---
title: "Manage downtime categories"
description: "Downtime categories are the reason codes operators pick from when they classify a machine stop. Create one under a severity heading, require a note on the reasons that need one, mark it as planned downtime, tag it with a category type, give it a color that carries through to the Downtimes report, rename it, and understand why deleting one unclassifies every stop that ever used it."
category: "Track and classify downtime"
source_url: "https://www.iotflows.com/docs/monitoring/downtime-categories/"
---
# Manage downtime categories

Build the list of reasons operators pick from, and decide which ones demand a note.

A *downtime category* is a reason code an operator puts on a machine stop, for example `Tool change`. Each carries a severity, an optional color, a flag that forces a note, a planned or unplanned setting, and an optional category type. One list serves every machine in the organization.

**Prerequisites.** Organization Owner or Organization Administrator, see [Roles and permissions](/docs/admin/roles-reference/). Other roles see the controls disabled.

## Open the category list
Categories have no settings page. You edit them from the **Classify Downtime** modal, from **Auto downtime classification** under `/settings/organization`, or from the classify sheet on a phone.

Categories sit under four severity headings: **None**, **Low**, **Medium**, **High**. IoTFlows ships built-ins every organization sees; turn off **Show Default** to leave only your own. Only your own carry a pencil, so built-ins cannot be renamed, recolored, or deleted.

Three controls sit above the list and change what you see, not what is stored:

| Control | Options | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Grouping | **Severity**, **Category Type** | Which headings the chips file under, see [Group categories with types](#types) |
| Planned filter | **All**, **Planned**, **Unplanned** | Hides categories that do not match, see [Mark a category as planned](#planned) |
| **Show Default** | On or off, on by default | Whether the built-in IoTFlows categories are listed |

Your choices are saved in the browser and reapplied everywhere the picker appears, including the classify sheet on a phone. An operator who filters to **Unplanned** still sees that filter tomorrow, so say so before you leave a shared touchscreen set that way.

![The Classify Downtime modal. Under the heading Select Downtime Category sit three controls: a Severity and Category Type pair with Severity selected, an All, Planned and Unplanned filter with All selected, and a Show Default switch turned on. Below them the underlined severity headings None in gray and Low in green each carry a row of rounded category chips. Chips the organization created carry a pencil, Lunch Break and Tool Change carry a blue calendar icon marking them as planned downtime, and a plus button follows the last chip in each severity](/images/monitoring/mon-cat-01.webp)

*The downtime category list, with the grouping, planned filter and Show Default controls above it.*

## Create a category
1. Click the **+** on the severity row the category belongs under.
2. Type a name in **Category name**.
3. Turn on **Require additional note** if the reason is not actionable alone.
4. Turn on **Planned downtime** if this reason is work you schedule.
5. Pick a **Category type**, or leave it clear.
6. Pick a color, or leave the default red.
7. Click **Add**. A **Downtime category added** toast confirms it.

An empty name returns `Category name is required` and creates nothing.

### Category fields
| Field | Required | Values | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Category name** | Yes | Free text | The label operators see everywhere |
| Severity | Yes | The row you create under | See [Set severity](#severity) |
| **Require additional note** | No | On or off, off by default | Makes **Additional notes** mandatory |
| **Planned downtime** | No | On or off, off by default | Marks stops as scheduled, see [Mark a category as planned](#planned) |
| **Category type** | No | One type, or none | Tags it for grouping, see [Group categories with types](#types) |
| **Color** | No | Default red, or a swatch | Colors it on the Downtimes report |

![The Add Medium Category form open over the category list, beside the chips filed under the None and Low severity headings. The form holds a name field reading Troubleshooting, a Require additional note row whose checkbox is ticked and whose helper text reads Operator must add a note when classified, a Planned downtime row whose toggle is off, a Category type list of Breaks, Changeovers, Failures, Material and Tooling with Failures carrying a check and a New type field below it, a Color row showing a dark red dot, a line reading Downtimes classified under this category will show as the default red, and Cancel and Add buttons](/images/monitoring/mon-cat-02.webp)

*Creating a category: the severity row you open the form under sets its severity.*

## Set severity
*Severity* is how much a stop of this kind costs you, from **None** to **High**. It decides the heading the category files under and its color.

The edit form has no severity control, so a category cannot move between headings. To move one, create it again under the correct row, then read [Delete a category](#delete).

### Severity levels
| Severity | Use for | Where it shows |
|---|---|---|
| **None** | Not a loss: a break | Gray heading |
| **Low** | Planned work: a changeover | Green heading |
| **Medium** | Avoidable stops: waiting on material | Amber heading |
| **High** | Stops needing someone now: a breakdown | Red heading |

## Require a note
Turn on **Require additional note** and the operator must fill **Additional notes** before the stop will save. The category then carries an amber alert icon in the picker.

Require a note only where the reason alone tells you nothing you can act on. `Other` and `Breakdown` earn it. `Changeover` does not: ten copies of the word "changeover" is all it buys you. Notes drive the only-with-notes filter on the [Downtimes report](/docs/monitoring/downtimes/).

![The Edit Category form open over the Classify Downtime modal, for the Machine Failure chip which carries an amber alert icon and a pencil. The form holds a name field reading Machine Failure, a Require additional note row whose checkbox is ticked and whose helper text reads Operator must add a note when classified, a Planned downtime row whose toggle is off, a Category type list of Changeovers, Failures, Material and Tooling with Failures carrying a check, a Color row showing the default red dot, and Delete, Cancel and Save buttons](/images/monitoring/mon-cat-03.webp)

*The Require additional note control: Operator must add a note when classified.*

## Mark a category as planned
*Planned downtime* is a stop you scheduled, for example a changeover or a preventive maintenance window. It is a setting on the category, not on the individual stop, so every stop classified under `Preventive maintenance` is planned and every stop under `Breakdown` is not.

Turn on **Planned downtime** in the add or edit form. Its helper line reads "Downtime using this category is planned". The setting is off by default, and you can change it on an existing category without touching the stops already classified under it.

A planned category carries a calendar icon on its chip, ahead of the name, with the tooltip **Planned downtime**. Operators see the icon while they classify, which is the cheapest way to tell them that a reason is one you expected.

![The Edit Category form open over the Classify Downtime modal, above the Tool Change chip in the Low severity row. The form holds a name field reading Tool Change, an unticked Require additional note row, a Planned downtime row whose toggle is on and whose helper text reads Downtime using this category is planned, and a Category type list with a Clear link at its right and four rows, Changeovers carrying a blue check, then Failures, Material and Tooling, each with a pencil and a trash icon, above a New type field and a plus button. A Color row showing the default red dot and the Delete, Cancel and Save buttons close the form](/images/monitoring/mon-cat-05.webp)

*The Planned downtime toggle and the Category type picker, both on the category form.*

### Choose planned or unplanned
Turn **Planned downtime** on when you decided in advance that the machine would stop:

- Scheduled preventive maintenance
- A changeover or setup you wrote into the schedule
- A break or a shift handover the plan accounts for

Leave it off for everything the schedule did not account for, including a tool that broke early and a changeover that was not planned for that shift. If you have to think about whether a reason was scheduled, it was not.

> **Warning:**
> **Planned is not the same as low severity.** Severity says what a stop costs you, planned says whether you chose it. A four-hour scheduled rebuild is planned and still **High**. Set the two independently, see [Set severity](#severity).

Today the flag drives the picker: the calendar icon on the chip, and the **All**, **Planned**, **Unplanned** filter above the list. The category filter on the [Downtimes report](/docs/monitoring/downtimes/) and the [Advanced report](/docs/monitoring/advanced-report/) still lists categories by severity, so plan to read planned and unplanned apart by selecting the categories themselves.

## Group categories with types
A *category type* is a tag you put on a downtime category so that related categories can be grouped and reviewed together, for example a `Failures` type over `Machine Failure`, `Robot Failure` and `Jammed Machine`. Types belong to the organization, and one type can carry any number of categories.

A category holds at most one type. Types are separate from severity: severity ranks a single category, a type collects several.

### Create a type
Types are managed from inside the category form, so there is no separate page.

1. Click the **+** on a severity row, or the pencil on an existing category.
2. Type a name in **New type** under **Category type**.
3. Click the **+** beside the field. A **Category type added** toast confirms it, and the new type is selected for this category.
4. Click **Add** or **Save** to store the type on the category.

Creating a type adds it to the organization immediately, before you save the category. If you close the form without saving, the type stays and the category keeps the type it had.

### Assign, clear, rename and delete
| Action | How | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Assign | Click a type in the list | A check mark marks it |
| Clear | Click the selected type again, or click **Clear** | The category files under **No Category Type** |
| Rename | Click the pencil on the type, edit, click the check | Renames it everywhere, on every category that carries it |
| Delete | Click the trash on the type, then confirm | Removes the type from the organization |

Rename rather than delete. A rename keeps every category grouped as it was, which is the whole point of the tag.

### Group the picker by type
Switch the grouping control above the list from **Severity** to **Category Type**. The chips then file under one heading per type, sorted alphabetically, with **No Category Type** last. Categories with no type collect there, which makes that heading the list of categories still to tag.

The grouping is a view, not a change to the categories. Switching back to **Severity** leaves every category exactly as it was.

![The Select Downtime Category list with Category Type chosen on the grouping control, All on the planned filter and Show Default turned off. Category chips file under five underlined blue headings: Breaks carrying Break, Lunch and Lunch Break, each with a calendar icon; Changeovers carrying Tool Change, also with a calendar icon, and Testing; Failures carrying Tool Broken, No Power, Robot Failure, Jammed Machine and Machine Failure; and Material carrying No Part, No Sample, No Parts and No inventory](/images/monitoring/mon-cat-06.webp)

*The picker grouped by category type, with the planned filter beside it.*

### Decide whether you need types
You probably do not need types. A list of roughly eight categories reads fine under the four severity headings, and a tag on top of that is one more thing to maintain.

Add types when the same review keeps cutting across severities. For example, `Machine Failure` is **High** and `Jammed Machine` is **Medium**, but a maintenance review wants both, so a `Failures` type earns its place. Keep the number of types well under the number of categories: a type per category groups nothing.

## Change a color
1. Click the pencil, then the swatch beside **Color**.
2. Pick a swatch, or **Default red** to clear the color.
3. Click **Save**. A **Downtime category updated** toast confirms it.

A category with no color draws in the standard downtime red. Your color carries through to the Pareto and the by-interval and by-asset bars on the Downtimes report.

You do not need a color on every category. Color the two or three reasons you are working on now and leave the rest red.

![The Edit Category form for Machine Failure scrolled to its color grid, with the Planned downtime row and the Category type list above it. Twenty-one swatches sit in three rows, the dark default red first, and a white check mark marks a violet swatch in the bottom row. The Color dot at the right of the row has turned violet, and the line under the grid reads Downtimes classified under this category will show as Violet 600 instead of the default red](/images/monitoring/mon-cat-04.webp)

*The color palette: a category's color carries through to the charts on the Downtimes report.*

## Delete a category
Click the pencil, click **Delete**, then confirm in the **Delete Downtime Category** dialog.

> **Warning:**
> **Deleting a category rewrites your history.** It comes off every downtime ever classified with it, and those stops become unclassified. There is no undo.

Rename rather than delete. Open the pencil, change the name, and save: the stops keep their classification.

## Design a category list
Keep the list to roughly eight categories. Operators classify from a touchscreen mid-shift, and a list that scrolls gets the first visible item every time. The Pareto then measures list order, not the plant.

Write categories at the level you can act on. `Machine problem` names nothing, and wins the Pareto every month without telling you what to fix.

Set **Planned downtime** on the whole list in one pass, when you build it. It is a single toggle per category, and doing it later means going back through a list an operator has already been classifying against.

## See also

- [Classify a downtime event](/docs/monitoring/classify-downtime/)
- [Classify downtime automatically](/docs/monitoring/auto-downtime-rules/)
- [Analyze downtime with Pareto and trend charts](/docs/monitoring/downtimes/)
- [Plan your rollout](/docs/get-started/roll-out-plan/)