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Discussion namespaces, called categories everywhere in the interface, turn a flat feed into a browsable forum. Members pick a category when they post, and filter by it when they read. A category does two things a tag cannot: it can belong to a single group, and it can carry its own posting permission. Discussion Categories screen listing categories with their posting permission and rename and delete actions

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Turning categories on

Settings and then Discussions, and switch on Enable Discussion Namespaces (on by default). A Discussion Categories entry appears under the module.

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Organization categories and group categories

Where you create a category decides its scope, and there is no way to change that afterwards. A group category also decides where the post lands. When a member picks a category that belongs to a group, the new discussion is created in that group even if they started writing from somewhere else. Changing the category on an existing post does not move it. Group forum with the category panel listing All plus each of the group's categories, and the post list filtered to the selected category

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Managing categories

Open the category manager with the gear icon next to All in the category panel, or from Settings and then Discussions and then Discussion Categories.
1

Create

Type a name into the New category… box and press Enter. New categories start with posting open to everyone.
2

Set who can post

The people icon means anyone can post in the category. Select it to switch to the padlock, which restricts posting to admins and moderators. Select it again to reverse.
3

Rename

The pencil icon edits the name in place. Existing posts keep the category, so they follow the new name.
4

Delete

The bin icon removes the category. Only categories with no discussions in them can be removed, so move or delete those posts first.
Categories cannot be reordered by hand.

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Who can manage categories

The permission depends on where the category lives, and it matches the permission needed to moderate the same place.

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The “anyone can post” switch

Each category carries its own posting permission, and in the organization-wide feed it can widen access rather than narrow it.
A member who does not meet Who Can Create Public Discussions can still post in the organization feed if they choose a category set to “anyone can post”. Leave that switch on the padlock for categories you want to keep as announcement channels.
Inside a group the switch has no effect. Posting there is governed by the group’s own Who can post? setting, so leave the category switch alone in group feeds.

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Tag groups inside a category

A category can carry tag groups (topic types), each holding a fixed list of tags. When a category has them:
  • the composer shows one tag picker per group, so a post can be labelled along several axes at once
  • the sidebar shows one filter per group, plus text search, author and “my posts” filters for that category
Tag groups have no setup screen. They are created through the API (POST /topic_types, then POST /topics for their values). Most organizations do not need them: free tags typed as #hashtags on a post already filter the feed.

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Common questions

Only busy ones. A group with a handful of posts a month reads fine as a single feed. Add categories once members start scrolling past things they do not care about.
Choosing one is optional, so posts stay uncategorized unless people are nudged. Keep the list short, name categories the way members already talk, and make sure admins categorize their own posts.
Yes, by creating them organization-wide. They are then offered on posts that are not tied to a group. A group’s own feed only offers that group’s categories, so a shared set has to be recreated per group if you want it in group feeds too.
The category still has discussions in it. Reassign or delete those discussions first, then delete the category.