Can't assign a category to an item

[omartardiolo]

Hi,
I've installed Alfresco Community 4.2.c and I'm trying to use its basic functionalities. In particular I would like to assign a category to a specific document, but I can't see the related pane in the "Edit Properties" of a document. I've read on the Alfresco Community Documentation that this operation should be possible, but I really don't know how to perform it. Please note that from the Admin Tools I can add or remove a category from the Category Manager, but simply I can't link a category to a document.
Is this functionality disabled on the Community Edition or am I just missing something?
Thank you,
Omar

[jpotts]

Welcome to the Alfresco community. We're glad you're here.

In order to assign a category to a document you must first assign the "classifiable" aspect to the document. An aspect is just a collection of properties/functionality that can be added to and removed from a document. In this case, the classifiable aspect gives you the ability to categorize the document.

Do this:
1. Go into the details for a document.
2. Click Manage Aspects
3. Click the plus ("+") icon next to "Classifiable"
4. Click "Apply Changes"

Now when you click "Edit Properties" you'll see the categories field.

Jeff

[omartardiolo]

Thank you, your reply has been really useful. Just one last question: is it possible to set Classifiable aspect to all documents/folders or do I have to set it manually on every single item? Thanks again,
Omar

[jpotts]

Yes, you have multiple options for doing this:

1. Modify the out-of-the-box content model to make cm:generalclassifiable a mandatory aspect on cm:content. This is not recommended because you really shouldn't be making changes to the out-of-the-box model or any of Alfresco's files.

2. Create your own Enterprise-wide document type that inherits from cm:content, make cm:generalclassifiable a mandatory aspect on that type, then always create instances of your custom doc type (or one of its child types). This is probably the best approach from a pure technical perspective, but it would require some customization of the Share client because it creates instances of cm:content by default.

3. Create a rule on the Company Home folder that gets applied to sub-folders. Your rule will add the aspect. If you do this, you might want to use a very selective filter so that you avoid needlessly adding the aspect to content types you don't really need it for. Maybe you only need to add it to instances of cm:content, for example. Also, if you only work with Share sites, you could add the rule to the Sites folder instead of Company Home.

If you are doing some customization anyway, and you don't mind getting your hands dirty with some config and maybe some code, go with option 2. If you are looking for a completely code-free solution, go with option 3.

Jeff

[fitek]

Thanks for this explanation Jeff.  Succinct and useful and I'm glad I didn't have to dive into the code– I setup a rule to apply classifiable to all new docs and rules to set categories based on document names.  I'm importing SDLC and testing documentation.

[aingham]

Also thanks from me on this - really helpful.

Andy