I want users to manually pick a category when creating a new post. I already checked the topics: https://meta.discourse.org/t/invite-people-to-choose-category-before-create-a-new-topic/214077 https://meta.discourse.org/t/require-category-selection-before-writing-topic/66236/15 but none of them s…

[image] renato: Is the issue that a category comes pre-filled? Yes, that was the issue. I just Reset that setting and it’s working as expected. Thanks! :raising_hands: I noticed that when that setting is set to no category, it doesn’t allow the user to click and type and it shows a message …

Would it be possible to share a screenshot of this in action please.

When I click New Topic, it shows this: [image] You can see there’s no default category. Now, I can type my message (unlike the default behavior, which locks the message area), even without a category being selected: [image] If I try to submit, I see this: [image] Hope this helps.

@alltiagocom excellent, thanks!

I think this is normally the default behaviour. :thinking: Do you have a topic template set up by any chance?

You’re welcome! I just asked ChatGPT to see if there’s a way to simplify the script a little bit more and it removed the first line, related to the API. I updated my post with the final script, in case you want to use it.

No, no template. [image] But I believe this is not the default behavior, because even the original placeholder says something like “Select a category before typing here”, and the cursor changes to an arrow with a :prohibited: symbol. It doesn’t allow me to click and type, unless I pick the catego…

[image] alltiagocom: Select a category before typing here”, and the cursor changes to an arrow with a :prohibited: symbol. It doesn’t allow me to click and type, unless I pick the category. That’s what I would expect if you have a topic template set up on one of your categories. Without any s…

Weird… I just disabled the component I created, tried it again, and now it lets me type. It’s not locked :confused: Would it be some cache issue after I set it to (no category) or something? Cache on the server itself, because on both Chrome and Firefox, with different user accounts, I got the same…

Ok, I think I spoke too soon… A few minutes later, it’s back to the other behavior. It’s locked. And when I Inspect the composer, I see this: [image] I guess I will just stick to the Component, then.

Force users to pick category

Support

renato (Renato Atilio) July 7, 2025, 11:48am 2

Is the issue that a category comes pre-filled? If so, you may be looking for the “Default composer category” site setting.

Topic		Replies	Views
New topic not defaulting to uncategorised Bug	18	1004	October 18, 2022
Lost ability to create new topics Bug	6	780	October 7, 2022
Users can create topic without selecting a category even when "allow uncategorized topics" unchecked Support	7	460	October 10, 2023
Default category Feature	33	7503	May 20, 2019
Default Composer Category component Theme component end-of-life	21	2780	October 15, 2025

Force users to pick category

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