Categories

A category is an optional tag you add to an item to group it with other items of the same kind. Examples are "Mobile", "Billing", "Reports", or "Performance". This page explains what categories do, how they show up to visitors, and how they help with filtering.

Where categories live

Categories are managed under SimpleBoards > Categories in the WordPress admin. You can add a new category, rename it, change its color, or delete it. Each category has three fields:

  • Name. The label shown to visitors on each item card. Keep it short.
  • Belongs to Board. A board picker. Pick a board if the category should only appear for that one board. Leave it as All Boards (global) if the same category should be available everywhere.
  • Category Color. A color picker. The color is used for the small chip that appears on the card. Pick a calm color that is easy to read against white.

Categories work on both ideas and roadmap items. Unlike statuses, they are not limited to the roadmap side.

How categories help

On a busy board, dozens of items can pile up. Adding categories makes it easier for visitors to see "this one is about Mobile" or "this one is about Reports" at a glance, without reading the title.

They power filtering

On the public board, visitors can filter the list by category. On the Ideas tab, a sidebar shows the top categories with a count next to each one. Clicking a category limits the list to items in that category. The same filter exists on the Roadmap tab if you leave Display Filter turned on for the board.

If you turn Display Filter off in board settings, the dropdown does not show. Visitors will not be able to filter by category, even if categories are set.

They make scanning the roadmap easier

On the roadmap, the category chip sits inside the card. Visitors can tell at one glance that an "In Progress" item is about Billing without opening the card.

How to set a category on an item

You can set the category in three places:

  • The admin item form (under SimpleBoards > Items, when you add or edit an item).
  • The visitor submission form, when a visitor submits an idea. If you set categories on the board, the form shows a category dropdown.
  • The drawer, when an editor opens an item on the public board and clicks Edit.

An item can have one category at a time.

When to leave categories empty

Categories are optional. If your board has fewer than 20 items, you may not need them at all. Use a category when:

  • You have items about more than one product area (Mobile vs. Web vs. API).
  • You want visitors to be able to filter by topic.
  • You want to keep an eye on which topics get the most ideas.

For a small board with a single product area, no categories is fine.

A short example

Your board is called Acme App Ideas. You sell a mobile app and a web app. You add two categories:

  • Mobile with a blue chip.
  • Web with a green chip.

When a visitor submits "Dark mode on iPhone", they pick Mobile in the dropdown. The card now shows a small blue Mobile chip in the corner.

Later, another visitor opens the board and clicks Mobile in the sidebar. The list narrows down to items tagged Mobile. They can scan only the mobile-related ideas instead of all 60 items on the board.

Last updated

2026-05-23 · SimpleBoards 1.0.4