To show the category IDs in the category tree under Catalog->Categories->Manage Categories you can rewrite Mage_Adminhtml_Block_Catalog_Category_Tree in an own module. You have to rewrite the method buildNodeName like this:
/**
* Get category name
*
* @param Varien_Object $node
* @return string
*/
public function buildNodeName($node)
{
$result = $this->escapeHtml($node->getName());
if ($this->_withProductCount) {
$result .= ' (' . $node->getProductCount() . ')'. ' [' . $node -> getId() . ']';
#Alternative: $result .= ' [' . $node -> getId() . '] (' . $node->getProductCount() . ')';
#Alternative: $result = "[{$node -> getId()}] {$this->escapeHtml($node->getName())} ({$node->getProductCount()})";
}
return $result;
}
The important part is . ‘ [‘ . $node -> getId() . ‘]’ in line eleven.
