Categories give your knowledge base structure, helping customers navigate to the right information quickly. A well-organized category structure makes your help center intuitive and easy to use.

What Are Categories?

Categories are containers for related articles. They appear as sections in your knowledge base, and customers can browse by category or search across all content.

Creating Categories

Add a New Category

Go to Knowledge Base > Categories
Click Create Category
Enter a name
Optionally add a description
Choose an icon
Click Save

Category Properties

Property	Purpose
Name	The category title shown to customers
Description	Brief text explaining what's in this category
Icon	Visual identifier in the category list
Order	Position in the category list (drag to reorder)

Category Structure

Flat Structure

For smaller knowledge bases, use a simple flat structure:

Getting Started
Features
Billing
Troubleshooting

Best for: Fewer than 30 articles

Nested Structure

For larger knowledge bases, use nested categories:

Getting Started
├── Quick Start
├── Installation
└── First Project

Features
├── Dashboard
├── Reports
└── Integrations

Account & Billing
├── Account Settings
├── Payment Methods
└── Invoices

Best for: 30+ articles

Creating Subcategories

Go to Knowledge Base > Categories
Click Create Category
Select a Parent Category
Fill in the details
Click Save

Planning Your Structure

Start with Customer Questions

Think about what customers ask:

"How do I get started?"
"How do I do X feature?"
"I'm having a problem with Y"
"What does this cost?"

These become your top-level categories.

Group Related Topics

Within each area, group related articles:

Billing (category)

How to update payment method (article)
Understanding your invoice (article)
Requesting a refund (article)
Changing your plan (article)

Use Customer Language

Name categories using words customers use, not internal jargon:

Good: "Billing & Payments"
Less effective: "Financial Administration"

Keep It Shallow

Avoid deep nesting. Customers shouldn't need more than 2 clicks to find any article:

✓ Category → Article
✓ Category → Subcategory → Article
✗ Category → Sub → Sub → Sub → Article

Reordering Categories

Drag and drop categories to change their order:

Go to Knowledge Base > Categories
Hover over the drag handle (⋮⋮)
Drag to the desired position
Order is saved automatically

Ordering tips:

Put "Getting Started" first
Order by customer journey (setup → daily use → advanced)
Group related categories together

Moving Articles Between Categories

To move an article:

Open the article
Click the category dropdown
Select the new category
Save

Or from the article list:

Select articles with checkboxes
Click Move to Category
Choose the destination

Category Best Practices

Limit Top-Level Categories

Aim for 4-7 top-level categories. Too many overwhelms customers:

✓ 5 clear categories
✗ 15 granular categories

Use Descriptive Names

Category names should be self-explanatory:

Good	Less Clear
Getting Started	Onboarding
Troubleshooting	Support
Account Settings	Administration
API & Integrations	Technical

Don't Create Empty Categories

Only create a category when you have articles for it. Empty categories:

Look incomplete
Frustrate customers
Clutter navigation

Review and Refine

Periodically review your structure:

Are categories balanced (similar number of articles)?
Do category names still make sense?
Are there orphaned articles that don't fit?
Should any categories be merged or split?

Categories and AI

Your category structure affects AI responses:

Clear categories help AI understand context
Well-organized content leads to better AI answers
Consistent naming improves AI accuracy