AI Settings: Categories

For: Account owners, administrators and team leads who decide how tickets are sorted by topicRequires: Replyco AI, part of every plan, and the Admin permission with edit rightsScreenshots show sample data

The Categories tab holds your company’s list of AI categories: the topics, such as Shipping & Delivery or Warranty, that Replyco’s AI may give a customer message. The AI chooses only from this list and reads nothing but the category names, so the list is how you teach it your topics. Here you add categories, rename and recolour them, give them the short tag your team sees on tickets, copy them and delete them. Open it from ToolsAI Settings and select the Categories tab.

Availability: the tab is part of Replyco AI, which every plan includes, and every feature is on during a trial. ToolsAI Settings appears for users with the Admin permission with edit rights, and the list applies to the whole company. Whether messages are categorised at all is decided by AI Categories on the AI Settings tab General. See What each plan includes.

What you can do here

See every topic the AI may choose. The list shows your categories sorted by name, each with its colours. Find a category and see its details · AI categories.
Add a topic your customers write about. A new category needs only a name; Replyco then checks your reply templates and links the new category where it fits. Create a category.
Rename, retag or recolour a category. A change reaches every ticket that already has the category, straight away. Change a category’s name, tag or colours.
Split a broad topic. Copying a category gives you a new one with the same colours and tag to rename. Copy a category.
Remove a topic you no longer need. Deleting takes the category off every ticket and template, with no undo. Delete a category.

The screen at a glance

The Categories tab of AI Settings in Replyco. The tab list on the left shows General, Categories (selected), Tone, AI Customers Blacklist and AI Draft Settings. On the right, under the heading Categories and its description "Organize customer tickets into AI-suggested categories.", Northwind Electronics' eight categories are listed in alphabetical order, each as a card with a small colour swatch and pencil, copy and bin icons: General Inquiry, Invoice Inquiry, Order Management, Product, Returns / Refunds / Exchanges, Shipping & Delivery, Tracking Inquiry and Warranty. The Create New button at the top right is highlighted; it opens the New Category form. — The Categories tab lists every category the AI may choose from, sorted by name; Create New adds one.

Region	What it shows	What you do there
Tab strip, left	The tabs of AI Settings, with Categories selected	Switch to another AI tab
Header, top	The heading Categories, the description Organize customer tickets into AI-suggested categories. and Create New	Start a new category
The list	One card per category: a colour swatch, the name, and pencil, copy and bin icons	Open, edit, copy or delete a category
Details panel, right (after a click)	The category’s colours, name and Tag, with Delete, Copy and Edit	Read a category, then act on it
Form (instead of the list)	New Category or Edit Category with Back to categories and Save	Enter the colours, the name and the tag

A company with no categories sees an empty list with a no-data message. New companies start with seven categories, ready to use: Order Management, Shipping & Delivery, Returns / Refunds / Exchanges, Payments & Billing, Product, General Inquiry and Irrelevant / Not Related. Companies that sign up with Germany, Switzerland, Austria or Liechtenstein as their country get the same seven in German.

Find a category and see its details

Open ToolsAI Settings and select the Categories tab.
Select a category’s card. The card is outlined in blue, the list narrows to the left and the details panel opens on the right.
Read the panel: the category’s gradient as a large swatch, its name as the heading, and Tag with the short tag, or a dash when it has none.
Select Edit, Copy or Delete at the bottom of the panel, or the cross in its corner to close it.

The Categories tab of AI Settings after selecting the card Tracking Inquiry, which is now outlined in blue while the list narrows to the left. The details panel on the right shows the category's blue gradient swatch and its name Tracking Inquiry as the heading, the row Tag with the value Tracking, and a close cross in the corner. At the bottom are the red Delete button, Copy and the highlighted Edit button, which opens the Edit Category form for this category. — Selecting a category shows its tag and colours; Edit, Copy and Delete act on it.

Example: Northwind Electronics’ list has eight categories. Selecting Tracking Inquiry shows a blue gradient and the tag Tracking, which is what agents read on a ticket about a parcel that has not moved.

The list is sorted by name each time the tab loads. A category you create is added at the end of the list until you reload the page or open the screen again; a category you rename keeps its place until then.

Create a category

On the Categories tab, select Create New in the top right corner. The form New Category replaces the list, with two random colours already chosen.
(Optional) Select the bar Click to change color under Category color and pick the start and end colours of the gradient in the two pickers that open. Select anywhere outside them to close them.
Under Category name, type the name of the customer’s request, for example Cancellation. This is the only thing the AI reads.
(Optional) Under Category tag, type the short text your team sees on tickets, for example Cancel.
Select Save in the top right corner.

The New Category form on the Categories tab of AI Settings, which replaces the list after Create New. Back to categories sits above the heading New Category and its description "Configure category properties for your needs.", and the blue Save button is at the top right. Category color shows a gradient bar with the text "Click to change color". Under Category name, the highlighted text box with the placeholder Name holds "Cancellation", the name the AI chooses by. Under Category tag, the box with the placeholder Tag holds "Cancel", the short text tickets show. — A new category needs only a name; the tag and the colours are optional.

The form closes, the list comes back, Replyco confirms with Success, and the new category is at the end of the list. Save stays unavailable while Category name is empty.

What happens next: new customer messages can get the category from now on; tickets you already have are not categorised again. Replyco also asks the AI, once for each of your reply templates, including switched-off ones, whether the new category fits it, and links it where it does. That takes one AI action per template, counted under AI Usage, so saving a new category takes longer when you have many templates. To see or change which templates were linked, see Templates.

Change a category’s name, tag or colours

Select the pencil icon on the category’s card, or select the card and then Edit in the details panel. The form Edit Category opens with the category’s values.
Change the colours, Category name or Category tag. The Save button pulses once something has changed.
Select Save, or Back to categories to leave without saving.

A change reaches every ticket that already has the category: the ticket list, the ticket and the category cards under TicketsSmart Filters show the new name, tag and colours straight away. The tickets keep the category. From then on the AI chooses by the new name, so a rename can change which new messages get it.

Example: Northwind renames Tracking Inquiry to Parcel not moving to make it narrower than Shipping & Delivery. Old tickets now show the new name; new messages about a late parcel that has moved recently go to Shipping & Delivery instead.

Copy a category

Select the copy icon on the category’s card, or select the card and then Copy in the details panel.
The form opens with the same colours and tag and the name followed by (copy).
Rename the copy, change its colours and tag, and select Save.

Example: Shipping & Delivery collects both late parcels and address changes. Northwind copies it, renames the copy Address change and gives it its own colour. Existing tickets keep Shipping & Delivery; new messages can get either.

A copy is a new category: Replyco checks your templates for it as it does for any new one. Rename it before saving, because two categories with the same name are both assigned to every message that matches the name.

Delete a category

Select the bin icon on the category’s card, or select the card and then Delete in the details panel.
Replyco asks Are you sure you want to delete this item? Select Yes to delete, or No to keep the category.

The Categories tab of AI Settings after selecting the bin icon on the card Tracking Inquiry. A small pop-up above its bin icon asks "Are you sure you want to delete this item?", highlighted, with the buttons No and Yes. Yes deletes the category from the list and from every ticket and template that has it; there is no undo. No closes the question and keeps the category. The other seven categories are listed around it. — Deleting asks once; the category then leaves every ticket and template too.

The category leaves the list, every ticket that has it and every template linked to it. Tickets whose only category it was then count as No Category in the category filter. Creating a category with the same name again does not bring it back to those tickets.

Why

A name that spells out the customer’s request, such as Returns / Refunds / Exchanges, is one the AI can apply; a name like Misc is one it has to guess.

Do	Don’t
Name the customer’s request: Warranty, Tracking Inquiry	Name your team or process: Team B, Escalate to manager
Keep categories distinct: Shipping & Delivery and Tracking Inquiry	Create near-duplicates: Delivery, Deliveries
Keep General Inquiry and Irrelevant / Not Related under those names	Rename them Other and Spam
Put topics in the name	Create a mood such as Angry customer; that is what tone analysis is for

Category tag

Where

The text box under Category tag, with the placeholder Tag and the description Short tag or abbreviation of the full category name

What

The text on the category’s coloured tag in the ticket list and at the top of the ticket. Optional, up to 100 characters; the AI never sees it. A category without a tag shows as an empty coloured box on tickets.

Why

The list column is narrow and tickets can have several categories; a short tag keeps them readable.

Save and Back to categories

Where

Save at the top right of the form, next to the heading; Back to categories above the heading.

What

Save creates or updates the category, returns to the list and confirms with Success; if saving fails, an error message appears and the list is unchanged. Back to categories returns without saving.

Why

The form covers the list, so both buttons take you back to it.

What you need to know

Topic	Fact
One list per company	Every account and channel uses the same categories.
Required	Only the name. Tag and colours are optional.
Limits	Names up to 1,000 characters, tags up to 100. No limit on the number of categories.
Duplicates	Allowed, and both are assigned. Keep every name unique.
Order	By name when the screen loads; new categories appear at the end until then.
Renames	Reach every ticket that already has the category.
New categories	Apply to new messages only; Replyco checks every template once for them.
Deleting	Removes the category from every ticket and template; no undo.
Who can change it	Users with the Admin permission with edit rights, who see ToolsAI Settings.
History	Creating, changing and deleting categories is not recorded anywhere you can see.

Frequently asked questions

The list

Which categories does Replyco start with?

New companies get seven: Order Management, Shipping & Delivery, Returns / Refunds / Exchanges, Payments & Billing, Product, General Inquiry and Irrelevant / Not Related. Companies that sign up with Germany, Switzerland, Austria or Liechtenstein as their country get them in German. Change them on the Categories tab of ToolsAI Settings.

Is there a limit on the number of categories?

No. Replyco sets no limit on the number of categories on the Categories tab. A shorter list of distinct topics works better, though, because the AI can confuse categories whose names overlap, and every new category costs one AI check per reply template when you create it.

Why is my new category at the bottom of the list?

The Categories tab sorts categories by name when it loads, and a category you create is added at the end. Reload the page, or leave ToolsAI Settings and open it again, and the category is in its alphabetical place.

Who can change the categories?

Users with the Admin permission with edit rights, in a company with Replyco AI, can open ToolsAI Settings and add, change or delete categories. Because changes reach every ticket, agree in your team who maintains the list. See User permissions and roles.

Creating and changing

Why can’t I save a new category?

Save stays unavailable while Category name is empty, because the name is the only required field and the only thing the AI reads. Type a name that describes the customer’s request, such as Warranty, and the button becomes available.

Will a new category be added to my existing tickets?

No. A category you create on the Categories tab can only be given to customer messages that arrive afterwards. Replyco does check your reply templates when you save it and links the category to those whose text fits.

What happens to my tickets when I rename a category?

Every ticket that has the category shows the new name, tag and colours straight away, in the ticket list, the ticket and the category cards. The tickets keep the category. The AI chooses by the new name from then on, so the rename can change which new messages get it.

What is the tag for, and what if I leave it empty?

The tag, entered in Category tag, is the short text on the coloured tag in the ticket list and the ticket, such as Tracking for Tracking Inquiry. The AI never sees it. A category saved without a tag shows as an empty coloured box on tickets.

How do I split a broad category into two?

Select the copy icon on the broad category’s card on the Categories tab, rename the copy, give it its own colour and select Save. Tickets that already have the original keep it; new messages can get either category. Rename the copy before saving, because two categories with the same name are both assigned to the same messages.

Deleting

What happens when I delete a category?

After the question Are you sure you want to delete this item? and Yes, the category is removed from the list, from every ticket that has it and from every template linked to it. Tickets whose only category it was count as No Category. There is no undo.

Can I get a deleted category back?

No. Creating a category with the same name on the Categories tab gives you a new category that only new messages can get; the tickets that had the deleted one do not get it back. Rename a category instead of deleting it when you only want to change its topic.

Can I delete General Inquiry?

Yes, but the AI is told to use General Inquiry for unclear messages. Without a category of exactly that name, those messages get no category at all. Keep General Inquiry and Irrelevant / Not Related, or Allgemeine Anfrage and Irrelevant / Nicht relevant for German-language companies, under those exact names.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
Save is greyed out in the form	Category name is empty. Type a name.
New messages get no category although the list is full	AI Categories on the General tab is off. See AI Settings.
A new category is at the end of the list	The list sorts by name when the tab loads. Reload the page.
A tag on tickets is an empty coloured box	The category has no tag. Open it with the pencil icon and fill in Category tag.
The same topic gets two categories	Two categories share a name or overlap. Rename or delete one.
Vague messages get no category	General Inquiry was renamed or deleted. Add a category with exactly that name again.
Old tickets lost a category	It was deleted; deleting removes it from every ticket and cannot be undone.
Saving a new category takes long	Replyco checks every reply template for the new category. It is a one-off per new category.
An error message appears after Save	The category was not saved. Open it again and repeat the change.

AI categories: how the AI chooses, where categories show and how they rank templates
AI Settings: the switch that turns categorisation on
Templates · Reply templates
Smart Filters · Ticket lists
AI drafts · AI Customers Blacklist