Organize activities with categories

Plan a small category set

Categories help visitors filter a mixed activity calendar. Use names that describe stable groups, such as Workshops, Classes, Performances, or Community Events. Avoid creating a category for a single date when the activity title already communicates it.

Create a category

1. Open Events & Bookings > Events & Calendar > Categories.
2. Enter a Name that visitors will understand.
3. Review the generated Slug, or enter a short lowercase slug using words and hyphens.
4. Add a Description when editors or visitors need more context.
5. Select Add New Category.

Assign categories to an activity

1. Open Events & Bookings > Events & Calendar > All Events.
2. Select the activity you want to organize.
3. Find Categories in the standard WordPress editor panel.
4. Select every relevant category.
5. Select Publish or Update.
6. Open a public activity list or calendar with category filters and confirm the activity appears under the intended choice.

An activity can have more than one category. For example, a Pottery for Beginners activity can belong to both Workshops and Family Activities when both labels are genuinely useful to visitors.

Edit or remove a category

1. Return to Events & Bookings > Events & Calendar > Categories.
2. Select a category name to edit its name, slug, or description.
3. Save the change and check pages that link to the old category URL when you changed its slug.
4. To remove an unused category, use its Delete action and confirm the request.

Deleting a category removes that classification; it does not delete the activities that used it. Reassign affected activities when they still need a public filter choice.

Understand public filters

The public activity filters list categories that are assigned to content. Empty categories are omitted. A category filter matches activities through the category slug, so changing the slug can affect saved shortcode or block settings that refer to the old value.

Use one spelling and capitalization for each concept. A short list of distinct categories is easier to scan than overlapping labels such as Workshop, Workshops, and Workshop Events.

Free and Pro category differences

Free provides reusable, non-hierarchical categories. Every category is at the same level.

With active Pro access, categories are hierarchical and can use parent-child relationships. For example, Classes can be a parent of Yoga and Pottery. Pro also exposes the category taxonomy through the WordPress REST interface used by compatible editor integrations.

Free and Pro use the same taxonomy. Disabling Pro does not delete assigned categories. The Free editor presents them as a flat list until Pro hierarchy is active again.

Troubleshoot categories

A category is missing from the public filter

Assign it to at least one published activity that falls inside the displayed date range. Empty categories are not shown in the filter.

An activity appears under the wrong category

Edit the activity, clear the incorrect selection, choose the intended category, and select Update. Clear page or object caches if the old filter result remains visible.

Parent category controls are absent

Parent-child category hierarchy is a Pro enhancement. Free categories are intentionally flat.