diff --git a/e107_admin/newspost.php b/e107_admin/newspost.php
index 4c3f3224b..2062c573e 100644
--- a/e107_admin/newspost.php
+++ b/e107_admin/newspost.php
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ class news_cat_ui extends e_admin_ui
 			'category_manager' 			=> array('title'=> LAN_MANAGER,'type' => 'userclass',	'tab'=>1,	'inline'=>true, 'width' => 'auto', 'data' => 'int','batch'=>TRUE, 'filter'=>TRUE),
 			'category_order' 			=> array('title'=> LAN_ORDER,			'type' => 'text',	'tab'=>1,		'width' => 'auto', 'thclass' => 'right', 'class'=> 'right' ),
 			'category_template'         => array('title'=> LAN_TEMPLATE,        'type' => 'layouts', 'tab'=>1, 'width'=>'auto', 'thclass' => 'right', 'class'=> 'right', 'writeParms' => 'plugin=news&id=news&merge=0','help'=>'Template to use as the default view' ),
-			'options' 					=> array('title'=> LAN_OPTIONS,			'type' => null,				'width' => '10%', 'forced'=>TRUE, 'thclass' => 'center last', 'class' => 'center', 'sort' => true)
+			'options' 					=> array('title'=> LAN_OPTIONS,			'type' => null,		'batch'=>true, 'filter'=>true,		'width' => '10%', 'forced'=>TRUE, 'thclass' => 'center last', 'class' => 'center', 'sort' => true)
 		);
 
 		protected $fieldpref = array('checkboxes', 'category_icon', 'category_id', 'category_name', 'category_description', 'category_sef', 'category_manager', 'category_order', 'options');
diff --git a/e107_plugins/news/news.php b/e107_plugins/news/news.php
index a04c6bb35..727007a0e 100644
--- a/e107_plugins/news/news.php
+++ b/e107_plugins/news/news.php
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ class news_front
 	private $pref = array();
 	private $debugInfo = array();
 	private $cacheRefreshTime = false;
+	private $caption = null;
 //	private $interval = 1;
 
 	function __construct()
@@ -72,7 +73,6 @@ class news_front
 	private function detect()
 	{
 
-
 		if ($this->action === 'cat' || $this->action === 'all' || $this->action === 'tag' || $this->action === 'author')
 		{	// --> Cache
 			$this->text = $this->renderListTemplate();
@@ -103,8 +103,19 @@ class news_front
 
 	}
 
+
+	/**
+	 * When the template contains a 'caption' - tablerender() is used, otherwise a simple echo is used.
+	* @return bool
+	*/
 	public function render()
 	{
+		if($this->caption !== null)
+		{
+			e107::getRender()->tablerender($this->caption, $this->text, 'news');
+			return true;
+		}
+
 		echo $this->text;
 	}
 
@@ -1139,7 +1150,7 @@ class news_front
 	{
 		$query = "
 				SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS n.*, u.user_id, u.user_name, u.user_customtitle, u.user_image, nc.category_id, nc.category_name, nc.category_sef, nc.category_icon,
-				nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description
+				nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description, nc.category_template 
 				FROM #news AS n
 				LEFT JOIN #user AS u ON n.news_author = u.user_id
 				LEFT JOIN #news_category AS nc ON n.news_category = nc.category_id
@@ -1172,7 +1183,7 @@ class news_front
 				//	$news_total = $sql->db_Count("news", "(*)", "WHERE news_category={$sub_action} AND news_class REGEXP '".e_CLASS_REGEXP."' AND NOT (news_class REGEXP ".$nobody_regexp.") AND news_start < ".time()." AND (news_end=0 || news_end>".time().")");
 				$query = "
 				SELECT  SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS n.*, u.user_id, u.user_name, u.user_customtitle, u.user_image, nc.category_id, nc.category_name, nc.category_sef,
-				nc.category_icon, nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description
+				nc.category_icon, nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description, nc.category_template 
 				FROM #news AS n
 				LEFT JOIN #user AS u ON n.news_author = u.user_id
 				LEFT JOIN #news_category AS nc ON n.news_category = nc.category_id
@@ -1192,7 +1203,7 @@ class news_front
 				{
 					$query = "
 			    SELECT COUNT(tb.trackback_pid) AS tb_count, n.*, u.user_id, u.user_name, u.user_customtitle, u.user_image, nc.category_id, nc.category_name, nc.category_sef,
-				nc.category_icon, nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description
+				nc.category_icon, nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description, nc.category_template 
 				FROM #news AS n
 				LEFT JOIN #user AS u ON n.news_author = u.user_id
 				LEFT JOIN #news_category AS nc ON n.news_category = nc.category_id
@@ -1205,7 +1216,7 @@ class news_front
 				{
 					$query = "
 			    SELECT n.*, u.user_id, u.user_name, u.user_customtitle, u.user_image,  nc.category_id, nc.category_name, nc.category_sef, nc.category_icon,
-				nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description
+				nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description, nc.category_template 
 				FROM #news AS n
 				LEFT JOIN #user AS u ON n.news_author = u.user_id
 				LEFT JOIN #news_category AS nc ON n.news_category = nc.category_id
@@ -1243,7 +1254,7 @@ class news_front
 
 				$query = "
 				SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS n.*, u.user_id, u.user_name, u.user_customtitle, u.user_image, nc.category_id, nc.category_name, nc.category_sef,
-				nc.category_icon, nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description
+				nc.category_icon, nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description, nc.category_template 
 				FROM #news AS n
 				LEFT JOIN #user AS u ON n.news_author = u.user_id
 				LEFT JOIN #news_category AS nc ON n.news_category = nc.category_id
@@ -1272,7 +1283,7 @@ class news_front
 				if(isset($this->pref['trackbackEnabled']) && $this->pref['trackbackEnabled']) {
 					$query = "
 				SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS COUNT(tb.trackback_pid) AS tb_count, n.*, u.user_id, u.user_name, u.user_customtitle, u.user_image,  nc.category_id,
-				nc.category_name, nc.category_sef, nc.category_icon, nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description,
+				nc.category_name, nc.category_sef, nc.category_icon, nc.category_meta_keywords, nc.category_meta_description, nc.category_template, 
 				COUNT(*) AS tbcount
 				FROM #news AS n
 				LEFT JOIN #user AS u ON n.news_author = u.user_id
@@ -1498,7 +1509,26 @@ class news_front
 			else // v2.x
 			{
 				$layout = e107::getTemplate('news', 'news');
-				if(!empty($layout[$this->defaultTemplate]))
+
+
+				// v2.1.7 load the category template if found.
+				if(!empty($newsAr[1]['category_template']))
+				{
+					$templateKey = $newsAr[1]['category_template'];
+					$tmpl = $layout[$templateKey];
+				//	$template = $tmpl['item'];
+					$param['template_key'] = 'news/'.$templateKey;
+					$this->addDebug('Template key',$templateKey);
+
+				}
+				elseif($this->action === 'list' && isset($layout['category']) && !isset($layout['category']['body'])) // make sure it's not old news_categories.sc
+				{
+					$tmpl = $layout['category'];
+				//	$template = $tmpl['item'];
+					$param['template_key'] = 'news/category';
+					$this->addDebug('Template key','category');
+				}
+				elseif(!empty($layout[$this->defaultTemplate]))
 				{
 					$tmpl = $layout[$this->defaultTemplate];
 					$this->addDebug('Template key',$this->defaultTemplate);
@@ -1514,20 +1544,18 @@ class news_front
 			//	unset($tmp);
 			}
 
-			// load the category template if found.
-			if($this->action === 'list' && isset($layout['category']) && !isset($layout['category']['body'])) // make sure it's not old news_categories.sc
-			{
-				$tmpl = $layout['category'];
-				$template = $tmpl['item'];
-				$param['template_key'] = 'news/category';
-			}
 
 
+			if(!empty($tmpl['caption']))
+			{
+				$nsc = e107::getScBatch('news')->setScVar('news_item', $newsAr[1])->setScVar('param', $param);
+				$this->caption = $tp->parseTemplate($tmpl['caption'], true, $nsc);
+			}
+
 			if(!empty($tmpl['start'])) //v2.1.5
 			{
 				$nsc = e107::getScBatch('news')->setScVar('news_item', $newsAr[1])->setScVar('param', $param);
 				echo $tp->parseTemplate($tmpl['start'],true,$nsc);
-
 			}
 			elseif($sub_action && 'list' == $action && vartrue($newsAr[1]['category_name'])) //old v1.x stuff
 			{
@@ -1592,6 +1620,9 @@ class news_front
 					//e107::getDebug()->log($news);
 				}
 				// $template = false;
+
+
+
 				$this->ix->render_newsitem($news, 'default', '', $template, $param);
 
 
diff --git a/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_template.php b/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_template.php
index f65b0dbb5..d0a894853 100644
--- a/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_template.php
+++ b/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_template.php
@@ -10,9 +10,6 @@ if (!defined('e107_INIT'))  exit;
 
 global $sc_style;
 
-###### Default list item (temporary) - TODO rewrite news ######
-//$NEWS_MENU_TEMPLATE['list']['start']       = '<ul class="nav nav-list news-menu-months">';
-//$NEWS_MENU_TEMPLATE['list']['end']         = '</ul>';
 
 
 $NEWS_TEMPLATE = array();
@@ -25,7 +22,7 @@ $NEWS_MENU_TEMPLATE['list']['end']         = '</div>';
 $NEWS_INFO = array(
 	'default' 	=> array('title' => LAN_DEFAULT, 	'description' => 'unused'),
 	'list' 	    => array('title' => LAN_LIST, 		'description' => 'unused'),
-//	'2-column'  => array('title' => "2 Column",     'description' => 'unused'), //@todo more default listing options.
+	'2-column'  => array('title' => "2 Column (experimental)",     'description' => 'unused'), //@todo more default listing options.
 );
 
 
@@ -97,7 +94,7 @@ $NEWS_TEMPLATE['default']['item'] = '
 
 $NEWS_WRAPPER['default']['item']['NEWSIMAGE: item=1'] = '<span class="news-images-main pull-left col-xs-12 col-sm-6 col-md-6">{---}</span>';
 
-
+$NEWS_TEMPLATE['default']['caption'] = null; // add a value to user tablerender()
 $NEWS_TEMPLATE['default']['start']	= '<!-- Default News Template -->';
 $NEWS_TEMPLATE['default']['item'] = '
 		{SETIMAGE: w=400&h=400}
@@ -133,9 +130,9 @@ $NEWS_TEMPLATE['category']          = $NEWS_TEMPLATE['default'];
 $NEWS_TEMPLATE['category']['start']	= '<!-- Category News Template -->';
 
 /**
- * @todo
+ * @todo (experimental)
  */
-$NEWS_TEMPLATE['2-column']['caption']	= '';
+$NEWS_TEMPLATE['2-column']['caption']  = '{NEWS_CATEGORY_NAME}';
 $NEWS_TEMPLATE['2-column']['start']    = '<div class="row">';
 $NEWS_TEMPLATE['2-column']['item']     = '<div class="item col-md-6">
 											{SETIMAGE: w=400&h=400&crop=1}