In your Higher Logic Vanilla (Vanilla) community, Categories are the high-level organizers of your posts, and each post must be placed in a Category.
You can view your community's Categories by clicking Categories in the top navigation available on all community pages.
Managing a community's Categories involves, for example, creating them; setting their display layout and list order; assigning a type; and other management functions that are described in this article.
What's changed in Release 2026.017: Site Structure is now the central place to review and manage the relationships between languages, subcommunities, Categories, Knowledge Bases, layouts, and Style Guides. Changes are staged in a plan so you can review them before they affect members. See Release 2026.017 notes for an overview.
For Release 2026.017 communities, you can also create, move, merge, review, and delete Categories from Site Structure. Structural changes are staged under Pending Operations; see Site Structure Plans before applying a multi-operation change.
Access Categories in the Dashboard
To manage Categories, open Settings > Technical > Site Structure and select Edit. Find the Category in its language or subcommunity branch. Each Category card has Edit and, where available, Add Subcategory. Open More options for actions such as Move, Merge, Delete, and Manage Layouts.
Changes made in edit mode are listed under Pending Operations. Review the draft plan before selecting Apply; the changes do not affect members until the plan is applied. See Site Structure Plans for plan review and progress.
Arrange how Categories display
In Site Structure edit mode, drag a Category to its intended position or use More options > Move to choose another location in the hierarchy. Check the resulting order and destination under Pending Operations, then apply the plan when it is ready. The new order is not member-facing until the plan is applied.
Add a Category
- In Site Structure, select Edit and find the language or subcommunity branch where the Category belongs.
- Select Add > Add Category. The supplied screenshot shows this menu in the AI Languages branch; use the applicable branch in your community.
- Enter a Name and URL Code. Complete the settings relevant to the Category, such as its description, icon, banner, Category Type, allowed post types, Options, and Access. The fields shown can vary with your community's enabled features.
- Select Save. Review the new Category under Pending Operations and apply the plan when it is ready.
Edit a Category
In Site Structure edit mode, select Edit on the Category card, update its settings, and select Save. Review the update under Pending Operations before applying the plan.
Delete a Category
In Site Structure edit mode, open the Category card's More options menu and select Delete. Read the warning and content summary before confirming. Deletion can include the Category, all of its nested Categories, discussions, and comments, and cannot be undone after the plan is applied. Review the deletion under Pending Operations before selecting Apply.
Merge related Categories
For Categories that should become one destination, open More options > Merge on the source Category. Select the Category to merge into, review the choice, and select Merge. Review the resulting operation under Pending Operations before applying the plan. Keep Categories separate when similar names represent different audiences, permissions, or workflows.
Alternative to deleting
If the Category should remain available by direct link while staying out of standard listings, open its Edit Category form and use Archive Category under Options. The form says archived content remains accessible through direct links and searches that include archived content. Save the change and review it under Pending Operations before applying the plan.
Add a Subcategory
In Site Structure edit mode, select Add Subcategory on the parent Category card, complete the Category form, and select Save. Review the new child Category under Pending Operations before applying the plan.
Restricted Content in Nested Categories
There is a caveat that you should be aware of if your community has a Nested Category that has multiple subcategories — each of which has its own permissions set — and custom layouts with the Last Post feature.
There may be instances when the last post is from a subcategory that a user does not have permission to view. In this case, a "Restricted Content" placeholder displays in the Last Post section.
To better understand this situation, review the following example.
⭐️ EXAMPLE: Assume the following Nested Category > Subcategories scenario:
Nested Category: Dogs (permission: visible to all)
- Subcategory 1: German Shepherds (permission: visible to all)
- Subcategory 2: Border Collies (permission: visible only to users with a specific Role)
In the Dogs Nested Category, the custom layout is configured to display the "Last Post" section, in which would be listed the last post or comment from that Nested Category’s subcategories.
Using the example above, I view the Nested Category:
- If the last post was in German Shepherds, that last post will display for me.
- If the last post was in Border Collies, which has visibility limitations:
- if I have the specific Role permission for the Border Collies subcategory, that last post will display for me.
- if I do not have the specific Role permission for the Border Collies subcategory, that last post will not display for me. Instead, the "Restricted Content" placeholder will display.
Workarounds
You can avoid this situation in either of two ways.
- Do not “nest” any Categories that have content that you want “permissions-gated.”
- Do not apply permissions-based restrictions on Nested Categories; remove any current permissions-based restrictions on Nested Categories.
Choose a Categories page layout
When your community users click Categories in your community's navigation bar, they are taken to the Categories page.
Administrators can customize this page in two ways:
Create & apply a custom layout
Using our latest theme, Foundation, you can create custom layouts for your Categories page using Layout Editor. To learn how to build custom layouts for this and other pages, check out the article below:
Select a default layout
Open Appearance > Layouts > Category Pages > Category Layout Settings to review whether the site uses custom or legacy Category layouts. To review the layout assigned to a specific Category, open that Category's More options > Manage Layouts in Site Structure edit mode. The Assignment Source column shows whether an assignment is inherited from a broader default or overridden for the selected Category. Review and save any supported change in its own interface.
Category Types
Choose Category Type in the Add or Edit Category form. The options available depend on your community's enabled features. Changing the type can change how the Category appears and what content it can hold; review the type before applying the plan. See Basic Category Types for the types and their behavior.
Other settings
Archive
The form says archived content remains accessible through direct links and searches that include archived content.
Ideation
If you have the Ideation addon included in your plan and enabled, you will also see the option to make it an Idea Category.
Maximum Category Display Depth
This setting is located in the Appearance section of the Dashboard > Posting Settings page (vanilla/settings/posting).
The default setting is No Limit, but you can choose a level at which nested categories will be placed in a comma-delimited list.
NOTE: The subcategories display as hyperlinks under their root Category when viewing the forum index.
Custom permissions
The Social Groups Category is an exception to category-level permissions. In Site Structure, its Access section displays an informational message instead of editable permissions. Access to Social Groups content is managed by group membership, Group Settings, and the groups.moderate permission.
By default, a Category uses its inherited or global permissions. To give it different access, open Edit on its Site Structure card. Under Access, enable Custom Permissions and assign roles to the appropriate Permission Sets. Each set shows the permissions it includes; see Site Structure for the available sets and special cases. Select Save, then review the update under Pending Operations before applying the plan.
Learn more
Select a Category when posting
When creating a post, the Create Post page includes a Category dropdown you can click to choose which Category to add your post.
- When creating a post from within a specific Category, that Category will automatically be selected.
- The Category dropdown is only available when creating a post from a core page (Recent Posts, Home, or Categories).
Category following
Additional resources
Click the link below to access a video expanding on what you learned in this article.