# Feature request: Limit topic translation to specific categories

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/feature-request-limit-topic-translation-to-specific-categories/392993
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** content-localization
**Created:** [January 8, 2026, 5:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/feature-request-limit-topic-translation-to-specific-categories/392993 "2026-01-08T17:44:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 11

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### Author: ![nat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/nat/32/235063_2.png) [@nat](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nat)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2026, 8:39am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/feature-request-limit-topic-translation-to-specific-categories/392993/11 "2026-07-09T08:39:19Z")

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![James May's Great News on Top Gear Dacia](https://static.klipy.com/ii/d6b0ce929193df3c242ac34b5654d2ce/c2/20/YyqiUiCb.webp)

> <https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/41585>
>
> We have switched AI translations settings first from public categories, to "incl…ude" categories, then to "exclude" categories.
> 
> This is not great. Some admins prefer one, and some prefer others. 
> 
> This PR allows admins to do either. This also updates default categories to be "public" only, when the original default was "all" (public + private). 
> 
> The migration covers moving existing users to 
> \- if has selected categories -\> "exclude strict" + their selected categories
> \- if no selected categories + feature enabled -\> "all" to maintain status quo
> 
> 
> https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/607f2340-8fa6-4059-b13d-07d1938ad74f

I’ve made a change here where we can have our cake and eat it (pending merge)

This new setting type allows us to select certain scopes of categories, like “all” or “public”, _or_ make a inclusion/exclusion selection.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/feature-request-limit-topic-translation-to-specific-categories/392993)._