# Reply Button Labels
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911
**Category:** Theme component
**Created:** [May 13, 2026, 10:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911 "2026-05-13T22:03:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2026, 10:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/1 "2026-05-13T22:03:04Z")
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| ℹ | **Summary** | Translatable topic & post reply button labels |
| 🛠 | **Repository** | [https://github.com/Lillinator/reply-button-labels](https://github.com/Lillinator/reply-button-labels) |
| ❓ | **Install Guide** | [How to install a theme or theme component](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-install-a-theme-or-theme-component/63682) |
Install this theme component
### 👩🏻💻 Overview
The core Discourse topic and post reply buttons use the same string and it can be a bit unclear to inexperienced users what the different functionalities are:
Unfortunately, changing the label in Admin-\>Site Texts results in changing labels for both buttons.
This lightweight theme component appends a “to Topic” to the topic reply button and “to Post” to the post reply button, to make them clearer, and also allows changing and translation of the strings.
There is a setting to toggle the Topic reply label in mobile (default is off).
Also included are common [locale files](https://github.com/Lillinator/discourse-reply-button-labels/tree/main/locales) for multi-language forums.
To only use the Topic reply button string in desktop view, simply delete any entry in the `post_reply_append` string component translation setting and save it.
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### 📸 Screenshots
English
Desktop:
Mobile toggled on:
> **New floating nested Topic reply button**
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> **French**
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> **Chinese (simplified)**
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> **Brazilian Portuguese**
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> **Russian**
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> **Arabic (RTL)**
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### ⚙ Settings
> **Theme component setting and strings**
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### 💡 Note
There is no mobile option for the Post reply button because the space in the post footer is very limited and injecting text onto the button breaks the post footer.
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**[Check out my other Discourse stuff](https://meta.discourse.org/filter?q=category%3Acustomization%20created-by%3ALilly%20order%3Acreated)**
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### Author:  [@EricGT](https://meta.discourse.org/u/EricGT)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2026, 8:02am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/2 "2026-05-14T08:02:58Z")
Thanks for noting!
Referring back to the recent posts in the nested replies topic, and your keen observation:
> [@Introducing nested replies](https://meta.discourse.org/t/introducing-nested-replies/402812/13):
>
> I always felt the “reply” labels could be more specific – so a [while back](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-link-replies-after-they-are-posted/320175/16) I used some custom CSS to add context: play_button screenshotplay_button CSS
> [@Introducing nested replies](https://meta.discourse.org/t/introducing-nested-replies/402812/14):
>
> the issue with this solution is it won’t be translated in the UX for members who have a non-english language setting in their preferences edit: i have solution here:
I share the same concern that @ToddZ noted: the button labeled simply **Reply** needs to be more specific.
Some users may assume that **Reply to Topic** is just a rephrasing of **Reply** , rather than understanding that the two actions are different.
As a moderator, I gave up years ago trying to fix cases where a user clicked the wrong reply button. With nested replies, I can see that same workload returning again.
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### Author:  [@gilles](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gilles)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2026, 8:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/3 "2026-05-14T08:21:27Z")
A small detail that matters, thanks @Lilly 👍
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### Author:  [@EricGT](https://meta.discourse.org/u/EricGT)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2026, 9:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/5 "2026-05-14T09:44:04Z")
@Lilly
Thank you for pointing out something I am sorry to let slip by.
My bad, the word should be “noting” as in bring attention, will fix.
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### Author:  [@ToddZ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ToddZ)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2026, 9:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/6 "2026-05-14T09:59:50Z")
> [@EricGT](#):
>
> Thanks for ~~nothing~~ noting!
Wow, one letter makes a big difference 😅
> [@EricGT](#):
>
> Some users may assume that **Reply to Topic** is just a rephrasing of **Reply** , rather than understanding that the two actions are different.
One could use any text that seems more precise… I used “Reply to main Topic” in hopes of being extra clear. “Add new comment” might be another option? (Though if users just don’t understand forum vocabulary, it’s probably an uphill battle.)
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2026, 10:08am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/7 "2026-05-14T10:08:17Z")
if you guys want the ability to change both buttons, you can just ask lol
i will have a look at this after i sleep some more.
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### Author:  [@EricGT](https://meta.discourse.org/u/EricGT)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2026, 10:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/8 "2026-05-14T10:13:33Z")
> [@Lilly](#):
>
> if you guys want the ability to change both buttons, you can just ask lol
Yes.
It would be nice to have an option to customize the labels for both buttons.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/9 "2026-05-14T18:35:42Z")
component has been updated to allow changing both the post and topic reply button labels.
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### Author:  [@EricGT](https://meta.discourse.org/u/EricGT)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2026, 6:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/10 "2026-05-14T18:40:58Z")
> [@Lilly](#):
>
> component has been updated
Quite busy I see.
> **[Commits · Lillinator/reply-button-labels](https://github.com/Lillinator/reply-button-labels/commits/main)**
>
> Allows admins to change the label on the topic reply button to distinguish it from the post reply button using a translatable string.. - Commits · Lillinator/reply-button-labels
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2026, 1:19am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/11 "2026-05-15T01:19:11Z")
i have added the floating topic reply button in the nested topic views now (sorry i missed it earlier) 🙂
please update the component
you might find the “reply to post” buttons a bit tedious in nested view so just keep the string field blank if you don’t want the extra button noise.
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### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2026, 5:49am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/12 "2026-05-15T05:49:40Z")
I’m perhaps partly off topic and partly out of the scope, but this really nice add-on is kind of desktop only. That is the reason:
My users (and that is the situation generally in the northern europe) are 85+ % mobile users. They need desperate more clearer reply. Icons aren’t that informative to ordinary people.
But that is more deeper issue than this component is doing.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2026, 5:51am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/13 "2026-05-15T05:51:16Z")
> [@Lilly](#):
>
> This component only applies to desktop view for now; I may make a toggle to allow for the mobile topic post button text, but space is very limited in the mobile view footer UI.
i will see about adding an option for topic reply label in mobile tomorrow
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2026, 3:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/14 "2026-05-15T15:41:16Z")
Ok i added a setting to toggle the Topic reply button label in mobile viewport size:
i tried adding to the post reply button but it pretty much borks the entire topic footer layout completely because of all the other stuff there already. it’s also a pain to inject into the DOM with the initializer because of how Discourse handles that section in mobile. Sorry folks, you’ll have to settle with just the topic footer button label in mobile.
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### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 6:32am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/15 "2026-05-16T06:32:36Z")
No can do then.
If I recall right I has asked similar thing at some point: reply to post is hard to understand for ordinary user with FB background and they don’t react to reply icon. And back then the answer was that is basically an impossible task. I was wondering to use nested style with diary type topics, but that is really confusing system even if there would be more informative reply button.
The issue — and the reason why I’m heavily off topic now — is topics longer than about four posts and earlier post or original one, weaks up some thoughts to comment. Specially newer users don’t comment because they don’t see a reply they recognise. But that is a question of the very base of Discourse and I hoped your TC would be an answer.
If I’ve had skills, and that would be possible, I would like to see a reply right below a toolbar (or what ever its name is).
But thanks a lot you used your time and tried.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 11:43am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/16 "2026-05-16T11:43:47Z")
🤷🏻♀️
this has been a thorn for quite some time and Discourse founders seem adamant there is no issue. i disagree, but expect it isn’t an easy change in core.
> [@Translation missing for Reply](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translation-missing-for-reply/57945/7):
>
> Make sure we only have one translation for reply button, we do not need to distinguish between “reply to topic” and “reply to post”.
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### Author:  [@YsLtr](https://meta.discourse.org/u/YsLtr)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2026, 2:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/reply-button-labels/402911/17 "2026-06-19T14:41:07Z")
It’s a problem for beginner but will be figured out after one try to these different buttons.
Some changes like it is helpful.