Document channel category sorting GA and default category behavior (v11.8)

[Combs7th]

Documents that, from Mattermost v11.8.0, channel category sorting is enabled by default (TeamSettings.EnableChannelCategorySorting). Channel admins can set or clear a Default category (optional) when creating or editing a channel, and members who join see it under that sidebar category.

• Adds the Channel category sorting setting under Site Configuration > Users and Teams.
• Notes GA graduation on the legacy experimental settings entry.
• Updates the end-user create-channels and rename-channels guides.

Per mattermost/mattermost#36289. Closes #9033

Generated with Claude Code

[github-actions]

Newest code from mattermost has been published to preview environment for Git SHA ccdcdbe

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This PR updates Mattermost documentation to reflect channel category sorting moving from experimental to generally available in v11.8. The changes add a note to experimental settings, document the new non-experimental configuration option, and update end-user guidance for channel creation and renaming to reflect the feature's default-enabled status.

Changes

Channel Category Sorting v11.8 Documentation

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Admin configuration documentation source/administration-guide/configure/experimental-configuration-settings.rst, source/administration-guide/configure/site-configuration-settings.rst	Experimental settings note clarified that channel category sorting is now generally available and enabled by default as of v11.8, redirecting admins to the new System Console path. New "Channel category sorting" setting documented under Site Configuration > Users and Teams with configuration metadata, setting key (.TeamSettings.EnableChannelCategorySorting), environment variable, and a table describing enabled vs. disabled behaviour.
End-user channel management guidance source/end-user-guide/collaborate/create-channels.rst, source/end-user-guide/collaborate/rename-channels.rst	Channel creation instructions updated to add an optional step for assigning the channel to a default category when the feature is enabled. Rename channel instructions updated to explain how admins can set an optional Default category for renamed channels, including the ability to select, create, or clear the category.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~12 minutes

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly summarizes the main change: documenting channel category sorting GA (general availability) and its default-enabled behavior in Mattermost v11.8.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description comprehensively explains the changeset: documenting channel category sorting as GA/default-on in v11.8, adding Site Configuration documentation, updating experimental settings notes, and revising end-user guides.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The changes align with linked issue #9033 requirements: documents admin-facing UI behavior (Site Configuration setting), extracts v11.8 version from PR metadata, covers default category behavior for channel creation and settings, updates existing docs, and avoids implementation details.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All four file changes are directly scoped to the linked issue objectives: three files document admin and end-user-visible default category behavior, and one adds the Site Configuration setting entry, with no unrelated alterations.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

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✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch claude/issue-9033-20260613-0119

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Inline comments:
In `@source/end-user-guide/collaborate/create-channels.rst`:
- Line 24: The linked fallback URL in create-channels.rst (and similarly in
rename-channels.rst) still points to the old `customize-your-channel-sidebar`
page which contains experimental-settings wording; update the link target or
surrounding text to point to the revised GA sidebar-category documentation (or
update the downstream `customize-your-channel-sidebar` page to match GA wording)
so the channel creation and rename flows are consistent with the v11.8
default-on channel category sorting messaging; locate the link in
create-channels.rst and rename-channels.rst and replace the
`customize-your-channel-sidebar` reference with the new GA sidebar-category doc
path or adjust the sentence to reference the updated guide.

🪄 Autofix (Beta)

Fix all unresolved CodeRabbit comments on this PR:

• Push a commit to this branch (recommended)
• Create a new PR with the fixes

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 97fb9f76-d4f7-4dee-bdcb-74bf47ad625b

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between ea7ca0d and ccdcdbe.

📒 Files selected for processing (4)

• source/administration-guide/configure/experimental-configuration-settings.rst
• source/administration-guide/configure/site-configuration-settings.rst
• source/end-user-guide/collaborate/create-channels.rst
• source/end-user-guide/collaborate/rename-channels.rst

[github-actions]

Newest code from mattermost has been published to preview environment for Git SHA eb046b8

[github-actions]

Newest code from mattermost has been published to preview environment for Git SHA 1ab7a1a

[Combs7th]

@marianunez - Can you help give this one a dev review for Devin since he's on PTO?

[Combs7th]

@wiersgallak - This one will need editor review as well after dev review is complete.

[wiersgallak]

LGTM