Structure Dataverse data with nested categories

Categorizing rows in Microsoft Dataverse helps you tag the rows so that you can easily search them. Use the Category table to create and manage a hierarchical structure of categories in Dataverse, and then associate rows to one or more categories.

A category can have multiple child categories, but a child category can have only one parent category. Deleting a parent Category row automatically deletes all its child rows and table associations. You define a parent category for a category using the Category.ParentCategoryId column.

Use the Category.SequenceNumber column to programmatically define the display order for categories in the hierarchy. When you add a new category using the web client, it is automatically added after the last category in the hierarchy. You can also use the Category.CategoryNumber column to programmatically set or update a number for category to help you easily distinguish a group of categories. Category number can be set to any value programmatically, but is automatically set when you create a category using the web client based on the auto-numbering prefix specified by the administrator for categories in the web client (Settings > Administration > Auto-Numbering > Categories tab).

You can associate Category rows with system and custom table rows by using relationships and connections. A category row can be associated with different rows. For example, you can programmatically associate a Category row with an Account, Contact and Incident rows.