What is a category?
The Categories tab is where you create and manage the folder structures used to organize your website content. Every article on your site must belong to exactly one category.
In addition to keeping your database organized, certain website pages (or Menu Items) rely directly on categories to display content. For example, a "Category Blog Layout" or "Category List Layout" page will automatically pull and display all articles assigned to that specific category.
To access these settings, go to Website > Categories.
Creating a new category
You can add as many categories as you need by following these steps:
- Go to Website > Categories and click the New (+) button in the top toolbar.
- Fill out the Category details:
- Title: Enter the name of the category. Depending on your display settings, this name may appear on your live website.
- Alias: The short, internal backend name used for web routing. The system will auto-generate this for you using lowercase letters. Spaces are not allowed; the system will replace spaces with hyphens (-).
- Published: Choose Yes or No to set whether this category is live.
- Description: An optional field where you can add text or context for the category. These descriptions can be displayed on web pages depending on your advanced menu settings, but they are generally not required.
- Click Save.
Using the Category Manager
The Category manager page displays your entire folder structure. You can use the following controls to manage, find, and sort your list:
Finding and filtering categories
- Filter by title or ID: Enter a full word, a partial word, or the category's unique ID number into the search bar on the left to locate a category quickly.
- Filter by Published State: Use the dropdown on the right to display only Published or only Unpublished categories.
- Column sorting: Click any text column header (such as Title) to sort the entire list by that column's value.
Understanding the list columns
- #: A basic index number automatically assigned by the system for quick reference.
- Checkbox: Select this box to target one or more categories for toolbar actions like publishing or deleting. Checking the box in the header row selects all categories on the page.
- Title: The name of the category. Click the title to open the category for editing.
- Published: Displays a checkmark or icon showing the category's active status. You can click the icon directly in this column to quickly toggle between published and unpublished states.
- Active: Displays the total number of active articles currently assigned to this category. This count includes published, unpublished, and archived articles. It does not include items in the trash.
- Trash: Displays the total number of articles from this category that are currently sitting in the trash bin. These items remain assigned to the category until they are permanently deleted.
- ID: A unique identification number automatically assigned by the platform. This is used for internal system tracking and cannot be modified.
Understanding the category toolbar
Select the checkboxes next to the categories you want to modify, then click one of the toolbar buttons in the top-right corner to take action:
- Permissions: Opens the access control settings. This allows you to restrict visibility so that only specific database member groups can view the articles assigned to this category.
- Publish / Unpublish: Instantly activates or deactivates the selected categories.
- Delete: Permanently removes the selected categories from your system. Note: You can only delete a category if it is completely empty. If a category contains any articles—including articles that are currently sitting in the trash bin—the system will block you from deleting it. You must first reassign or permanently delete those articles.
- New: Opens a blank form to create a brand-new category folder.