29T21:37:11Z")
Hello, this is something that needs to be checked, but I noticed on my site that when I remove the “Ideas” type from my categories, it also removes the ability to vote, and the vote button disappears. It seems to me that this is not the intended behavior.
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### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2026, 6:16am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/easily-create-ideas-categories-using-the-topic-voting-plugin/399365/4 "2026-08-11T06:16:58Z")
I think it is. The category type works as a toggle for enabling the plugin in a category. To enable topic voting, you no longer use a category setting, but this category type. Removing the type disables the plugin in the category, so voting disappears.Before, you had a setting name directly referring to the name of the plugin; now it’s simpler but also less obvious what you do.