In this article
What are categories, and how are they different from labels
Access and permissions
Creating a category
Managing values within a category
Assigning categories to content
1. What are categories, and how are they different from labels
Categories and labels both help you organise and classify content in Amplifi. They serve different purposes.
Labels are freeform tags. You can apply as many as you like to a document, and they don't affect any other part of the platform. They can be used to aggregate data for reporting.
Categories are structured. Each category holds a fixed set of values, and only one value per category can be applied to a document. Categories can also be used to drive rules, such as assigning a Style Guide or requiring a value before a document can be uploaded.
| Labels | Categories |
How many can you apply? | As many as you want | One value per category |
Can they enforce rules? | No | Yes |
Used for Style Guide assignment? | No | Yes, for one designated category |
Used for reporting and filtering? | Yes | Yes |
🔎 Use categories when you need consistent, structured data across your documents, for example ensuring every document has a Business Area assigned. Use labels for more flexible, descriptive tagging.
See our Creating and Assigning Style Guides article for the full process of using a category to assign Style Guides to your content.
2. Access and permissions
Access to this feature is restricted by your seat type and role.
Access by role
Admins | Full access to create and manage categories |
Team members | View only |
Access by seat
Full seat, Editor seat, Reporting seat | Full access with Admin permission |
Review seat | View only |
3. Creating a category
To create a category, navigate to Settings > Categories.
Select "New category" in the top right corner.
Enter a name for the category.
Choose a colour to help identify the category throughout Amplifi.
Enter one or more values for the category.
Toggle "Assign Style Guides" on if this category should be used to assign Style Guides to content.
Toggle "Require choosing a label when uploading content" on if team members must select a value from this category before they can upload a document.
Select Confirm to save the category.
⛔️ Only one category can be used to assign Style Guides at a time. If you select a new category for this later, the previous one will no longer be used to assign Style Guides.
For the full process of creating Style Guides and assigning them using this category, see our Creating and Assigning Style Guides article.
Once confirmed, you'll see a success message and the new category will appear in your list.
🔎 The category selected for assigning Style Guides is clearly marked in your category list.
4. Managing values within a category
You can add, view, or remove values from an existing category at any time.
Adding a value to an existing category
Find the category in your list.
Select "Add +" next to the category name.
Enter the new value.
Confirm to save.
Viewing category details
Select the arrow next to a category name to expand it. This shows every value in the category, along with:
Times used
Date created
Created by
⛔️ If you delete a value from a category, it will be removed from every document it was previously applied to.
5. Assigning categories to content
You can assign categories to content in two places:
During the upload process
From the content management page
Assigning categories during upload
After uploading your documents, you'll be asked to apply category values and labels before continuing.
Select a value for each category shown. You can apply one value per category.
Categories marked "Required" must have a value selected before you can continue.
Optionally, apply any labels you want.
Select Next to continue, or Back to make changes.
⛔️ If a category has been set to require a value at upload, you won't be able to continue until you select one.
🔎 Select "Learn what categories are used for" to see a quick explainer without leaving the upload flow.
Once you're finished, you'll see a summary of the content uploaded, the category values applied, and any labels applied, before confirming.
Assigning categories from the content management page
You can also apply or update category values for a document directly from the content management page, without needing to re-upload it.