---
title: "How to Search by Post Category in Elementor?"
url: https://theplusaddons.com/docs/search-by-post-category-in-elementor/
date: 2023-09-13
modified: 2026-09-28
lang: en
author: "Aditya Sharma"
description: "Sometimes visitors want to jump straight to a whole category - \"show me everything in Recipes\" - rather than search individual post titles. Setting the Search Bar widget's Source to..."
image: https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/How-to-Search-by-Post-Category-in-Elementor_-1024x536.jpg
word_count: 192
---

# How to Search by Post Category in Elementor?

## 

- Search Bar widget searches category names directly when Source is set to Taxonomy and Select Taxonomy is set to Category.
- Search Bar widget is a Pro widget in The Plus Addons for Elementor Pro and requires Elementor free installed and active.
- The Plus Addons > Widgets enables Search Bar by turning its toggle on, and the setup needs posts assigned to at least a few different categories.

Sometimes visitors want to jump straight to a whole category - "show me everything in Recipes" - rather than search individual post titles.

Setting the Search Bar widget's **Source** to **Taxonomy** and **Select Taxonomy** to **Category** searches category names directly.

For the full settings tour of the **Search Bar** widget, see [Search Bar Widget Settings Overview](https://theplusaddons.com/docs/search-bar-widget-settings-overview/).

***Requirement - This widget is a part of The Plus Addons for Elementor Pro, make sure it's installed & activated to enjoy all its powers.***

[LIVE WIDGET LINK](https://theplusaddons.com/elementor-builder/ajax-search-bar/?utm_source=tpae&utm_medium=docs&utm_campaign=text)

## Before You Start

- **Prerequisite:** [Elementor](https://wordpress.org/plugins/elementor/) (free) installed and active.- **Edition:** Search Bar is a **Pro** widget - it requires The Plus Addons for Elementor Pro to be installed and active.- **Widget to enable:** go to **The Plus Addons > Widgets**, search for **Search Bar** and turn its toggle on.- Posts assigned to at least a few different categories.

## Steps

Add the Search Bar widget, set **Source** to **Taxonomy**, then set **Select Taxonomy** to **Category**.

![Select Taxonomy control set to Category](https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/search-bar-taxonomy-category.webp)

## Settings Overview

| Setting | What it does | Default |
| ------- | ------------ | ------- |
| Source | Taxonomy - searches taxonomy terms, not post titles. | Post |
| Select Taxonomy | Category - the built-in post category taxonomy. | - |

## Related Docs

- [How to Search by Post Tag in Elementor?](https://theplusaddons.com/docs/search-by-post-tag-in-elementor/)- [How to Search WooCommerce Products by Category in Elementor?](https://theplusaddons.com/docs/search-woocommerce-products-by-category-in-elementor/)

## Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: Why isn’t the search bar finding posts in a category?**
A: The search only targets category names when the Search Bar widget is set to Source as Taxonomy and Select Taxonomy as Category. If those settings are off, it will behave like a post-title search instead of a category search. The other common miss is content setup: the page expects posts to be assigned to at least a few different categories, so there has to be category data to return.

**Q: What do I need before I can search posts by category in Elementor?**
A: Elementor free has to be installed and active, and The Plus Addons for Elementor Pro has to be installed and active because Search Bar is a Pro widget. The page also says the widget must be enabled under The Plus Addons > Widgets, and your posts should already be assigned to at least a few different categories. That setup matters because the widget searches existing taxonomy terms, not empty category structures.

**Q: How do I make the search bar search categories instead of post titles?**
A: Set the Search Bar widget’s Source to Taxonomy, then set Select Taxonomy to Category. That switches the widget from searching post titles to searching taxonomy terms, which is why it can jump straight to a category like Recipes. The Plus Addons for Elementor, The Plus Addons, Plus Addons for Elementor, POSIMYTH provides this inside the Elementor editor through the Search Bar widget.

**Q: Can I use this to let visitors jump straight to a whole category page?**
A: That is exactly the use case described on the page: visitors can jump straight to a whole category instead of searching individual post titles. With Source set to Taxonomy and Select Taxonomy set to Category, the Search Bar widget searches category names directly. That makes it better for browsing grouped content like Recipes than for keyword-style title lookup.

**Q: What’s the difference between searching by post category and searching by post tag?**
A: Both are taxonomy-based searches in The Plus Addons for Elementor, but they target different term types. This tutorial uses Category as the selected taxonomy, while the related doc points to [How to Search by Post Tag in Elementor?](https://theplusaddons.com/docs/search-by-post-tag-in-elementor/). In practice, categories are usually better for broad content groups, while tags are better for more specific labels.

**Q: Where can I find the full settings for the Search Bar widget?**
A: The page points to [Search Bar Widget Settings Overview](https://theplusaddons.com/docs/search-bar-widget-settings-overview/) for the full settings tour. That matters because this tutorial only covers the two key controls needed for category search: Source and Select Taxonomy. If you want broader control over how the Search Bar behaves inside Elementor, that overview is the right companion doc.