Managing categories

Indicates the display color associated with the category. It provides a visual cue whenever the category is applied in the UI.

EXAMPLE  The selected color is the background color for the ticket category name on the ticket page .

The color can be changed when you add or edit the category.

A check mark indicates which category will automatically be assigned, system-wide, to a new item if no category is specified. There can be only one default.

API-only categories cannot be set as the default.

Only available on the Ticket Categories, Device Categories, and Organization Categories pages.

A check mark indicates that this category is only available when items are created or edited via the API. The check box is disabled for ticket categories associated with Incoming Email Processing, Client Portal request types, or if it is the Standard, Alert, or Standard (non-editable) ticket category.

API-only categories cannot be set as the default or Client Portal default category.

Also refer to API-only Categories.

A check mark in this column identifies a system category provided by Autotask to all Autotask instances. The Categories lists include the following system categories:

• Standard (all entities): includes all available entity fields and features, including user-defined fields.
• Standard (non-editable) (all entities): includes all the fields and features available on the Standard category, but it is non-editable. This ensures that there will always be a baseline category that contains all available fields with default settings. You can activate and inactivate this category.
• Standard (basic) (Device entity only): this category includes all fields but no UDFs.
• Datto RMM Alert (Ticket entity only): this category is configured to provide the information needed for technicians to respond to a Datto RMM alert. If the Advanced Datto RMM Integration has been enabled, the Datto RMM Alert ticket category cannot be inactivated.
• Datto Alert (Ticket entity only): this category is configured to provide the information needed for technicians to respond to a Datto alert. If the Datto BCDR Integration has been enabled, the Datto Alert ticket category cannot be inactivated.
• Datto Networking Alert (Ticket entity only): this category is configured to provide the information needed for technicians to respond to a Datto Networking alert.
• RMA (Ticket entity only): this category is applied to change request tickets that are created when a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) is requested. This category can be edited, so that you can configure field default values, required fields, and page layout for your RMA requests. Certain aspects of the ticket category will be locked down to ensure that the RMA process can proceed smoothly. It cannot be used for regular Autotask tickets.
• Domain (Device entity only): this category lets you create a device for tracking a domain. When you enter a domain into the domain tracker, the DNS entries and expiration dates will be retrieved automatically.
• SSL Certificate (Device entity only): this category lets you create a device for tracking an SSL certificate. When you create a device using the system SSL Certificate device category and enter an SSL certificate, public details will be retrieved automatically, and private keys can be added.

A check mark in this column indicates that the ticket category is active and available for selection in menus and lists. The maximum number of active categories for the various entities are the following:

• Device Categories: 200
• Ticket and Opportunity Categories: 100
• Task Categories: 50

Opens the Category page in Edit mode. Refer to Adding and editing categories.

The Standard (non-editable) category cannot be edited.

Opens a copy of the selected category in Edit mode. Any category including system and inactive categories can be copied.

The name defaults to Copy of [original category name]. Edit the Name and modify fields and settings as needed. Refer to Adding and editing categories.

NOTE  A copy of an active category counts as a new active category and will not be allowed if the maximum number of active categories has been reached (Device Categories: 200, Ticket and Opportunity Categories: 100, Task Categories: 50)

Sets the selected category as the system default category. The default category is assigned to any item that does not have a category specified when it is created.

There can be only one default category. When you specify a new default, the default setting is automatically removed from the previously selected default category. The newly specified default category will be applied to all items associated with the previous default category.

NOTE  The Standard (non-editable) category cannot be set as the default.

Device Categories only.

Sets the selected category as the category used in the Client Portal. This allows you to control which fields are exposed to customers.

Inactive categories are not available for selection from category lists, but items currently using the inactivated category will continue to use it until another category is selected.

You cannot inactivate a category if it is:

• the Alert or Standard system category
• the default category for the entity
• a ticket category that is the last remaining ticket category for a security level
• a ticket category associated with a Client Portal Request Type or an incoming email processing mailbox

You can, however, inactivate a ticket or task category that is referenced on a security level as the Render as... category. Refer to Render all Tasks as Task Category: and Render all Tickets as Ticket Category:. Users with that security level will continue to view all tasks or tickets and create new tasks or tickets using this category.

If you inactivate a category that is set as a default for a user, the system default category is automatically assigned as the user's default.

NOTE  If the category is set on a security level but is inactive, it doesn't count against the system limit of active categories. This means you can intentionally create inactive categories that only exist to be used as Render as... categories; these will not count against your limit. It also means that users with that security level will still be able to create tickets with that category (since it's the only one they can use), even though the category is inactive. So you can prevent categories from counting against your limit if they exist only on tickets created by a certain security level.

IMPORTANT  To be sure that a category will not be used on any new tickets, you must do more than inactivate it. You must also make sure that it is not the Render as... category on any security levels.