# Moderator without access to a category can't change category notification settings for a user who does

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderator-without-access-to-a-category-cant-change-category-notification-settings-for-a-user-who-does/25636>\
**Category:** Bug\
**Created:** [24. Februar 2015 um 22:41 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderator-without-access-to-a-category-cant-change-category-notification-settings-for-a-user-who-does/25636 "2015-02-24T22:41:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

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**Author:** ![tobiaseigen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/tobiaseigen/32/539204_2.png) [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)\
**Post date:** [24. Februar 2015 um 22:41 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderator-without-access-to-a-category-cant-change-category-notification-settings-for-a-user-who-does/25636/1 "2015-02-24T22:41:43Z")

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I just made the odd discovery that, as a moderator with limited category permissions, I can can’t update the category notification settings for a user with access to the categories. To make matters worse, if I make any changes to a user’s preferences the category notification settings get changed. **This means that if someone was watching/tracking/muting a category before, they aren’t after the moderator saves the preferences.**

##Replication steps

- set up a user that has moderator privileges but limited access to one or more categories
- set up another user that has access to category/ies that the moderator does not have access to, and set some up to be watched/tracked/muted
- log in as admin, look at the user preferences and confirm the settings (see first screenshot below)
- log in as user with moderator privileges but without access to all categories and edit the user preferences of a user who has access to a category you do not (see second screenshot below)
- save changes.
- go back as admin to look at the user.. you will see the category notification settings are gone.

##How it should behave

The permissions on the user being edited should be reflected on the user page, not the permissions of the logged in user. So the moderator should be able to see and edit these category notification settings.

##Editing user’s preferences as admin

 ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/8/f/8f68ee382efe2ea0f5fde82d7d934f99bb418bc6.png)

##Editing user’s preferences as moderator with limited access to categories

 ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/c/4/c46af4026b7917691722f6c11c7c1cc5c02023ad.png)

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderator-without-access-to-a-category-cant-change-category-notification-settings-for-a-user-who-does/25636)._