# Trying to move a category but getting "You can't nest a subcategory under another." error
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/trying-to-move-a-category-but-getting-you-cant-nest-a-subcategory-under-another-error/164476
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [September 18, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/trying-to-move-a-category-but-getting-you-cant-nest-a-subcategory-under-another-error/164476 "2020-09-18T17:37:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Monte\_Kalisch](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Monte_Kalisch)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/trying-to-move-a-category-but-getting-you-cant-nest-a-subcategory-under-another-error/164476/1 "2020-09-18T17:37:11Z")
I have a category (itself with 4 subcategories) that I had at the root, but I want to move under an existing root category. When I try to update the Parent Category, I’m seeing the following error:
You can’t nest a subcategory under another.
I thought I would be able to move things around any time, but maybe there’s another way I should be doing this?
---
### Author:  [@simon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simon)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/trying-to-move-a-category-but-getting-you-cant-nest-a-subcategory-under-another-error/164476/2 "2020-09-18T20:11:24Z")
> [@Monte\_Kalisch](#):
>
> I have a category (itself with 4 subcategories) that I had at the root, but I want to move under an existing root category.
Discourse only supports two levels of category nesting (category/sub-category.) You’ll need to change the Parent Category of the category’s 4 subcategories before you can convert the root category to a sub-category.
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### Author:  [@Monte\_Kalisch](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Monte_Kalisch)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/trying-to-move-a-category-but-getting-you-cant-nest-a-subcategory-under-another-error/164476/3 "2020-09-18T20:40:30Z")
Oh, that’s a huge bummer and restriction. Thank you for the info though.
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### Author:  [@Doniel\_Zoldan1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Doniel_Zoldan1)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/trying-to-move-a-category-but-getting-you-cant-nest-a-subcategory-under-another-error/164476/4 "2020-09-18T20:57:11Z")
Thanks for the info.
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### Author:  [@volanar](https://meta.discourse.org/u/volanar)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 10:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/trying-to-move-a-category-but-getting-you-cant-nest-a-subcategory-under-another-error/164476/5 "2020-12-30T10:21:45Z")
Are there other forum engines that do not allow adding child categories to sub-categories? The answer is no. I don’t understand the developers logic
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### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 11:15am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/trying-to-move-a-category-but-getting-you-cant-nest-a-subcategory-under-another-error/164476/6 "2020-12-30T11:15:50Z")
Does this help? [Sub-sub-categories - #7 by Michael\_Uray](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sub-sub-categories/139309/7)
> [@Sub-sub-categories](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sub-sub-categories/139309/7):
>
> Quick guide to set it from 2 (default) to 3 via the console:
>
> ```plaintext
> cd /var/discourse/
> ./launcher enter app
> rails c
>
> ```
>
> read current value:
>
> ```plaintext
> [1] pry(main)> SiteSetting.max_category_nesting
> => 2
>
> ```
>
> write new value:
>
> ```plaintext
> [2] pry(main)> SiteSetting.max_category_nesting = 3
> => 3
>
> ```
---
### Author:  [@Monte\_Kalisch](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Monte_Kalisch)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/trying-to-move-a-category-but-getting-you-cant-nest-a-subcategory-under-another-error/164476/7 "2021-01-05T23:00:32Z")
This would have been very helpful when I first ran into the problem, but after reading the implementation I think it’s got its own issues. Regardless, I really appreciate you sharing this with us as it could help the next person.
---
### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2024, 9:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/trying-to-move-a-category-but-getting-you-cant-nest-a-subcategory-under-another-error/164476/8 "2024-09-05T09:42:11Z")