This is a maintenance category. It is used for the maintenance of Scratchpad and is not part of Scratchpad’s creative content. It contains pages that are not articles, or it groups articles by status rather than content. Do not include this category in content categories. This is a container category. Due to its scope, it should only contain subcategories. This is a hidden category. It is not shown on its member pages, unless the corresponding user preference “Show hidden categories” is set. This is a tracking category. It builds and maintains a list of pages primarily for the sake of the list itself. Pages are added to tracking categories through templates. The subcategories of this category are hidden categories. To add a category to this category, add {{Hidden category}}, {{Scratchpad category|hidden=yes}}, or __HIDDENCAT__. A subcategory of a hidden category may or may not itself be hidden, depending on a template or a magic word in the subcategory or in a parent category.

Category:Hidden categories contains hidden categories. Unlike normal categories, these are not displayed at the bottom of pages that are included in them, and are therefore hidden from readers.

Categories should be hidden if they are concerned with the maintenance or administration of the Scratchpad itself, rather than being part of the content of Scratchpad. For example, cleanup categories should be hidden.

Previewing a page whilst editing it will list the hidden categories used at the bottom of the page. If you have created a user account, you can make hidden categories show up next to normal categories at the bottom of all pages by setting the user preference “Show hidden categories”.