Organizing with Categories
Categories help you organize your books by genre, topic, or any grouping that makes sense for your collection.
How Categories Work
Section titled “How Categories Work”Categories are broad classifications for books—like “Fiction,” “Biography,” “Children’s,” or “Theology.” When you add a book, it’s often automatically assigned to relevant categories based on its metadata.
You can also create and assign your own categories.
Viewing by Category
Section titled “Viewing by Category”In Your Collection
Section titled “In Your Collection”- Go to My Books
- Tap Filter or the category dropdown
- Select a category to see only those books
In a Library
Section titled “In a Library”- Open the library
- Browse the Categories section
- Tap any category to see its books
[Screenshot: library with category tabs]
Assigning Categories to Books
Section titled “Assigning Categories to Books”- Open a book in your collection
- Tap Edit
- Find the Categories section
- Add or remove categories
- Tap Save
You can assign multiple categories to a single book (e.g., a book could be both “History” and “Biography”).
Creating Custom Categories
Section titled “Creating Custom Categories”For your personal collection, you can create categories that fit how you think about your books:
- Open any book
- Tap Edit
- In the Categories section, type a new category name
- Tap to add it
- Save your changes
The new category is now available for all your books.
Category vs. Tags
Section titled “Category vs. Tags”Categories and tags both help organize books, but they work differently:
| Categories | Tags |
|---|---|
| Broad groupings | Specific descriptors |
| Usually 1-3 per book | Can have many per book |
| ”Fiction,” “Non-Fiction" | "beach-read,” “book-club-2024,” “gift-from-mom” |
Use categories for general organization and tags for specific, personal details. See Using tags for more.
Common Categories
Section titled “Common Categories”Here are some category ideas:
- By genre: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi
- By audience: Children’s, Young Adult, Adult
- By topic: Theology, History, Biography, Self-Help
- By purpose: Study, Devotional, Reference, Leisure
- Don’t over-categorize — A book doesn’t need to be in every applicable category
- Think about how you browse — Create categories that match how you look for books
Related Articles
Section titled “Related Articles”Still Need Help?
Section titled “Still Need Help?”If you have questions about organizing your books, contact support.