rename a category

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  katelaingchen · Member · Mar 27, 2017 at 3:23 pm

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  I have a category with many posts already in it. I want to just rename the category without having to lose all of the associated posts, i.e. I do not want to go into them all and reassign a new category if I add a new category. I can’t find how to simply rename an existing one. Thank you for your help. – Kate

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  dave2swords · Member · Mar 27, 2017 at 3:54 pm

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  Hi there
  You can indeed rename categories!

  Some instructions in this guide refer to the WP Admin dashboard. You can get to this dashboard by adding /wp-admin to the end of your site’s url (e.g.: example.wordpress.com/wp-admin)
  Categories menu

  You will be presented with a list of your existing categories and an option to add new categories.

  Categories screen

  You can add a new category by filling out the fields:

  Add New Category

  Category name – As expected, the name of your category.
  Category parent – If you want to nest a category within a category, select the parent category. Otherwise leave at None.
  Description – Describe what the category is for. This description will appear as a tooltip if you use the category widget. (Optional)

  Managing Categories in WP Admin

  The Posts -> Categories page in your dashboard displays all your categories and shows the name, description, and number of posts belonging to each category. If you move your mouse over a category a set of options will appear, allowing you to edit, quick-edit, or delete that category:

  Managing Categories

  If you click on Quick Edit the category will change into an edit box and you can rename the category quickly:

  Now that i have your hopes up, i urge you to read this document, what you are looking for is on page 2!

  Hope this helps!
  dave

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  justjennifer · Member · Mar 27, 2017 at 4:04 pm

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  Things move fast around here and it’s now possible to edit categories also from the Calypso Dashboard>Settings>Writing>

  https://wordpress.com/settings/writing/

  Click the > at the far right of the Categories line and you will see a list of your categories with an ellipsis (…) at the right. Click it and then Edit, make your changes and save.

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  katelaingchen · Member · Mar 27, 2017 at 4:30 pm

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  Thank you! This worked.

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  dixieriders · Member · Mar 27, 2017 at 6:42 pm

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  I wish to rename a category I set up however when I try to do so I’m told that is not allowed. I tried to delete it so I could set up the category revision and am told I can not do that either. Why? Everything I read about categories say I can do so, and I’m “allowed” to do so with a variety of other categories. This has happened a number of times in the past, but I just thought it was a glitch since it didn’t block me every time. Now it seems to be a random, yet increasingly persistent, thing. :( :( How do I bypass this block?

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  justjennifer · Member · Mar 29, 2017 at 5:24 am

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  @dixieriders – where are you trying to do this from when you get the error message, the Calypso dashboard or the WP Admin dashboard?