diff --git a/include/functions_entries.inc.php b/include/functions_entries.inc.php
index f68d2339..45453c80 100644
--- a/include/functions_entries.inc.php
+++ b/include/functions_entries.inc.php
@@ -627,7 +627,7 @@ function &serendipity_fetchEntryProperties($id) {
  * @param   string  The ACL artifact condition. If set to "write" only categories will be shown that the author can write to. If set to "read", only categories will be show that the author can read or write to.
  * @return  array   Returns the array of categories
  */
-function &serendipity_fetchCategories($authorid = null, $name = null, $order = null, $artifact_mode = 'write') {
+function &serendipity_fetchCategories($authorid = null, $name = null, $order = null, $artifact_mode = 'write', $flat = false) {
     global $serendipity;
 
     if ($name === null) {
@@ -716,6 +716,16 @@ function &serendipity_fetchCategories($authorid = null, $name = null, $order = n
     $ret =& serendipity_db_query($querystring);
     if (is_string($ret)) {
         echo "Query failed: $ret";
+    } else {
+        if ($flat) {
+          $cats = serendipity_walkRecursive($ret, 'categoryid', 'parentid', VIEWMODE_THREADED);
+          $flat_cats = array();
+          $flat_cats[0] = NO_CATEGORY;
+          foreach($cats AS $catidx => $catdata) {
+              $flat_cats[$catdata['categoryid']] = str_repeat(' ', $catdata['depth']*2) . serendipity_specialchars($catdata['category_name']);
+          }
+          return $flat_cats;
+        }
     }
     return $ret;
 }
diff --git a/include/functions_entries_admin.inc.php b/include/functions_entries_admin.inc.php
index ace4c5f1..fd1091c8 100644
--- a/include/functions_entries_admin.inc.php
+++ b/include/functions_entries_admin.inc.php
@@ -83,6 +83,8 @@ function serendipity_printEntryForm($targetURL, $hiddens = array(), $entry = arr
         foreach ($entry['categories'] as $cat) {
             $selected[] = $cat['categoryid'];
         }
+    } elseif ($serendipity['categoryDefault'] > 0) {
+        $selected[] = $serendipity['categoryDefault'];
     }
 
     if (count($selected) > 1 ||
diff --git a/include/tpl/config_personal.inc.php b/include/tpl/config_personal.inc.php
index 8d86a17d..70baaf93 100644
--- a/include/tpl/config_personal.inc.php
+++ b/include/tpl/config_personal.inc.php
@@ -191,6 +191,14 @@
                                           'permission'  => 'personalConfiguration',
                                           'flags'       => array('config')),
 
+                                    array('var'         => 'categoryDefault',
+                                          'title'       => CATEGORY,
+                                          'description' => '',
+                                          'type'        => 'list',
+                                          'default'     => serendipity_fetchCategories(null, null, null, 'write', true),
+                                          'permission'  => 'personalConfiguration',
+                                          'flags'       => array('config')),
+
                                     array('var'         => 'use_autosave',
                                           'title'       => CONF_USE_AUTOSAVE,
                                           'description' => CONF_USE_AUTOSAVE_DESC,