--- title: Resource categories sidebarTitle: Categories description: >- What resource categories are, why Staff, Room and Add-ons each need one, and how to rename, deactivate or delete them. audience: luminary feature: resources type: guide availability: beta last_verified: '2026-10-14' keywords: - resource categories - category - resource type - enable rooms - disable add-ons - kind url: 'https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/business/resources/categories' --- # Resource categories > What resource categories are, why Staff, Room and Add-ons each need one, and how to rename, deactivate or delete them. **Note:** Beta. Resources is marked BETA in the dashboard menu and may change. Every resource belongs to a category, and every category has a kind: Staff, Room or Other (Other is what the Resources page calls Add-ons). The category is what tells Soul whether something is a person, a space or a piece of equipment, and it decides which tab a resource lives in and which row of a session type it can be added to. Most practices never need to open this screen. Soul creates a Staff category for you, and Enable Room & Addon creates one Room category and one Add-on category. This page is for when you want to rename one, switch one off, or tidy up. ## When to use this - You want a category to read differently, for example _"Practitioners"_ instead of _"Staff"_ or _"Treatment rooms"_ instead of _"Room"_. - You turned on Room & Addon by mistake and want to remove it again. - A booking shows a Manage link under Assigned Resource and you followed it here. ## Open the categories screen The Resource Categories page (_"Manage categories for your bookable resources."_) lives at [Business → Resources → Categories](https://portal.bringsoul.life/resources/categories). It isn't in the menu. You reach it from the Manage link in a booking's Assigned Resource section, or by opening the link directly. View Resources takes you back. The table lists each category's Name and Status (Active or Inactive), with edit and delete buttons. ## How categories map to the Resources page | Kind | Created by | Shown on Resources as | Capacity field | | ----- | ------------------------------------- | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | Staff | Soul, when your portal is set up | Staff (marked Default) | Hidden. A person is always capacity 1. | | Room | Enable Room & Addon (or Enable Room) | Room | Hidden. A room is always capacity 1. | | Other | Enable Room & Addon (or Enable Addon) | Add-ons | Shown. Set how many units you have. | The Resources page shows one category per kind: the first one of that kind. Until a kind has a category, its tab shows a lock and Disabled, and the banner _"Need more resource types?"_ offers Enable Room & Addon. **Warning:** Keep one category per kind. If you add a second Room category here, the Resources page keeps showing only the first, so rooms you put in the second one won't appear in the Room tab. Session types can still use them, which is confusing to manage. ## Rename a category **Step 1: Open the category** On [Resource Categories](https://portal.bringsoul.life/resources/categories), click the pencil next to the category. **Step 2: Change the name or description** In Edit Category, change the Name or Description. The Kind field shows too, but a category's kind is fixed when it's created, so changing it there has no effect. **Step 3: Save** Click Save. ## Add a category Click Add Category, choose a Kind (Room, Staff or Other), enter a Name and an optional Description, and click Create. In practice you only need this if you deleted one of the three defaults and want it back. Enable Room & Addon on the Resources page does the same thing for rooms and add-ons. ## Switch a category off Edit the category and turn off Active. The category then shows as Inactive. ## Delete a category Click the bin icon and confirm in Delete Category: _"This cannot be undone. Categories with existing resources cannot be deleted."_ Delete every resource in it first (resources can't be moved to another category). After you delete your Room or Add-on category, that tab on the Resources page locks again and the Enable banner comes back. ## Good to know - Categories don't affect booking times on their own. Availability and allocation come from the resources inside them and how session types use them. See [How allocation works](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/business/resources/how-allocation-works). - Add-ons draw from Other categories. When you add an add-on to a session type, the picker lists resources from your Other category. - Resource names matter more than category names. Clients choose by resource name (_"Studio A"_). Staff and rooms show under Who with and Room whatever the category is called. Only add-ons show their category name, as the heading clients choose under. ## Related - [Resources introduction](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/business/resources): Staff, rooms and add-ons and how they fit together. - [Rooms](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/business/resources/rooms): Turn on rooms and add your spaces. - [Add-ons and capacity](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/business/resources/add-ons-and-capacity): Equipment, extras and pooled quantities. - [Staff](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/business/resources/staff): Add the people who host your sessions.