Categories not accessible to public but aren't protected on backend

[Erika_R]

Hi!

I have a selection of categories that are being protected on the front end but do are not selected as protected on the category protection list on the back end of the website. Can you give me some direction on what I need to do to troubleshoot this issue?

[The Assurer]

Are you using Category Protection, as described here?
https://simple-membership-plugin.com/use-category-protection-membership-site/
Please pay particular attention to the “Note” about how to use the Drop Down box.

[Erika_R]

I have not set any category protections. The only thing I have set protections on are individual pages. I had checked the category protection section to make sure there wasn’t anything set as a default after an update and the categories in questions do not have checkboxes next to them as either level protected or globally protected. Nor have I ever set them as level or globally protected.

[The Assurer]

If you deliberately unprotect a particular page, that is currently protected, can it be seen?
https://simple-membership-plugin.com/apply-content-protection/

[Erika_R]

Well that’s part of the issue. The content being protected is a WordPress generated categories listing so there is no associated WordPress page that can be individually protected or unprotected.

[The Assurer]

The content being protected is a WordPress generated categories listing so there is no associated WordPress page

That sounds like a hard coded “category template” file, that is part of your theme.
https://codex.wordpress.org/Category_Templates
You may end up having to “roll up your sleeves,” and do some PHP coding of your theme’s category template file.

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