Organize content in Posts with Categories

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Misty Flowers

This article covers organizing content with Categories in Finalsite Posts, including how categories differ from tags and how to create, apply, and filter by categories on a board.

đź’ˇQuick answers

  • What is the difference between a tag and a category in Posts? A tag can filter posts in a Post element and be used across all boards, while a category cannot filter a Post element and is attached to a single board.
  • How do you create and apply categories to a board? Steps: open the board's three-dot menu and select Categories, or open a post and expand the Category & Tags section and click Manage Categories, type a category name and click Add Category, click Save, then click the category on a post to apply it (click again to remove it).
  • Where do you manage categories from inside the post editor? Expand the Category & Tags section in the post editor and click Manage Categories to add, edit, or delete categories for that board.
  • What happens if you click Cancel instead of Save in Manage Categories? Clicking Cancel instead of Save discards any categories you created or changed, so they are not applied to the board.
  • Can a post have more than one category applied? Yes; applied categories are highlighted in blue and multiple categories can be applied to a single post.
  • How do users filter posts by category on a page? Add a Post Tools element next to the Post element, open its settings, select the Category Filter format, and choose the Post element you want visitors to filter.

Posts is an extremely flexible tool that allows you to make frequent updates to your content and mix, match, and reuse that content without the need to reconfigure your settings all the time. Posts also makes it easy for users to find exactly the content that’s useful and relevant to them. Using tags and categories gives you additional flexibility to group and filter your posts. 

This article will focus on how to use Categories in Posts. To learn more about how to use Tags in Posts, check out the article, "Organize content in Posts with Tags." 

In this article

When do I use a tag or a category?

Tags and categories are similar methods of labeling your posts for easier grouping, targeting, and filtering — with two important differences:

  • A tag is used to filter posts in a Post element, but categories are not used in this way. 
  • A category is attached to a single board, while tags can be used across all of your boards and posts.

Organize posts with categories

Unlike tags, categories cannot be used to filter posts in a Post element. However, they can still be extremely useful for organizing posts in the Posts module, as well as allowing users to see and filter the categories on a particular board. 

Quick Tutorial: Organize Posts with Categories

22 STEPS

1. To manage and apply categories on posts, we are starting on an existing board with at least one post created.

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2. To add categories to a board, click the three dot menu next to the board.

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3. Click Categories

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4. To create a category, type the name. Type Baseball.

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5. Click Add Category

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6. Let's add another one. Type Football.

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7. Click Add Category

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8. Click Save

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9. Another way to manage and add categories is within the post editor. Expand the Category & Tags section.

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10. Click Manage Categories

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11. From here, you can add, edit, and delete categories.

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12. Type Soccer

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13. Click Add Category

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14. Click Save

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15. Notice the categories are listed.

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16. Click Athletics News to return to the board.

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17. Click the post title to open the post.

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18. Click Baseball to apply this category to this post.

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19. Applied categories are highlighted in blue. You can apply multiple categories to one post.

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20. Click Update

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21. Click Athletics News to return to the board.

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22. At a glance, you can see the category applied to the post. Keep adding categories to your posts to allow users to filter for topics most relevant to them.

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** Best experienced in Full Screen (click the icon in the top right corner before you begin) **

https://www.iorad.com/player/2424284/Organize-Posts-with-Categories

In the post editor screen, expand the Category & Tags box to access the category settings. 

manage categories.png

Before you can add a category to a post, you must first add categories to the board. Select the Manage Categories button in the post settings, or use the + Categories option in the board’s three-dot action menu to open Manage Categories.

Manage Categories modal showing Create Category field and four categories already created below

If the board doesn’t have any categories yet, you’ll only see the Create Category field. Type in each category name, then click + Add Category to add it to the Category & Tags box in the post. Once you have added all your categories, click Save to exit Manage Categories. If you click Cancel instead of Save, all of the categories you created will be removed.

Now that you have categories for your board, click on the applicable category or categories to add it to your post. Click the category again to remove it.

To add, edit, or delete categories on your board, return to Manage Categories. The existing categories will be shown in fields, and you can edit the name or click the trashcan icon to the right of the field to delete them. Then click Save. Again, if you click Cancel instead of Save, your changes will not be applied.

Categories in the Post Tools element

As with tags, you can also link a Post Tools element to the Post element on your Composer page to let users filter by category. 

  1. After you have added the Post element to your page, add a Post Tools element. 
  2. Open the element settings and select the Category Filter format. 
  3. Select the Post element that you want users to filter from the dropdown list.
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