Categories for Ideas were configured in Setup on the older Ideas feature. These steps describe how an admin defined and scoped category values in an org that still has Ideas enabled. Treat this as legacy guidance for maintaining an existing zone, not a pattern for a new program.
- Open the Ideas fields
From Setup, type Ideas in the Quick Find box, then go to the Ideas Fields area and click the Categories field. This is where Salesforce stores the picklist values members choose when they post an idea.
- Add or edit category values
Add a new picklist value for each product area you want members to tag, such as Mobile App or Reporting. Keep the list short and meaningful so the View Category drop-down stays easy to scan.
- Scope each value to zones
When you add a value, select the zones where it should appear. A category can show in a customer zone and stay hidden from a partner zone, so each audience sees only the headings that fit it.
- Set zone defaults
In the zone setup, choose default picklist values and a default sort. New visitors then land on a sensible filtered view rather than an unfiltered list of every idea in the zone.
The multi-select picklist on the Idea object that holds the category values. Members pick one or more when posting; readers filter by them on the Ideas tab.
The setting that controls which zones a given category value appears in, letting one org run several zones with different taxonomies.
Per-zone defaults that decide the view a new member sees first, including which category is pre-selected and how ideas are ordered.
- Categories are flat tags with no hierarchy. Do not confuse them with Data Categories, which use a parent-child tree and drive article and Answers visibility.
- Changing or deleting a category value does not re-tag existing ideas. Plan renames carefully so historical ideas keep a meaningful label.
- This is legacy configuration. For a new feedback program, prefer Experience Cloud, Topics, or a custom idea object instead of standing up a classic Ideas zone.