# Requiring a Category Before Posting
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/requiring-a-category-before-posting/120185
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [June 12, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requiring-a-category-before-posting/120185 "2019-06-12T21:03:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Monty](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requiring-a-category-before-posting/120185/1 "2019-06-12T21:03:03Z")
Is there a way to require the selection of a Category that is not “Uncategorized” before allowing someone to post? Too many posts go into Uncategorized and a lot of time is spent re-categorizing posts because some people just don’t bother.
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requiring-a-category-before-posting/120185/2 "2019-06-12T21:07:46Z")
There is! Disabling the uncategorized category will require users to choose a category before they can start typing. To do so, go to site settings and uncheck `allow uncategorized topics`.
Users will see the following when trying to post:
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requiring-a-category-before-posting/120185/3 "2019-06-12T21:16:18Z")
Thanks for the quick answer!
Does this option still allow people to choose “Uncategorized” as the category before posting? If so, is there a way to prevent that so all posts are categorized?
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requiring-a-category-before-posting/120185/4 "2019-06-12T21:17:20Z")
> [@Monty](#):
>
> Does this option still allow people to choose “Uncategorized” as the category before posting?
No it does not. If the site setting `allow uncategorized topics` is disabled, uncategorized is no longer an option for users or staff to select.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requiring-a-category-before-posting/120185/5 "2019-06-12T21:22:09Z")
Great, that’s perfect, thanks!
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2023, 8:19am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requiring-a-category-before-posting/120185/6 "2023-08-22T08:19:41Z")
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2023, 8:34am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requiring-a-category-before-posting/120185/7 "2023-08-22T08:34:45Z")
We also now have the `default composer category` admin setting, where you can set an existing one to be automatically filled in when the composer opens. 🥳
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2023, 8:34am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/requiring-a-category-before-posting/120185/8 "2023-08-22T08:34:49Z")