Categories - Essentials Web App

Overview

Categories allow you to classify records according to shared qualities and characteristics. Categories can be applied to Advertisement, Assignment, Company, People and Programme records and these Categories can either be unique to each of the different record types or shared across them too.

Categories are grouped into Category Lists, for example, you could create a Category List called Language which could contain Categories called English, Spanish, Chinese, etc. Within each Category List, the Categories can be broken down into a hierarchical structure if required, for example, a Category List called Region may contain a Category called EMEA which may have sub-categories of Europe, Middle East and Africa.

This article covers:

Adding Categories to a Record

Each Category List assigned to a record will show as a field on the form. To assign a Category to a Person, you can simply type in the field to search for Categories. This will reveal a list of suggested matches based on the text you have entered. If the Category you were looking for appears in the list, simply click on it to apply it to the record.

If the Category you were looking for does not appear in this list, or if you want to browse all the Categories, you can use the lookup icon to open the Category List window, where you can see all the Categories within their hierarchical structure. Within this window, multiple Categories can be selected via their checkboxes, and applied by using the OK button.

Categories in List Views

You can add category lists as columns to Record list views in the web app via the column chooser. Or if your display view includes the category lists as columns, they will also be visible in the web app.

Category Filter

The Category Filter is a pane which can be opened from the lists for Assignments, Companies, People, and Programmes, using the Category Filter icon (located top right of the grid).

All Category Lists for the chosen record type will be displayed as a section within the pane. All Categories within each Category List will be displayed with a total next to each one to indicate the count of records that have that Category applied.

The Categories are sorted by the total counts by default - however, this can be modified using the Sort dropdown.

To apply a filter to the list, simply check a Category. You'll notice the counts next to the other categories will reduce because the total counts are updated for every filter applied. Checking another Category will apply an AND filter, which means checking multiple Categories will filter the list of records to return only those who have all of the selected Categories applied.

Configure Category Lists and Categories

Permission Required: Please note, to access System Preferences you need the "Access System Preferences" permission

Additional Categories can be added to existing Category Lists in the desktop app, simply by clicking the "Edit Categories" option inside the List when you click on the lookup. New Categories can be configured within System Preferences by navigating to Global Settings > Categories, which will show all Category Lists and the records to which they are assigned.

To create a new Category List, simply click the Create New Category List link. This will create a new Category List and add it to the bottom of the list. Highlight the text label of that List, change the name and check the boxes to indicate in which records you wish this new Category to appear.

Double clicking on a Category List will open a new dialogue, allowing you to see all Categories configured within it. To make any changes, simply click on the Edit Categories link.

Editing a Category List reveals two buttons called Create New Category and Create New Subcategory.

Tip: When creating a new Category, it will be added to the bottom of the list, which you can then re-order later by dragging and dropping into the correct position. You may need to scroll down to view the category you have created. Creating a new subcategory will do the same, however, it will be added to the bottom of the list based upon the parent Category you have selected.