# How to automatically create a topic list in a sub-category?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-automatically-create-a-topic-list-in-a-sub-category/173996
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 22, 2020, 9:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-automatically-create-a-topic-list-in-a-sub-category/173996 "2020-12-22T09:44:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mpitily](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mpitily)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 9:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-automatically-create-a-topic-list-in-a-sub-category/173996/1 "2020-12-22T09:44:50Z")
Hi, I’d like to know how to automatically create a topic list like in this picture
As you can see, the list is made up of links redirecting to the topic with the number of clicks next to it.
How to do that? (I have no skills in coding)
Is it possible to create this list without using a plugin?
Thank you!
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### Author:  [@Kartoon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Kartoon)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 10:19am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-automatically-create-a-topic-list-in-a-sub-category/173996/2 "2020-12-22T10:19:37Z")
Not sure what you mean by automatic, automatic from where? That’s just someone posting hyperlink. The number represents how many people have then clicked on that link and are automatically generated
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### Author:  [@Mpitily](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mpitily)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 10:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-automatically-create-a-topic-list-in-a-sub-category/173996/3 "2020-12-22T10:53:56Z")
ah, so it is just hyperlink?
What I mean by “automatic” is that I don’t wanna copy paste topics’ URL one by one, and write their title one by one in a post
So, automatic from the sub-category, I just select a sub-category and it lists for me all the topic in it, then I can copy-paste this list into a post
I wonder if there is a way discourse can do this for me
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### Author:  [@Mpitily](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mpitily)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 11:03am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-automatically-create-a-topic-list-in-a-sub-category/173996/4 "2020-12-22T11:03:08Z")
My problem is that there is about 87 topics to be listed in a post (like in the picture) in a category. I don’t wanna write all of them one by one, I am looking for a shortcut if there is any
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### Author:  [@osioke](https://meta.discourse.org/u/osioke)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 12:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-automatically-create-a-topic-list-in-a-sub-category/173996/5 "2020-12-22T12:16:33Z")
> [@Mpitily](#):
>
> I don’t wanna copy paste topics’ URL one by one, and write their title one by one in a post
When you post a link in Discourse with any character in front or behind that link, Discourse automatically uses the blog, topic or link’s title in place of the link in the cooked post. So for instance the text you see are just links:
- [Discourse 2.6 released!](https://blog.discourse.org/2020/11/discourse-2-6-released/) `https://blog.discourse.org/2020/11/discourse-2-6-released/`
- [Put images directly in notification e-mails](https://meta.discourse.org/t/put-images-directly-in-notification-e-mails/139965) `https://meta.discourse.org/t/put-images-directly-in-notification-e-mails/139965`
Then if you post them on separate lines with a space before each link, select them all and click the bullet format icon in your composer, you’d have them in lists.
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### Author:  [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2020, 12:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-automatically-create-a-topic-list-in-a-sub-category/173996/6 "2020-12-22T12:23:36Z")
An alternative approach:
Why don’t you put all of the Topics into their own Sub Category and share the link to the Sub Category, which will bring up a Topic List containing all of your Topics?
Then there is no need to create an ‘index’ Topic? The Topic List for the Sub-category IS your index?
Here’s an example here on Meta:
`https://meta.discourse.org/c/plugin/extras/5`
which will take you to:
> **[Extras](https://meta.discourse.org/c/customization/extras/5)**
>
> A directory of all extensions & integrations for Discourse which are not Discourse plugins, i.e. a CMS plugin, a browser extension or a native application.
which is a Topic List.
Like any Topic List it contains viewing stats.
Another useful alternative (if you can’t put them all in one sub-category and they are spread around) is to use _tags_.
Add a tag to each Topic and then link your users to that tag list, e.g.:
`https://meta.discourse.org/tag/official`
[https://meta.discourse.org/tag/official](https://meta.discourse.org/tag/official)
All of the topics here have tag ‘offiical’.
Again, it’s a Topic List with viewing stats …
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2020, 10:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-automatically-create-a-topic-list-in-a-sub-category/173996/7 "2020-12-24T22:42:50Z")
> [@merefield](#):
>
> Why don’t you put all of the Topics into their own Sub Category and share the link to the Sub Category, which will bring up a Topic List containing all of your Topics?
Or tag all the topics, which is a simpler and lighter weight method, free of permission overhead.
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### Author:  [@Mpitily](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mpitily)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2021, 6:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-automatically-create-a-topic-list-in-a-sub-category/173996/8 "2021-01-05T06:54:31Z")
Thank you guys for your needed answers!