Categories

Categories are the classification labels used throughout the platform to tag and organize records. Creating a well-structured category system before you start using Vivin operationally makes filtering, reporting, and delegation much more effective.

Display in filters and tables: Vivin title-cases category values for readability in dropdowns, chips, and table cells (for example manutenção → Manutenção, not a broken ManutençãO). Accented letters in your catalog labels are preserved — configure labels exactly as operators should read them.

Open Account Settings → Property → Categories (/settings/categories). The tab is a stack of editable cards—each card is one catalog.

First-time workspace setup

Complete Getting Started — Recommended Setup Sequence step 9 (this tab — chip catalogs for properties, bookings, tickets) after step 8 Contract and before step 10 Tenant categories — full tab map: Recommended setup order. Finish steps 13–15 in Listings, Bookings, and Tenants, then Onboarding a New Property — Step 7. Guided steps 4–12: Onboarding a New Property. Lockout catch-up: Getting Started. Workflow pairing after go-live: Account Settings — Setup sequence after go-live.

Finding your way in this guide

Start with Listing Categories and Listing Types, then Bookings tags and Tickets types before go-live imports. Non-linear operator habits (Lockout catch-up, Pending manual receipt approval, Reject/revert mistaken receipts, Portfolio segmentation by tenant category, Notification row-click navigation, Payment alert to receivables triage, Confirmation alert triage, Finance debt receivables triage, Finance Income status drill-down, Cash flow forecast drill-down) have matching Related subsections below. Full pairing matrix: Categories section cross-reference · Account Settings — Tab cross-reference.

Pair with other Account Settings tabs

Pair chip catalogs with Tenant categories (tenant segments — not the same as booking/property tags) and verify Operations ticket labels before the first maintenance job. Payments, Invoicing & Utilities utility types and Listings Step 3 Bills Included ceilings reference Others Items and Extra charges labels from this tab. Month-end category-filtered reconciliation pairs with Portfolio KPI review — Step 7 and optional AI usage API (utility_bill_extraction + landlord_chat). Section-to-doc pairing: Categories section cross-reference. Hub tab matrix: Account Settings — Tab cross-reference.

Click the pencil on a card to enter edit mode, type a label in the Add field, and press Enter or Add; removing a chip uses the × on that row. Each add or remove saves immediately (there is no separate Save for the whole page). Click Done to leave edit mode.

Account Settings — Tickets card in edit mode with Add field, chip list, and Done / Cancel footer

Walkthrough: open Tickets edit mode, add a chip label, remove it, then Done (each change saves as you go).

Tenant categories are a separate tab

Tenant categories (portal access, profile field rules, integration defaults) live on the adjacent Tenant categories tab — not on this chip-based Categories page. See Tenant categories.

The Categories tab currently includes eight catalogs plus Lease Purpose configuration:

Card in the app (English UI)	Used for
Listing Categories	Tags on properties and units in Listings
Listing Types	Property/listing type labels (separate from location-style tags)
Bookings	Booking-level tags and segmentation
Others Items Categories	Extra charges on bookings (“Add Charge”)
Tickets	Mandatory categories on operations tickets
Suppliers	Supplier classification in operational workflows
Cashflows	Categories on Operations > Cash Flows entries
Lease Purpose	Optional booking field: allowed values + enable/required toggles

Account Settings — Categories tab overview (listing catalogs at the top of the stack)

Listing Categories

Pair with other Categories sections

Listing tags power Listings, Sales, and Finance → Select categories filters — apply tags on Listings — Tags Tab after you add chips here. Full pairing matrix: Categories section cross-reference.

Tags that can be applied to properties and units. These appear in the Tags area when editing a property or unit in Listings.

Purpose: Filter the Listings view, generate targeted reports, and quickly identify properties with specific characteristics.

Examples:

Location-based: Alameda, Baixa, City Center, Suburbs
Feature-based: Pet Friendly, Furnished, Elevator, Parking
Tenant-type: Student Housing, Professional, Short-term

Listing Categories and Listing Types cards on the Categories tab

Filter surfaces: Tags you maintain here power multi-select filters across the portfolio:

Module / surface	Control label	Docs
Listings → Portfolio / Archived	Tags (inline toolbar)	Portfolio toolbar
Sales → Multicalendar	Select tags	Multicalendar tab
Sales → Pricing	Select tags	Pricing toolbar filters — `sales-pricing-tags-types-toolbar.png`
Finance → Other filters → Property & Listing	Select categories (listing tags on units)	Property and listing filters

Finance loads distinct tag strings from GET /listings/tags (sorted, de-duplicated across live listings). Listings and Sales filter the portfolio slice you are viewing; Finance narrows ledger and roll-up rows on Contract Values, Transactions, Income, and related exports.

How Finance loads tag options

The management app calls GET /listings/tags (Bearer auth, account-scoped) to populate Finance → Other filters → Property & Listing → Select categories. The response is the sorted, de-duplicated set of tag strings already on live listings — not the full Categories catalog from Settings. Listings and Sales filters use portfolio metadata on their own endpoints instead. Operators configure vocabulary on this page and apply tags on Listings — Tags Tab.

If that request fails (network or server error), Vivin shows a toast such as Could not load tags. — distinct from a genuinely empty tag list when your portfolio has no tagged units yet. Retry after connectivity improves; until tags load, Select tags / Select categories controls on Listings, Sales, and Finance may stay empty or stale.

Listing Types

A separate catalog from Listing Categories for property or unit type labels (for example Studio, Room, Full Apartment). Use Listing Categories for cross-cutting tags (location, amenities) and Listing Types when you need a dedicated type taxonomy.

Examples: Studio, Room, Full Apartment, Two Single Beds, Coliving

Filter surfaces: Type labels appear as Types on the Listings Portfolio toolbar (listings-portfolio-types-dropdown-open.png) and Select listing types on Sales Multicalendar (sales-multicalendar-types-dropdown-open.png) and Sales Pricing (sales-pricing-types-dropdown-open.png). Combine tags and types with search, property pickers, and Clear all on each module’s toolbar.

Bookings

Pair with other Categories sections

Booking tags feed Emails — Communication Rules — Booking tags audience filters — changes save immediately on this card. Full pairing matrix: Categories section cross-reference.

Tags and categories that can be applied to bookings to classify the type of reservation or associated charges.

Purpose: Segment booking data for reporting, provide context for custom charges added to a booking, and supply labels for Communication Rules audience filters (Emails → Communication Rules — Booking tags).

When you add or remove tags on this card, the Booking tags multi-select in automated rule drawers updates on the next open (no separate publish step).

On the Bookings list, the toolbar Select categories control lists every tag here plus No category so operators can find reservations that still have an empty bookingTags list — see Bookings — Property and category filters.

The same tag set (including No category) is available under Finance → Other filters → Booking → Select categories when narrowing Contract Values, Transactions, Income roll-ups, and related exports — see Finance — Booking tags.

Filter surfaces: Tags you maintain here power multi-select filters across reservations and ledger views:

Module / surface	Control label	Docs
Bookings → List / Timeline	Select categories	List filters (`bookings-list-select-categories-no-category.png`, `bookings-list-select-categories-named-tag.png`) and Timeline view (`bookings-timeline-select-categories-no-category.png`, `bookings-timeline-select-categories-named-tag.png`)
Bookings → Other filters → Booking	Discounts (All / With / Without)	Other filters, Glossary — Discount (booking)
Finance → Other filters → Booking	Select categories	Booking tags
Finance → Other filters → Booking	Discounts (All / With / Without)	Deposit status filter
Settings → Emails → Communication Rules	Booking tags (audience)	Communication Rules — audience filters
Settings → Emails → Communication Rules	Tenant categories (audience)	Communication Rules — audience filters, Tenant categories
Bookings → Other filters → Tenant	Tenant category	Other filters, Finance — Tenant category filter, Tenants — Tenant category filter
Finance → Other filters → Tenant	Tenant category	Tenant category filter, Portfolio KPI review — Step 6
Tenants → Directory toolbar	All categories	Tenant category filter

Examples:

Extra Tenant (booking has more tenants than the base capacity)
Room Change (tenant moved from one unit to another)
Renewal (existing tenant extended their stay)
Corporate (booking made by a company rather than an individual)

Bookings and Others Items Categories cards

Others Items Categories

Categories for miscellaneous booking charges that do not fit standard payment types (rent, deposit, admin fee). These appear when you add extra charges on a booking.

Purpose: Classify one-off or non-standard charges added via Add Charge on a booking.

Examples:

Damages
Guest Fee (extra charge for an additional occupant)
Parking
Storage
Penalty Fee

Cashflows are separate

Operational expenses recorded under Operations > Cash Flows use the Cashflows card on this tab, not Others Items Categories.

Tickets

Pair with other Categories sections

Ticket categories are mandatory on Operations — Tickets — seed labels before the first maintenance job in Managing a Check-in turnover week. Full pairing matrix: Categories section cross-reference.

Categories for maintenance and operational tasks. Every ticket must have a category, so create a comprehensive list before your team uses the Operations module.

Purpose: Route tickets to the right team, generate workload reports by category, and standardize how tasks are described.

Examples:

Cleaning - Check-in
Cleaning - Check-out
Plumbing
Electrical
Appliance Repair
Key Handover
Tenant Request
Inspection

Tickets and Suppliers cards

Suppliers

Labels for supplier records used in operational and procurement-style workflows. Keep names consistent with how your team refers to vendors on invoices and tickets.

Examples: Cleaning company, Plumber, Electrician, Furniture supplier

Cashflows

Pair with other Categories sections

Cashflows chips label Operations — Cash Flows and ticket Cost allocation rows — pair with Entering Monthly Utility Bills when supplier invoices land on the ledger. Full pairing matrix: Categories section cross-reference.

Categories for Operations > Cash Flows entries—operational expenses, contractor costs, and similar out-of-booking cash movements. The same category chips appear on linked cash flow rows in a maintenance ticket’s Cost allocation panel (amber label on each linked row).

Examples: Contractor Invoice, Supplies, Utilities, Repairs

Others Items Categories through Cashflows cards

Lease Purpose

Pair with other Categories sections

Lease Purpose values populate {LeasePurpose} in Contract templates and booking forms — enable before Processing a New Booking on accounts that require tourism vs studies classification. Full pairing matrix: Categories section cross-reference.

Optional lease purpose values (for example Tourism, Studies, Work) shown on bookings when your account enables the field. This card includes:

Enable Lease Purpose field — turns the control on for new/edited bookings
Make Lease Purpose mandatory — requires a selection when the field is enabled
Chip list — the allowed values operators can pick

Configure this before teams rely on the field in booking creation or contract flows.

Lease Purpose — enable/required toggles and allowed value chips

Best Practices for Category Design

Keep Categories Specific but Not Overly Granular

Categories should be specific enough to be useful for filtering and reporting, but not so granular that your team has to choose between dozens of similar options.

Too broad: Maintenance (does not help route tickets or generate useful reports)
Too granular: Plumbing - Kitchen Sink, Plumbing - Bathroom Sink, Plumbing - Toilet, Plumbing - Shower (forces difficult decisions on every ticket)
Just right: Plumbing, Electrical, Appliance Repair (clear, distinct, and useful for routing)

Use Consistent Naming Conventions

Decide on a naming pattern and apply it consistently:

Use sentence case — Cleaning - Check-in rather than cleaning - check-in or CLEANING - CHECK-IN
Use hyphens or dashes for subcategories — Cleaning - Check-in, Cleaning - Check-out rather than Cleaning (Check-in) or Cleaning/Check-in
Avoid abbreviations — Electrical rather than Elec. to ensure clarity for all team members

Plan Before You Start

Set up your full category taxonomy before your team begins creating tickets, bookings, and cash flows. Retroactively recategorizing records is tedious and error-prone. A good approach:

List all the types of tasks, charges, and property features your team handles
Group similar items and decide on a manageable number of categories (aim for 8–15 per section)
Review with your team to ensure the categories match how they think about their work
Create the categories in Vivin
Review and refine after 1–2 months of use — add missing categories, merge rarely-used ones

When to Create a New Category vs. Reuse an Existing One

Create a new category when:

The existing options do not accurately describe the item
You need to filter or report on this type of item separately
Different team members or processes handle this type of item

Reuse an existing category when:

The difference is minor and would not affect routing, reporting, or filtering
The new category would be used very rarely (fewer than once a month)

tip

Review your category usage quarterly. If a category has never been used, consider removing it to keep the dropdown menus clean. If team members are frequently choosing "Other" or misusing a category, a new category may be needed.

Key Rules

Summary

Categories cannot be deleted once in use. If a category has been applied to any record (ticket, booking, property, or cash flow), it remains in the system for historical accuracy. You can remove unused chips while editing a card, but labels already stored on historical records stay visible on those records.
Ticket categories are mandatory. Every ticket must have a category. Ensure your ticket category list is comprehensive enough before your operations team starts creating tickets.
Property tags propagate to units. Tags added to a property are automatically inherited by all units within that property. Unit-specific tags can be added independently.
Others Items vs. Cashflows. Use Others Items Categories for extra booking charges; use Cashflows for Operations > Cash Flows expenses.
Lease Purpose is optional. Enable and populate Lease Purpose only when your booking workflow should capture a reason for the lease; use Make Lease Purpose mandatory when compliance or reporting requires it on every new booking.

Categories section cross-reference

Use this table when one Categories card or catalog naturally leads into another Account Settings tab, operator module, workflow, or concept — each row links to the docs you should read before or after editing chip labels.