Classifying content with taxonomies
Content retrieval and management of data depends on the effective classification and tagging of your information. In addition, the classification may be used to generate website navigation, dynamically assemble content or for other purposes. Depending on how the system is set up, you can classify your content using internal Keywords that your organization has defined in Content Manager or Concepts that are managed externally in Taxonomy Space.
About classification fields
Fields used for classification can be either regular content or metadata. The item's schema or the selected metadata schema controls the following aspects of how a particular classification field behaves:
- Fields used for classification have values defined in a list that is associated with a Category.
- A list field for classification can appear in a variety of forms, including drop-down lists, select boxes, radio buttons, check boxes, or tree lists.
- Fields may have limitations set on the number of values they can have. For example, one field might require a single value while others allow multiple values.
The following image shows several different classification fields, each of a different type:
Different colored icons distinguish Keywords in an internal taxonomy versus Concepts in an external taxonomy. Keywords have an orange tag while Concepts from an external taxonomy have a blue tag. They way you work with them to classify content is the same.
- Keywords in an internal taxonomy that can be used for classification have a solid orange tag icon:
- Keywords in an internal taxonomy that cannot be used for classification have an orange outline tag icon:
- Concepts in an external taxonomy that can be used for classification have a solid blue tag icon:
- Concepts in an external taxonomy that cannot be used for classification have a blue outline tag icon:
Different methods for classifying content
While editing individual Components or other items that can be classified with a taxonomy, the you way you perform the classification depends on whether the taxonomy is internal or external, and if external, the capabilities of the external system. The classification experience will be one of the following:
- Individual, fully manual
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To classify an individual content item, you simply select values for a field that has been defined for this purpose.
The following image shows the steps:
- Locate the Keyword or Concept within the taxonomy structure.
- Select the Keyword or Concept from the list on the right side of the window.
- Click Insert.
- Individual, semi-automatic
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When using Experience Space with an external taxonomy system, some fields enable you to get suggestions for tags to classify the content. These fields are identified by the following tag icon:
The following image shows illustrates how to classify content using this option:
- Select the Suggest tags button. You will see this button only when there are one or more fields that support this functionality.
- The fields with the tag icon get updated with suggestions for Concept tags for classifying the content. The Content and Metadata tabs show the number of updated fields on that tab.
The suggestions are based on the current content and metadata of the item you are editing. After using this option, you can review and change the tags, if needed, which is why this method is considered "semi-automatic."
- Bulk, automatic classification (external taxonomies)
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From the list of items in the Content Area, you can select one or more items and use the Autoclassify option to quickly and consistently classify the items without any additional steps. The classification is based on the current content and metadata of the selected items.
The following screen capture illustrates how to use this option:
- In the Content area, select one or more items.
- Select the
(Autoclassify) button. The button appears only when at least one selected item is based on a Schema that supports the Autoclassify feature.
After the classification is complete, you will see a message to confirm how many items were classified. If you need to make manual changes to any of the automatic classifications, you can do so by editing the individual items and changing the classification manually.