Managing categories

This article talks about categories administration. Users that want to use categories in conversations, should refer to Conversation category.

Add a Category

1. To add a category you need to be a workspace administrator.
2. Click the Gear icon in the top-right corner and choose Categories.
3. Click the New Category button or press the letter n for keyboard shortcut.
4. Type the category name and click Save.
5. The new category should now appear in the list.

Delete a Category

1. To delete a category you need to be a workspace administrator.
2. Click the Gear icon in the top-right corner and choose Categories.
3. Select the category you want to delete using the selection box on the left side of the category name.
4. From the More button, choose Delete or press the # keyboard shortcut.
5. If the category is being used in conversations, the category will be Deactivated rather than deleted. Deactivating will also keep your access rights settings for this category.
6. If deleted, the category should now be removed from the list.
7. If deactivated, it should appear gray with an asterix sign beside it (*).

Deactivate a Category

Deactivating a category means you will not be able to choose it from the category list. However, it will keep the category for conversations that already use it and keep your access rights settings for this category.

1. To deactivate a category you need to be a workspace administrator.
2. Click the Gear icon in the top-right corner and choose Categories.
3. Select the category you want to deactivate using the selection box on the left side of the category name.
4. From the More button, choose Deactivate.
5. The category should now appear gray with an asterix sign beside it (*).

Activate a Category

A deactivated category can be reactivated at any time. It keeps the category for conversations that already use it and your access rights settings for this category.

1. To activate a category you need to be a workspace administrator.
2. Click the Gear icon in the top-right corner and choose Categories.
3. Select the category you want to reactivate using the selection box on the left side of the category name.
4. From the More button, choose Activate.
5. The category should now appear active.

Set workspace default category

See Conversation category for a better understanding of default category and when it is used.

1. To set a default category, you need to be a workspace administrator.
2. Click the Gear icon in the top-right corner and choose Categories.
3. Select the category you want to set as default using the selection box on the left side of the category name.
4. Click the Set Default button in the top toolbar.
5. You should now see the “default” label next to the category you chose.

Restrict access to conversations by category

Categories are used to categorize conversations according to the area they are related to. For example, conversation that are related to support issues, and conversations that are financial related. Therefore, it is common that a person providing support should only access support related conversations and people from the billing department should only access financial related ones.

See how to set up restriction on conversations according to the category, from conversation access rights.

Set category using triggers

Triggers are a set of user defined rules that help you automate your work.

You can use triggers to automatically set a category to a conversation, when the condition you define is met. For example, if a conversation is created for a specific assignee, then set a specific category.

See Set category using triggers for a detailed usage example.

See Triggers for complete step-by-step explanation about creating triggers.
If you are new to triggers, we recommend on reading understanding triggers first.