{"id":2344,"date":"2026-10-20T08:32:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T07:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/article\/category-dropdown-location-search-bar\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T08:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T07:39:57","slug":"category-dropdown-location-search-bar","status":"publish","type":"gd_place","link":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/article\/advanced-search\/category-dropdown-location-search-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"How to add a category dropdown and location search to the GeoDirectory search bar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can add a category dropdown to the GeoDirectory search bar with the Advanced Search add-on. For locations, the Near field already does the job: with Location Manager it suggests the countries, regions and cities in your directory as visitors type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Add a category dropdown<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Make sure the Advanced Search add-on is installed and active.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Go to Places &gt; Settings &gt; Search (or the Search tab of your own post type).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click Category in the list of available fields to add it to the search form.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Turn on the option to show it in the main search bar, and set its position in the bar if you want it before or after the keyword input.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Save the field.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The category list now shows as a dropdown in the GD &gt; Search bar. A field shown in the main bar is not repeated in the advanced filters. See <a href=\"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/article\/advanced-search\/how-to-add-a-filter-to-the-main-search-bar\/\">How to add a filter to the main search bar<\/a> for the other fields that can go in the bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Let visitors pick a location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Near field of GD &gt; Search is the location input. With the Location Manager add-on, these settings under GeoDirectory &gt; Settings &gt; Locations control it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Enable location search autocompleter: as the visitor types, matching locations from your directory are suggested.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Min chars needed to trigger location autocomplete: how many letters before suggestions appear.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Disable nearest cities: when off, clicking into the Near field lists the cities closest to the visitor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To let visitors choose their location from anywhere on the site, add the location switcher to your menu. See <a href=\"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/article\/location-manager\/how-to-add-the-location-switcher-to-menus-and-widgets\/\">How to add the location switcher to menus and widgets<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can add a category dropdown to the GeoDirectory search bar with the Advanced Search add-on. For locations, the Near field already does the job: with Location Manager it suggests the countries, regions and cities in your directory as visitors type. Add a category dropdown The category list now shows as a dropdown in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"article\/tags":[],"article\/categories":[213,400],"class_list":["post-2344","gd_place","type-gd_place","status-publish","hentry","gd_placecategory-extensions-features","gd_placecategory-advanced-search"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/2344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/gd_place"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/2344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2405,"href":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/2344\/revisions\/2405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"gd_place_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/tags?post=2344"},{"taxonomy":"gd_placecategory","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpgeodirectory.com\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/categories?post=2344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}