# Tags
Tags are shared labels that can be applied to points of interest, markups and work orders. Every project has its own tag catalog, and the same tag can be used across all three features.
The Tags page in the project administration section is where the catalog is managed. From here you can create tags, change a tag's name or color, merge duplicate tags together, delete tags, and choose whether people are allowed to create new tags while they work.
# Who can manage tags
The Tags page is available to:
- Project administrators.
- Organization administrators.
- Members of a group with the Tag management group role. See Groups in Civillo.
Applying an existing tag to a point of interest, markup or work order does not require any of the above. It only requires permission to edit that item.
# Open the Tags page
Open your project.
From the navigation bar, click Administration.
In the left sidebar, under your project's name, click Tags.
# Create a tag
Under Create tag, optionally click the color swatch to choose a color for the tag. If you do not choose one, the tag is given the default Civillo blue.
Type the tag name into the Tag name field.
Click Add tag.
Tag names must be unique within the project, and uniqueness ignores case: if Traffic already exists, traffic cannot be created as a second tag.
A tag name can be up to 128 characters long, and can contain letters, numbers, spaces and the characters - _ . : / & ' ( ) + #.
# Change a tag's color
In the Tags table, click the color swatch in the tag's Color column and choose a new color. The change is saved immediately, and the tag takes on the new color everywhere it appears.
Tag text is automatically shown in black or white, whichever is more legible against the color you choose, so there is no need to avoid dark or light colors.
# Rename a tag
In the Tags table, click the pencil icon on the tag's row.
Enter the new name and click Save.
Renaming a tag keeps every point of interest, markup and work order it is applied to. Changing only the capitalization of a tag's own name is allowed, so traffic can be corrected to Traffic.
# Merge two tags
Merging is how near-duplicate tags are cleaned up: for example Traffic and traffic control accumulating side by side, or a misspelled trafic.
In the Tags table, click the merge icon on the row of the tag you want to get rid of. This tag is the source of the merge.
Choose the tag to merge it into. Every other tag in the project is offered.
Read the summary shown in the dialog, then click Merge.
Everything that referenced the source tag now references the tag you merged into, and the source tag no longer exists. The tag you merged into keeps its own name and color. Where an item already carried both tags, it simply keeps the one, rather than ending up with a duplicate.
Group POI tag restrictions are carried across too, so a group restricted to the source tag becomes restricted to the tag you merged into instead. See Groups in Civillo.
WARNING
A merge cannot be undone. The source tag and its name are gone once the merge completes.
# Delete a tag
In the Tags table, click the trash can icon on the tag's row.
Confirm the deletion.
Deleting a tag removes it from every point of interest, markup and work order it was applied to, and from any group POI tag restriction that used it. The items themselves are not deleted.
WARNING
Deleting a tag can widen what a group can see. A group's POI tag restrictions limit it to points of interest carrying the tags listed there, and a group with no tags listed is not restricted at all. So if the tag you delete was the only one restricting a group, that group can then see every point of interest in the project. Check the groups restricted to a tag before deleting it, and add another tag to their restrictions if the limit still needs to apply. See Groups in Civillo.
WARNING
A deletion cannot be undone. If you are trying to clean up a duplicate rather than discard a label entirely, merge it instead so the tagging work is kept.
# Restrict tag creation
By default, anyone who can edit a point of interest, markup or work order can invent a new tag while they work simply by typing a name that does not exist yet. On a long-running project this is how catalogs drift into dozens of near-identical labels.
Turn on Restrict tag creation at the top of the Tags page to prevent that. While the setting is on:
- New tags can only be created from the Tags page, by the people listed under Who can manage tags.
- Everyone else may still apply and remove tags, but only tags that already exist. Typing a name that is not in the catalog does not create it.
- Existing tags are unaffected. Nothing already applied is removed.
The setting is per project, so one project can be locked down while another stays open. It can be turned back off at any time.
TIP
Tags you create while the restriction is on are immediately available to everyone, including tags nobody has used yet.