Overview
Categories let you group related links for easier browsing, filtering, and bulk management. They’re optional — links don’t have to belong to a category — but they become useful once you have more than a few dozen links.
GT Link Manager supports a simple hierarchical category structure. A category can have a parent category, creating a two-level (or deeper) tree. Parent-child relationships don’t affect redirect behavior; they’re purely organizational.
Each category maintains a denormalized link count — a cached integer representing how many links belong to it. This count updates automatically whenever links are created, moved, or deleted.
The categories screen
Go to GT Links → Categories. The screen is split into two sections.
The left side shows the add/edit form. The right side shows a list of all existing categories with columns for name, slug, parent, and link count. Each row has edit and delete actions.
Creating a category
Fill in the form on the left side of the categories screen.
Name is the display label. It appears in admin dropdowns and the category filter on the All Links screen.
Slug is the URL-safe identifier for the category. It’s not used in any redirect URL — it’s only used internally to identify the category programmatically and in the REST API. If you leave it blank, it’s auto-generated from the name.
Parent lets you assign this category as a child of an existing category. Select a parent from the dropdown, or leave it at None for a top-level category.
Description is optional free-form text for internal reference. It has no effect on link behavior.
Click Add Category to save.
Editing a category
Click Edit on any category row. The form on the left populates with that category’s current data. Make your changes and click Update Category. The list on the right refreshes to reflect the changes.
Deleting a category
Click Delete on any category row. The category is deleted immediately without a confirmation prompt. Links that were assigned to the deleted category are not deleted — their category_id is set to zero (uncategorized).
If you delete a parent category, its child categories are not automatically deleted or reparented. They remain in the system but their parent_id now points to a non-existent record. You should manually reparent or delete child categories before deleting a parent.
Assigning links to categories
There are several ways to assign links to categories.
On the link edit form — a Category dropdown is available in the link edit form. Select any category and save the link.
Via Quick Edit — Quick Edit doesn’t expose the category field. Use the full edit form or bulk actions for category assignment.
Via bulk actions — on the All Links screen, select multiple links and choose Set Category from the bulk action dropdown. This is the fastest way to organize a large number of links at once.
Via the REST API — the POST /gt-link-manager/v1/links/bulk-category endpoint supports both moving and copying links to a category programmatically.
Filtering by category
On the All Links screen, the filter bar includes a category dropdown. Selecting a category shows only the links assigned to it. This filter works in combination with other filters (redirect type, rel attribute).
Categories in the REST API
The REST API exposes full CRUD operations for categories at /wp-json/gt-link-manager/v1/categories. You can list, create, update, and delete categories programmatically. See the REST API chapter for endpoint details.
Categories in CSV export
When you export links to CSV, the category column is resolved to the category name (not the ID). This makes the export human-readable and portable. When importing CSV back into a fresh install, you’ll need to recreate categories first — the import process doesn’t auto-create categories from the category column.