Category Following & Notifications - Vanilla Success
<main> <article class="userContent"> <p>If enabled, <strong>Category Following </strong>allows <em>all </em>users to:</p><ul><li>Follow Categories</li><li>Choose a notification type</li></ul><p>📝 <strong>NOTE</strong>: This feature replaces the legacy <em>Advanced Notifications</em> feature, which was limited to Admins and Moderators.</p><p>The importance of Category Following cannot be overstated: these notifications make it much easier for your users to stay updated about the content they find interesting, which in turn increases the overall level of engagement across your <strong>Higher Logic Vanilla (Vanilla)</strong> community. </p><h2 data-id="enable-category-following">Enable Category Following</h2><p>1. Access the Dashboard.</p><p>2. Navigate to <strong>Settings > Discussions > Categories</strong>.</p><p>3. Click the <strong>settings</strong> icon at the top of the page.</p><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-large float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/N57YNWW6KYZP/access-category-settings.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/N57YNWW6KYZP/access-category-settings.png" alt="access_category_settings.png" height="445" width="1014" loading="lazy" data-display-size="large" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <p>4. Slide the toggle to the right.</p><p>5. Click <strong>Save</strong>.</p><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-large float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/VBKOKLA1LHEL/manage-categories-page-ctgry-follow-toggle.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/VBKOKLA1LHEL/manage-categories-page-ctgry-follow-toggle.png" alt="User: "Manage Categories page-Ctgry Follow-toggle.png"" height="180" width="320" loading="lazy" data-display-size="large" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <h2 data-id="follow-a-category">Follow a Category</h2><p>When the Category Following feature is enabled, all users will see a <strong>bell icon</strong> at the top of each Category page. </p><p><strong>📝 NOTE</strong>: By default, all Categories will be set to <strong>Unfollow</strong>, giving users the freedom to choose which ones they want to follow.</p><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-large float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/RJ30K13A3WSV/bell-icon-example.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/RJ30K13A3WSV/bell-icon-example.png" alt="bell_icon_example.png" height="320" width="986" loading="lazy" data-display-size="large" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <p>Following a Category adds it to the <strong>Followed Categories </strong>section of your <strong>Profile > Notifications Preferences</strong> page. From here, you can manage the notification option for each Category at any time via the <strong>Email </strong>and <strong>Popup </strong>checkboxes.</p><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-large float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/37MHIY3GK1IM/followed-categories-profile-preferences.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/37MHIY3GK1IM/followed-categories-profile-preferences.png" alt="followed_categories_profile_preferences.png" height="509" width="728" loading="lazy" data-display-size="large" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <h2 data-id="notification-options">Notification options</h2><p>To follow a Category, click the bell icon and select one of the four available notification options:</p><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-large float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/WQPTSCXPPLRJ/notification-options.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/WQPTSCXPPLRJ/notification-options.png" alt="notification_options.png" height="455" width="736" loading="lazy" data-display-size="large" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <h4 data-id="follow">Follow</h4><ul><li>Adds the Category to your <strong>Followed Categories</strong> on your preferences page, but does <em>not </em>check the Email or Popup boxes (i.e., no notifications are enabled, though you can manually change that later).</li></ul><h4 data-id="discussions">Discussions</h4><ul><li>Adds the Category to your <strong>Followed Categories</strong> on your preferences page and checks the <strong>Popup </strong>box.</li><li>By default, you'll receive popup notifications whenever new <strong>discussions </strong>are posted to the Category.</li></ul><h4 data-id="discussions-and-comments">Discussions and Comments</h4><ul><li>Adds the Category to your <strong>Followed Categories</strong> on your preferences page and checks the <strong>Popup </strong>box. </li><li>By default, you'll receive popup notifications whenever new <strong>discussions <em>and </em>comments </strong>are posted to the Category.</li></ul><h4 data-id="unfollow">Unfollow</h4><ul><li>By default, all Categories are set to Unfollow until you choose to follow them. If you’re already following a Category, you can set it to <strong>Unfollow</strong> at any time to disable all notifications and remove it from your list of <strong>Followed Categories</strong>. </li></ul><h3 data-id="notes">Notes</h3><ul><li>Regardless of the notification option you choose, all Categories you follow are easily filterable on the <code class="code codeInline" spellcheck="false" tabindex="0">/categories</code> page by setting the <strong>View: </strong>menu to <strong>Following</strong>. </li></ul><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-large float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/ST1SRTQ859SD/filter-categories-on-category-page.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/ST1SRTQ859SD/filter-categories-on-category-page.png" alt="filter_categories_on_category_page.png" height="390" width="750" loading="lazy" data-display-size="large" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <ul><li>Followed Categories are indicated by a solid bell icon for easy visual reference.</li><li>If you choose to receive <strong>Email </strong>notifications for a Category, the text in the Category notification dialog will update to read <em>Notify of all new discussions by email / Notify of all new posts by email </em>(as shown below). </li></ul><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-medium float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/730OT759NO9V/image.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/730OT759NO9V/image.png" alt="image.png" height="368" width="343" loading="lazy" data-display-size="medium" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <h2 data-id="notification-preferences-page">Notification Preferences page</h2><p>When the Category Following feature is enabled, the <strong>Followed Categories </strong>section is added to your profile’s <strong>Notification Preferences </strong>page, making it easy to:</p><ul><li>See which Categories you're currently following</li><li>Update their notification options at any time using the <strong>Email </strong>and <strong>Popup</strong> checkboxes</li></ul><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-large float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/f8oJ5PjBIY-z-fKd971L5TOGZb4NzYlcRXA_GZcKlPfuUSKHwu_QHpRZJSRfQ_bFmnnW5DH_nHJkuHPDG8X471pWkc6HYHOfSqZwVimZcPWTa8A1RDsKUVfCY0MAtlYL4EPAemCv=s0" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/f8oJ5PjBIY-z-fKd971L5TOGZb4NzYlcRXA_GZcKlPfuUSKHwu_QHpRZJSRfQ_bFmnnW5DH_nHJkuHPDG8X471pWkc6HYHOfSqZwVimZcPWTa8A1RDsKUVfCY0MAtlYL4EPAemCv=s0" alt="f8oJ5PjBIY-z-fKd971L5TOGZb4NzYlcRXA_GZcKlPfuUSKHwu_QHpRZJSRfQ_bFmnnW5DH_nHJkuHPDG8X471pWkc6HYHOfSqZwVimZcPWTa8A1RDsKUVfCY0MAtlYL4EPAemCv=s0" height="183" width="624" loading="lazy" data-display-size="large" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <h3 data-id="email-vs.-popup">Email vs. Popup</h3><p>When choosing how to receive notifications for a followed Category, you have two options:</p><ul><li>Check the <strong>Email </strong>box to have emails sent to your profile and personal inboxes. Keep in mind this option sends a separate email for <em>each </em>new discussion <em>and </em>comment; this option can result in numerous emails, so it's generally only recommended for Categories in which you're heavily invested or interested in.</li></ul><p><strong>✔️ TIP</strong>: In your personal inbox, these emails may end up in your Spam folder, so be sure to check there if you don't see it. </p><ul><li>Check the <strong>Popup </strong>box to have a popup display directly in the Vanilla community, at the bottom-left of the screen. These occur in near real-time.</li></ul><h3 data-id="access-your-notification-preferences-page">Access your Notification Preferences page</h3><p>There are two ways to access this page:</p><ul><li>From your <strong>Profile > Edit Profile</strong> page, click <strong>Notification Preferences</strong>. </li></ul><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-large float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/N2I94GKCPQ7N/access-notification-pref-1.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/N2I94GKCPQ7N/access-notification-pref-1.png" alt="access_notification_pref-1.png" height="351" width="1099" loading="lazy" data-display-size="large" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <ul><li>Click the bell icon on a Category page and click the settings icon.</li></ul><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-medium float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/3S73ZSFRKO2C/access-notification-pref-2.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/3S73ZSFRKO2C/access-notification-pref-2.png" alt="access_notification_pref-2.png" height="333" width="300" loading="lazy" data-display-size="medium" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <h2 data-id="advanced-notifications-(legacy-feature)">Advanced Notifications (legacy feature)</h2><p>Categories you were following prior to the launch of <strong>Followed Categories</strong> (when they were referred to as <strong>Advanced Notifications</strong>) should remain on your profile, but we do recommend double checking your selections in your Notification Preferences. </p> </article> </main>