# How to add multiple tags up front
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** tags
**Created:** [December 9, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796 "2025-12-09T16:05:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@stephtara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stephtara)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/1 "2025-12-09T16:05:07Z")
Hi all, I’m very confused. Currently trying to set up Discourse to migrate my large community from Facebook. I’ve been thinking about how I’ll structure it through categories, and it was mentioned to me that tags can help for that too. As I understand, tags in Discourse are quite “category-like” (at least for me, coming from the blogging-flickr-delicious world of “just quickly type out your tags in a text box here). But OK, so it makes sense to create my “tags” upfront. But how? As mentioned here, there’s no way to “just add a tag” on the tags page. Maybe I don’t want all my tags in groups – is that possible?
(FWIW I’m also a bit stumped in my category creation, there doesn’t seem to be a user-friendly way to organise/create/manage categories as a whole, or I haven’t found it. At the stage I’m at some kind of “community structure builder” interface would be really handy, in which I can move categories around, up and down, into each other or out… like reordering menu navigation items in WordPress, to take just one example).
Apologies if I’m not 100% on topic, my brain is drifting quite a bit these days, despite my efforts.
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### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/2 "2025-12-09T16:25:57Z")
Hi @stephtara
I moved your question to a new topic, because the answer will be useful to others and then we can keep the related UX topic scoped to the implementation details.
Tags are definitely an area that could be with some polish, so I encourage you to add your vote to the [relevant feature request](https://meta.discourse.org/t/create-tags-outside-of-new-post/159662). The more votes, the more chance it will be prioritised.
In the meantime, adding tags up front is something that can be done, but it’s quite hidden and unintuitive.
You can go to the tag page, here that would be `https://meta.discourse.org/tags`
And then click here:
To upload a .csv file to add them in bulk
> [@stephtara](#):
>
> (FWIW I’m also a bit stumped in my category creation, there doesn’t seem to be a user-friendly way to organise/create/manage categories as a whole, or I haven’t found it.
Have you seen this dropdown on the `categories` view:
> [@stephtara](#):
>
> Apologies if I’m not 100% on topic, my brain is drifting quite a bit these days, despite my efforts.
Discourse is really great, **once** it’s all setup!
I hope you’ll hang in there and we’ll do our best to help 😉
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### Author:  [@stephtara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stephtara)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/3 "2025-12-09T16:32:56Z")
> [@chapoi](#):
>
> Discourse is really great, **once** it’s all setup!
>
> I hope you’ll hang in there and we’ll do our best to help 😉
I have no doubt about that and I will, but as I have limited energy (recovering from bad accident) I’m trying to see how I can make things as simple as possible for myself 😅
Thanks!!
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### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/4 "2025-12-09T16:38:13Z")
> [@chapoi](#):
>
> Have you seen this dropdown on the `categories` view:
>
> 
Make sure fixed category positions is enabled so you can see the option to reorder them. By default it is not enabled.
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### Author:  [@ToddZ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ToddZ)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/5 "2025-12-09T17:36:43Z")
> [@tobiaseigen](#):
>
> Make sure fixed category positions is enabled so you can see the option to reorder them.
And Stephanie, here’s where to find that site setting…
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### Author:  [@stephtara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stephtara)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/6 "2025-12-09T18:08:23Z")
> [@chapoi](#):
>
> Have you seen this dropdown on the `categories` view:
Yes, seen, but it’s quite cumbersome when I have 8-12 categories to create, color, organise, describe, hierarchise, and each one influences the others so I keep going back and forth between panels which each contain just a small part of my big picture…
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### Author:  [@stephtara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stephtara)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/7 "2025-12-09T18:12:44Z")
> [@chapoi](#):
>
> To upload a .csv file to add them in bulk
Ok, having to create a csv feels like quite a bit of overhead! I don’t have a final list of my tags, just like categories.
So it looks I need to « design » the structure of my community outside of discourse, and once I am set on my categories and tags and colours and descriptions, go and add them in, because what I see of the interface so far is not really helping me do that part of the job (the thinking, trying something, seeing what it looks like, changing it to try something else, tweaking this and tweaking that, moving things around some more, and so on…)
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### Author:  [@stephtara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stephtara)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/8 "2025-12-09T18:13:54Z")
I hope I’m not coming across as fussy, but I’m thinking that if I get stuck/discouraged with this bit, many others certainly will too…
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/10 "2025-12-09T18:24:42Z")
> [@stephtara](#):
>
> So it looks I need to « design » the structure of my community outside of discourse
Even being a Discourse expert, I’ve always gone through this step. Planning is done outside Discourse, this makes things easier.
> [@stephtara](#):
>
> I’m thinking that if I get stuck/discouraged with this bit
Discourse is amazing software, but the learning curve can be steep. Fortunately, the dev team and the community are keen to help 🙂
You can also hire someone to help on #Marketplace if you have a budget.
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### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/11 "2025-12-09T18:28:06Z")
This is great feedback! I have struggled with this as well, especially with the tags. I recall when I was product manager for the staff experience team we planned eventually to create an admin section to more intuitively manage categories and tags. Not sure if and when that will happen.
Also going back years we’ve always wanted to have “parity” between tags and categories. Tags are so powerful but the UI for navigating and managing them needs to catch up!
Power tip: once you have created some categories you can use the pulldown on the category settings to quickly switch to another category, so you can compare and set up e.g. security settings. Example:
When you are concerned about security and who can access what, you can also look at the permissions tab for groups. Example:
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### Author:  [@stephtara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stephtara)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/12 "2025-12-09T18:32:31Z")
> [@Canapin](#):
>
> Even being a Discourse expert, I’ve always gone through this step. Planning is done outside Discourse, this makes things easier.
This is super precious insight. Thankfully I’m still « early » in my process to not have banged my head against too many walls! I’ll do that too, then.
It’s not intuitive to me to have to do this outside the tool, because I’m very much a « try something, look at it, iterate » kind of person and I think « context » is super important.
For example, what looks good on a wall with post-its, on in a spreadsheet, or a text document might not work quite as well as forethought once implemented in the system, with the design.
I would definitely consider it a plus for Discourse as a community platform if it could also facilitate that part of the process of setting up a community structure and strategy.
Is this something that could be done with a plugin? Provide a drag and drop or alternate interface to create and manage tags and categories?
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### Author:  [@stephtara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stephtara)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/13 "2025-12-09T18:33:35Z")
> [@Canapin](#):
>
> You can also hire someone to help on #Marketplace if you have a budget
Budget is below zero, unfortunately 😅
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### Author:  [@stephtara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stephtara)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/14 "2025-12-09T18:35:41Z")
> [@tobiaseigen](#):
>
> Power tip: once you have created some categories you can use the pulldown on the category settings to quickly switch to another category, so you can compare and set up e.g. security settings.
Oh thanks!!
> [@tobiaseigen](#):
>
> When you are concerned about security and who can access what, you can also look at the permissions tab for groups.
Yes, groups are also something I need to « design »…
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### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/15 "2025-12-09T18:56:28Z")
You can do almost everything in a plugin. It might even be possible to build something as a #Customization > Theme component .
Last year, I added the overviews for the permissions of related categories as a component.
> [@Related category permissions](https://meta.discourse.org/t/related-category-permissions/337039/1):
>
> **Parent category permissions displayed below a subcategory:**
>
> 
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### Author:  [@ToddZ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ToddZ)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/16 "2025-12-09T18:56:58Z")
> [@tobiaseigen](#):
>
> When you are concerned about security and who can access what, you can also look at the permissions tab for groups.
Note also that a Group’s ‘Permissions’ tab only lists categories that Group members have special access to. Any categories that are already available to all users won’t be listed here. (Perfectly sensible, but might cause concern at first glance.)
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 7:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/17 "2025-12-09T19:20:54Z")
I’m not sure it’ll be useful but I asked Gemini to create a category planning tool, you can see it here:
> **[Gemini - direct access to Google AI](https://gemini.google.com/share/e390149551ba)**
>
> Created with Gemini
It’s mostly a draft, I was curious what Gemini would do from a very simple prompt. If you think this might be useful, I can refine it a bit and add an export/import button (to and from txt/csv file).
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### Author:  [@stephtara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stephtara)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 7:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/18 "2025-12-09T19:56:53Z")
> [@Canapin](#):
>
> I’m not sure it’ll be useful but I asked Gemini to create a category planning tool, you can see it here:
oh wow, this looks super promising!! I already love it, really.
Can’t delete categories and I’m not sure where to find “cat ID” (I know you said it’s draft), but I think this could be really precious – specially if there is a “export this in a format that Discourse can swallow up” feature!!
(I played around with it and tried adding a bunch of categories and reordering them… honestly now that I’ve seen this I feel that I won’t be able to live without something like it!)
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### Author:  [@ToddZ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ToddZ)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2025, 9:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/19 "2025-12-09T21:19:38Z")
I see Canapin has offered an AI tool, but I’m old-school so I like mind maps for this…
> **Mind map noodling**
>
> I couldn’t resist experimenting a bit, starting with your initial subject list:
>
> 
>
> After a few minutes of puttering:
>
> 
>
> I’m not suggesting that this is a complete, polished recommendation, but maybe it’ll spark a thought or two.
Couple of notes:
- Discourse comes with a Site Feedback category that’s publicly visible. This visibility cannot be changed. If you want a Site Feedback category limited to registered users, it’s recommended to just delete the default one and create a new one.
- You usually don’t want a category and a tag for the same thing. Like, maybe **Food** should be a category that all food-related stuff goes in, so there’d be no `#food` tag. _However_… if you want the ability to see all **Vet** category topics related to food, then you might add a `#food` tag to a tag group that’s limited to the Vet category.
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### Author:  [@stephtara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stephtara)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2026, 3:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-add-multiple-tags-up-front/390796/20 "2026-02-08T15:44:39Z")
Just stumbled upon the following in [Administrative Bulk Operations](https://meta.discourse.org/t/administrative-bulk-operations/118349) and either I didn’t see it before or I wasn’t in the same headspace, but this feels like an alternative to my « category creation » issue. If I can export the structure, fiddle with it in a text file (?) and import it back in, that could be interesting.
Quote below, I tried to « copy quote » in the mobile app but it didn’t completely work, I’m afraid.
**Export your site’s category structure**
This is essentially copying the “skeleton” of your Discourse site. It includes every category along with any groups associated with existing category permissions. It **does not include topics** :
```plaintext
rake export:category_structure
```
If you want the category structure along with any groups associated with the category permissions **and** any members of those groups:
```plaintext
rake export:category_structure[true]
```
**Importing a category file**
Use the exported file’s name like the example below:
```plaintext
rake import:file["category-export-2019-05-16-052430.json"]
```