Prevent WordPress Users from Posting in a Category

One PublishPress user asked us if they can block users from using a particular category.

The answer is “Yes, with the PublishPress Permissions Pro plugin.”.

Let me show you an example of how this process works. I'm going to block users in the “Author” role from using one specific category.

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Video guide

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Text and screenshot guide

I've set up 4 categories on my site. This next image shows what users normally see when they write a Post. Can you guess which category I don't want people to use?

This next image shows what I see when I go “Posts” then “Categories”.

So how can you block users from putting content into “Never use this category!”?

The process is really very simple if you have the PublishPress Permissions plugin installed. Click on “Never use this category!” in the image above.

You will now see the editing screen for this category:

Scroll down, and you'll see that PublishPress Permissions has added several boxes underneath these settings. One of these boxes is called “Post Category Assignment Exceptions”.

In this box, you can choose which Roles, Group and Users can assign Posts to this category. Look at the image below and you can see I have chosen to set the “Author” role to “Blocked”.

If you save the settings above, Authors will not be able assign content to “Never use this category!”

This image shows what Authors will see when they go to create a Post. You have blocked them from using one specific category. They can't even see the category that they are prohibited from using.

If you think that is useful, you can also do the opposite. Here's how to restrict WordPress users to posting in only one category.