# Application Categories

Application Categories are used to differentiate applications by their intended environments or risk profiles for use in creating targeted policies.

Policies will not apply to every environment or application. For example, copyleft licenses only apply to applications that are distributed to other users whereas internal or server-based applications are not limited by this constraint. These license policies are scoped to only applications with the `Distributed` application category where other applications would not trigger these restrictions.

See Policy Management for details on scoping policies with Application Categories

## Creating Application Categories

Application categories are created, edited, and deleted at the organization level and then assigned individually to each application.

To create an application category:

1. In the sidebar, select an organization.
2. In the _Application Categories_ section, click _Add a Category_. The _New Application Category_ dialog is displayed.
3. In the _New Application Category_ dialog, set the following attributes:
   1. _Application Category Name_ - Enter a name that is easily identified for it will be used to match an application to corresponding policies.
   2. _Short Description_ - Enter a description that provides additional information about the category.
   3. _Color_ - Select a desired color for the category.
4. Click the _Create_ button to add the application category to the selected organization.

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## Editing an Application Category

To edit an application category:

1. In the sidebar, select the organization in which the application category was created. The application category is displayed in the _Application Categories_ section under the _Local_ heading, and has a chevron in its row to indicate it’s editable.
2. Click the application category you want to edit. The _Edit Application Category_ dialog is displayed.
3. In the _Edit Application Category_ dialog, you can change the following attributes:
   1. _Application Category Name_ - Enter a different name.
   2. _Short Description_ - Enter a description that provides additional information about the category.
   3. _Color_ - Select a desired color for the category.
4. Click the _Update_ button to save your changes to the application category.

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## Deleting an Application Category

To delete an application category:

1. In the sidebar, select the organization in which the application category was created. The application category is displayed in the _Application Categories_ section under the _Local_ heading, and has a chevron in its row to indicate it’s editable.
2. Click the application category you want to delete. The _Edit Application Category_ dialog is displayed.
3. In the _Edit Application Category_ dialog, click the _Delete Application Category_ button. A _Delete Category_ alert dialog is displayed. If there are applications assigned to the application category, they will be listed.
4. In the _Delete Category_ dialog, click _Continue_ to delete the application category or _Cancel_ to keep the application category.

**Warning**

When you delete an application category, the action cannot be undone.

**Note**

You cannot delete an application category that’s used in a policy to affect policy inheritance. You must first remove the application category from the policy, and then delete the application category.

## Assigning an Application Category

In most cases, the people assigning application categories may be different from those creating them. It is important though to understand that while application categories are provided to identify characteristics of an application, a more important usage is to provide a way for policy managers to create specific policies that consider those application characteristics. For this reason, when assigning an application category, your application may be evaluated by a specific set of policies. This is a good thing, but it also makes the use of application categories an act that requires careful consideration.

To assign an application category to an application:

1. Log in to the IQ Server using a user account that’s assigned to a role with Owner-level permissions for the application. The built-in Owner role has owner-level permissions by default.
2. In the sidebar, select an application.
3. In the _Application Categories_ section, click _Assign App Categories_. The _Assign Application Categories_ page is displayed.
4. In the list of assigned application categories, select the application categories you want to assign to the selected application.
5. Click _Update_ to save your selection(s).

**Note**

There must be at least one application category defined before you can assign any application categories. For more information, see [Application Categories](https://help.sonatype.com/en/application-categories.html "Application Categories").

**Tip**

Once application categories are created and assigned, you can use them to apply policies to a subset of applications in an organization through inheritance. For more information about policy inheritance and application categories, see the Basic Policy Management chapter.