Understanding the Categorized Tag

When Categorify categorizes a product, it adds a special tag to that product in Shopify. This tag is called the “categorized tag” and by default it’s named categorized-by-ai. While this might seem like a small detail, the tag plays a crucial role in how Categorify works—especially when automatic categorization is enabled.

What Is the Categorized Tag?

The categorized tag is a standard Shopify product tag that Categorify adds to every product it categorizes. You can see this tag in your Shopify admin when you open any product that has been categorized:

Go to Products in Shopify admin
Open any product that Categorify has categorized
Look at the Tags section
You’ll see categorized-by-ai listed among the tags

This tag looks and works exactly like any other product tag you might add manually. The only difference is that Categorify adds it automatically and uses it to track which products have been processed.

Why Does This Tag Exist?

The categorized tag serves two important purposes:

1. Prevents Infinite Loops

When Categorify assigns a category to a product, it updates that product in Shopify. Here’s where things could go wrong without the tag:

Categorify categorizes a product and assigns a category
Assigning the category updates the product
Shopify sees this as a product update and sends a notification
If automatic categorization is enabled, Categorify receives this notification
Categorify thinks “this product was updated, I should categorize it!”
It categorizes the product again, which updates it again…
This continues forever, wasting your credits

The categorized tag breaks this loop. Before categorizing a product automatically, Categorify checks: “Does this product have the categorized-by-ai tag?” If yes, it skips the product because it’s already been processed.

2. Tracks Which Products Have Been Categorized

The tag provides a simple way to see which products Categorify has processed:

Filter your products by the categorized-by-ai tag to see all categorized products
Products without this tag haven’t been categorized yet
You can use this information to identify products that need categorization

How the Tag Works

With Automatic Categorization

When you enable automatic categorization in Categorify settings, here’s what happens:

You create or update a product in Shopify
Shopify notifies Categorify about the change
Categorify checks: “Does this product have the categorized-by-ai tag?”
If NO: Categorify categorizes the product, assigns a category, and adds the tag
If YES: Categorify skips the product (it’s already been categorized)

This means each product is only automatically categorized once, even if you update it multiple times.

With Manual Categorization

When you manually categorize products (using “Categorize product,” “Categorize products,” or “Categorize collection”), the tag is ignored:

Categorify will categorize products even if they already have the tag
This allows you to re-categorize products when needed
The tag is still added or updated after the categorization completes

This distinction is important: automatic categorization respects the tag, manual categorization ignores it.

What Happens If You Remove the Tag?

If you remove the categorized-by-ai tag from a product, here’s what happens:

If Automatic Categorization Is Disabled

Nothing happens immediately. The product will simply not have the tag anymore. If you later enable automatic categorization, the product will be categorized again the next time it’s updated.

If Automatic Categorization Is Enabled

The next time you update that product in any way (change the title, description, price, images, variants, etc.), Categorify will categorize it again. This consumes another credit because Categorify thinks the product has never been categorized.

This means:

Removing the tag from one product → It gets re-categorized on next update (1 credit)
Removing the tag from 100 products → They all get re-categorized on next update (100 credits)

Unless you specifically want products to be re-categorized, you should leave this tag in place.

When Should You Remove the Tag?

There are very few situations where removing the tag is necessary:

You want a product re-categorized automatically: If a product’s description has changed significantly and you want it re-categorized the next time it’s updated, you can remove the tag. However, it’s usually better to use manual categorization for this instead of removing the tag.

You’re troubleshooting categorization: In rare cases during troubleshooting, you might remove tags from test products to observe how Categorify handles them.

For almost all situations, you should use manual categorization instead of removing tags:

Go to the product in Shopify admin
Click More actions → Categorize product
Categorify will re-categorize it immediately, regardless of the tag
The tag is updated after categorization completes

Can You Change the Tag Name?

Yes, you can change the tag name in Categorify Settings, but this should be done very carefully.

How to Change the Tag Name

Open Apps → Categorify
Click Settings
In the Automation section, change Categorized tag name
Click Save

What Happens When You Change the Tag Name

When you change the tag name, here’s what occurs:

Categorify immediately starts using the new tag name for all future categorizations
Products with the old tag are treated as uncategorized by automatic categorization
If automatic categorization is enabled, these products will be re-categorized the next time they’re updated

Example:

You have 1,000 products with the tag categorized-by-ai
You change the tag name to my-custom-tag
Categorify now looks for my-custom-tag when checking if products have been categorized
Your 1,000 products still have categorized-by-ai, not my-custom-tag
Next time any of those products are updated, they’ll be re-categorized (consuming credits)

When to Change the Tag Name

Almost never. The default categorized-by-ai tag name is clear, descriptive, and won’t conflict with any tags you’d normally use.

Change it only if:

You have a specific business requirement for a different tag name
You’re integrating Categorify with other systems that depend on specific tag names
You understand the implications and are prepared to handle re-categorization

Never change the tag name casually or frequently. Each change can trigger unwanted re-categorization and consume credits.

Common Questions

Can I manually add the categorized tag to products?

Technically yes, but you shouldn’t. If you manually add the tag to products that haven’t been categorized, automatic categorization will skip them (thinking they’ve already been processed). This means those products won’t get categories.

What if I want to re-categorize a product that already has the tag?

Use manual categorization:

Go to the product in Shopify admin
Click More actions → Categorize product
Categorify will re-categorize it regardless of the tag

Don’t remove the tag and wait for automatic categorization—this is slower and less predictable.

Can I use the categorized tag to filter products?

Yes! In Shopify admin, you can filter products by the categorized-by-ai tag. This is helpful for:

Seeing which products have been categorized
Identifying products that haven’t been categorized yet
Bulk selecting categorized products for review

Does the tag affect anything besides Categorify?

No. It’s a standard Shopify product tag. Shopify and other apps see it as just another tag. It doesn’t affect product display, search, or any other functionality unless you specifically build features that use this tag.

What if I delete and reinstall Categorify?

The tags remain on your products. If you reinstall Categorify and enable automatic categorization, it will respect the existing tags—products with the tag won’t be re-categorized automatically.

Summary

The categorized tag is a simple but essential part of how Categorify works:

Default name: categorized-by-ai
Purpose: Prevents infinite loops and tracks processed products
Automatic categorization: Respects the tag (skips tagged products)
Manual categorization: Ignores the tag (always categorizes)
Best practice: Leave it alone unless you have a specific reason to change it

For 99% of users, you’ll never need to think about this tag—it just works in the background to make automatic categorization reliable and efficient.

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