Title: Postie category selection
Last modified: January 3, 2018

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# Postie category selection

 *  Resolved [Douglas “BearlyDoug” Hazard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bearlydoug/)
 * (@bearlydoug)
 * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postie-category-selection/)
 * I’m using Adrien de Bosset’s [“Force User to specific Category”](https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/251377/force-a-users-posts-category)
   function inside my functions.php file. Since I receive posts via email from multiple
   collegiate organizations, and tie them into the specific school they represent,
   I’m forcing each person’s posts to automatically go into the category for the
   school they represent.
 * When I do a manual test post under their name (via WP Admin), the behavior operates
   as expected.
 * When the post comes in via Postie, it’s being assigned to a standard “default”
   category. What I need to do is to not have Postie default to that category, but
   to default to the category associated with that individual poster.
 * For example, in Postie, the default category is “Athletics News”.
    John Doe works
   with Georgia State Panthers… so his default category is gsu-panthers-news (GSU
   Panthers News). Postie binds the category of his post to “Athletics News”, instead
   of “GSU Panthers News”.
 * Jane Merriweather works for Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. I’ve assigned her 
   default category to be “CCU Chants News”. When Postie processes it, it assigns
   her posts to “Athletics News” and not “CCU Chants News”.
 * How can I get Postie to respect the WordPress default behavior I have assigned
   in my functions.php file?
 * Thanks!

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Wayne Allen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wayneallen-1/)
 * (@wayneallen-1)
 * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postie-category-selection/#post-9832184)
 * Unfortunately you didn’t provide enough information. What hook are you using 
   to change the category? You might want to use the Postie hooks. See [http://postieplugin.com/extending/](http://postieplugin.com/extending/)
 *  Thread Starter [Douglas “BearlyDoug” Hazard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bearlydoug/)
 * (@bearlydoug)
 * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postie-category-selection/#post-9832247)
 * Wayne, did you look at the link I provided to Adrien’s issue? That summarizes
   what the issue is.
 * I’m not sure how to explain it any clearer than what I did above, though.
 * “postie_category_default” forces EVERYONE to use whatever the WordPress default
   is (in my case, “uncategorized”).
 * But if you look at the examples above, you’ll see that each specific user, via
   their profile page, is “locked” into a specific category.
 * On my site:
    * John Doe is “locked” into being able to only post into the “GSU
   Panthers News” category. Whether he remembers to check that category or not, 
   his posts will ALWAYS be put into the “GSU Panthers News” category.
 * * Jane Merriweather is “locked” into being able to only post into the “CCU Chants
   News” category. Whether she remembers to check that category or not, her posts
   will ALWAYS be put into the “CCU Chants News” category.
 * When I import the mails from John Doe and Jane Merriweather, their posts are 
   being locked into the “Athletics News” category. Which means I then have to log
   in and edit each and every post to change the categories to the appropriate ones.
 * As someone in sports media, doing photography (an average of 300 pics per game),
   if I have to also go in and modify each post (can be anywhere from 3 to 100, 
   per day), that takes time away from me being able to do photography.
 * I’m trying to work smarter, not harder. ::chuckles::
 *  Plugin Author [Wayne Allen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wayneallen-1/)
 * (@wayneallen-1)
 * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postie-category-selection/#post-9834209)
 * I did look at the link and asked how you are doing it as I suspect it isn’t a
   direct copy/paste.
 * The Postie category is assigned before the post is published. So you need to 
   use a hook that happens at the correct point. For example {status}_{post_type}
 * See [https://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Status_Transitions](https://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Status_Transitions)
 *  Thread Starter [Douglas “BearlyDoug” Hazard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bearlydoug/)
 * (@bearlydoug)
 * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postie-category-selection/#post-9835095)
 * I apologize… and as much as I love tinkering around with code, it is, indeed,
   a direct copy and paste. 🙂
 * What I’m trying to ascertain is where, exactly, do I modify the postie functions
   file (I know it needs to go into the main wp-content folder), to have Postie 
   use the default categories (as the original unedited script is used) each person
   is assigned to.
 * I’m sorry for being so dense with all of this, haha! I love the Postie script,
   and if we can get it working, I’ll even start recommending it to some of the 
   customers for the company I work for… and may go beyond just recommendations.
 *  Plugin Author [Wayne Allen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wayneallen-1/)
 * (@wayneallen-1)
 * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postie-category-selection/#post-9838639)
 * You don’t need to modify Postie at all. There are plenty of hooks to use. Look
   at [http://postieplugin.com/postie_post_before/](http://postieplugin.com/postie_post_before/)
 *  Thread Starter [Douglas “BearlyDoug” Hazard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bearlydoug/)
 * (@bearlydoug)
 * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postie-category-selection/#post-9838650)
 * I was referring to modifying filterPostie.php, not Postie itself.
 * What I’m not clear on is how to force Postie to use the assigned category, as
   outlined in the first link I posted, at the top.
 *  Plugin Author [Wayne Allen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wayneallen-1/)
 * (@wayneallen-1)
 * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postie-category-selection/#post-9840406)
 * Use the hook I specified. There is sample code in the link I sent you.
 *  Thread Starter [Douglas “BearlyDoug” Hazard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bearlydoug/)
 * (@bearlydoug)
 * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postie-category-selection/#post-9841316)
 * Told you I like fiddling around with code. Did some troubleshooting, and testing,
   but here’s the exact code for what we need:
 *     ```
       <?php 
       function my_postie_post_function($post) {
               $dlhCategory = get_user_meta($post['post_author'], '_access', true);
               $post['post_category'] = $dlhCategory;
               return $post;
       }
   
       add_filter('postie_post_before', 'my_postie_post_function');
       ?>
       ```
   
 *  Plugin Author [Wayne Allen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wayneallen-1/)
 * (@wayneallen-1)
 * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postie-category-selection/#post-9842002)
 * Looks like you have it sorted.

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

The topic ‘Postie category selection’ is closed to new replies.

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 * 9 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Wayne Allen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wayneallen-1/)
 * Last activity: [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/postie-category-selection/#post-9842002)
 * Status: resolved